Vacation 2012

We got back from our beach vacation yesterday afternoon. 

I am happy to report that we had SO much fun!  It went better than I could have imagined.  We left last Saturday at 9:00 am with a 5 hour car ride in front of us.  I packed tons of snacks, DVDs and toys for the ride.   We talked about going to the beach and swimming and spending time with the twins' cousins.

The kids were awesome travellers!  We made one quick pit stop to change Pull Ups but other than that, we were able to drive straight through and we arrived in Duck, NC at 3:00 pm.   Our house was in Corolla and it took us an hour just to get up Rt 12 - traffic is always heavy going through Duck for some reason. 

We were moving but it was mostly stop and go.  I was sitting in the back seat between the twins and I noticed that Kendall kept coughing and she wasn't eating her snack.  All of the sudden, she made that face when you know they are going to throw up.  Daddy threw me an empty McDonald's cup and luckily, I caught most of it in the cup.  The whole time I'm thinking, "Oh, please don't let our vacation start like this".   She was fine the entire morning and she didn't feel warm so I was really hoping it was car sickness and not a virus. 

We made it to the house and Kendall seemed fine once we got out.  We walked through and the kids got a huge kick out of running from room to room.   I showed them the bunk beds and explained they would be sleeping there.  They thought it was awesome!  If Christopher went into another room, Kendall would run after him and say, "Chris!  Look!  Come see your bed"!

My BIL and his family were about 2 hours behind us so we decided to give the pool a whirl.  We dropped our luggage, found our swimsuits and jumped in.  I decided to purchase some Puddle Jumpers for the kids this year and it was the best purchase ever.  I am so proud of them - they were swimming like champs!

Within 10 minutes, both kids were swimming on their own in the deep end of the pool .

We had delicious pizza for dinner the first night and it was soon time for bed.  I decided to let our normal schedule go for the week and the kids stayed up until 9:30-10:00 almost every night. 

When Chris first saw the bunk beds, he attempted to climb up to the top bunk and I thought to myself, "Oh boy, here we go.  My worries about the beds are coming true".   I tried to explain that he can't climb because he'll get hurt but in the back of my mind, I was worried about what he would do when an adult isn't there. 

So, at 9:30 pm, we all marched downstairs to start our bedtime routine of bath, teeth, books and bed.  I had my monitor and cameras all set up so I could keep an eye on them.  It was also their first time sleeping in big beds so I just didn't know how they would do. 

I completely underestimated the twins.  They did absolutely awesome all week.  I put bed rails up on the open sides and they worked perfectly.  The beds were like little cocoons with the kids all snug and comfy inside.  As a matter of fact, I think they slept better in the bunks than they do at home!   Neither of them woke up once and they slept until 7-7:30 am EVERY morning.  Pure heaven!

The next morning, the guys took the kids to the beach while my SIL and I went grocery shopping.   Daddy said neither of the kids wanted to get their feet wet. 

DH left to come back home Monday afternoon so I was "alone" for 2 days.  Luckily, he was able to work enough overtime that he earned an extra vacation day so he was able to come back Thursday afternoon. 

My fears of being a single parent for those 2 days were completely unwarranted.  I really have the best family members.  They all pitched in and helped and it was so easy.  

Tuesday, we went back to the beach and I was determined to get my kids in the ocean.  I took Kendall and my SIL took Chris and we carried them down.   We stood on the shoreline for awhile and gradually moved into the waves.  Within 15 minutes, we had the waves breaking on our bellies and the kids were having a blast.   I've never heard Kendall laugh that much!

Chris was definitely braver and at one point, I turned around and my SIL was holding his hand and Chris was standing in the waves!  By the end of the day, he was a pro!


Playing with his Uncle Jeff



We spent the mornings on the beach and then came back for lunch and naps.  With all of the activity, they were regularly taking 3 hour naps.   Mommy was a very happy mommy.

We spent lazy afternoons at the pool.

Wednesday, my SIL read about a kids' festival at one of the local shopping centers.  After naps, we packed up the car and headed over.  They had face painting, balloon animals and pony rides!

Kendall didn't want to ride so she hung out with Aunt Tina. We also enjoyed ice cream and lollipops.

In the evenings, we would go back down to the beach to build sand castles and to play with Chloe, their dog.

We enjoyed playing with our cousins and having some quiet time coloring.

We had delicious dinners of homemade chicken nuggets, tacos, lasagna and steamed shrimp.


Waiting for dinner


And, delicious breakfasts of pancakes and donuts.

