Fasten your seatbelts or Your five-point harness, it's going to be a wild ride

Ladies and gentlemen, please keep your arms and hands inside the ride at all times. Please secure your belongings. And off we go.......

Climbing the first rise - I recovered nicely from my hangover yesterday, even to the point of entertaining friends poolside late in the day. We even had snacks! In my special "outside" serving dishes, no less (yes, I emptied the chips out of the bag and poured the salsa in a bowl - fain-cy!). It was a success, but in my lounging I didn't plan anything for supper. As we know, I am a work-widow so that affords me a certain luxury when it comes to meal planning. So, the brood wanted breakfast-supper (usually grits, biscuits and bacon), which Big Daddy hates but the brood loves, so we try to have it when it's practical, i.e. when he's not home. It was delicious. Then we hatched a plan so the kids could see Big Daddy when he got home.

Here we go, over the top - Hang On! - It is a full moon, and you know what that does to people. Full moon, heat, humidity, we're a little crazy - a cocktail for kooky schemes. So what do you do when your Daddy works late - very late - every night? You have a Moonlight, Midnight Swim, of course.

How do two peeps who normally go to bed at 9 pm stay up until midnight? They don't. They decided to tuck themselves in and set the alarm. The excitement of this plan was too much to bear though, so by 10 pm, they were on the couch watching tv because they couldn't sleep. I, on the other hand, went to watch tv in my room and fell asleep by 10:30 pm. Skibbie came down at 11:45 pm to wake me up and ask to change into bathing suits. My goal was to wait until well into the midnight hour because the moon wasn't high enough in the sky to illuminate the whole backyard. I stalled and stalled and finally gave in at 12:00 am. From a certain angle, you could see the moon reflecting in the pool and we all thought that was REALLY cool! I tried to take pictures of this, but they didn't turn out at all (boo, hoo, sniff, sniff).

The water was like glass. The pool was off - no hum of equipment - just the sounds of crickets. The air temp was 82. Moonlight sparkled in most of the pool. The brood and I slipped in, trying not to disturb the surface too much. It was like sliding into a pool of silk. The water was soft and warmer than the air temperature. It was quiet and we whispered to each other - not splashing, but slowly swimming and letting the water carry us around. The brood was commenting about how special it was to be outside so late at night, just floating in the pool - no goggles or toys - just us and the water and the moon.

Action lamented that we should have bought MoonPies, because he was getting hungry. We resolved that we would watch and record the moon each night so we can predict our next swim, which will be amended to the MoonPie, Midnight, Moonlight Swim.

Here's the Loop-de-Loop (barf bags not included) - We finally came in around 1 am, had a piece of toast and fruit, and went to bed. Big Daddy rolled in shortly after 1:30 am. He missed the swim. We were disappointed by that, but we sure had fun and I'll never forget it!

Please exit to your right. Gather your belongings and Don't leave anything behind - I'm taking it all with me......