Miladies: April 2014

The Annual Sanders Vacation took place a couple of weeks ago, and as always it was sandy and wonderful and full of long waterlogged hours in and around the pool and the beach. Destination Turks and Caicos! Or "Cookies? No, Caicos" as Sylvia called it, usually with a kind of confused and hopeful look on her face before she corrected herself. As you can imagine, with two two-year-old non-swimmers, we spent a lot of watchful time making sure no one careened into the water. No one fell in. No one fell in! Their favorite, frequent poolside activity was to use "buckies" (a few yogurt containers I'd brought along just for this purpose) to empty the pool. Sylvia, being Sylvia, insisted on doing this sitting at the deep end of the pool. The stairs near the shallow end just didn't float her boat. Maggie would pretty much hang out wherever the action was (= the deep end). Sylvia, who has catlike balance and a catlike personality, almost never falls and refused to wear the very undignified floaty we brought for her. Maggie obliged for stretches here and there, which always made things just a bit easier.

At one point we ran low on yogurt containers - there were only 3 and between them they have 4 hands, so you can see the problem there - so Jason decided to repurpose gallon milk containers, cutting out the front to make Very Big Dippers. These might not be coast guard approved pool toys. They were so heavy, you could see the girls straining to pull the Very Big Dippers out of the water after they'd dipped them. And yet...no one fell in! I decided to cut the front a little lower, and then, as these things go, they were much less popular.

Rosemary loved the pool, spent many an hour in it, and barely got her face wet the whole time. Part way through the trip she finally jumped in without someone there to catch her. I had issued the ultimatum that morning - you WILL do this by yourself by the end of today - after having her careen into me a bunch of times, all elbows and knees. She can dog paddle pretty much anywhere, so long as she isn't required to put her face in the water. Dash and Elijah meanwhile completely own the pool. They are fearless and have tons of fun.

A few highlights include:

1) our first lunch all together

2) our first (and only) night time swim

3) the delicious curried goat meal made by local chef who came to cook for us one night

4) the fact that Maxine found (rather than ate) a 1 1/4 inch metal bolt in her meal. She was quite cool about it, actually. I was sitting beside her and she held it in her hand, nudged me, and said, "Look at this."

5) the fact that no one stopped eating the goat after this episode.

6) That the bolt turned out to be the key part of the chef's beloved 1960s era pressure cooker. She had spent the last half hour quietly scouring the kitchen looking for it.

7) The glow worm boat ride. They mate on and around the full moon, for 3 minutes or so just after sunset. It's the most amazing thing to watch these two green glowing forms zing into each other and then, shazam, disappear in a blink of an eye. I had no idea this was happening! We booked the tour, which left from our little bay. We went for a sunset cruise but then it turned out the glow worm scene was happening right back where we started. We could have kayayed there, easy. Especially with a big boat there to show us where to go.

7) The conversation between Rosemary and Dash that went something like this:

Rosemary: Can I have a chip?

Dash (gives her the chip but then asks): Why are you asking me for a chip when you already have two in your hand?

Sam: Dash, be a gentleman!

Rosemary: It's okay, I like grumpy men.

8) Walking to see the moon every morning with Sylvia. Yes, it would have been kind of cool if she had slept past 5:30 just one morning, but then again it was also gorgeous to walk out to our little staircase down to the water and take in the moon, the moonlight on the water, and the boats bobbing out in the sea with her.

9) The rusted out boat with the name, "Thank You Ameritrade."

10) Going back to the beginning, Frozen was playing on the airplane TVs. I was sitting in between Maggie and Rosemary, who both watched it, and I got to read a book. At least for a few minutes.