The Coconut Road: Shiny, Happy, People

My first thought on my first morning back home from our beach vacation was "Why am I so tired?", next thought "I already miss the breakfast buffet", then "I don't want to open the blinds and not see the ocean, so I'll just keep them closed"(the blinds, not my eyes.

I dragged the kids from bed, forced them to eat breakfast and shoved us out the door bright and early, a WHOLE HOUR EARLY to be exact. Oops! I set the wrong alarm. At least that explains my first thought.

Now that I'm awake, I'm really not tired at all, just suffering from post-vacation depression, where everything looks gray, tastes bland, and the sound of the washing machine hums in the background instead of the sound of the waves.

Although I love the water, someone told me recently that an Aquarius is an air sign. I have to say, that feels more right to me. I love the feel of the breeze, the smell of the ocean air and the sound of the wind in the trees, especially palm trees. This vacation delivered on all counts. We enjoyed clear breezy days and the sound of high tide on the beach at night.

Of course all vacations must have a few issues and ours were minor. The resort we stayed at (a five-star in Brazil) was reduced to a three-star thanks to a workers strike the first three days. As my house is rated a one-star, this was still luxurious for our standards. I was mysteriously bit by some bug in the night, all over my lower half, a great way to draw attention to the rear end in case you need to. David enjoyed several days of golf in which he also had to fight off real life angry birds, a result of migratory nesting on the fairway. Camryn's very blond hair turned very green from the pool chemicals, resulting in a daily tomato juice before dinner. And our return airport shuttle arrived an hour earlier than scheduled, causing a little last minute chaos and some leftover sand in all the wrong places.

The resort was lovely and the people were lovelier. Brazilian woman truly know how to do the beach. I've never seen so many beautiful bodies in one place before. And the food- it was plentiful, mostly delicious, and I loved all the dishes that were Bahian, very spicy and loaded with seafood. Here's a few pictures from the week.

Aidan at the Tamar Project, a sea turtle rescue and protection agency. Locals are soaking in and smearing on the sea sludge from low tide. You can probably buy it for $100 in a US spa -Brazilian Algae Wrap.

The view from my favorite pool chair. There were six pools at our resort to enjoy.