beach

Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately – with the trip and catching up on work, it has been a crazy few weeks. We are back and settled in at home. Our trip back from Emerald Isle was not as easy as our trip down. First, Micah had fallen and bumped his head on our spa day, so our last night at the beach, we did not sleep well. I was worried about Micah, so I was continually going in and poking him all night to make sure he was okay. We both finally drifted off to sleep . . . until about 6:30 am. My father started loading up the car for them to leave, and Micah heard everything and woke up, so our day started a bit early. My parents left around 8:00 am, and Micah and I were exhausted and we crawled back into bed with Elliot and we all napped together for a few hours.

By the time we got up and going, it was late. We started to get ready to go to the beach, and on the way there, we learned my parents had stopped at a hospital in Richmond because my father wasn’t feeling well. It was just the recurrence of a minor problem he had dealt with in the past, but we were worried about him all the same. We went to the beach while we waited for news about my father. We headed back to the house around 3 to start packing up. It took us a long time to pack up the car, and we finally got out the door and tried putting Micah to sleep in the car. Unfortunately, Micah was not interested in going to sleep. He cried most of the first 1 1/2 hours home. We had to pull over several times to try and calm him, and I quickly realized that he stopped crying every time we stopped – not because he was hungry, but because he wanted to play. After that, we just worked on singing him to sleep. He finally went out, but he was quite restless the entire trip home. Along the way, we got word that my father had been released from the hospital and was feeling better. We also ran into some bad weather on the trip back, so the driving was a bit tense.

About 1 hour from home, we stopped to refuel. Unfortunately, Micah woke up when we closed the car doors, and he decided to scream the rest of the way home. When we finally made it back home (at 2:00 am), he wanted to stay up and play while we unloaded the car. I eventually nursed him back to sleep, and he woke up again at 7:00 am. It was a long night, and he was pretty crabby all day Thursday, but he recovered quickly.

Thursday was our first music class! In between episodes of crabbiness, Micah had a really good time. He smiled at the singing, and he squealed with pleasure at being danced around, and he loved banging (and chewing) the instruments. The only problem was that Micah was in a “hold me mommy” mood, and any time I put him down (even for a second) he started to cry. After music class, Micah finally took a nice long nap, and seemed much better when he woke up.

This weekend, Elliot & I took Micah to the pool on Saturday during the day. The water was a bit cold, so he was not thrilled to be in the pool. I didn’t even get to swim my laps this time. We stayed for a few hours, then headed home to get ready for our “big night” – the Billy Joel/Elton John concert!! It was an amazing concert. It was held at Nationals Stadium, and we were worried it would rain. We were lucky – the rain bypassed us, and the evening was gorgeous. Unfortunately, there were several technical difficulties with the concert. First, Elton John’s piano was sticking, so he walked off during the first set and refused to finish. Billy Joel had to take over and entertain, and then just went into his solo set. He was amazing! He is entertaining, full of energy, and I just love his music. When he played We Didn’t Start the Fire, he had a slide show playing, showing pictures of the events/people to illustrate the words of his song. Elliot and I were hysterical because a picture of Elton John flashed up on the screen for “England’s got a new queen.” We don’t think most of the crowd picked up on that. The biggest issue was a speaker on the field – it was poorly wired and it had a HUGE delay that was garbling the sound. The entire section was complaining, but we could not get them to fix the problem. It was unfortunate that it marred the evening. Elton John finally came back up for his solo set – a slow start, but he ended strong. Pretty amazing for a couple of guys in their 60s. After Elton’s set, the two of them did a set together. I’ve decided that Billy Joel does a better job singing Elton John’s songs than Elton does of singing Billy (which, I have to say, kind of surprised me). They ended with Piano Man, and we awaited the encore. Much to our disappointment, there was no encore. All-in-all, it was a wonderful concert, and I’m so glad I was able to see the two of them play together again. If they come through again, I’d go again in a heartbeat.

We spent most of Sunday being lazy and recuperating. I toyed with the idea of taking Micah to the pool, but I just never mustered the energy. Today is back to the daily grind.

Our week down in Emerald Isle, NC has been fantastic – such a relief to get away and enjoy a bit. We had a long drive to get here in the car, so we decided to try leaving at night so that Micah would sleep through the entire trip. Surprisingly, we managed to get ourselves together and out the door on time (despite a vet appointment during the day for Nugget and a visit to the hospital to see a friend), and Micah cooperated by falling asleep in his carseat and sleeping the entire trip! The weather was horrible and it took us forever to get going, but we made it to the beach safe and sound. Micah transferred easily into the pack ‘n play, and Elliot and I settled in and went to sleep.