Daddy came back on Thursday afternoon and he was so proud to see how well his little fishies were swimming.  By Thursday, Kendall was jumping with help and daredevil Christopher was running and jumping into the water on his own.



Daddy has always wanted to take a ride on the 4x4 beach in Carova.  There are wild horses that roam the beaches but in the 11 years that we've been going to OBX, we've never tried to find them.  So on Saturday, we packed up the truck and went on an adventure.

We decided to drive down a path that travelled through the sand dunes and....


Disclaimer:  The kids weren't riding in the back of the truck.  This was taken after we stopped the car and got out. 


We found the wild horses!

We watched them for about 30 minutes and Chris didn't want to leave them.  He absolutely adores horses. 

Driving back, we got a special treat.  The same group of horses came over the dunes and down onto the beach and passed right by our truck.  They were so beautiful and weren't phased by the people or cars at all.

We had fantastic weather all week.  It was sunny during the day and we had a few thunderstorms at night. 

Evenings were spent playing basketball and cards.

 

Christopher cracks me up in this picture.  He's betting his chips and has his milk in front of him like an adult beverage.


Before we knew it, it was Sunday and time to come home.  We had a fantastic week!

Is She Here Yet?

When is Grammy going to get here?!

Still Feeling Outnumbered

When the twins were babies, I was terrified of being alone with them.   The thought of both of them crying, trying to comfort them, feed and diaper them by myself absolutely scared the bee-jebus out of me.

They outnumbered me.

As they've gotten older, I've gained confidence in myself.  With my husband's disease, I've been forced to take the lead.  If I didn't take them, we would never get out of the house. 

At the same time, they've gotten more independent and are much easier to handle (except when they are both fighting to sit in my lap and demanding my attention).

(They are toddlers after all).

There are still places that I'm afraid to take the kids by myself.  It's mostly crowded, public places (malls, large parks) where one of them could easily get lost if I turned for just half a second.  I see other moms juggling multiple kids and I so envy them. 

Even though I have more confidence now, I still get that feeling in my stomach sometimes.  That feeling of being outnumbered and not having any control.

We have a family vacation planned in 2 weeks and I've been super excited about it.  We rented a house with my BIL and his family so I knew it would be fun and relaxing.  It was a total splurge and cost us $3,000. 

And, it was the first real vacation that my husband was going to be with us the entire week.  

Until last night.

He had another depression "episode" 3 weeks ago and missed 3 days from work.  He used up the last of his leave. 

I hate this f'ing disease.   I really, really do.

So, instead of spending the entire week with us, he'll drive us down Sunday, leave on Monday afternoon and come back down Friday. 

Which leaves me "alone" with the kids for 3 days. 
{insert sinking feeling in stomach here}

I already had some anxiety about the trip and maybe I'm just too damn worrisome.  This is the first vacation where the kids will be sleeping in single beds.  We picked a house with bunk beds and I plan to let the kids sleep on the bottom bunks.  I'm bringing bed rails to close off the open side.  But until I see the beds in person, I won't know if they are a climbing hazard for my active son.

We all agreed that we wanted a pool but that worries me a little too.  Most of the houses have locking gates but again, until we get there I won't be able to see it.  I have horrible visions of looking out the window and seeing one of my kids floating.

My SIL and 2 nieces (ages 11 & 7) will help me a lot.  I know that.  They absolutely adore the kids and they'll help to keep the twins occupied.  But, let's face it.  I'm the parent and the twins are my responsibility.  It's their vacation too and I can't expect them to stay by my side the entire week.

I'm also worried about my patience level.  The last few months have taken a toll.  I've been handling a lot and I'm at the end of my rope.  I have found myself shouting and yelling at the kids more than I like to admit.  If I need a break at the beach, I know I would only need to ask my SIL to watch the kids for a little while and she would do it without question.

But, I would feel guilty.  I'm the parent, they are my responsibility. 

Why do I feel that way?  I never feel like I deserve a break even when I know I need one.

On the flip side of all of this, part of me wonders if being by myself isn't a blessing.  Ironically, my other anxiety was having my husband there.  When he has his "episodes", he shuts everything out.  He sleeps, stays by himself and becomes incredibly irritable.  While I try to be patient and understanding, it's hard to overlook when I'm busting my behind to take care of things.  I could see myself getting very resentful if he's there with us and not helping at all. 

And, so.  That's where we are.   I will do my damnest to make sure the kids have a good time.  I have such wonderful memories of my summer vacations and I want the same for my kids. 

Happy Belated 4th!

We had a busy but fun Fourth of July.  The twins slept until 7:00 am and we had a lazy morning of pancakes, juice and Barney. 

