I have tons of pictures to post along with some little things to remember about our 2014 summer vacation :-)
- Although we did miss the Masons very much, Claire was pretty excited to have a huge ocean-front room all to herself. She thought it was so fancy to have her very own bathroom attached. Fielder had his own room too and still talks about how much he liked his pack-n-play, but that when he's older he wants to sleep in a bunk bed.
- In his room, there was a TV that someone had left their "Valkerie" DVD in. He talked about that DVD NON-STOP. "Can we watch it? Is it scary? Do you like it? Can I hold it? Where is it?" And on and on and on....
- Speaking of questions....that boy is truly exasperating with his questions. "Relentless" is the word we use pretty often describing his questions!!
- We did a pretty good job of getting pictures through the week, but I am so mad I didn't bring my camera out the first night when we got there. We brought the kids down to the beach after dinner and no more than 5 seconds after Rob asked if we had to do baths that night, Fielder was soaked from head to toe and covered in sand. We had these great tide pools and they loved playing in them. We also found a sea star - the first one I've ever seen at the beach!
- And speaking of baths, we didn't give them a bath that night.....OR ANY NIGHT!! Ha! We hosed the kids down after the beach each time. The best thing about that house is that the hose runs warm water. We just stripped them down, we had the soap right there, and both of them loved it. (sorry neighbors)
- Rob wins the worst-packing-job award. We realized halfway down that he forgot his work computer, which he actually needed for a conference call that week. He managed without it, but one item that you really shouldn't go to the beach without is your BATHING SUIT. So on day 1, he had to make a little trip to Wings for a new suit.
- My attempt at "beach activities" included a sand volcano. Fielder thought it was cool and requested it a few more times.
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| Jim Mason on the beach! |
- Both kids LOVED the water this year. Fielder had no fear whatsoever and Claire loved it just as much. She was nervous to try boogie boarding, but once she did she thought it was great. It was the best to watch her - I think she'd stay in the water all day long if we let her. And on the boogie board, she'd just squeal and laugh the whole time.
- The first day after we had been outside for 5 minutes, Fielder looked up at me and said "I like the beach, it's my favorite." Me too buddy, me too.
- As much as Fielder loved the beach, he also had a time limit for it. 2 hours was his max I think, but usually after an hour and a half, he was ready to go inside. We'd play in the water, have a popsicle, play some more, distract with an activity, etc...to try and stretch the time out before we had to go in. Rob and I took lots of shifts and traded back and forth with kids. He sure loved his "pock-a-sickles"
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| That's Mimi walking along the tide pool. |
- It was fun to be back in Miss Sandbridge again! This was our 3rd year there, just not in a row. We've had many great meals and lots of fun memories in that house.
- My friend nominated me on facebook to take the ALS ice bucket challenge while we were at the beach. It's a fundraiser that has been astounding in the money it's raised (almost $100 million!) and it's been clogging up facebook feeds for a while now. At first I didn't want to do it, but after reading some blogs and posts from people in the ALS community, I had to get out there and dump some ice on my head. (And donate some money too.) Claire watched videos of her friends doing it so she wanted to do it too!
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| Fielder checking out the "sand fleas" we found. |
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| Rob helped the kids with the kite! |
- Rob decided to take Fielder to Wilmington one day to go to the Childrens Museum. It was a nice break for me and the boys had a lot of fun. Claire, Mimi, and I spent the morning on the beach!
- We did have a potential "shark sighting" which sent us all out of the water for the rest of the afternoon! I was so annoyed by these people that had come and set up right next to us, but they were the ones that insisted they saw a shark. They must have really believed it because I never saw them back in the water that day or the next.
- There were MANY rounds of Old Maid this year. I think we played more games this year than any of the other years combined. After almost every meal we played Old Maid or Go Fish. Then in the evenings with Claire, we'd play Uno and Skipbo. Of course Dad kept score!
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| beautiful view from our house of a storm rolling in |
- Rob and I got a date night and of course we went to "our place" Sears Landing. Before we went to eat, we decided to drive to the last public beach access and we walked to the end of the island. It was so beautiful, peaceful, and quiet. (Just what we needed in the middle of a week at the beach with 2 kids!)
- Well, at least this year we weren't leaving early due to a hurricane or leaving with anyone still at the hospital! It was sad for the week to be over, but I was thankful for a wonderful vacation!
- We had a fairly easy drive home (aside from 3,895 questions from Fielder.) Rob and I had been playing the license plate game and by the time we got home we had a total of 38 states, plus Quebec, Ontario, and Washington DC! Rob wins the prize for finding Hawaii, right in the parking lot of the childrens museum of Wilmington. I'm still on a mission to find the last states.