The house we are staying in is nice – nothing fabulous, but clean, in a good location, and nice. Micah woke up around 7 on Thursday morning. I nursed Micah, and Elliot was wonderful and took care of Micah while I went back to sleep for another hour. I took over in time to put Micah down for his nap. When he woke up again, I nursed him and fed him his breakfast. While I was taking care of Micah, Elliot took the time to go exploring. He likes to scope out the neighborhood – he found the grocery stores, and he went in search of a pool we could use later in the week.

After lunch, we headed off to the beach. Poor Elliot – he was loaded down like a pack mule! We used the bike trailer I bought him for Father’s Day as our stroller, and it was really an asset this trip. The big wheels handled the sandy beach quite well, and we strapped Micah in along with the beach bag, blankets and towels. Unfortunately, we did not think to bring enough beach toys, a sun umbrella, or beach chairs on our first trip. It took us a few days to finally get it all down to a science and remember everything we needed.

As an aside, I’m amazed by how much more complicated it is to travel with a baby. We just have so much more STUFF we need to bring. We had toys (we brought the jumper, an activity table, the gumball machine, a few animal chimes, the giraffe, the winkle, the stacking rings, and the nesting pails for the beach), a travel high chair/booster seat, towels, baby food, bottles, pumping stuff, baby bowls and spoons, diapers, wipes, swim diapers, music, a pack n play, a bottle brush, a cooler, the sun tent, the baby float, puffs, rice cereal, oatmeal, sippy cups, a diaper bag, music, hats, bathing suits, suntan lotion, shampoo, lotion, baby monitor, lovey blanket, cloth diapers, and strollers. Not to mention our regular beach stuff and our own clothing. AND we brought the dog, so we had all of her stuff, too.

Once we finally got everything together and made it out the door, we decided to stop at the pizza place and grabbed lunch. On our way to the beach, we walked by one of the pools we were considering trying out this week. It took us a while, but we made it to the beach around 2:00 or so. Micah had a great time – he had such a big smile on his face. He loved the ocean, and he loved the sand and water. We purchased a sun tent for Micah – it kind of looks like a mini camping tent, and it has SPF in the fabric to protect him from the sun. We tried to keep him in there most of the time, and he seemed to really like it. The sides are mesh, so he had a nice breeze flowing through the tent. We also took him down to the water and found a spot right at the edge where the waves were lapping the sand. I sat him up on the sand (how much do I LOVE this sitting thing!?!). About every 8th or 10th wave came out and touched us. Micah watched the waves, screeched with joy, and dug his hands in the sand. I picked him up and held him upside down over some of the waves a bit further in so he could stick his hands in the water. While he was sitting, he did keep trying to eat the sand. I’m not sure I understand the fascination there. I mean, I understand sticking the handful of sand in the mouth the first time, but seriously, how many times does it take before one realizes that a mouthful of sand is just icky!?!

After a few hours at the beach, we came home, showered, changed and tried running to the grocery store before meltdown. Unfortunately, we *just* missed getting all of our shopping done by 7:00 pm, and Micah was not happy towards the end of our trip. I had to run with a screaming baby out to the car and sit and nurse him. By the time we got him home, he was over-tired, and let’s just say bedtime was not a fun experience. I finally got Micah to fall asleep around 8:45, and he was out for the night.

On Friday, my parents joined us mid-day. Micah woke up at his usual time, we played, he napped with his Daddy, then he ate his breakfast, and we waited for my parents. Once they arrived, we headed off to the beach while they unpacked and got lunch. We did not make it there until almost 2:00 pm again (far cry from the time I like to be on the beach when I vacationed pre-baby), so we only stayed for a few hours. Micah was just adorable! He kept screeching with joy at the beach. He smiled when he saw the waves, and he had a great time rolling around in his sun tent. He napped on the beach, and I nursed him, and it was another wonderful and relaxing day. Friday night, Elliot decided to cook dinner – he made fajitas, and they were delicious! We spent the evening relaxing and hanging out. Micah spent some time rolling all over the floor (and getting stuck under furniture) before he went to bed.

On Saturday (4th of July) my mom, dad, Micah and I went to the shops for a few hours in the morning. Behind the stores, there was a small lake with turtles (probably snapping turtles). We had so much fun watching them swim and eat! After lunch, we went back to the beach with my parents. Another relaxing day. Elliot and I took a long walk together down the beach, Micah napped, and we stayed on the beach until almost 6:00 pm. We headed home, got Micah bathed and ready for bed, and Elliot grilled in honor of the 4th of July. We were able to watch fireworks from our deck, and we watched A Capitol Fourth on tv. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

On Sunday, we woke up and decided to take the boardwalk to the Sound.

