bountifulplate

Why are waiting rooms so quiet?  Nobody really talks to each other and if you do talk it seems like everyone else kind of stares at you.  A few months ago I was in a doctor's waiting room with Dominic. When we first walked in it was very quiet and about half the people kind of looked over at us.  I guess it was because I had a child with me.  The median age of the people in this waiting room was about 65.  After we had been waiting a little bit, Dominic started talking really loud. I tried to shush him, but that attracted even more attention. When you are waiting in a doctor's office, it would be kind of awkward to strike up a conversation. You can't really ask the person next to you, "so, what are you here for?" One thing I've learned about doctor's waiting rooms is to bring your own reading material!!  I was in my cardiologist's office a few weeks ago and there was a husband and wife waiting to see the doctor.  The husband said quite loudly, "th...

Last Friday, (ironically the first day of winter), we got our first measurable snow of the season.  Lauren's response when she woke up and saw the white stuff was, "FINALLY!"   Growing up in Maryland, we did get some measurable snow from time to time, but not anything compared to what we get here.  We moved to the Midwest a few weeks before the Christmas of 2001.  The first time we got a significant amount of snow here, I went out to our driveway in my fashion boots (the only boots I owned at the time) and promptly fell on my backside!  Within a week, I marched right to the nearest store and got myself a proper pair of snow boots.  Now, after over eleven years of living in the Midwest, I have come to really LOVE the snow.  I used to dread having to drive in it, but have come to the conclusion that things don't shut down around these parts just because of a little snow. The schools don't close for the day unless it's about six inches or...

Back in the day before "electronic" toys (Game Boy, XBox, Wii, etc.), kids played with games that didn't involve batteries or a plug :)  I came across this box of dominoes yesterday and was kind of scratching my head wondering where they came from.  I asked the hubby and he said they were his.  He remembers playing with them as a child. While doing a little bit of research for this blog post, I got a kick out of the games and toys that popped up when I Googled the words, "classic toys and games."  At least 75% of them were toys and games that I used to play with when I was little, like Monopoly, Yahtzee, the Game of Life, Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Don't Break the Ice and Battleship.  Wonder if that means I'm a "classic?!?" What's cool is we have all those games in our house and I have played them at different times with my stepson, Lauren or Dominic.  How about an Etch a Sketch?  or needing a View-Master to use these: Le...

Last Friday afternoon, when Dominic hopped off his bus, I gave him an extra giant hug.  I'm so glad that he was unaware of what had happened earlier in the day in Connecticut.  Friday night, we purposely kept the television off for a while.  We talked about what happened with Lauren and my stepson later on in the weekend.  I think whether you have little kids, teens, grown up kids, grandchildren or no children, what transpired Friday morning, will be in our thoughts for a long time.  Children especially are so innocent. I took this picture recently of Dominic. He looks so peaceful when he is sleeping.  When a tragedy occurs like what happened Friday morning, it makes me appreciate every moment that I have with the special people in my life. I have tried to make sense of it all and have come to the conclusion that it makes no sense. We lived back in the Washington, DC area at the time of September 11.  I can remember like it was yesterday, how I f...

One of my husband's nicknames for me is "Honest Abe" as in Abraham Lincoln.  During the summer, while I was in my kitchen, I heard what sounded like a lawn mower.  After looking around at my neighbor's houses I figured out there was a lawn guy mowing OUR lawn!  I went outside and asked the guy what he was doing. He was like, "don't you use a lawn service?"  I said, "no, I do it myself."  I guess I could have let the guy do our lawn, but then my neighbor who did pay for his services would have got the bill and not had their lawn mowed! Yesterday, we got an envelope in the mail.  We didn't recognize the return address, but opened it up anyways.  It turned out, somebody found something of ours that was lost and they took the time to mail it back.  That really meant a lot to me.  This morning Lauren and I were talking about Christmas presents.  A month or so ago she had told me there was a certain book that she wanted.  I guess as a "ge...

I'm kind of bummed.  The last time I washed this sweater (which was probably last Christmas), I think I automatically put it into the dryer.  I tried it on a week or so ago and now it's too small :(   I have had it for about ten years, so I definitely have gotten my money's worth out of it! Since the sweater doesn't fit me anymore and I have worn it around the holidays for such a long time, I had to start looking to see if I had anything that could become it's replacement as "the" holiday sweater this year. I have a couple red sweaters with no snowmen, sleighs, etc. which I guess could work, though they seemed kind of plain.  I then fished around a little more and found this one! One of the local papers around where I live is having a contest to see who has the best holiday sweater. I don't think it's an "ugly sweater" contest, I'm pretty sure they are looking more for ones that are unique.  I have had my "pe...

