Wednesday, May 07, 2008

"Outtahere"

I'm "outtahere" til the 18th. I'll be in Sayulita with the "gypsy kids" enjoying sunsets, pina coladas, my toes in the sand and introducing Baby Matilda to the big beautiful body of water known as the Pacific Ocean.

It's a "right of passage" in our family which began with Jennifer 46 years ago to be introduced to the water and to be part of it for your whole life. Jennifer was introduced to the water on Bolivar Peninsula the summer her dad was in Turkey in the Air Force and her grandad had access to a friend's 45 acre quail ranch on the water. Oh how she squealed each time the waves came in . She was about 5 months old.

John came along and his thing was to have a net, even as a little one and pull in seahorses and all kinds of creatures and sit for hours and watch them. He became a wildlife biologist and has done turtle research for the government and worked at Padre Island National Park off and on as a biologist - and saved a dolphin, named Emma after his precious niece.

Then came Julie who loved the beach for the water and strolling and then bringing her own family of four children to the beach...............Jessica, Hannah and Emma LOVE it, Andrew not so much..........Jennifer's little boy Christopher can skim board like no one I've ever seen and like his Uncle Johnny loves to catch the little creatures and sit and ponder their lives. So, now it is Matilda's turn and I intend to dangle her tiny toes in the water and contemplate how the water will be a vast part of her life. I want her to see the magnificent sunsets over the ocean and although at three months she won't remember this trip, it will be a grand memory for me.

WE all have many memories of renting beach houses in Galveston, as many times a year as we could afford, and spending weeks looking for sharks teeth, floundering, swimming in the moonlight, crabbing and all the FUN things we have done over the years. Although this won't be Galveston, it will just be another chapter in our family's life.

By the way, as the "gypsy kids" get ready for their great adventure in the Airstream, John's website has always been outtahere.com. It will become an active travelogue website soon with all the joys, trials and tribulations of John, Lisa, Matilda and Dusty, the black lab, traveling the USA. Stay tuned. I'll keep you posted.

5 comments:

Steve Cotton said...

Babs -- You just described why I feel the need to be near the ocean. I do not like the heat. For that reason, the highlands should be more to my liking. (55 degrees, gray skies, and drizzle are an ideal day to me.) But the sea always calls to me.

Enjoy your rites of passage.

Brenda Maas said...

Have fun.

Steve Cotton said...

Babs -- Come back. The "word verification" bullies have gone nuts again. I just used one on Brenda's site that looked as if the Schuylers were announcing the marriage of their first born.

picklesandroses.blogspot.com said...

Have a great time, take lots of pictures. Great ritual for all of you. I think we are raising another marine biologist here...Taylor can't wait to go to Sea Camp again, has been determined about her path since she was 6 and now wears an Aggie cap declaring her intention to go to their campus in Galveston.

Babs said...

Thanks everyone! It WAS a family gathering of multiple families - very interesting dynamics, as always when families gather. More on that on Monday......