1.) TRAFFIC - Ugh, we are never renting a beach house from a Saturday-to-Saturday again! Between accidents, rainy weather, and sheer volume, our "5-hours-of-distance" trips to NC were 11 (!) hours the first Saturday and 9 hours the second. We don't even travel that long in the car when we head Midwest. I think our single worst moment was when Michael announced that he had to go potty just as we were entering a tunnel. Resourceful Mike dumped the remaining baby Puffs snacks out of their container and coached Michael through peeing into it. (Too much information?) He said it brought back memories of when his Dad made him endure similar on long road trips...
2.) ILLNESSES - On Sunday, Neve was quite cranky and had a low-grade fever. We gave her some Tylenol and tried to brush it off. Two days (and two sleepless nights) later, she was showing all the signs of an ear infection. So, Traci packed her in for the 20-miles-each-way road trip to Beach Urgent Care to check it out. (By the way, if you're curious, Beach Urgent Care is PACKED all the time. Where else do you go when you are on vacation?) Of course, she had a double ear infection and started up a regimen of antibiotics. Take a look at the picture above to see how her crankiness just made her "love" being at a sandy beach. By the end of the week, several more of us had caught her sniffly nose and cough symptoms... Isn't cold and flu season over by now?
3.) PICTURE - On Wednesday morning, we had scheduled a formal beach portrait sitting for the entire family. The sitting actually came free with the beach house rental, so we figured, why not? Well, that photographer had never seen the likes of us!! Michael doesn't sit still for anything, especially not when there is a beachfront to explore. Neve, of course, was still sick and cranky and screaming her head off. Not to mention that it was the hottest and most humid day of the week. Um....the "half-hour session" probably only lasted about 9 minutes, and we were all relieved it was over.
4.) FALLS - On one of our best evenings of the trip, we walked over to the local town center of our resort and got some ice cream as a family. We decided to take our delicious treats over to a skateboard park to watch all of the skaters. (Michael was FASCINATED and is now asking for his own board. Um, no.) Anyway, we had our two older kids sitting up on a high ledge with no back support so that they could see into the skate ramps. Unfortunately, Katie forgot where she was and fell backward right into a picnic table. Thank God for the table, however. As it was, she only got a bad bruise on her back. We don't even want to think what would have happened if she had fallen several feet back on to her head.... Shudder.
5.) PARASITES - By Thursday, Neve was starting to recuperate and showing much better spirits. That is, until the evening when she just started screaming bloody murder. She was like a baby with colic: we could do NOTHING to stop the deafening cries. Finally, Traci started exploring Neve's body to see if there were any weird bruises, bumps, scratches or bites and found the nasty culprit. BLECH...it was a deer tick embedded in the back of her head. (Anybody that knows Traci's distaste for parasites realizes that she almost passed out at this point.) As soon as we dislodged the little bugger, she promptly stopped crying and fell fast asleep on Traci's lap. Supposedly one is not supposed to feel a tick bite, but Neve certainly begs to differ. After that day, any little itch or twitch on our legs, arms, or any part of the body prompted a swift and hard THWACK!
6.) MCKENNA - If any of you have young girls, you have probably seen/heard about McKenna Brooks. She was the American Girl Place Doll of the Year from a few years ago and has her own line of books and movies. The darn Easter Bunny brought McKenna into Katie's life through a DVD, and Miss Brooks invaded our vacation time again and again. Not only did Katie make Michael watch the movie on the long drive down and back in the minivan, but she also forced Papa to watch one afternoon, Mommy the next, Daddy the next, etc., etc. By the end of the week, we had had enough and forced her to hole herself up in a room with it in a laptop. She chose watching that damn movie over going to the beach several times. Dang you, American Girl!!!!
But, with all of these misadventures, we swear that we did truly have a fabulous time. More of the good tomorrow!!!
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