I know that I'm going to sound ancient, but does anybody remember "S&H Green Stamps?" When you would shop at participating stores, you would get adhesive stamps that you had to stick into a book.  When you got enough stamps, you could redeem it for merchandise at a Green Stamp Redemption Center. The "stamps" went electronic in 2000 and is now called S&H Greenpoints. At one of my jobs when I was in my 20's, I had my boss tell me it was a requirement that I wear pantyhose. I found out about the "Silkies Hosiery Service" and knew it was a service I needed!!  Every five weeks, I received three new pairs of pantyhose.  It was similar to "green stamps" where every time I made a purchase, I would get points.  Once you got enough points, you could redeem it for merchandise.  I was able to get a vacuum cleaner and a kitchen clock among other things. The company is still around and ships out pantyhose to your home, but I'm not sure if y...

Okay, I admit it, when I heard the Powerball jackpot was over $550,000,000 yesterday, I kind of got caught up in Powerball "Mania." I made the hubby go buy one ticket for me. I could hardly wait until 10:59 p.m. to find out if I had won.  I had one number right, but I think all that will get you is a pat on the back :) I can't even wrap my mind around what it would be like to win that jackpot. After I heard that two tickets with the winning numbers were sold in Arizona and Missouri, it got me thinking this morning, would winning buckets of cash make you happy? I'm happy that my basic needs are met everyday - a roof over my head, food on the table and clothes to wear. I am blessed with a loving family and many friends.  For many of the people that just lived through the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, it may be several months or even years before the most basic of needs will be met sufficiently. If I had won the jackpot, I would have donated about 95 percent of i...

Last Saturday night, Lauren and I went to see the Nutcracker.  We started going back in 2009 and have been going every year since.   It is put on by the local ballet company in the area and they do a magnificent job.  We see at least one or more girls (or guys) that we either know or know of in the production.  Since this was our fourth year of going together, just the two of us, I guess you could say it has become an after Thanksgiving "tradition." With high school graduation about a year and half away and then college after that, Lauren was telling me we might not be able to go together every year.  Hopefully, that is not the case :(  For some families, making a certain kind of cookie during the holidays, putting up the Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving or going to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve are "traditions."  Back before I met my husband, I would always spend Thanksgiving with my own family in Maryland and Virginia.  Onc...

I found out about an opportunity recently that I knew I wanted to be a part of.  The College of Human Medicine at the university located nearby were looking for parents to share their experiences with second-year medical students about having a child with Autism.  I think the main purpose was to give them some insight about how to treat their future patients. Yesterday morning, two other moms and I sat at a table in a lecture hall with about 100 or so medical students in front of us. One of the moms had been on the parent "panel" before twice, the other mom was like me, she had never done it before. It was a teeny bit intimidating and I was little nervous when I first started talking, but I soon got over the jitters :) After we got done sharing our experiences, the medical students could ask us questions. They read about Autism and other related disorders in books, but to hear from parents on the "front lines" is something all together different for them.  Looking o...

This is what our kitchen floors currently look like. We had a dishwasher that we didn't notice was leaking a little water until a few months ago.  We put it off because we had a bunch of other things going on.  When we eventually got around to taking care of the problem, it turned out we had mold under our carpet :(  One thing I found out about mold is that it's not dangerous unless you start disturbing it, which kind of happened when the old dishwasher was pulled out to make room for the new one!!  It cost more to "fog" our house to get rid of the mold than it did for the company to rip out our old cabinet and carpet!! We have been washing dishes by hand until we get the new dishwasher installed.  My hubby grew up in a household where his parents didn't have a dishwasher.  I grew up in a household that did.   I remember complaining one time to my grandmother (the one who lived to be 101) about having to wash dishes by hand sometimes.  Her...

