Our vacation was absolutely wonderful, but also very stressful...I'm not even sure I know where to begin with the stories! I apologize, but this is probably a longer post than anyone wants to read.
Before we left, I knew my father was deteriorating. He'd had an appointment earlier in the week before we left with his pulmonologist who changed some of his meds and ran some tests. The test results indicated it was a heart issue. I made sure to see him before we left, but he couldn't get out of bed to visit with me, and didn't want the kids to see him like that. I'll be honest, I was afraid he wasn't going to be here when we returned. I talked to Mom while we were down in SC. Dad had a cardiologist appointment and they also changed some of his meds hoping to help with his energy levels. However, while he was in the e/r Saturday night they restored all of the original meds removed by both doctors, so we aren't really certain where things stand. They did send Dad home in the middle of the night, and while my mom was pretty tired and grumpy from the overnight e/r experience, she did report that Dad seemed to be feeling better.
Anyway, our trip to the beach consisted of rain. It rained. The. Entire. Trip. It was awful. There were SEVERAL hours of the trip where we couldn't even go the posted legal speed limit because it was raining too hard for that to be safe. There were even times when we had to slow down and use our hazard lights because it was raining so hard. It made for a tough travel day, but at the end of the day we were rewarded by arriving at our beach front condo! My in-laws had a glass of wine waiting and it was worth the trip!
Sunday found us heading to church, then we enjoyed some beach time. We used tons of sun screen on the trip and because we had taken beach umbrellas and a pop up tent, I was able to enjoy being down at the ocean and then retreating to the sand. Robert was allowed some freedom on the beach but given boundaries and rules. Catherine and Thomas were quite content to hang out near us, and Thomas was even quite content just to dig in the sand much of the time, although he enjoyed the water as well. And of course the best part of any vacation is eating out...and fresh seafood is soooo good! Dinner was often the favorite part of each day for me!
On Monday, my in-laws took Robert to hit golf balls while we took the younger two mini golfing. It wasn't crowded and we had paid the unlimited amount so we were able to do 36 holes. That was finished off by ice cream and we enjoyed an early bird dinner. While we were in the restaurant, it began to absolutely pour outside. The family at the table next to us began to get dripped on by roof leaks, and by the end of our meal there was an all out waterfall happening at the table next to us. Lots of road flooding, but we made it home safely and it was an inside evening for all!
Tuesday we hit the beach mid-morning and then again in the afternoon. Our in-laws volunteered to take the kids for dinner so we could have an evening to ourselves. We hit our favorite steak restaurant and did some shopping, and then enjoyed the views and sounds of the ocean from the porch when we returned.
So the first three days were pretty good. Then Wednesday hit...we decided that due to some skin showing signs of sunburn, it wasn't a good beach day. Not that it would have mattered since it rained most of the day! Andrew's parents mentioned a shopping spot where there was an awesome candy store and some great ice cream. While this was true, there was also TONS of EXPENSIVE amusement adventures. We felt so badly having to tell the kids "no" to everything, but paying over $100 to spend an hour inside this funny looking building of amusements was not part of the plan. A $65 four-minute speed boat ride wasn't on the agenda either. So we quickly decided we had made a mistake, loaded everyone up (after hitting candy store and ice cream) and headed to the much more affordable arcade. We brought dinner in the evening because the Pirates/Cardinals game was on ESPN and we wanted to catch that. We had also realized when we arrived that we didn't have Internet access at the condo. I was able to check my email on my father-in-law's little phone and found out that drama had developed in my children's lives again (sorry, I won't go into details for privacy) and that there was info needed from us to move forward on our new mortgage...info which could only be retrieved from home! I quickly began wishing I hadn't even checked our email and had left well enough alone.
Thursday we received a phone call from another baseball parent. I'll write more about that in another post, but it really ramped up the stress level...big time. We spent more time at the beach and Andrew's parents joined us this time. Dinner was another fabulous seafood meal, and after dinner was another lovely evening on the porch watching and listening to the ocean!
Andrew's parents had decided to leave Friday because it was going to be easier for them. We had an ocean front breakfast and then said our good-byes. We spent the day at the ocean again and had a blast. It was really truly very nice having an ocean front condo. Andrew would've had a very tough time getting tents and umbrellas to the beach if we'd had to walk any great distance, and I wouldn't have been able to be there if they hadn't been there. We decided to take the kids to Planet Hollywood for dinner. Thomas had a meltdown at dinner and he and I spent the end of dinner in the van. Not exactly the way I wanted to end our vacation. We had hoped to walk along the beach again that evening, but it rained AGAIN.
Saturday's drive home was fairly uneventful, and Andrew and I even shared a few laughs about things as we drove. We were home in time for the kids to watch the season premier of "Too Cute" which was Catherine's goal for the day. That's also when I received a phone call from Mom about Dad, so while it was wonderful to get away and have a break, it definitely had some stress.
And now, school starts in two weeks and we are supposed to get our selves moved into a new house. Lots going on!
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