Mindless Monday... on a Thursday!

Good Thursday morning!

Just one word before we get started today... SORRY!

I shouldn't have said I was going to post Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from the beach until I was sure I COULD post Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from the beach.

As it turned out, I was unable to do so because of my lack of "technology" knowledge... which on a scale of 1 to 10 would register -6... with 1 being the "LEAST AMOUNT OF TECHNOLOGY KNOWLEDGE KNOWN TO MAN" in my head. I couldn't figure out all the "tricks" to post from another location... from a different computer... using a new and different server.

It was just too, too much.

On the bright side, today is what Mindless Monday should have been. A few words and lots of pics!

Go ahead. Tell me you forgive me! You know you want to.

RANDOMNESS - Our Mini-Vacation to the Beach was good AND bad. I'm going to do the list thing, so hold on.

THE GOOD

1. When we arrived, we loved our condo. It was just right for six people. The guys had their own room, bathroom, door, TV and DVD player. The girls set up camp in the living area and kitchen. Mike and I had our own room and bathroom, too. We could come together, but there was NO fighting over what to watch on TV... which became very important Monday through Wednesday of this trip.

2. We loved our location. We decided not to stay beach-front, but in a village across from a beach resort. Because the village and resort "work together," we would have access to the resort's beach, pool, hot tub and bathrooms. We could stay at the beach all day long with pool and restroom breaks, or come back to the condo for lunch and head out again. It would be our choice.

3. It's good to go on vacation during the Olympics. Everyone (except me) enjoys watching hours and hours of sports.

4. Roxie's friend, Ciara, was an easy-breezy beach guest, and since she and Roxie were of the same mind (beach, beach, beach), in a perfect world it would have given The Brothers a break from the ocean. (After about an hour or so at the beach, they are pretty much done for the day.)

Roxie... not so much.

5. Monday morning worked out just as we planned. The girls were up and ready to go to the beach bright and early. Mike went with them to set up "beach camp," and I stayed behind to feed The Brothers when and if they decided to sit up in bed. It looked as if the "plan" was going to work perfectly.

Everyone was going to be happy.

THE BAD

1. The girls came back to the condo for lunch, and then headed to the beach again. The Brothers woke up in time for a breakfast/lunch combo meal and talked about going to the beach later in the day.

2. I got ready to meet the girls at the beach, and started walking out the door when the first clap of thunder began. Blue skies had turned dark, dark gray. My afternoon trek to the beach for sun, fun and photo shoots became a rescue mission as Mike and I picked up the girls at the resort... and made our way back to the condo.

3. There was a 45 minute break in the lightning and thunder, and the guys and I headed to the hot tub and pool. We swam in the warm water with drippy rain falling on our heads, and it was lovely. A jagged lightning bolt ended our swim time on Monday, but luckily we still had the Olympics, card games and dinner to look forward to.

And Tuesday. We still had Tuesday!

THE UGLY

Me. It was me. Just me. I was the ugly one on the trip... because of disappointment for the others, you see.

Yep. This is how we roll in The Big Gold Van.

Can anyone guess our first stop on the trip? Anyone?

I love Peach Park, and since I've admired so many veggie and fruit pics on other blogs this Summer, I decided to make my own.

Roxie says bell peppers remind her of ogre butts. (I don't usually use that word on A Simple Life, but I thought it was funny. Maybe she watched too much Shrek at one time or another.)

This is honestly one of two beach pictures I took of the girls, and we weren't even "at" the beach. We were at Crab Trap Sunday evening waiting for our table. We walked down to the water thinking we had plenty of time to frolic and play.

We were so, so wrong.

This is the only picture of a male Faulkner with the ocean behind him. Again, we were at the Crab Trap waiting for food.

I feel like such a failure as a picture-takin' mom and blogger saying, "Our only 'beach' pictures were taken at the Crab Trap our first evening at the beach. After that, monsoon-like rains fell upon us."

Mike and Josh could look to the left and "see" the ocean in this picture, but as you can tell, they were looking at something to their right.

I'm pretty sure they were looking at food.

This was our Monday afternoon "rescue mission." Very exciting!

This is ALL The Boy wanted to do. Sleep late, watch the Olympics and play X-Box. Oh. And eat seafood. Lots and lots of seafood. Needless to say, rain did not hinder his plans.

And Josh wanted to work out, watch the Olympics and movies and eat. He was a pretty happy camper, too.

And when we did go swimming Monday afternoon, we had a beautiful pool in which to relax and frolic and play!

And the hot tub was heavenly. Big and heavenly.

I'll skip ahead a little. This was our weather from 1:00 Monday afternoon until we drove out of the parking deck 9:45 Wednesday morning.

And then the skies parted. The sun shone.

And the color blue was abundant as we started the trip home!

Have a thrilling Thursday. I'll finish telling you about our Mini-Vacation with more lists and many, many more pics tomorrow!

Oh! And I'm going to give you the specifics regarding the 1,000th Post Contest!

Take care, and I'll talk to you in the morning.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

P.S. As promised last week, "Sparkle in a Jamaican Hat" pics.

Definitely worth the wait! Right?