(Sidenote: many years ago, we went on a family vacation to the Thousand Islands in Canada. We spent one day fishing out on a boat, and each of us, in turn, caught a very large fish . . . except for my father. When we each caught our fish, we took a picture grinning from ear to ear and holding our fish up. My father, so as to avoid being left out, worked for 20 minutes trying to catch a minnow with a fish net from the bait bucket. When he couldn’t grab that, we fished one out for him, and he, too, posed for his picture, holding a tiny little minnow. We met some nice people on the dock, who humored my father, helped him fish out another little bait minnow, and he posed for this picture – just a bit of deja vu!)

We had a lovely walk, but when we came back, we realized we had locked ourselves out. Elliot and my father were working on breaking into the house when the cleaning crew showed up! Luckily, they showed us where the spare key was, and we were able to get back inside. Good thing they showed up on the wrong day! After spending the afternoon at the beach, we decided to attempt dinner out with Micah. We went to eat at a local restaurant, Portofino, and my little guy was great. My biggest complaint for the day? Andy Roddick. For you tennis fans out there, I was DEVASTATED when Andy Roddick lost to Roger Federer in the finals at Wimbledon. The match was so exciting, and Roddick just made 1 poorly timed error (well, 4, if you count those 4 set points he blew in the 2nd set) and it was all over. Such a disappointing end to a fabulous match!

While I was putting Micah to bed Sunday night, Elliot and my dad decided to run out to the grocery store and then to the ice cream store. Long story short, my dad tripped on the way inside with the ice cream. He has a bad back and made a HORRIBLE noise – we were sure he’d fallen down a flight of stairs and seriously re-injured his back. While he had a nasty cut on his arm, a few bruises (including a bruised ego) he was just fine. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the ice cream! Yup, it spilled ALL over the carpet. And the walls. Needless to say, the ice cream was chocolate, and the carpet is beige. Yes, it was quite a mess. After making sure my dad was okay and securing the area from the dog, my mom and I set about the task of cleaning up. We started with water and did our best to minimize the stains. We then headed out to the store and bought some Resolve (and some bandaids for my dad). We soaked the area and scrubbed some more. The mess was better, but we were still concerned about the stains on the floor.

On Monday morning, I decided it was time to take Nugget to the beach – her first trip! She has been spending most mornings basking in the sun on the deck, but I’ve always wanted to bring her to the ocean. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. When she was a puppy, she had such an energy – she loved to pounce, and she loved the waves at the local lake where I would take her wading. I thought she would be chasing waves and going crazy in the sand – all full of life. We arrived at the beach, and she looked around. She seemed to like the sand, and smiled at the ocean. She was curious about the waves. . . . until they got her wet. Then she looked at me sideways as if to say “okay, mom, I’ve seen the ocean – can I PLEASE eat my breakfast now?

After I returned from walking Nugget (and bathed her), I soaked the carpet with Resolve AGAIN and scrubbed some more. We felt the stains were better, but we were still concerned. We figured a little time and soaking would do the carpet some good, so we sprayed it again and let it sit. The weather was lousy on Monday, so we headed out to Beaufort, a small town here on the Crystal Coast, and hit the shops. We ate ice cream and fudge, bought a few things, and just had a pleasant afternoon. We went out for a buffet dinner at the Golden Corral (we intended to go to a local buffet, but it was closed on Monday), and we made it home just in time to put Micah to bed. On the way home, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up more Resolve – yes, we used an ENTIRE bottle trying to clean the carpet. After a bit more spraying and scrubbing, we started to feel better about the condition of the carpet.

Today was Spa Day! We headed out to the OC Spa in Indian Beach and scheduled facials, massages, and a nice lunch. Micah spent the day hanging out by the pool, and enjoyed his first day at the spa. We are all thoroughly relaxed and refreshed. Unfortunately, this is the end of our vacation. We stayed in and ate leftovers for dinner, and we are starting the process of packing up to leave. My parents will leave first thing in the morning, and we will be spending the day on the beach and then packing up to leave when it is time to put Micah to bed. We are hoping the weather will be better on the trip home and Micah will sleep through the ride back.

All-in-all, it was a wonderful, relaxing and pleasant week. I am so thankful my parents could join us and help out with Micah. I think it was a great way for him to spend time with his grandparents, and it was a great getaway for all of us.

Back to Reality

Our week at the beach