beach friends

This morning we went to the beach.  Teoman and Tomris keep telling me in the morning they aren't coming - then when they see me and Tuana ready they change their minds.  The water was wavy but clear today.  Our friends where there and I could actually talk to Maria, which we often can't because we are chasing the children.

I'm kind of using them, because its often her husband that all our kids are playing with - he's usually distracting them with digging or looking at bugs or some other age appropriate activity.

Teoman had found new friends last week - and he and the other boy quite enthusiastically swim and dig holes together.

There is a camel that comes to the beach.  An old man leads the camel, and the big cow bell dings as is plods to it's place on the pier.  The camel kneels there on a carpet he lays - it used to be all day long, now he only stays for a short time before moving on.

Tuana loves the camel.  All three were running over to the cement pier at different paces so I came up behind them.  Tuana was allowed to sit on the camel the other day, and cried when I didn't let her today.

She really loves animals.

We went for ice cream and I stopped at our uncle's place on the beach.  It looks right out on the sea - a beautiful location, but an awful house.  Packed with junk and not well cared for.  His son, our cousin was washing his car, scraping off the bugs from it.  Our uncle smiled his gentle smile and encouraged us to come right in.  He had a candy in his hand that he gave Tomris.  Tuana was pointing at their dog.  My relatives were just eating breakfast and invited me to sit - and I did for only a few minutes.

We headed home and I showered the kids and put Tuana to sleep.  While she's sleeping, I usually do some cleaning and today I mopped the terrace and living room and weed whacked the garden then began raking.

We had dinner, and our beach friends came over again - the kids played in the garden.  They ran around, rode the scooter, chased a kitten, threw sand.  I turned on the hose and a rocket toy we have.  Our friends had brought ice cream - even though my kids already had ice cream and chocolate today. None of them could finish their ice cream because of it.

The kitten that came today is strange.  I'd never seen it before and it was sitting on our balcony this morning.  It's strange - because most cats, even as young kittens, are scared of everything and everybody.  This one came right up to me.  I pet it and it purred.  I fed it and Tuana loved it.  But it wouldn't leave thoughout the day - going between our house and two other neighbors.  We tried to scare it away, and it kept coming back.  I let Tomris and Tuana pick it up.  (I just learned neither of them know how to hold a cat, and I didn't show them because I didn't want to hold it on my clothes).  Anne kept telling them to stop because it would scratch them and they'd get a bacteria.  I let them pick it up because I thought the kitten would soon learn this is not necessarily a safe place to stay.  But the kitten let them pick it up.  It didn't resist or scratch - only complained some, and reached for the ground - but never ran away, just hung around them and didn't even try to avoid their constant grabbing - as it was hoping for more love.

Our friends left, and the kids torotured the cat some more, and I brought some food out for it, but led the kitten to the street to eat it.  Two other cats came out of nowhere (how do they do that?) and we said goodnight to the cats and went upstairs to sleep.  It was a long day and a late night.