We’re back from our Griswold-style fun family vacation (Clark Griswold, you are my hero). We had such an awesome time! It was our first ‘vacation’ with PB. He loved the beach and the attention from everyone. We swam, ate, played, ate, napped, ate, and enjoyed family. I had only one ice cream cone, so that was a bit of a let down, but I made up for it in my consumption of cheesy puffs and french fries. (I have a vacation rule which states that I must not eat anything that is remotely good for me while on vacation. Because I am a responsible citizen, I choose to obey).
We went to Bald Head Island in North Carolina with Ben’s family. Let me say, Bald Head Island was legit. Seriously, it was so nice. The island is pretty small (only about 5 miles in area), and only golf carts are allowed, so all cars stay on the mainland. There’s a small grocery store, a small restuarant or two, a few little shops, and that’s about it. It’s the perfect ‘getaway’ spot.
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| The roads on the island. |
We stayed in a house with the family. PB got lots of attention, and had a lot of playmates. We don’t get to see Ben’s family that often, so it was nice to get to spend some time with everyone.
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| Our house for the week. |
PB loved the beach. This is good news for him. His dad is part fish and his mom is a lazy beach bum, so he best learn to enjoy it. He was a little skeptical of the waves at first, but by the second or third day, he was ready to surf.
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| Momma’s little beach boy. |
It was a much different experience vacationing with an 8-month old. A typical vacation for Ben and I in the past consisted of Ben surfing and swimming until he could barely move, while I sat my fat rear in the sand until my butt was numb, my bag of cheesy puffs was empty, and my Coke went flat. This time, it was a whole new adventure. I spent most of my time trying to keep PB from eating sand, drinking pool water, and licking every surface imaginable. How my life has changed!
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| Finally! A nap!
I love watching him explore the world and see new things. He was mesmerized by the sand and he loved watching the birds. It does my heart good to watch him see pieces of his world for the first time. I can’t imagine what the beach looks like through his eyes. I hope he sees the beauty in all of God’s creations.
A few things I have learned/observed on vacation:
1. Traveling with family is a super LUXURY when you have a baby.
2. I have a new and serious respect for single moms and moms of twins. Ya’ll are the real deal!
3. Sunscreen in baby eyes=one bad day.
4. Stretch marks. They will follow you to the beach. Even if you have a talk with them before you leave and you beg them to stay at home (I may or may not have done this), they will still come.
5. Throw caution to the wind and tie up your bikini. No matter how bad you think you look, someone at the beach will probably look worse than you do. It may be the 70 year-old man in Speedos, or the grandma who spent too much time in the tanning bed. Either way, let it fly, man!
6. It is most annoying trying to keep dry sand from a wet baby’s body.
7. Sand can hide in many cracks and crevices on a baby’s body.
8. Babies will consume a gross amount of sand no matter what you do.
9. Sand leaves rashes on little babies.
10. Sand is my frenemy. 11. Sand stinks.
12. Stretch marks stink.
13. Seeing your baby having fun is a killer good feeling. 13. Sand and stretchmarks both stink.
Praise God for a safe trip and travels! We had such a good time, we didn’t want to leave. But you know how on the last night of vacation, you know you have to leave, so you just want to get home as fast as you can? That was us. We traveled all day Saturday and got home late Saturday night. Fun stuff with an 8-month old. I stuck my head out the window on the home stretch and sniffed the good ole’ country air. I think I cried when I saw our little old house. I love a good vacation as good as anyone, but home never looks and smells as good as it does when you get back. Your own bed looks like a little vision of heaven. We crawled in to bed around 12 Saturday night. I slept like a unicorn on a cloud……
Until PB woke up at 6 a.m., ready to play.
Ahh, motherhood.
More stories and vacay fun to come!
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