A weekend get away

This weekend, Joshua and I went to the beach with our friends Elizabeth, Ashley (4 yo) and Sarah (2 yo). I must say I had a wonderful time and I think the kids did too. Joshua was very excited to go but we couldn't leave until after work. We ran some errands at lunch time and, upon returning home, Joshua refused to get out of the car, he wanted to go then! I unbuckled his carseat and left the doors open so that he could come back inside the house once he realized I was telling the truth that we weren't leaving yet.

The weather has been really really HOT at 100 degrees, not including the heat index, so Saturday, we decided to go to the beach early before it heated up too much. Wow, does it take a lot of stuff for 2 adults and 3 kids on the beach. I can remember the good ole days when all I needed was a towel, a radio and Hawaiian Tripic Dark Tanning Oil with SPF 0. Now, it takes chairs, towels, toys, a cooler, snacks and a wide spectrum of of sunscreen ranging from SPF 15 to SPF 50, kid friendly sunscreen, face sunscreen, SPF lip balm, lotion, spray-on...We looked like we were exoding Oklahoma during the 1930s dust bowl. Luckily, we found a spot directly across from the beach access ramp.

Finally, we staked our claim to our little spot on the beach, lotioned up, and headed in. The kids had a terrific time playing in the waves. Joshua and Ashley would run in and out of the waves, they would jump the waves, the waves would knock them down, they would sit and let the waves crash into them. Sarah wanted to be right there with them, but she is a bit smaller...of course, she doesn't realize that though...She finally settled in to sitting and letting the waves crash into her. A few times, the waves crashed right over her and she would be floating away, we would catch her and she would sit up and smile ready to do it over again. We collected some seashells, ate some snacks, played in the water some more, until we were ready for lunch. A few minor observations from our morning at the beach: 1) When a wave knocks you down, don't smile or laugh, close your mouth; 2) For parents of kids this age, it's not hard work, but it isn't relaxing either.

By the time we left the beach, the sand was sooo hot. Even though we all had on sandals, the sand would get in our sandals and we kept having to stop and dump them out so our feet wouldn't burn. We headed to The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shoresfor lunch and for an air conditioning break. Ashley enjoyed showing Joshua the aquarium, Joshua enjoyed seeing all the sea life...he is really into sea life and love sharks best of all. He has about 5 different shark shirts and probably 5 different shark books and even more shark puzzles. He can look at a picture of a shark and more likely than not be able to tell you what kind of shark it is and some sort of fact about it. Unfortunately for me, yet fortunately for Joshua, a kid was exiting the aquarium with a stuffed shark at the same time we were entering the aquarium....now, Joshua has a stuffed shark to add to his shark collection as well as a smushed penny with a shark on it.

As a side note, Joshua collects the smushed pennies. He gets one every time we go somewhere that has a machine to smush a penny. The aquarium had a great souvenir penny album that we purchased so that he can keep his smushed penny collection all in one place.

Anyway, after the aquarium, Elizabeth and the girls went back to clean up while Joshua and I rode into Morehead to buy Scott some Sanitary t-shirts. For those of you that don't know, Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant is a very popular spot...not sure if it is more popular for eating or for buying their t-shirts though...Then, Joshua and I cleaned up and we went to dinner and then back to let the kids run and run and run.

Sunday, Joshua and I went to the beach for about an hour and then he was ready to leave. I stopped at the first convenience store on my side of the road for gas and ice and Joshua was already asleep. He slept all the way, waking up when we were 1 1/2 miles away from home.

I think Joshua and Ashley played together really well. They have similar silly personalities and told each other a lot of jokes. I'm sure Joshua enjoyed having someone to laugh at his jokes other than me! He wasn't really sure what to do with Sarah. Sarah, like I previously mentioned, has no clue that she isn't 4 years old, and was right in the middle of everything Joshua and Ashley were doing. Anyway, it was a bit of a struggle for Joshua because, as he said, Sarah doesn't know how to play by the rules. He doesn't have a younger sibling at home to know how to handle the situation. He did pretty good for the most part. By Sunday, he had had about enough of being well behaved, had a minor meltdown, pushed Sarah a couple of times, but Sarah is tough, she can handle herself.

Elizabeth, Ashley, Sarah, thanks for sharing your beach house with us. We enjoyed it! Only now, Joshua wants his own beach house!