Awesome

I think that had to be the Best Long Weekend Ever.

I went down to KT's on Friday, and hung out with her and Jess until Kevin came home from work, and then KT and I drove down to VA Beach, where her stepmom's beach cabin is. (Which is not actually on the beach, but backed up against one of the area's gazillion rivers tributaries.) We got in and set up with no problems, and then settled in to write.

I managed to plough through some spots that have been hanging up on me, which was good. I wasn't nearly as prolific as KT, but I managed to get some solid work in, and even started working out details for a plot that had been hiding from me. We walked down to the beach once, and I took pictures and people-watched for half an hour or so while KT rented a bike and rode up and down the boardwalk, and we got caught in the rain on the way back, which would've actually been fun if I hadn't been slightly concerned about my camera. I threw bread to some geese, and watched boats and other craft (like the guy who was standing on a surfboard, paddling it along like a gondola) going by on the river. All in all, we had a great and relaxing two days.

I got back home around 1 on Sunday, just in time to join Matt and the kids in a trip over to Braz's to take advantage of his apartment complex's pool. Adin and her kids were there, too, and though we didn't have the pool entirely to ourselves, the ten of us pretty much dominated it. I got in a good upper-body workout with Alex, whose favorite game for a solid half-hour or so was to jump off the side of the pool into a waiting parent's arms (splashing water mightily in the process, of course) and then demand that we put him back up on the side of the pool to do it again.

Alex has no fear in the water. He sort of gets that he can't swim, but I lost track of the number of times I'd be holding him in the 3-4 foot area, and he'd suddenly twist and fling sideways, trying to escape my grasp. He did the same thing to Matt, too. We started laying groundwork for actual swimming -- holding him in a swimming position and encouraging him to kick.

All six kids had a fantastic time (even Sarah, who swallowed too much water and threw up) -- they played some elaborate game with ever-changing rules in which people were sharks or squids or stingrays or jellyfish, and biting/stinging someone turned them into that kind of animal, with depth boundaries and... I never did quite get the hang of the rules at any given point, but they were splashing and shrieking and giggling and enjoying having Matt and Braz pick them up and dumping them into the water, so it's all good.

We got out of the pool when we started hearing thunder, changed clothes and had a snack, then we all went to La Tolteca for dinner. (Four adults and six kids, five of whom were under the age of 7 -- it's a good thing Tolteca is so family-friendly!) The girls got an extra treat -- they didn't have a single table long enough for all of us, so the adults and the two 2-year-old boys sat at one table, and the four girls got to all share a booth together, away from the grownups. Exciting!

It was oodles of fun, and I hope we have lots more afternoons like that this summer. (We really need to get our grill fixed so we can have everyone over to cook out on the deck after the swimming!)

Monday started out fairly quiet and slow, but after Alex's nap, we went down to visit my parents, and they suggested we all go out to dinner at the County Grill. On our way out of the neighborhood, we spotted my brother coming in to return the car he'd borrowed (they're going on a cross-country road trip soon, and wanted to test out my dad's Prius as being more economical for the drive), so my folks invited him and Sam along. A few phone calls later, the whole family was stashed at the restaurant! We had a great time there, even if I did eat entirely too much (between that and Tolteca, my diet will not be happy with me this week, I predict), and it was a wonderful way to wrap up the long weekend.

Back to work this morning, of course, and my stomach is slightly uggy -- I was worried early this morning about throwing up, but it seems to be improving somewhat. I suspect it's just a delayed reaction to all the greasy/rich food. I'm not too keen on doing work, of course, but at least it's a short week!