Strawberry Shortcake - The Nudist

As a kid, I grew up in the Ocean State. Ah, lil' Rhody with it's four hundred miles of beaches. Bet you didn't know that the smallest state in the country could boast so much coastline. We certainly had our pick of the beaches and of all those sandy strips my parents often chose the one that you actually had to strip at. That's right, a nude beach. Moonstone to be exact and I'm not trying to be funny.

Now a nature reserve for the piping plover or some such bird, Moonstone was a nude beach into the early 80's. As a small kid I didn't notice much of anything in the way of awkwardness I rather liked the whole no sand in the bathing britches factor and I was literally free to run around and play all day. Minus the fact that there were often few other children to play with it wasn't a bad beach. I would take my red backpack full of sand shovels, pails and Strawberry Shortcake dolls and follow my parents along the beach to the perfect blanket location. We'd set up for the day and I would take off whisking Shortcake, Huckleberry and Apple Dumpling off to exotic ocean side locales. Barbies were not for the beach but Strawberry went everywhere with me.

One day, as I sat on my parents blanket eating a sandy sandwich I realized something. Shortcake and company was missing! Where had she gone? My father piped in that she was probably by the shoreline where I had left her. I ran down to see only to discover that while Shortcake, Apple Dumpling and Huckleberry were all still sitting in the sand and basking in the sun, there clothes were no longer there. They had been washed out to sea! Gone. Forever. Not a trace of them was left behind. Not an apron, rubber shoe or poufy hat could be found. I was devastated. It was one thing for my parents and I to be naked, but it was quite another for Strawberry Shortcake.

While my mother bought replacement clothes they were never the same original outfits and the dolls never quite seemed the same to my anal-everything-must-be-right-self. From there on out I forever thought of Strawberry and friends as nudists.

For less traumatizing beach adventures check out PBN where you can read more stories and find out how to win a "Summer Fun Essentials Package"- a beach bag filled with summertime must-haves such as beach towels, pool toys, a sand castle building kit, and more! Plus, products from the Huggies® Little Swimmers® line.

**Lookie, lookie what one reader found- Poor Vintage Shortcake and Mint Shortcake.

Consumed!

To date on this version of "Mummy Cruises Home Turf" the following has been consumed.

1. No oreos. I'm holding out people. I am resisting the fat!

2. Five clamcakes. Deep-fried goodness oh and with clams.

3. Sand. Beach day!

4. Screams of Terror as H nearly rear-ended a car much smaller than the Pathfinder as he gaped at yet ANOTHER Dunkin Donuts in the New England area. While not a total fan of 'the Nut' Tim Horton's can kiss my now sunburned tookas.

5. Screams of Indignation as my father pointed out my no longer "I've never carried a baby" stomach. Flat most days, not yesterday. Two plates of pasta and meatballs bloated me. Probably that feedbag of popcorn the night before as well.

6. Magazines, books- two.

7. The Bourne Ultimatum. Can I just say I might have a Jason Bourne thing now? Not to be confused with a Matt Damon thing. THAT is just not appealing. Mummy LOVES the fight scenes. As Fogle would say, "Tight!"

8. Superbad. Dig the dance sequence in the beginning and George Michael getting his own flick. The extended version of the Cops? Not so much. Maybe the DVD will have less cops. More Fogle.

9. Time with spouse sans kid. Countless. We watched a full episode of vintage 90210 in the middle of the day snorting ourselves silly with the moussed 90's hair of Dylan McKay (dudes got a HUGE melon!), "bros", and bad outfits. Poor, poor Brian Austen Green. He was such a choade.

10. Sadly no Simon and Simon episodes, but I did make T.D. dance to the Magnum P.I. theme song about 250 times so far. WHY IS THAT ALWAYS ON?!

Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

I am a New Englander at heart. While I love DC and call it home, there is something about the old N.E. that makes me proud to hail from there and hold it close to my heart always.

It is particularly at this time of year that I miss the RI beaches, Del's (featured on unwrapped again this weekend!) and clamcakes from the Hitching Post the most. I sort of even miss the tourists that clog up Newport from Memorial day to Labor day.

I think back to summers spent at Burlingame State Park swimming in my own underwater world. Back roads traversed on my pink and grey ten-speed bike with my best friend, E. and actually being able to see fireflies at night. I know that each state and part of the country holds its own charm, but for me, Rhode Island, New England and all it's quirkiness resides in my soul and makes up a large part of who I am and how I relate to life and other people.

So it's with great interest that I noticed a rather large spike in my site's traffic hailing from that very state and area's nearby. How did you get here? It cannot be that my mother has started shouting from her front porch for you all to read the blog. I sincerely doubt that my father is going to work everyday passing out blog cards to fellow coworkers. Somehow I just can't see middle age men who work in defense being all that interested in this here blog. Then again...there was that week back in January... My family isn't that large either.

So speak up, tell me who you are, and how you came to find this site, introduce yourself. Lastly, Welcome.