We decided to give the pool another whirl and got there around 11:00 am.  The kids had a blast again.  There were a few other families there with kids close to the same age.  I thought they would all play together but everyone pretty much stuck to themselves.  Chris had a good time throwing a pool around with Daddy and Kendall practiced "swimming" by letting her legs float behind her while she walked on her hands. 

We came home around 12:30 and ate lunch and then it was naptime.  They both took a decent 2 hour nap and then it was time to head to my sister's house.

It was very informal with just us, my sister, BIL, niece, nephew and a mutual friend.  She had the water table set up on the deck and Chris and my niece went out first.  Kendall decided she wanted to stay inside to play with the kitchen set.  The adults enjoyed some beverages while the kids played.  

We had quite a feast with hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages, orzo pasta salad, baked beans and watermelon.  Of course none of the kids wanted to eat anything because they all filled up on chips 'n dip and cheese & crackers. 

Around 6:30, we walked down the street where some of their neighbors had gathered.  One girl was doing face painting so that was a big hit with the kids.  At dusk, they set off some fireworks.  I wasn't sure how my kids would react but they did fine.  They were both a little scared at first but I made sure that I did a lot of "Yays" and clapping so they knew it was supposed to be fun. 

Before I knew it, it was after 9:00 pm and time to head home.  I kept thinking it was Saturday and had to be reminded that people had to work today.   Thankfully, I took today off.   :)

We have The Power!

Our electricity was finally restored last night at 6:30 pm.  I can't even describe how happy we were!

Man, that was some storm!  It rolled through around 10:30 pm on Friday night and I've never experienced anything like that before.  We received a t-storm warning, which is nothing new.   I was laying in bed watching TV and all of the sudden, it sounded like a freight train came barreling past our house. 

Normally with t-storms, you can hear the thunder in the distance so you know it's coming, right?  Not with this storm!  It was quiet and then out of nowhere,  the wind started whipping the trees and there was a torrential rain.  I got up and looked out the window and the full-grown crepe myrtle tree in our front yard was literally bent at a 90 degree angle.   The rain was falling sideways. 

It immediately felt "different" than a regular t-storm but you never want to overreact, ya know?  I walked away from the window and then I heard stuff blowing against the house so I looked out again and yelled down to DH that we might need to head to the basement.  He always teases me about being a "safety pup" so he just laughed at me.  Whatever.  If I saw a cow or Dorothy flying by, I was grabbing the kids and running!

And then the stupid power went out.  You don't realize how dark your house is until you lose power!   I tried to feel my way to the end of the bed and thought I cleared the footboard. 

Um, no.  I pretty much kicked it with my shin.  And, then I tried to take another step and tripped over the stupid laundry basket.  

I really thought the power would come back overnight or by Saturday morning at the latest.  Poor Chris woke up with a 100 degree fever so that just added to everything.  He was still running a fever yesterday but it came right down with Motrin and then he was fine.

The kids came down Saturday morning and expected to have their normal routine of breakfast and Barney.  Try explaining power and electricity to a 2 year old!   I finally convinced them that eating Cheerios instead of waffles or pancakes would be yummy.  Luckily, my laptop had some battery life so I was able to play a DVD for about 30 minutes.

The worst part was not having AC.  Holy cow was it hot! 

When it's 90 degrees in the house, who doesn't play football?

Growing up, we didn't have central air. I remember having a window unit in our dining room and another in my parents' room and that was it.  And, I don't remember being miserable as a kid.  I guess we all got spoiled, huh?

Late Saturday morning, one of my neighbors said she had access to a generator so we jumped at the opportunity.  We took turns between 5 houses and each got it for 90-120 minutes.  It was enough to keep the fridge charged and to plug in our cell phones and laptops. 

We got the last 2 bags of ice at the store.  And, it was only 7:00 am

Extension cords everywhere!

That afternoon, I took the kids' to our community pool for the first time.  They absolutely loved it!  Chris jumped right in.  Kendall was a little more apprehensive and took a few minutes.  The kiddie pool was just the right height.  They could sit on their bottoms and the water came just under their chins. 

We didn't sustain any major damage to our house but there are still trees down and houses and traffic lights are still out.  As of this morning, there were still 500,000 people without power in the Washington, DC Metro area.  The power company is saying this is the 3rd most extensive restoration in its history.  Winds were clocked at 80 mph during the storm.  That is crazy!

Throughout all of this, there was a silver lining.  It really makes you appreciate the every day things you take for granted.  It gave us some much needed family time without the distractions of TV and electronics.  It made us a stronger family and a stronger community.