It was around this time last year that I had my unexpected hospital stay overnight.  I can't believe that it has been that long already!!!  I have spent that time reflecting and truly appreciating all that I have to be thankful for.  I am thankful to the nurse at the Red Cross who caught my irregular heartbeat in October of last year, when I was getting ready to donate blood.  Her finding that problem, necessitated an echocardiogram, which in turn, led me to get a heart catheterization, which showed I have the heart condition, non-ischemic cardiomyopathy!! Yikes, I really don't like to think what would have happened to me, had that not been caught.  Especially, since the cardiologist told me the worse case scenario for my condition is a heart transplant :(  I'm so very thankful that my four medicines I take are keeping my heart going strong! My husband told me recently that the whole experience of having me in the hospital was very "scary" to him. ...

When I go to the grocery store, I kind of get in the "zone."  I'm looking at my list, balancing coupons, looking for those good deals, etc.  Last week, when I was doing my shopping, I heard a voice say, "so, how is your week going?"  I looked over and it was the guy who stocks the shelves for Frito-Lay.  I have been going to the Kroger on Tuesday mornings around the same time for as long as I can remember.  I have bumped into my "buddy" on more than one occasion in the snack aisle.  I think I started chatting with him one time when his huge cart was in my way.  He's really nice and I asked him his opinion once about the flavor of the Lay's Dill Pickle chips, thinking he would have an inside track  :)  I told him that my week was going well and that I was going grocery shopping on a Wednesday just to shake things up.  He said, "it's not like we're in our routines or anything is it?"  We had a good chuckle, I grabbed two bags of...

Uncle Eddie was my mother-in-law's youngest brother.  She was one of 13 children, but she and her brother were very close, given that they were the two youngest of all the siblings. Uncle Eddie fought in World War II and was killed in action at age 19. My mother-in-law would talk about her brother and how difficult it was when he died.  I can't even imagine what that must have been like for her, losing a sibling at such a young age.  I used to tell her a lot how I admired her for being such a strong woman. When we cleaned out my in-law's house in Cleveland, we found the items below. Other relatives of my husband (including his own dad) were also in World War II.  When I found the Purple Heart that was Uncle Eddie's, I have to say it made me stop in my tracks. When I asked the hubby if I could write about his uncle on my blog, his words were, "I'm sorry I never got to meet him."  My husband's middle name is Edward (in honor/memory of his ...

I'm all for trying to make your kid independent, but I witnessed something this weekend at my local Target that set my mom "radar" off big time!! We were putting away our cart after checking out and were heading for the main set of doors to leave.  The kids and I watched as a mom and dad headed to the customer service area leaving their son (who looked to be not quite two years old) by himself near the shopping carts.  He started pushing the carts around, banging into people and all the other carts. Not once in about one full minute did the parents look back to see what he was doing. There was an older woman standing around, like us, looking at him and I think she was thinking the same thing, why don't the parents come get him and let him wait with them in the customer service area??  I was telling Lauren we needed to do something.  It was VERY busy right there near the carts, people coming in and out of the doors very quickly.  It would have been easy for so...

The special needs bowling group that our family belongs to started up again in mid-October. The group meets once a month from October until April and is sponsored by one of the local area churches. One of the moms that I met last year came up to me and we started chatting and catching up from the last time we saw each other.  She has a son with Down Syndrome and he is getting ready to graduate from high school :)  I love this mom, she always has a smile on her face and has the best positive attitude about her son. She also has two older children that are typically developing.  She was asking me about Lauren and how high school was going.  She was telling me about her older kids and I was telling her about my stepson and his job.  Her son has been busy getting his senior pictures done and with everything else the last year of high school entails. My friend and I were chatting so much, the hubby had to keep gently "reminding" me when it was my turn.  Eve...

Black cats kind of get a bad rap.  According to superstition, you shouldn't cross paths with a black cat. Since today is Halloween, I thought I would bring up the subject of superstitions and old wives' tales.  I had a conversation several weeks ago with Lauren and one of her friends about how a lot of buildings don't have a thirteenth floor.  Next time you are in an elevator of a tall building, look and see if it has a thirteenth floor. What about how you shouldn't walk under a ladder? I asked the hubby about that one and he said something like, "why would you walk under there, it's unsafe!"  True :)  One I remember from my childhood, was don't step on the cracks of the sidewalk - "step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back." Ouch! Another one I have heard FOREVER - don't  go out with a wet head, you'll catch a cold.  I always go outside with a wet head - I have very thick hair and it takes hours to dry - it's alr...

