Carolina dreamin'

You know how earlier I was all "Winter isn't so bad!"

I was wrong. Because, yes, winter can be fun, what with the small children enjoying the snow and the sledding and the pretty pretty pretty. But then it just keeps going. And going. And GOING! And somewhere in my acclimatized to warm days self, a part of me has started a silent scream that I am pretty sure will continue until the cruelest month either turns out to be less cruel or does in fact result in May flowers...and not more snow!

My disillusionment started a little while ago, when I was driving home from preschool one day and realized that the air, the clouds, the road, and the yards were all the same color: dirty white. For some reason, I found this profoundly depressing. As in, I had to drive home immediately and take a nap depressing. And now, here it is snowing again today, when it was 68 on Sunday. When we got to church, J got out of the car, looked around, and said with a bewildered tone in his voice, "It's not cold!" I felt the same way. More importantly to me, the sun was shining and you could see blue sky. Oh, how I miss blue sky! The sun peeked out from behind some clouds the other day and Toddler E said vehemently, "Go away, Sun! I don't like you in my eyes!" It was all I could do not to pull over and give him a long lecture on why we love the sun, oh yes indeed we do! But I had to remember that he is so young he doesn't remember the endless spri-sum-fall that is South Carolina.

Fortunately, I have the perfect antidote to the winter of my discontent: a vacation to the beach! Yes, at some point in the (undisclosed to the Internets) future I will be heading off to points south, specifically Edisto Beach, SC, for some fun in the warmth and sun. The husband's parents are meeting us there; we will have two condos between and 4 swimming pools between us. We have approximately one day out of the whole week planned, and I think we're going to try and keep it that way. I'm bringing pool noodles, sand tools, sunscreen, swimming suits, the husband and the boys, and not much else. And I am so excited I can hardly stand it!