July 30 – “Uncle Monster”

Today we went to the beach.  Always fun for the little guys.  Always hot for us older dudes.  Caleb seemed to enjoy it a lot.  He started out running up to then away from the waves as they came in.  When his Dad finally took his hands and went with him into the water, though, he didn't want to leave.  Josh pulled Jachin around on a boogie board since he was the oldest.  Micah squealed when Uncle Josh grabbed him and "threw him in the water."  Then Micah snuck up on Josh and kicked him in the shin, declaring, "You can't throw me in the water," as he ran away.  Josh became the "Uncle Monster" and chased them all around the sand.  Zakary enjoyed the water, too, but he seemed to be in his element when they were building what had to be a reservoir and an irrigation trench coming out of it.  He narrated a whole scenario to whoever would listen.  Even Josiah made a beach appearance.  He had a little hat on that looked just like a colorful, better conditioned version of the hat I wear when I go fishing.  Christina didn't put him in the water.  We had to keep him in the shade of the umbrella.  But she did grab a handful of sand and rub it between his toes.  Now that's a Galveston Girl for you.  Once you get that sand between your toes, you can never really get it out.  The beach becomes a part of you.  He's hooked.   We all came back here for lunch.  Josh started the veggies and I tackled the rice.  Rice is weird.  I followed the rules on the package, but when Natrhan saw it he asked how much water I put in.  I told him how much and even showed him the package directions.  He just shook his head and said, as kindly as he could muster so as not to hurt my feelings, "You need to out in another cup of water."  Come to find out, there is another set of rules that trumps the set printed  the package when rice is involved.  Pardon me.   We had a roast in the crockpot.  It tasted fine, but you could tell it was cooked too long.  We even added another can of soup.  I asked Chris what we did wrong, and she asked if we had it set on the lowest setting.  I checked the knob and found this order: Off, Low, High, Warm.  We had cooked it on Low.  Silly me.  Low is not the low setting.  Warm is.  Warm is lower than Low.  Now why didn't I know that?  I am not doing so well in this kitchen thing.  The girls pretty much took over when they all got here, though.   Tonight the plan is to go to Uncle Jerry's and try our hand at some fishing off his back porch.  Zak and Jachin and Micah get the nod on this one, along with Uncle Josh.  Kel and Christina have a church event at their house, so we were going to keep the boys anyway.  Don't plan to buy any live bait.  I'll just crack out some old frozen shrimp we have and see how we do.  If we can just catch a catfish or two to load up the crab trap, I think the boys will be happy   Chris is sure missing being here, and we are all missing her.  Zak said this afternoon, "Why isn't Nani here?  She's just supposed to be here."  Almost made me cry.  Can't imagine what it did to Chris when I told her about it.  But she needed to know she was missed.  We love her.  I miss her.   Psalms 4:7-8 says, "You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.  8 I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety"   Father, thank you for days at the beach and fishing trips and family.  Amen.