Bartering is the oldest form of exchanging goods that I know of. The problem being that I don’t think I am very good at it. In the past I have traded my OT services for housecleaning but that is the extended of my trades. Matt, however, is regularly on the look out for a good trade. This  time even I am very impressed. He trade a web site design and maintenance for two years for this….

1995 Chevy S-10.  It needed a brake line which has been replaced but that is it. It runs and now stops!  So Matt has something to call his very own again. On a side note Zach has declared that this is the “Daddy and Zachary Truck”.  Have you made a good trade?

• I was able to find a “waterproof” camera while shopping yesterday so I am sure you will see lots of water pictures after vacation is over!
• This is my favorite part of the condo, yes it is a stackable washer and dryer. I hate the feel of sand, so  be able to wash our suits and towels after each use is a true luxury.  The other reason I really really like this washer and dryer is that even when we only had 2 children, I always was asking the front desk of every hotel for extra towel because I like to shower and don’t like to reuse towels. We have been running at least 2 loads of clothes a day but we always have enough clean towels to use
• We spent over six hours at the beach today!  I was most surprised that Zach loved boogie boarding as much as the girls!
• I learn a lesson about sunscreen today, Coopertone works ! I applied sunscreen to everyone around 8:30am this morning,  at lunch no one was burnt. I had purchased some Neutrogena Beach defense to use.  So we used this at lunch, I could feel myself starting to burn, check the time exactly 90 minutes later, re-applied the Neutrogena on everyone, Matt said he felt like he was burning exactly 90 minutes later. The Neutrogena  is almost gone but I am so disappointed with it!
• The kids insist on calling our small balcony a”terrace”.  I am enjoying the “terrace” as I type!

Today was probably the worst day weather wise all summer. Why of course it would also be my first day of vacation as well. The initial plan for today was to pack, make a trip to the store to purchase groceries for our beach trip and spend the rest of the day at the pool. As you can imagine with a high today of 65 and over an inch of rain, this was not going to go as planned. Last night we took the kids to Walmart, to get our shopping trip out-of-the-way. We did spend more than I planned but it was not a budget buster as it was just moved from our entertainment budget at the beach. The kids were excited to be able to pick out their favorite foods, I know they will be even more excited to get to eat these for an entire week. We did spend about two hours packing this morning. Matt even managed to catch a break in the rain to load the box on top of the van. I was surprised at how much fit in the van but also at how much we are really taking.  Next we headed to Winston to JCP to pick up our family pictures. A quick stop by the Dollar General was included to pick up both Kendall and Zach a pool float to sleep on this week. We decided these would definitively be a lot cheaper than air mattress and if they don’t bust we can use next summer. The kids have been requesting that we work on “school” every day this week. So we did a quick calendar, had a math lesson with the money they earned for the beach. Both Lily and Kendall have now finished their writing books, Kendall is print and Lily was cursive. they still have a few more pages for extra practice but both will be ahead in writing and reading this year. Matt and Kendall finished the reading book yesterday so both of the educational goals have been met for the summer. Next up on the agenda were nails, I was in charge of removal and clipping and Matt painted and included glitter art for fun.  We ended the night by renting and watching Monster Inc with lots and lots of popcorn!  Overall this was a nice relaxed way to spend my first day of vacation!