The Beach House...Part 2

We rolled into Cumberland, MD at our hotel at 3 a.m. CDT. After a few hours rest, we were back on the road early the next morning and it took us until dinner time to get to the Outer Banks.  But we made it!

We had this amazing house.  Six bedrooms, 5 1/2 bathrooms right on the ocean for just our little family but it was perfect. On one side was a view of The Sound and the other views of the Atlantic.  The beach was essentially your private beach and the houses on either side of us were vacant so we had a few hundred yards of beach all to ourselves.  Let the fun begin...except the next day there was rain.

It was Sunday and not too much open so we decided to drive a little further north (you have to drive on the beach with a 4x4 vehicle there) to see the wild horses that I had heard so much about when I came before but never saw. I was determined to see them this time except they must've been taking cover from the rain too. No horses.  

Despite the weather on our first full day at the beach house, the weather was great the rest of the time.  The kids enjoyed making a lot of sandcastles (or maybe it was really Tom that did).

We tried out a lot of restaurants in the OBX and Peyton was good most of the time. Here she is pictured at the restaurant Austen had an infamous meltdown at when he was her age...The Sunset Grille.  Unlike him, she didn't throw noodles at the window!

They ate lots of ice cream.

They played in the pool that was part of our house and were excited when they found the sand crabs that had fallen into the pool. 

They enjoyed hanging out with Adler on the beach. 

Adler went nuts protecting Austen from going too far out in the waves.

And, we finally did get to see the wild horses!

My fondest memories of my vacations as a kid revolved around the beach. I hope mine feel the same. 

The Beach House...Part 1

The Road Trip 

Since our kids aren't old enough to be on a real school schedule we get to enjoy taking vacations at odd times of the year. So instead of dealing with the crowds during Spring Break we take our vacations a little later in the Spring. We just got back from the "Beach House" (as Austen and Peyton) called it in Outer Banks, NC. Now this is the second time we made the trek to OBX (as it is affectionately called). In fact, the first time we went Austen was Peyton's age. We had a great time that year so we decided to try staying in Corolla this time...which is a little more off the beaten path compared to Kitty Hawk.

Our drive (since we bring Adler) was pretty uneventful at least the first three hours and until we drove over something in the road. We didn't know it until about 20 minutes later but it lodged a screw or a nail into our tire that caused it to start to deflate. Luckily, we were just entering a toll booth when we noticed that we had a flat tire. Tom quickly changed the tire to the spare (not a full size) while I entertained the kids and quickly tried to locate a tire shop that was open on a Friday night. This happened at about 6 p.m. so it was still light out for changing a tire but well past the 5 o'clock quitting time of most tire places. Anyway, thank God for smart phones. I located a recovery and towing place about 15 miles up ahead and we managed to drive about 55 mph on the spare to get to it. The bad news when we got there was that the tire was not patchable (something they could've easily done at the shop) so we had to drive to the local Walmart another 15 minutes away to buy a tire at this late hour. We gassed up the car, bought the kids some Happy Meals as well as the tire and headed back. Lucky for us the shop didn't have any recoveries to run out to so they were pretty quick in putting the new tire on the car.

Three hours later we were back in business but that delay meant we would have to drive well into the night to make our evening destination - Cumberland, MD. We planned to stop driving about midnight CDT but with the delay, we were now shooting for 3 a.m. CDT. This was going to be a long night. 

Here is Austen checking out the tire.

And, Peyton entertaining herself with the iPad.

Hey Batter Batter!

This year we signed Austen up for a different baseball league. His friends all played in this league last year and they raved about the mini Wrigley Field stadium complete with astro turf and cute uniforms. So last Saturday I sat outside for his first game in the rain (seriously, I didn't think they let 5 year olds play in the rain!) and thought this is the first of many years I will probably be sitting in the rain watching my kids playing something! Anyway, Austen did great. He is one of the older kids so he dominated the game - scooping up the ball and running kids down who were headed to first to tag them out. I wanted him to be more of a team player so I was telling him he needed to throw the ball to first but when he did that the first baseman missed so the next time he decided to roll it to him! He got some great hits too and even slid into home plate! I think he's going to have a fun season!

When is it Kids Day?

