What's happening????

 So....what's happening over at Casa de Henry?

My baby got some new glasses - bifocals (yes - she's NINE - she got my eyes *sigh*)

But look how cute my girl is!! 

Amazingly, she's very excited about it and picked out her frames herself .  

Unamazingly, insurance covered ZERO. 

Dammit.

And then we have Chauncey.

Little Man has been having some issues going up and down these....

Possibly because his nails are so long that he slips and slides and has actually tumbled down a few times.

(and yes, we get his nails trimmed - unfortunately, his nails are black.  And long.  Which anyone with a dog knows can only lead to bloody nails when being trimmed)

Anyway, the dogs nails have really done a job on the stairs.  Brian and I had contemplated covering them with a runner but we can't find anything we like that won't cost a bazillion dollars.

And I LOVE the look of the bare stairs. 

But I love my Chauncey more, so after  x-rays, medicine and several hundred dollars at the vet it was determined that he was injuring his shoulder and "wrist" on the stairs by slipping and trying to catch himself. 

The diagnosis was to be confined to to the kitchen for two weeks, take medicine three times a day, no stairs for at least two weeks and when he could go up and down the stairs - they had to be covered. 

I needed a quick fix, so I purchased some carpet treads from Solutions and put them on the other night.

I had several criteria:

1.  No permanent installation. No nails, no glue.  I spoke with several people who have these and read all the reviews on this type of tread and Solutions appeared to be the best rated and were the most cost effective.  They simply lay on the stairs (with a rubber backing) and are "slip free".
 So far, so good.  

We'll see. 

2.  I did NOT want to see them.  I wanted them to be subtle - I certainly didn't want to call attention to them.

3. They needed to be inexpensive. After the vet bills and new glasses I was totally broke. So, yeah - "Cheap please!"

I ordered the chocolate brown.  

They blend in pretty well with the dark treads. 

You can't really see them at first, right?

Who am I kidding.
 Just humor and tell me you NEVER would have noticed them if I hadn't pointed them out.

Thank you.  

SPRING BREAK!!!!!

Ahhh..... Spring Break.....

It used to mean this:

(*ahem*)

But now - older, wiser, and well, did I mention older?  It means this:

Ahhhhh.....

Notice there are only TWO chairs.

Brian and I were able to get away to the end of the earth for a few quiet, blissful days.

Did I mention it was quiet?

Yes, my wonderful in-laws kept the girls and Brian and I traveled to the Eatern Shore for a little getaway.

We stayed in a friends house, right on the Chesapeake Bay (RIGHT ON THE BAY!!!!).

The house was super cute, but this is what got me....

Hello, Lover......

I've mentioned before that I spent a lot of time in New England in my youth.  Well, a lot of that time was spent on a boat in the Long Island Sound.  

Like, every weekend in the summer, Friday to Sunday.

Oh, how I wish I had appreciated it more when I was young.

I am drawn to little seaside fishing towns, with marinas, and crab pots and wildlife, and calm water, and  docks and boats and boats and more boats.

My dream is to own a house on the Bay or a boat I can sleep on with my family comfortably.

I'd love to own both, but I'll take one or the other.

I like the beach - don't get me wrong - but hands down, 100%, no lie, if given a choice I choose the Bay. 

There's something about walking on grass all the way to the water's edge and walking out on a nice long dock and plopping yourself down in a chair to watch the sunrise, the boats, the sea gulls, the sunset....

There's nothing like it.

I think - after spending this weekend with me at this lovely place my husband FINALLY gets that this is important to me.

I mean, I've been telling him for 15 years but he just never really understood.

After seeing me this weekend, he get it.  And he's on board with the whole -

 I NEED TO BE NEAR THE WATER AND WE NEED TO DO WHATEVER IS NECESSARY TO ENSURE WE HAVE A HOUSE THIS CLOSE TO THE BAY WITH A BIG ASS DOCK SOMEDAY.

You can have your beach - I'll gladly and willingly visit. 

But give me the Bay as my home. 

And now, a little pictorial of our trip - WARNING  - this post has tons of pictures which will make you want to drop everything, quit your job and move to the shore.

Wait, is that just me? 

Coffee on the dock - ahhhhhh.......

The view from the deck.

One of the drawbacks of going to the shore this time of year is that there is NOTHING open.  Even the restaurants were only open on the weekends.  Crab season doesn't start until April 1st and tourist season doesn't start until mid May, so it was pretty quiet around town.  We stayed in a little fishing town and it was a little sad to see how poor the little town was.

Since there was nothing open we did a lot of exploring...

The Washington Inn in Princess Anne.

Built in 1744, in the Reign of King George II.

It was a beautiful building - there's so much history in my state - we're lucky to live here...

Driving along a little seaside road.

Brian driving - ha!

I couldn't help but take some pictures of some of the cute little houses we saw on our adventures.

Of course, Brian appreciated all of the shouts of "Slow down!  Stop!"  as I tried to snap pictures.

This house was so cool.  Doesn't it look like its straight out of a fairy tale?

Unfortunately, it was pretty run down.  But I would love to see the inside.  That roof fascinates me!

This house was right on the water - stunningly beautiful lot, private street - and it was for sale!

I'm trying to figure out a way to talk mom and dad into buying it.....

When we weren't exploring, we were at the house, sitting outside, or watching movies or cooking fresh seafood.

Brian walking out to join me.

There were several crab pots for our use but we weren't sure of the rules (how big do they need to be, would we get in trouble if we crabbed before the season opened, etc.).

The water was shallow and surprisingly clear.

We went for a lot of walks - there was a commercial fishing marina right next to us.  

Big piles of shell.

Crab pots. 

This was in the fishing marina and was freshly painted. 

I have no idea why this was all the way up here from Hilton Head?  

I spent a lot of time looking at this....

We were lucky we had such great weather. 

And Brian was happy to drink a few margaritas.

My man loves tequila.

And that was how we spent part of our spring break.

We're home now and I'm hanging with the kiddos this week.

Have a wonderful Easter!!