What I Did on my Summer Vacation

Well I’m back from the beach, home from my mom-cation, my getaway, my time alone. And it was great! By Saturday night, I was really missing my family BAD, though. I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder. But anyhow, now that I am back in the bosom of my loving family, allow me to give you a full report on what I did on my summer vacation.

1) Got several new tan lines and hundreds of new freckles

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2) Ate breakfast overlooking the ocean on my balcony

3) Ate a lot of meals alone in the hotel restaurant while tweeting on my lovely Vivienne Tam HP Mini

4) Watched not one, not two, but three couples get married Saturday night on the beach, a few hundred feet apart from one another

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5) Took a GIANT three-hour nap

6) Forgot to put the cup under the one-cup coffee maker, resulting in my coffee making itself all over the side table in my hotel room. Oops.

7) Watched a fair amount of cable. DO you know they have a show on TLC called “I didn’t know I was pregnant”? Have you ever SEEN that show?? GAH!! Unbelievable!!

8 ) Took some great walks on the beach

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9) Read three and a half books

10) Missed my babies

IT was a wonderful trip…thanks to my sweet hubby for sending me away, and welcoming me back home!

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Randomness

So it’s Friday, it’s late, and I’m worn out. I don’t have the mental capacity to write a whole post about one thing, so I thought I’d bore you with write about some random stuff going on in our lives.

Random Item #1 – I took our kids to get haircuts tonight. I vaguely remember a time when an evening at the salon was a relaxing event. Tonight, I felt like I had gone three rounds with Roberto Duran by the time we walked out of there. When it was Kate’s turn, I was trying to encourage her to keep her head down or straight or whatever so she didn’t end up with a jagged hairline while I was juggling Sammy and trying to keep him from playing with the piles of hair on the floor. The fun really started when it was his turn, though. In Sammy’s 14 months of life, he’s had about six haircuts, and typically he’s done pretty well. This time, however, he was not such a fan. He had hair in his eyes and his mouth and he was screaming like we were removing a limb rather than extraneous hair. With all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, I’m pretty sure our hairstylist was regretting both her chosen career and her current state of gestation. And after it was over, we decided we hadn’t had quite enough fun for the night and headed to the grocery store. Yes, Mr. Teenage Cashier. I know the box of graham crackers is open.

Random Item #2 – Our Disney trip is right around the corner and I am extremely disappointed with myself regarding the lack of obsession effort I’ve put into planning it. We’ve got all of our dining reservations, Kate’s booked on the Pirate Cruise, and I have spreadsheets outlining our general touring plan, but I really feel like I did a lot more preparation last time and had everything in a much more organized fashion. Perhaps it’s time to break out the old numerous spreadsheets and see if I can just update them.

Random Item #3 – I’ve been taking a lot of classes this summer – I’ll have knocked out 12 credit hours when it’s all said and done in a couple of weeks. Three of the courses I’ve taken have been great, but one… not so much. It was actually horrible. Hideous, really. It was online, which makes it sound like it should be a breeze, but for six weeks an assignment was due every Monday and a test was given each weekend… and the tests? They were impossible. My grades were as follows: 70, 69, 63, 62, and 67 on the final. Go me! My sources tell me there’s a huge curve in this class and that I’ll wind up with a B, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Of course, the class has been over for a couple weeks and the grades aren’t posted yet. Ugh. But, if the stars align, I should be done with my master’s in May of next year, so that’s good at least.

Random Item #4 – My friends and I ate lunch at Jimmy John’s the other day, and as we were leaving we noticed a sign with “25 Things that it Took Me 50 Years to Learn,” by Dave Barry. It’s hilarious, and Emilie posted about it today, so click over to her blog to check it out. I particularly identify with numbers two, three (Twitter, anyone?), and 14.

Ok, I’m done. You can wake up now.

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Bittersweet Beach

Tonight I took a walk on the beach by myself. A long walk, so long that when I turned back I could no longer see my hotel, and I was nervous that I might not be able to distinguish which one of the peachy-pink beachfront hotels was mine. Luckily for me, when it came back into view, I could see that the word “Ramada” was printed on it’s side in GIANT letters. I imagine they did that for the advertising benefit and the benefit to directionally challenged vacationers like myself is just a bonus.

But anyways –

I walked so long that at the end of my walk my hips hurt, and my lower back, reminding me of what an out-of-shape old lady I am. And I think, if Sophie was with me here on the beach, she’d have RUN me that distance, her little orange-and-yellow-swimsuit-clad bottom streaking across the sand before I could blink. And then, I’d really be sore.

But she’s not with me. On this beach vacation, I am alone.

Alone! How can it be? I don’t go on vacation alone. How am I here? What am I doing here? It’s crazy, so crazy I didn’t even really believe I was going until I was on a plane here.

I’m here, at the beach, by myself, because my sweet hubby thought I needed a break. This is what happens when you lose your mind, ladies. You get sent off not to the looney bin but to the beach! I’m not complaining.

I’m thankful for the break, thankful to see the ocean, smell it, feel it between my toes. I can’t wait to sleep in and nap and not change poopy diapers for a couple of days.

But, oh, I miss them already! It was so hard to leave them at the airport. I held Sophie for the longest time. Joshua was all, “have a great time!” – he’s just thrilled that Daddy’s going to be home from work for a few days. But Sophie, she doesn’t get it yet. And I felt so bad leaving her. Ah, no “break” would be complete without the mother’s guilt.

So. Tonight I took a long walk on the beach. Alone. And it was awesome just to take it all in, to really SEE it.

I think I’ll do it again tomorrow.

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