BeachTrip Part One

We just got back from Bethany Beach.  It was a long trip that turned out to be more relaxing than I thought it would be with Drewy in tow.  Brian had to stay and work, but my parents, sister, and nephew were able to go with us to make it one exciting trip.

The first day we took our time getting to the beach and stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch on the way.  Once we were there and in our rental house, the big kids (I didn't take the infamous Drew because I'm not crazy) and I took off to the closest Catholic church for the Saturday Vigil Mass.  That was a wonderful way to start our trip.  It certainly put me in the peaceful and joyful mood.  Hannah made me laugh because when the music started up she turned to me with a confused face and asked, "What is that sound?"  "Drums, I think," I replied because we were so far in the back that I couldn't see.  Later during the Mass we even heard a guitar and some kind of chimes.  Not really our family's kind of music for a Mass, but to each his own I guess.

Day 2, we were able to hit the beach by 9am.  We had about a .3 mile walk each way to and from the beach.  It was some well needed exercise even if I would have preferred teleporting to the beach and back.  I had to walk it about 4 times a day since my sister, mom, and I went to the beach in the afternoon, kid-free, during nap/rest time.  My dad held down the fort, all too willing to read and be done with the beach by then.  On the beach Drew was easy to keep up with since the waves were pretty rough and knocked him down.  This made him a little more hesitant with going into the water and he was easier to keep track of then.  He liked the dino cups I brought and we sat and made little dinosaurs in the sand for a while each day.  His favorite thing was snacks on the beach though.  The girls and Isaac were constantly jumping waves, digging, and building sandcastles; I barely heard a peep from them unless Drew was getting dangerously close to one of their sand creations.  Walking back we came to a big ditch by the road.  Isaac says to me, "Mimi told me I can't walk in a big ditch or I'll break my leg."  That made me laugh because she had just been explaining the danger of walking into a deep hole without noticing, but he thought walking in it at all would make his leg break somehow.

Drew and his cousin, Dylan.  That is Drew's attempt at a smile into the sun.  Drew did pretty well with Dylan as it turned out.  He has some work to do on his "soft baby touches" that we've been practicing, but he really enjoyed the "baby."

We went to the pool after nap/rest time and discovered the most ridiculous pool rules ever.  They don't allow children under 3 years old to get in the big pool at all - just the tiny baby pool.  Then they don't allow children over 6 in the baby pool.  So how would someone like me ever be able to go to that pool alone with my children ranging in age from 1 to 8 years?  It's discrimination, if you ask me!  Discrimination against big families, don't you think?  Anyway they also wouldn't let flotation devices or balls, rafts, toys, or fun of any kind in the pool.  We didn't spend much time there, needless to say.  My goal though was to get Isaac a little more used to the water since his swim lessons started right after we got back.  Last year he was almost swimming at the end of the summer, but this year he's back to being a weenie in the water.  It took me forever to get him to put just his face in.  I told him he had to put his face in for 5 seconds, and then I would leave him to play.  He eventually did it with goggles, and when he did he comes up and yells, "Wow, I could see under water!  That was so fun!"  The lifeguards were laughing since they had seen all it took to get him to do it.