the beach

I'm coming off the tail end of a bad bout of food poisoning and 24 hours of wanting to die. These pics Aud sent flickered a little life into my suicidal heart, though I couldn't look at them without a little twinge of remorse and... dare I say it... indignation. Because while I'd like to say we pulled D's beach wedding reception off with nary a hitch, that would be the biggest lie this side of the Rio Grande. There was a moment halfway through the reception where the seagulls started swooping down to steal our food and my brother ran inside to get his air pellet gun thingy (who brings that on a beach vacation?) and started shooting those birds and I thought, Really? Is this really happening? But that was just the tip of the iceberg. So many other "mishaps" (to put it mildly) occurred, but it's still too soon for me to talk about it. Probably forever.

Sidenote: The shooting worked.

So while this week only confirmed my family is nutzo, it also confirmed that these guys are mine and I guess I wouldn't want it any other way. Of course, there's nothing I can do about it anyway.

A few highlights, though:

- L catching a fish with my Tio Enrico and hearing my uncle brainwash my child into calling him "Tio the Great" ("Mom, where's Tio the Great?" he'd ask me every morning. Sad.)
- The boys playing ping pong every night
- A balloon release where the 48 balloons didn't blow back and get stuck on the house
- Running 6 miles and finishing out a 12-mile run barefoot on the beach with no knee pain!
- Running a few of those miles with my brother
- Stopping part-way through one of my runs to walk with my dad
- Getting to know Mackenzie (my brother's fiancee) better and feeling like she fits perfectly into our family... unless this week made her think twice about joining it
- Seeing our extended family of aunts and uncles
- Spending time with my niece and nephew
- Rothko's baby blessing, surrounded by the men who love him
- Watching Audrey lose it at various times during and leading up to the reception