Beach Memories

Where to begin? I just really don’t know. Right now, two days after leaving Tybee Island, the adults are pooped and the kids are sick.  I kind of feel like a need a vacation from the vacation. It’s not to say that I didn’t have a great time – I did – at times. At other times – well, it’s just hard being away from the comforts of home. It’s so hard to write about the negatives when, looking back on it all, so many positive things happened and some of them even came out of the negatives. That’s why I’m going to take a somewhat easy way out and basically summarize the entire trip (the good, the crazy and the yuck) through my experiences.

• Great quality time, conversations and laughs with loved ones – especially sitting outside until 1 am-ish just hours before the storm rolled in and playing games (BUNCO! RULES and Nia and I totally need to stay away from Guitar Hero)
• Getting to visit with friends – Paul, Karen, Brian and Baby Andrew – thanks for coming all the way out to share smiles!  Miss you!
• Sharing the beauty of the beach with Andrew’s parents and my mom – Nia loved looking for sandy treasures with her Papa Dave – very special
• Watching Nia and her BFF Avery play like they’re together all the time
• Getting to see how much our niece (Baby Ella) is growing up – she has the cutest little voice and pronounces words so precise – it’s adorable!  The word “yes” is especially cute.
• Getting to see (sort of) our other baby niece who is now comfy and cozy in her mommy’s belly (the prettiest pregnant lady in the world!)
• Screaming children (Nate) in confined spaces
• Screaming children (many) in awesome waves
• Leaky roof, pots filled with slimy, brown water (when we called the rental agency, they told us there was a mop in the closet! ha!)
• Laughing about the leaky roof and the
• No power for an hour on our first morning
• Andrew acting giddy because we have no power
• Soaking rain for our first two days
• Playing in the rain (Ginger and I being carefree and braving the rough waves)
• Taking advantage of the sunny spots during the rainy days (we didn’t miss a day on the beach!)
• Sick children (3 children diagnosed with strep – 2 of them also have ear infections and Nia is struggling with a high fever and sore throat now – so far no strep but she still has something!)
• Happy children – (before, during and after the illnesses) – it was so hard to tear them away from the beach
• Bad eye luck – Ginger was forced to bury a contact in the sand (she was on her last pair at the time) – Nate the Destroyer got his mitts on Andrew’s glasses at the same time one of his last contacts was unwearable – my mom accidentally dropped her glasses on the concrete and now has two chips right in the middle of a lens
• Getting to go on a hot date with my husband of 7 years – we’re so glad we could share our anniversary with so many people we love
• Eating my very own crab legs for the first time – I can’t believe I cracked them all by myself!
• Can you say yum?  I certainly did thanks to Breakfast Chef Ginger.  (Eggs, bacon, grits, sausage, biscuits and gravy – I just had me some more of ’em grits today – I’m hooked!)
• Four scoops of ice cream that ended up hitting the table before Nia could even taste it
• Daddy making it all ok and telling both of his girls not to cry over spilled ice cream
• New dents for Nate’s skull – I think he hit his head something like 3 times in 3 hours.  And don’t even get me started about one table that was the perfect toddler/infant height!  3 kids had bruised heads!
• Speaking of heads and dangerous objects – this is all I have to say – ceiling fan. Those who know what I’m talking about will understand – those who don’t – you’ll have to ask me one day – it’s just too hard to describe on here without coming across as a complete jerk
• Being on WSAV – I thought I quit?!?!  Paul – that was all for you buddy
• Running after Nate as he chased birds on the beach yelling “B”
• Witnessing the immense joy and excitement the ocean stirred up in the kids – their happiness topped everything

Tags: beach, memories, vacation