Well, hello there.

I haven't written much in a while. We've been on vacation as you can probably tell from the pictures and the sideways video in the previous entries.

We went to Navarre Beach, FL and it was a lot of fun. It's a small beach town, but it has all the stuff you need nearby. Check

I even found our accommodations on Twitter. Do contact the nice people at (has sound) Navarre Listings (@navarrebeach) if you're headed that way.

No, that was not an advertisement. There is no authentic! voice! violation here. It was our family vacation, and these were some nice folks I happened upon and I wanted to share. That's all.

Sigh.

At any rate, we had beautiful weather, the beach was gorgeous, the condo was great and I think everyone had fun.

This was kind of a weird year since it's the first time we've been to the beach where there's been things to do nearby since my mom died in 2006.

My dad vacations with us, and the past two summers we stayed someplace pretty remote and there wasn't anything to do without driving 30 minutes or so (including the grocery), so I didn't have to think about what he would do if we took the kids to a water park or whatever.

It all kind of worked itself out, but he did end up on a very hot trip to the zoo, a couple of trips to the mall and a geocaching run.

He's also discovering he has a few limitations at the beach that he didn't used to have. Though he's 76, he's far from feeble or anything and he teaches school full time. He had back surgery a few years ago and has a few balance issues on the sand that are kind of new.

He also insists on baking on the beach for hours at a time and, for some reason isn't big on drinking a lot of fluids, so I spent a good deal of time worrying passing him Gatorade and spent a fortune on smoothies from the beach store trying to keep him hydrated.

And, well no one should drink a smoothie alone, so I felt compelled to have one as well each day at 3. Funny, no one has served me one here since we got home.

The beach was very populated compared to where we've been going, but it was a good energy. I have conflicting emotions about the concept of a beach service where they set up the umbrellas and chairs for rent across the entire beach, leaving most people to set up camp far from the water and with an obstructed view.

On one hand, it doesn't seem fair, but on the other hand, it is what it is and we just forked over the money. It was nice not to have to haul an umbrella and a ton of chairs out there.

But, if they are going to charge that kind of money, you'd think they could at least spread the things out a bit, they were way too close.

As the week progressed, people wised up and must have gone out there at sunrise to put their tents and umbrellas up since the end of the week saw a mish mash of rented umbrellas and other types at the water's edge.

A little piece of advice for a certain group though: if you are among a large group of beach goers and there's not a lot of audible music going on, I guarantee you that the group is NOT thinking you saved the musical day upon your arrival with your iPod and large speakers.

Just sayin'.

Now it's back home to the reality of all volleyball (Busy Girl) all the time and Busy Boy's impending 13th birthday (I know) and he's off to camp next week and football starts back the day he's done with camp.

Before you know it, it'll be time to go back to school again. Several times recently I've said, "This summer, we need to..." and, it's already well into "this summer".

We're also processing this whole Steve McNair death thing.

I know many of you are glazed over reading that or feel like it's just about some athlete nowhere near you, but around here it's a big deal, particularly in light of all the other celebrity deaths recently.

Even though the details are a little more clear now, it's still just really hard to believe.

Back to the work grind tomorrow, but I'm excited about going to BlogHer in a few weeks. I am bold enough to say that it will be my vacation where I only have to worry about myself.

OK, I grant that I may have to worry about you over there...but still.

Meanwhile, I'm going to finish unpacking (allegedly, as this will probably all sit here for a couple of weeks), wish the boys would take whatever they're doing outside and peel off a couple of sheets of skin.

You're welcome.