Beach Week

Chad decided last weekend to go out to see his brother. So the kids and I went to the beach. But the ladies here ended up planning a beach trip the same weekend. I couldn't miss that. So we drove two hours east to meet them there. It was an easy day trip. We may have to get some beach gear and actually keep some of it at our house. (Anything we buy, we usually leave at my in-laws' beach house.) Anyway, we had a great time. I didn't take any pics, but it really was awesome! It was an inlet on a Marine base. We went to the officer's side. There were nice facilities nearby (a nice change to our norm) and we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. Probably 10 ladies showed up with their kids. We put our chairs in the water and just chilled, watching each other's kids. The older kids had a blast together digging. It was a rocky beach too, so we spent some time scavenging for pretty rocks and shells. Chloe, the rock hound, found this one. It felt like a petrified leaf. When you held it up to the sun, it shimmered gold. It was beautiful, but just too delicate to make it home. A friend managed to find some tiny shark teeth and gave them to Chloe. And we collected black and white river rocks for a friend to decorate her home.To get into this beach, you have to be military of course. So I met a gal just outside the base and she drove us in. We spent a lot of time together gabbing. I really enjoyed her. But of course, she's moving in a couple of months. I swear, every time I start to get close to someone here, they move. 3 times in our 9 months it has happened! A military town does have a couple of perks, but mostly it's just frustrating. Anyway, after about 4 or 5 hours, we rinsed off and changed and headed down the coast to the beach house. Everett did great without a diaper. At the beach, he told me he had to pee. So I said, "ok, go in the ocean." I took him out a little way and said, "Ok, go ahead." He got this look on his face like he was doing mischief and started smiling. I had to laugh. I asked if he was going, he grinned really big and gave a bashful, "yeah." Too funny! Anyway, on the four hour drive south he did great too. I think we stopped about 4 times, but no accidents!

We got to the beach house at about 10:30, bathed (my hair was itching like crazy with all that sand in it,) and went to bed. The next morning, I had some errands to run. So we went to the beach that evening. It was late and getting chilly though so we didn't last long. Here's the only picture from that day.
Sunday, we went to the beach, but it rained a lot. So we didn't last long again. We spent the rest of the day watching movies and chilling. That evening, the sun came out, so the kids went out with Gigi to the pool. They had a blast with the rest of the people in the neighborhood. They all always go out there on Sundays and hang out.

Finally, Monday, we got another good beach day. We were out there through lunch. The kids got so mellow and tired. They spent a lot of time just laying in the surf.

He thought it was hilarious to steal my chair.It was fun. The sunscreen we bought this year was a credit reports best buy - Target brand kid's sunscreen. I have a love hate relationship with it. That stuff is like tar and does not wash off! Good thing though b/c I kept thinking, "it's time to re-apply... no we'll go soon... just a little longer... just a bit more..." Everett and only I got a little burnt on top, but it tanned the next day. It could've been worse. We left as the sun was starting to really come out and beat down.

Random excitement, this guy fishing next to us caught a tiny shark. Pretty cool.

We had so much fun. It's always stressful approaching a road trip with out Chad, but it was so worth it. Poor Chloe cried for the first 30 minutes of the ride home. She broke my heart! I honestly thought about turning around and going back. The poor girl didn't have a life to come home to no friends or pets or anything besides daddy. Thankfully that's changing with the start of school. And I'm really glad we all had so much fun.