The Sun is So Cruel to Fair Skin

This past weekend, my husband and I went to Dallas to visit family. It was a load of fun. :) I got to see some of my cousins that I don't typically get to see, and we went by ourselves. In other words, we didn't take the dogs. It was a bit hard to leave them behind, but it was also nice to be able to focus on spending time with everyone without having to worry about the dogs. I only teared up a couple times, and both times were before we got to the boarding kennel. Yay for me! While in Dallas, we had an early birthday party for my cousin Jake (he's 8... almost!). At this lovely party, we got to swim since my aunt and uncle have a pool. Towards the end of swim time, my little three-year-old cousin, Chara, decided she was ready to swim by herself. Luckily, she decided to do this while I was very close by and able to catch her when needed. But she reminded me every minute or so that she didn't want me to catch her. Then she'd instruct me to go to the middle of the pool (while she held on to the side), and once I was far enough away, she'd let go and go under the water. She was actually a pretty good swimmer despite the fact that she doesn't know how to swim yet. She'd make a little big of progress towards me, not realizing, of course, that I was swiftly moving back towards her so I could pull her up. She wasn't the least bit scared, no matter how long she stayed under water. Brave little girl. :) She's also very funny. (When you're three, it's a lot easier to be funny because you're just so cute!) She kept singing (over and over again), "You don't know you're beautiful! Oh oh!" I had never heard this song before, but once she found out we could play songs from youtube, I got to hear it quite a few times. I spent a great deal of time with little Chara, but she wasn't so sure about my dear husband. Chara loved Travis whenever he would do the "monkey thing" with her and other fun tricks, but other times, not so much. At one point, Travis was in the hot tub area (that is not hot--no one wants to sit in a hot tub during a Texas summer) messing with something, when Chara came over to me and said, "Your boy broke it." And then on Sunday morning, in a noble attempt to convince me to ride with her to church after I told her I was riding with Travis, she said, "But he's gonna beat you up!" It's a work in progress.

This week has been busy it seems. We drove back home Monday morning, and I don't feel as though I've actually spent that much time at home. Today I went swimming (sort of) at a friend's house and found that even though I sprayed myself with about seventeen layers of sunscreen, I somehow missed my knees, and now they're...red. Very red. :( As I'm typing this, they're burning. I think it's some kind of requirement that every time I swim, I have to forget to put sunscreen somewhere. Except Saturday at the birthday party. Hm, perhaps my theory has a few holes. Anyway, I also went grocery shopping this morning. I have decided that no matter what, I will not get in line behind old(er) people. I have done it far too many times and every single time, something goes wrong. You know why? Because they insist on writing a check to pay for their groceries. Don't get me wrong, I use checks too. But not at a grocery store. Perhaps I'm being insensitive, but I just don't understand why a check is preferable to cash or a debit card. It always takes forever and something goes wrong and, quite frankly, you seem old when you use a check. Needless to say, I will no longer get in a line if there is an old(er) person in line. I'm horrible, I know.

The only problem with going out in the afternoon for a few hours is that Sabre and Tatum are stuck in their crates the whole time. So now, instead of dealing with two worn out puppies, I have Tatum who just wants to chase all the bugs, and Sabre who doesn't know what he wants to do, so he just barks. At me, at the door, at Tatum. It could be a long night. I'm very sleepy and ready to sleep in as much as I possibly can tomorrow. (If the puppies will also sleep in a bit tomorrow...) There were other things I had planned to share with you, but I have completely forgotten them. Perhaps next time I will have scintillating tales to share with, but until then, good night, dear friends.