Forced Relaxation

Our view from the balcony this morning.

Batman

It's our first morning at the beach and I'm trying very very hard to relax.  It's harder than it looks. I feel like I should be doing something - making breakfast, putting on sunscreen, packing beach snacks, blowing up pool floats, organizing the kitchen - something.  My big kids are on the balcony hanging out and chatting with their aunt and their tiniest cousin, who all seem pretty relaxed.  Going to try that "in the moment" thing this week and not worry about what we're doing next. Who cares if we aren't on the beach by 9am? Or if all the good pool chairs get taken?  Or if it rains later today which means that by staying in this morning we've missed all the best sun for the day?  Well,  I do at the moment but I'm going to try to just let it go. We're currently speculating on what the giant bat we can see down on the beach is made out of.  Black sand? Rocks? Seaweed? The shadow of an actual bat hovering somewhere up there?  And given the events of the weekend, is this a scary or a comforting sign?  I don't know.  Even Joel is pondering the deeper meaning of the Batman symbol as he tries to explain the unexplainable to our own eleven year old Batman fan who's dealing with a difficult dose of reality, wondering why anyone would shoot people in a movie theater. Sigh. I'm going to go back to hanging out with the girls, who at the moment are completely enthralled with the doorstop and how it bounces back and forth and back and forth when you flip it.  Seems like a good thing to focus on this morning.

The girls and the door stopper.