Usually we spend Mother's Day honoring our moms by driving from house to house and it not really feeling like it's a day for me. This year was different. I enjoyed a spa day and dinner with my mom on Saturday, and on Sunday morning, I got to sleep in. I also got breakfast made for me and time to enjoy the day with just our family. We went to the bookstore so I could pick out a new book and strolled through a couple of stores at an outside mall. The day was beautiful and it was exactly how I wanted to spend Mother's Day. Austen and Peyton were well aware it was Mother's Day today and a day to honor me although I'm not so sure that impacted their behavior but it sure was cute when Tom said that I get to choose what we were doing because it was Mother's Day. Austen promptly replied, "Awwww....when is it going to be kids day so we get to choose what we want to do?" Hey, Austen, everyday is kids day...life is all about you and your sister and Adler! That's why we had you!

Goodbyes are Never Easy

Almost four years ago, we walked into Austen's school for orientation to his new toddler classroom and little did we know that would be the beginning of some great friendships not only for our children but for us as parents too. Sure there were many school activities and birthday parties where we got to know each other but we quickly realized that our kids all got along really well so we started doing more activities together too. Baseball, soccer, apple picking, Xmas tree cuttings, play dates, the beach, parks, New Year's Eve and sleep overs. (Yes, this was the group that had a sleep over when they were barely 3 years old and all survived the night.) We even got together for a mini vacation when school was out for a long Labor Day Weekend too. The important thing to note is that these kids didn't all end up in the same class as they got older. Some moved and went to different schools in Chicago, and most of us were having our second children right around the same time too. But neither of those things deterred us from continuing our activities and being friends. If anything, we saw each other more outside of school because of them. This year will be a little different though. One of those families is moving to Texas this week and another is moving to Sweden at the end of July. A lot tougher to get together so regularly. So while the kids don't really comprehend that they will now only be able to see each other when they Skype over the computer, the parents do understand the magnitude of what is happening here. We are losing those friends who were all going through the same things we were at the same time. Potty training, fights at school, the terrible twos (or fours in my case), but no matter what it was I had people that I could talk too that understood. People that were facing the same challenges I was. These friendships may have been born out of our children's young friendships but they are ones that I will certainly always remember. One of them found a quote by novelist Ally Condie that said it best: “Growing apart doesn't change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I'm glad for that.”

Austen's Sunglasses

Having a dog in the city means that we have to walk her twice a day since we don't have a backyard to let her out in. So usually if it's warm(er) in the evening, we'll all go for a walk after dinner. One time last week, it was particularly sunny out when we started our walk so Austen wanted to wear his new sunglasses that Grandma had given him in his Easter basket. They were Hot Wheels sunglasses -- black with race cars on the side. As Austen rode his big wheel that evening, I knew he was pretending he was some cool race car driver. Only problem was that early on in our walk, the sun started to go down so Austen hooked the sunglasses to the front of his shirt like he's seen his Dad do so many times instead of giving them to me like his sister did. About halfway through our walk, Austen got this panicked look on his face and started searching his shirt and Big Wheel frantically for something. "My sunglasses! My sunglasses," he cried! Thinking he must've lost them when he was racing around the patio of the local Starbucks, I waited with Peyton while Tom and Austen circled back to the Starbucks, which wasn't that far away. Seeing Tom shake his head in the distance that they weren't there made me think that I had better catch up to them and start tracing our steps back. I had this gnawing feeling in my stomach that this outcome was not going to be good. And, I was right. In the distance at one of the crosswalks Tom spied Austen's sunglasses. Now the story would have had a happy outcome I'm sure if he lost them anywhere else but in the crosswalk of a fairly busy street. There in the crosswalk in plain sight was Austen's sunglasses, smashed. I don't know what was worse, him seeing them smashed into the asphalt or him just thinking he lost them. He blubbered and cried like a two year old the rest of the way home saying "My sunglasses, my sunglasses!" over and over. I bet next time he hands them over to one of us when the sun goes down instead of trying to be cool like his Dad.

Such a Girl

From a very early age, Peyton has been obsessed with shoes. She likes to take hers off and try on everyone else's. Now I think most girls probably do this but it just strikes me as such a girl thing. If Austen has any shoes laying around, Peyton will try them on and attempt to walk around in them even though she is moments from tripping. This past week, I had taken off my heels and was doing various things around the house when I noticed that Peyton had put them on. Such a girl, I thought! I like that she's a little girly - practicing ballet; loving anything with princesses now; taking care of her baby dolls; and trying on my heels. But, I also love that she's not a delicate flower either. She is strong; rarely cries when she gets hurt; and loves to rough house with her brother. Her dad likes her that way - a little girly with a little bit of tomboy in her too. I wouldn't expect anything less from my daughter.