Beach Traffic

“You’re at an OK weight, but you have gained quite a bit,” said my doc a few weeks ago. I made some excuses. She tried again: “Let me put it this way: You’ve gained four pounds since I last saw you. This is too early for you to be gaining a pound a week.” Nooooooo!

In an effort to avoid gaining the 50-freaking-pounds I gained with Captain Goodbaby, she suggested something I have never enjoyed: exercise. Despair. In Japan, my fitness plan went like this: Live a mile downhill from the train station; block off days to sight-see on foot. Boom—fitness. Sort of.

Now, I’m faced with the arduous task of loading the tot into the jogging stroller and creeping along at a pace that sets him squirming and whining in his seat. Is that better than gaining 50 pounds? YES. Chris and I have made it more of a thing to scoot out the door after dinner and walk together. Hearing us chat seems to placate the Goodbaby, and if he gets bored during our morning walks he now asks me to turn on some music. This is so working for us. I went from looking obviously pregnant back to awkwardly stocky. During our Sunday afternoon walk to the park, in fact, I even got whistled at by two guys in a truck. “You did? ….Seriously?” Chris sounded skeptical. Thaaaaaaanks, sweetie. 

Summer living on the patio!  Isaac’s favorite fedora on the swing he hangs on like a monkey.

So big! And so little!

Gardening is another way I don’t mind exercising. Last weekend was gorgeous and just a tad too cool for the beach, so we went to a local nursery I interviewed for an article on spring gardening. Banfield’s specializes in plants that do well in this area—perfect. We needed to replace the stuff all the ice storms killed off. We got pineapple guava evergreen shrubs for the back flowerbeds. And I planted my first ever tomatoes and the season’s first basil. All we need now is a cow to make mozzarella cheese for caprese salad on demand! OH YEAH!

“OH YEAH” is one of Isaac’s favorite phrases. You can hear it all over our house, drifting out of his room, trailing behind him through the backyard while he pushes the bubble lawnmower, hovering over the coffee table while he plays cars. He’s getting so communicative.

Chris was hanging up a hanging planter and Isaac was full of concern: “Hang on, plant!”

Saturday morning at breakfast he squirmed around in his chair at the patio table before asking dejectedly, “I sit in mom’s lap? I’m too little.”

Not too little for a girlfriend, apparently. Romeo in training outside Madeleine’s window.

Anyway, this Tuesday for Mom’s Day Out I decided to really suffer for my health and exercise…on the beach. Oh yeah! Tons of new restaurants seem to have opened up recently, and kayak and stand up paddle boards are now rentable right on the sand. I really want to paddle out and see if I can see some sharks—Chris is always saying they fly over tons. Obviously my family had no idea when we visited Pensacola Beach for vacation in 1995, because we all boggie-boarded way way out and dove for sand dollars. And I NEVER find shark teeth. While I’m looking for sharks, maybe I’ll see sea turtles; I wrote an article about ‘cold stun’ turtles after the ice storms this winter, and supposedly this is nesting/hatching season. My goals for the summer involve both exercise and sea life, apparently. And more and more and more BEACH TRAFFIC—that’s for sure.

If we continue to not be sick AND have not rainy weather, it could be a gorgeous summer! My mom discovered that the first time we lived in Pensacola, the city was in the middle of a several-year drought. And since we’ve lived in Pace, well…opposite of drought. Reports show the area got as much rain in two days last week as it usually gets annually. I can’t wrap my head around a year’s worth of rain in less than 48 hours. Help us all.

In other water critter news, we proceeded to the Pensacola Crawfish Festival after church for lunch Sunday. Nothing says summer like a festival and throwing some sticks and rocks into the bay! Also, our turtle seems to have run away…or rather, escaped. That makes him the briefest pet we’ve ever owned.

Tons of traffic on the way to pick up the tot, but got him in time! WORTH IT!

Sunny days are so rare. And what’s with all the algae? Still lovely!

A final tangent: the jasmine is in full bloom, so the back patio smells like heaven. Chris grilled burgers and corn Saturday, and the combination of corn and jasmine is a powerful reminder of summer nights in Cairo, when kids selling jasmine necklaces for an Egyptian pound (about 20 cents at the time) appeared between cars at every intersection, and street corner grills sold ears of blacken corn for about the same amount. Add in a little funky street smell and exhaust, and that’s the smell of adventure right there!

So pleased with my idea for planting the peppers and peppermint.