If a tree falls in the forest...

So if a vacation happens, or a funny thought occurs, and I don't blog about it; does it count? In fact, it does. My friends, there is a glorious world that can still be found outside of the reaching clutches of Teh Interwebz. Don't get me wrong, the net is not a malevolent behemoth reaching out with soul-sucking tentacles of death to ensnare you for life, chained to a desk in the basement laughing at pictures of cats and playing Farmland as you stalk the people you used to know in the real world on Facebook and get your groceries delivered through a hole in the door thanks to the convenience of online shopping. At least...I hope it's not a tentacled behemoth with the intent to render me useless in an effort to take over the world. If it is, we're screwed. Just look at this Allie Brosh cartoon to amusingly and cruelly prove my point:

See what I mean?

But, I figured that - for those of you with whom I can now only communicate through that wiley contraption of the World Wide Web - I'd remind you that I don't actually spend all my time in front of the screen with a convenient wi-fi point to plug into. Otherwise, how would I have time to experience the things I complain about? Or do the crafty household projects I photograph and describe to you? Or make that baby I keep rambling on and on about? (Perhaps I should stop my list here...)

Anyway, this glorious world that exists away from my computer is the reason I haven't blogged for a few days. The Husband and I were away with the In-Laws spending some quality time on the east coast of England. Mersey Island, to be exact. Of course, as an American, I'm quite snobbishly particular about the sorts of beaches that qualify as decent beaches (read: England doesn't have them), but - to be fair - we did manage to find quite a good beach one day. It even had golden sand...also a lot of rocks and tiny bugs, but the golden sand and sea shells were a good place to start! We visited the oldest church still working in the country - set up in 654AD. (This, of course, involved several silly moments in which we even roped my father-in-law into joining in on some mock-Gregorian chanting. We're nothing if not juvenile and entertaining.)

Pictures, I promise, will be forthcoming. It's just that I kept forgetting to bring the camera, and my father-in-law being the enthusiastic amateur photographer that he is was much better-equipped with his lovely SLR to take all kinds of snazzy photos during all of our exploits. These exploit included what I must, as a Marylander, shockingly admit is my first experience going crabbing. Incidentally, it was Seb who was the champion crab-catcher of the family; having the patience to reel in some impressive hauls of crustaceans during our outing.


Highlight of the trip out? Getting tasty food and the last of our nursery furniture (!) at Ikea in Croydon.
Highlights of the time there? Crabbing, and a scathingly humorous viewing of Twilight and New Moon. I confess, I gave in to my morbid curiosity and sat down with The Husband, Felicity, and Emily to watch and mercilessly critique the cinematic mediocrity that is the brain child of Stephanie Meyers. We had a hilarious time picking it apart and finally discovering what all the fuss was about. I could go on at length about the missed opportunities to make a good piece of fiction...but I'll save that for another time. ;-)
Highlights of the trip back? Seeing first-hand some of the damage caused by the lawless idiocy and opportunism of the London riots. The Sony building up in Enfield was still smoking furiously when we drove past on the M25.

Other highlight? High-fiving my baby. Oh yeah; Piggly Wiggly is now big enough that I can tell which appendages are poking me where...and we snagged our first ever High Five around my belly button as we drove back home.

More updates tomorrow. As for now; time to get back into my normal at-home routine! Prepare for more entertainment to spew forth again from this corner of the blogosphere.