Don't certain foods remind you of certain people? Kolaches remind me of my mother-in-law, because she would always make them around Christmas. Below is a kolache making "lesson" my mother-in-law was giving Lauren and the hubby a handful of years ago. While looking through some old pictures recently, I stumbled across this picture from Christmas of 1988.  This was my grandmother and I horsing around with the turkey.  We had nicknamed the turkey, "Fred."  I can't remember why we named the turkey, maybe because it was the size of a toddler!!!! I have talked about my grandmother before, she was a really special person to me and a lot of other people.  She lived on her own into her 90's and then went into assisted living.  She passed away in 2004 at 101, the year Dominic was born.  I still use her metal mixing bowl whenever I bake, which is often  :) Food and memories just seem to go hand in hand.  My father-in-law was a great coo...

The hubby has a milestone birthday coming up next week.  He doesn't like me telling everybody that he'll be 60, but with my big yap, I've had a hard time keeping it shut.  When I first met him almost 22 years ago, I thought he was around my age. He is in fact, 11 years older than me.  The only time we ever have an "issue" is with our musical tastes.  I like bands from the 1980's and 1990's and he likes the music from the 1960's and 1970's.  We both do like the Rolling Stones, though. That band has been around forever :) My husband is a hard person to buy a present for, so I was kind of racking my brain trying to figure out what to get him.  I thought a few months ago about throwing him a big surprise party, but he doesn't like being the center of attention.  How about a trip? We already went to Jamaica in April, so that was out. I was really beginning to get stressed out trying to figure out that perfect "gift."  Well, a few wee...

This week has been pretty busy and I haven't been home too much during the day.  A casualty of that has been the laundry starting to really pile up.  I figured I would get around to it this weekend. The hubby took a look at the big pile of laundry a few days ago and asked me if I was "on strike."  Sometimes my husband is a real comedian :)  When we got married, doing the laundry become one of my household "chores."  I wash all the dirty laundry, fold it and sort it, but my family members are responsible for putting their own clothes away.  It's a system that for the most part has worked well all these years.  A few weeks ago, I happened to have the television on in the early afternoon and caught a little of Katie Couric's new talk show.  She had a mom on her show that did go "on strike" from her household chores. The mom stopped doing everything like making meals, etc. for a set amount of time. I guess the mom was frustrated from picking up aft...

When Lauren was a baby, the questions I got the most often were - are you breastfeeding or bottlefeeding? are you using cloth or plastic diapers? These days, the questions are - which college is Lauren thinking of going to? and, what is she interested in studying?? I think the questions were easier to answer when she was a baby :)  I had someone as recently as last night ask me the college question.  It feels like it was just yesterday that the hubby was giving her a bottle. Gone are the days of diapers, pacifiers and taking naps together: Since starting her junior year, Lauren has had loads of homework almost every night and stays up late getting it all done. I have told her having all that homework while balancing other activities, friends and sports is a preview of college :)  Lauren's choices of colleges and courses of study have changed a handful of times. At one time, she wanted to go to college in California because it's much warmer than here whe...

When I was walking towards my car in the parking lot of the grocery store earlier this week, I heard someone coming up behind me saying, "excuse me, excuse me!!!"  The voice belonged to a well-dressed, young woman maybe in her early 20's.  She launched into a rehearsed speech and was talking really fast.  So fast, I couldn't quite figure out what she wanted.  She opened up a box of suncatchers and was showing them to me asking if I would buy one to help fund some trip she was going on.  I told her politely that I wasn't interested and she moved on to someone else in the parking lot. When I get phone calls asking for donations of money and it's not an organization I've heard of or wish to donate to, I've been saying, "please remove me from your calling list."  The hubby says, "I'm sure your organization is worthwhile, but we already give to other organizations."  Most telephone solicitors say thank you and hang up. I think they r...

Dominic woke up one Saturday morning a few weeks ago earlier than I would have liked.  Before I had my first cup of coffee, he kind of caught me off-guard.  He said, "Grandma, live, heaven."  I asked him if he missed her and he said, "yes."  It took everything in me not to start crying.  It was about this time two years ago that my mother-in-law starting slipping into severe dementia.  She lived in an assisted living facility close by and we would visit her there and/or she would come to our house for Sunday dinner.  Around Christmas of 2010, she was hospitalized for two weeks into the New Year of 2011.  Shortly into the New Year, we moved her to hospice, where she passed away three days later.  To say it was a traumatic time for our family would be an understatement.  My husband is an only child and we had to make arrangements long distance (she was to be buried in Cleveland).  We spent a lot of time at the funeral home, whic...

