Tryin' to Reason with Hurricane Season

Well, we're back from the shore a day early. I'm willing to put up with quite a lot while I'm on vacation -- mosquitoes, burnt hot dogs, uncomfortable beds, my cousin Jason's shoes -- but I can't stand the rain. And Hurricane Danny (or is it a tropical storm now? I can't tell any more) is hitting Long Beach Island right now, as it has been all day.

So we were only "on vacation" for about 40 hours, which ... well, tolerated more to have a worse time, honestly. Any time spent with family, however short the moments, are always worth it. Especially when they involve sun, sand, surf, and chicken marinated in salt water. (Yeah, I'll explain later.)

The good news is, the one full day we spent at Brant Beach was a glorious, phenomenal day, and I have plenty of pictures to show for it (plus some video). Shae loved having other little kids to play with, she relished all the attention my family lavished on her, and of course, she loved being at the beach.

Now we will spend the rest of G's birthday watching Dora and Kai Lan and washing dishes and scrubbing the algae off the front porch and keeping an eye on the water-in-the-basement situation. But we will be doing it with color on our faces, which is the important part.