Again, the new gallery is up.

The beach again. The weather has changed considerably. Very nice today. Very hot. Real hot. Most of us are sun-burned, and mottled with said sunburn, in fact. Apparently, unlike Kentucky sun, if you don’t cover each and every nook and veritable cranny on your body, you will burn in those varied places. That little place on your back you couldn’t reach? It looks like a Three Stooges inspired iron-burn. Your legs that you’d thought you covered? Sun-streaked and burning. Your toes? Well, let’s not even mention the toes.

More below! Read on! Really!
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That aside, I went walking a ways down the beach, and stopped to watch some guy teaching kids how to surf. It was pretty cool. The surf culture has always intrigued me, I guess. That mix of zen-philosophy and sport is pretty neat. Always looking for that perfect wave, awash in natures fury, but able to swim back to shore. I never really regarded it as an “extreme sport”, but a “lazy sport”, really. I know you have to possess some sort of physical agility and prowess for balance, but it looks very relaxing.

I was all covered up with sunscreen, hat, and t-shirt, but I still got a little burned through my t-shirt. It was really hot (or so i thought). The sand had finally dried enough to retain heat, and we only lasted about 2 hours out there. We went back, feeling spent and burnt, and most everyone ended up taking a nap. Nick said it felt a little wasteful doing so, but hell, I’m on vacation, and considering that I only get 5-6 hours of sleep a night, I’m happy to nap.

Oh, “What’s up with the ‘Nature Tests Us’ in the title?” you say. Well, it seemed that the sea, and frankly, Mother Nature was angered with some of us this morning. Kelly was stung by a jellyfish, Jessica was stung by a sting-ray of some ilk, and Hunter was attacked by fire ants (while walking, I might add). I was bitten by a mosquito. Kelly also saw a dead jellyfish washed up on the beach. “I thought ‘Did someone spill some Jell-o?’” said Kelly. None of us had a good explanation of where the brain is on a jellyfish. I wasn’t sure either. It’s all brain. It’s all gooey.

Kelly here: i had always heard that jellyfish stings are painful. i didn’t realize that it would be the sort of hot, sharp pain that made me expect to see something still attached when i lifted my leg out of the water, running towards (the best one can run while in knee deep water) jessica and eve, all the while shouting that that there was something in the water, it had gotten me, and fuck, it hurt (jess and i had gotten lightly attaked by something else unseen earlier, but it was not nearly as painful). the damn thing not only got me next to my knee, but when i lifted my leg to see what the hell was trying to kill me, it then decided that my ankle and foot were fair game too. i was tempted to try the home remedy of peeing on myself to alleviate the pain, but there were many families around.

that’s why later, when i came across the dead kin of the one that got me, i felt vindicated by poking it with a stick.

Eve: I, sadly, missed out on the stinging action today, but not all was a loss. Hunter and I had our third anniversary today. I got some rockin new cds, and we have sipper cups of daquiris for the beach. Vacations are great.