I used to think the smell of coffee was one of the nastiest smells ever invented. Since I was about 12 (when I drank Tab out of a glass bottle for the first time), instead of coffee, I would drink a Caffeine-Free Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi first thing in the morning. When my husband and I first got together and he would see me drinking pop in the morning instead of coffee, I think he was taken aback a little. He has been a coffee drinker for a LONG time.  The hubby loves his coffee and I would sit looking at him wondering why he loved his "colored water" so much.  One day, when Dominic was a few months old, I decided to give coffee another try. Maybe it was those early days of sleep deprivation that was making my body need some caffeine.  Much to my amazement, I discovered I kind of liked coffee. Now, I absolutely HAVE to drink two cups a day - it is mandatory and helps me function :)  Lately, I have been waking up way too early.  To be coherent whatsoever in the m...

I like to watch the movie "Rain Man" from time to time.  If you've never seen the movie, it's about a man with Autism that has spent the bulk of his life in an institution.  My favorite parts of the movie are where he shows his "savant" type qualities like memorizing entire pages of a phone book or counting toothpicks that fall on the floor.  I have had more than one person ask me if Dominic is a "savant." I've wondered the same thing myself sometimes.  I do know that he can take a bunch of Legos that look like this: And turn it into this: Dominic has been using the computer since he was very young.  What we discovered a few months ago is that he will go into YouTube, find what he wants to build and then will build it.  He figured out all on his own how to access YouTube with absolutely no help from us.  No matter how many times I offered to do an educational CD-ROM with him, the answer most of the time was no.  D...

Back in December of last year, I wrote about how I was pretty resistant to texting.  Well, I'm here to say that my resistance has been replaced by some amount of confidence in my texting abilities.  What I've definitely come to realize is that texting knows no age limit.  My teenage daughter is ecstatic that she can text me now and I text her back.  Last weekend, two of my friends and I were at a sporting event and we all had our cell phones out and we were comparing them to each other.  I use a TracFone which is a pretty basic phone, but it works for me.  On my birthday last year, I tried to upgrade my TracFone and after several frustrating hours trying to get my number switched to the new phone, I couldn't figure it out.  I ended up sending the phone back :(  I'm still learning cell phone "etiquette."  One of my friends was wondering if I was upset or mad at her because a lot of my texts to her end up in capital letters (like the text below...

It's been awhile since I've been to a wedding.  In October, we are going to two weddings within a week of each other!!  Both are relatively formal, so my usual mom "uniform" of shorts/capris/jeans and t-shirts/sweatshirts with tennis shoes probably won't cut it :)  About a week or so ago, I went looking for a dress. After trying a bunch of dresses on, I came home kind of bummed and deflated.  I was beginning to think I might have to wear my shorts!!  After a quick look in my closet, it hit me that I already had a dress that would be suitable for both weddings.  I have had this particular dress since before Lauren was born. I guess you can say I have definitely gotten my money's worth out of this dress. I'm pretty sure I paid less than $100.00 for it originally. This dress must have some magical powers, because I have worn it when I was thinner than I am now and when I was heavier than I am now.  I think I even wore it when I was pregnant with one ...

After doing a quick look on the internet, I found that TV dinners have been on the food scene for over 50 years.  My mom cooked probably 95% of the time when I was growing up.  The only time I remember eating a TV dinner was when my dad was out of town for business. It was considered to be really special and something we didn't eat often.  The dinners at that time came in an aluminum tray with a piece of foil over it.  There were no microwaves in the early 1960's through the 1970's when I was little, so an oven was required.  Wow, have frozen meals come a long way since that time!  I do my big grocery shopping once a week and I don't know how it works out this way, but I always seem to be checking out around lunchtime :) By the time I unload the groceries, I'm usually pretty hungry for lunch!  I love to cook, but lately I've been buying a frozen meal while I'm at the grocery store and while I'm unloading all the groceries I toss it into the microwave....

