Summer Vacation - Mom Things Style (Again - Because I'm Unoriginal.)

You are the unwilling, but obligated participant in impromptu, made-up pool games that begin something like this, "Let's play sharks and whales.  Mommy, you're the whale."  Gee.  Thanks. 

You ignore the disapproving stares of onlookers as you laugh at and take pictures of your one year old who stands terrified and screaming in a whopping 1" of surf.

Due to impeccable timing, you find yourself at the beach and in the path of Tropical Storm Andrea.  Of course, for your kids this is just an adventure of a lifetime as they got to "swim" in the rougher-than-usual surf.  (Oh, and word of advice, if you receive a text message warning of you of a tornado in your local area, that would be a tornado in your present local area, not where your home phone number is based.  Not that we have any experience with that...)

You spend the last day before vacation shopping for matching, but not-quite-matching white and khaki attire for the family so that you can take a rare, treasured family photo at the beach.  It worked.  You got some great ones, but you also got some fabulous outtakes, and, as usual, you like those the best.

(Here are some of the "good" ones...)

About two days into your trip, your four year old decides she knows how to swim, and you watch as her excessive confidence proves true and she abandons her swimmies.  In true Sarah-style, she tackles underwater swimming first, and graduates immediately to taking on waves without a lick of help on her boogie board.

You go to hit the snooze and your hand lands in a slice of semi-hardened American cheese.

Despite being 19 weeks pregnant, you find yourself demonstrating gymnastics moves at 10pm because your six year old has suddenly sparked an interest in all things gymnastics.  On a related note, you were very pleased to find out that a tripod, cartwheel, and round off are still doable.

During VBS week, when your church hosts over 800 children, you managed to lose your wandering four year old at least twice.  The good news is she didn't go home with a stranger.  The bad news is no one claimed her.  (Okay, that was a terrible joke.  It was just a joke.  Promise.)

Thanks to higher-than-average rainfall amounts for the summertime, you have to beg your children to come inside after dark because they want to catch some of the millions of little, green frogs hanging around on the sides of the house.  Incidentally, this is also the reason you cannot locate a single flashlight in your home.

You used to get all kinds of comments about how you looked too young to be a mom, too young to be married, and how there was no way you could have one two three four children.  Seems you've finally grown into your life circumstances (and beyond), since just this week someone asked you if you were your husband's mom.  And it still counts even if that someone was 7 years old.

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And just a noteworthy brag on that husband.  You know you landed a good one, when he agrees, for the third year in a row, to co-teach with you at VBS.  Despite the fact that this means he works 4+ hours with second graders, then goes to work for 8+ hours to support our family.  We love you, Sam.  And we are grateful for your dedication to us.

Summer Vacation Thus Far...in the form of Mom Things

You kick off summer vacation with a trip to Redbox, only to return and find that in the five minutes you were gone from home, your brand new, unbelievably determined four year old learned how to ride her bike without training wheels.

As a practice run for your upcoming week-long beach trip, for Memorial Day you take the four kids to a mostly-local hotel for a night away and to enjoy the pool.  After a loonnngggg day of swimming, you get everyone in bed at the same time, declare it lights out, and listen as the older three drift off into dreamland.  .............then you listen as your toddler throws the blankets out of her pack-n-play, discovers a matchbox car in there, and "vroom-vrooms!" it for 45 minutes longer.  During this time, your husband cranks the a/c to 62 because he can, and you can't reach your toddler to cover her up with her tossed blankets thanks to the precarious six foot tall partition you created to separate her from the rest of the family using all of the spare hotel room furniture, beach towels, and bed runners.  If only you had a picture of that architectural marvel...

You therefore vow to stock up on sleep for the upcoming beach adventure, seeing as how that experiment went so well.

As you entertained the quickly-fading toddler with the help of Big Bro up in the hotel room, you received a text from the husband who is down at the pool with the middle girls that said, "Honey Boo Boo just jumped in the pool."  You obviously cannot believe him until he sends photographic evidence.  Boom.

Just a few days before you leave for a 9-day vacation your toddler develops a hacking cough and her first-ever ear infection.  Kids have impeccable timing like that.

On the same day you had to mop up approximately a gallon of vomit from your toddler after attempting to give her a single drop of Tylenol, you discovered that the child proof cap on said toddler's Amoxicillin was no match for your (apparently drug-addicted) four year old.  At least she's good if she gets an ear infection in the next day or so?  The best part?  She didn't chug it straight out of the bottle.  She attempted to pour it into a measuring spoon before she indulged in the pink goo, spilling half a bottle onto the kitchen floor and rug.  Then, she attempted to clean it up herself.  You found out about it only because she wasn't 100% successful at the clean-up portion of her covert op.

In an attempt to sneak some of the antibiotic into your 14 month old's yogurt, you fail to realize that she watched you squeeze that dropper in there and outright refuses to eat it.  Turns out, 14 month olds are smarter than you give them credit for.

As an unexpected "bonus," she becomes skeptical of all food hence forth and only eats it after licking the tiniest bit with the very tip of her tongue.

Upon arrival at your first beach destination, a Residence Inn suite in Amelia Island with an equipped kitchen, your toddler begins freely exploring in the non-child-proofed drawers and doors and euphorically removes all of the pots and pans from the lower cabinets.  Her mood quickly changes after climbing into one and being unable to remove herself.

 

As you head to bed for the evening on night two of your vacation, you snap a picture of your sleepy and sleeping beach babies all snuggled together like bugs in a rug.  And you realize something...you are blessed.

Until next time...when I attempt to wrap up our 9 day adventure in 10 Mom Things or less...

Thanks for reading!  Be blessed!