We Survived (Mostly)

I'm back from my weeklong adventure to the beach and feel a need to blog about it, but am not sure where to begin. I don't think my audience really wants a daily play-by-play and I don't think I feel up to typing that much out. It really did turn out to be a good time and I think the kids had a blast. We stayed at a campground here that was across the highway from the beach, so every day we spent some time there playing in the sand. The high tide came up in the afternoon, which freaked out Little Dude and he spent a lot of time playing on the rocks instead of the sand. As a mother I naturally worried about this and spent a lot of time trying to entice him onto the sand. And of course on our last evening there he fell hard and sustained a nasty injury on his forehead. I was scared we were going to have to drive the hospital because it was bleeding a lot, but it actually turned out to not be very wide and has healed nicely.

We spent most of our days just hanging out and playing. The kids loved seeing the various forms of wildlife, like bunnies, squirrels, and birds. I didn't enjoy the flock of wild parrots that woke us up each morning as soon as the sun came out. It was fun to watch them as they hung upside down and ate berries from the trees. Next time I think I would plan on hiking; we didn't bring appropriate shoes or clothes (you need long pants to avoid ticks and rattlesnakes). I also learned that I should bring more than one pair of pajama pants, since mine started to smell very interesting after a week there. I also forgot to pack extra pajamas for S-Boogie so she had the same problem I did.

The kids did very well, and some of the things I worried about were not a problem. They slept all night comfortably in the tent and were usually quite ready for bed by the time it got dark. In fact, most nights one or the other of them actually asked to go to sleep. And after the first morning they didn't get up insanely early either. My parents rented a motorhome, which made things easier for a lot of reasons, but it also was hard because the kids wanted to play in it all the time and motorhomes aren't made for playing in. They only got mildly sunburned one day and they even enjoyed the day that we drove up to Santa Barbara to see the mission. I did not expect S-Boogie to develop the attitude problem that she did. After a few days she was one grouchy, rude little girl. I think it was partly due to new surroundings and new people to test her powers on, but also due to the fact that she developed another case of swimmer's ear. I was thankful that it hasn't seemed to be as painful as last time that happened, especially because the morning we spent trying to get into urgent care and get some ear drops ended up being fruitless. No one would take our insurance, but my mom generously paid the large fee required to have someone look in her ear and tell us that it was infected. The pharmacy also had trouble getting our insurance to work so I just gave up and spent the last few days dosing her regularly with Motrin.

And so we all made it home with our bodies and sanity mostly intact. Little Dude dropped our camera but it still works even though the lens cover won't work anymore. Our car survived the trip and hopefully S-Boogie's ear will heal fast. The jury is still out on next year, but I'd like to go if Mr. Fob can come along. This time I'll bring the ear drops too, just in case. And extra pajamas.