After feeling not quite 100% for the past two or three weeks, I decided I better pay a little visit to my doctor.  The diagnosis - shingles!!! Excuse me, really? I almost told the doctor, "I don't have time to be sick!"  Luckily, there is a medication that will get it cleared up in about a week or two.  As parents, do we have the "time" in our schedules to not feel well?? There is still laundry to wash, meals to make, kids to get to activities, etc.  Having shingles is kind of like having a continual sunburn on your skin. The doctor wanted to prescribe a very strong painkiller in addition to the other medication. She said, "you probably won't take it anyways!"  She was right.  After having a major operation back when Lauren was a toddler, a few hours afterwards, I was already picking her up. Two weeks after my operation, I was matron of honor in my sister's wedding.  After having my left knee operated on in 2006, I was driving the car a day lat...

Sports have always been a part of my life.  I tried karate, softball, basketball and soccer when I was younger.  My dad is a huge Washington Redskins fan and I grew up watching professional football on television.  I married someone who loves watching just about any kind of sports.  For about seven years, from the time I was about 10 or 11 until I was 17, I played soccer.  My nickname (which I actually had embroidered on my sports jacket) was "Tuffy."  The hubby gets quite a chuckle out of that one :) I loved being part of a team.  I have very fond memories of playing soccer with my "peeps."  One thing I always hoped was that my kids would want to play.  Lauren tried it and decided that she would go the route of competitive gymnastics which she did for a handful of years.  She now does cheer and loves it. A few months ago on our local news, I heard about a special needs soccer group in the area.  I have been looking for something li...

This past week was Lauren's third week of school and Dominic's first week of school.  One or both of the "kids" were around the entire summer.  I have to admit, the house has been pretty quiet with the both of them gone during the day.  Dominic was in school half-days most of the summer (we feel very fortunate) and he had to catch his bus early, so he was "kind of" in the routine of getting up, getting ready and going to school.  Lauren enjoyed sleeping in and staying up late during the summer.  She was busy with sports practices and seeing her friends, but she and I did get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with each other :)   I'm happy she still likes to hang out with me once in a while! Since I'm used to being by myself during the school year, it usually takes a little time to get into a different routine for the summer.  It seems like as soon as I get used to having both of the "kids" around more, then they start school again!

If you saw a coin lying on the sidewalk or street, would you take a moment to pick it up? or would you keep walking? Doesn't it seem that coins seem to collect in the bottom of your purse, in your pockets, in the car or under the cushions of your couch?  Even though I check the pockets of the pants when I do laundry, some change inevitably seems to end up clanging around in the dryer. Towards the end of the past school year, I mentioned to Dominic's teacher about having a penny drive to raise money for charity.  I have heard of schools doing it, but I had never tried to organize one.  The school administration was on board about doing it, so after a little planning on my part, the drive began! I went to my local bank and told them my idea and they gave me penny, nickel, dime and quarter wrappers for free :)  I pulled a number out of my head of $100.00, thinking okay, maybe we would get $25.00 (if we were lucky).  The penny drive total actually went 50 cents o...

On our car trip back from the East Coast this summer, we stopped at a handful of gas stations to "fill up."  At one of the stations that we stopped at, as the hubby was getting ready to hop out and pump the gas, we heard something that sounded like someone was yelling at us.  I thought maybe it was somebody saying we cut them off at the pump :(  As it turned out, it was an attendant at the gas station asking us what kind of gas we wanted!  It was a full-service gas station :)  Wow, I don't even know the last time I saw one of those!!  Back in the day (I was born in 1963), that's they way all gas stations were, now most are self-serve. They remodeled the gas station that I frequent the most in town.  A few weeks ago when I was pumping gas into our van I took a look at the pump.  It had a screen attached to the pump with advertisements for the various products you could buy inside the gas station going across the screen. Pretty clever marketing - yo...

We went to the beach over the weekend.  When we told Dominic we were planning on going to the beach, he thought we were going to Jamaica.  That is where we went at Spring Break and I had to explain to him that we didn't need to go all the way down  there just to go to a beach :)  As soon as we put all of our stuff down on our beach blanket, he couldn't wait to take off his shoes, etc. and run right into the water.   The waves were relatively tame and Dominic had a great time body "surfing."  He got wiped out once, but quickly recovered.  A few times I tried to lift him up before a big wave came and he got kind of mad at me because he wanted  to ride the "wave."  Lauren, Dominic and I are big water "babies."  I grew up going to the beaches of the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  Near a beach or the water is still where I am the happiest.  Even now, that is my favorite kind of vacation.  This summer has most definitely been ...