This year we timed our vacation really well. We missed the “surface of the sun” hot, the humidity, and most of the rain (we did have one afternoon of rain.) What we had were cool mornings (sometimes downright cold), pleasant afternoons, and a nice breeze (although we did have a few spells of REAL wind.)
We arrived Friday (the 19th) after an uneventful flight. We were lucky to time our flight around the boys nap time and Carter was out just moments after we took off – I think Grayson took a bit longer – but both slept most of the way, giving us time to nap and read! Ahhhh. After the requisite Wal-Mart stop for food, soy milk, diaper, and some new toys (a much loved police helicopter and fire truck) we were on Tybee. It was cool but really windy. We took the kids to the playground (you’ll see this as a theme here) to run off energy and then to get dinner. The kids loved tooling around the island in my parents GEM car (electric car.) They loved being able to see everything and having the wind blow in their hair!
Bedtime wasn’t as much of a disaster as we thought it would be – but staying asleep was! They were both up multiple times during the night. Ugh.
Saturday we were up and out of the house by 7:30 (after trying to keep the kids quiet since 6:30!) We had more playground time (good thing we LOVE this playground!) some walking around the downtown area of Tybee (all one street of it!), and home to visit with the grandparents (aka destroy the house.) (We thought the kids would be much better this year than last in respect to being into everything. Well, we were wrong. They are still in everything – even more so, because now they are able to open doors, go up and down stairs, and reach cabinets that were previously unreachable. What about next year? Will that be better?) After their nap we *drum roll* went to the playground and hung out at home. Bedtime/overnight went MUCH better. Thank goodness.
Sunday morning we met my friend Ali and her husband David for breakfast. We did one of those things you never thought you’d let your kid do before you have kids and let them eat a packet (ok, 2) of butter with a spoon. They were quiet. They were happy. They weren’t trying to run all over the restaurant while we ate. We were happy. But the number of people who stopped by our table and commented on it was astounding. Yes, we know they are doing it. No, they don’t do it regularly. Yes, we know they have biscuits they could put the butter on. No, they don’t want one. Sheesh. Afterwards, they ran around on the pier and the beach (I wonder if any of the people who stopped by our table ran around for 45 minutes after their carb loaded breakfast?) and then crashed for a nap. It was great seeing Ali and David and the boys had a great time playing with Ali! That afternoon is when the rain came. We did get to go out for lunch but unfortunately, that meant playground/beach/run around time was out of the question. Instead they ran through my parent’s house. Be still my heart.
Monday was beautiful out. After a morning of more playground time (I think we met all of the stay at home mom’s and their toddlers/preschoolers!) and more time destroying my parents house we went to the beach. This year the kids were much more into digging/playing in the sand than the water. In fact they were quiet intimidated by the water. But we found a great place to sit and play. The kids had a wonderful time and I was in heaven because it was perfect beach weather: not hot enough to sweat, breezy enough to be cool but not have sand stinging you, and no humidity. Perfect. Afterwards the kids played with the hose.
Tuesday my mom’s cousin Lucy got into town. She joined us at the playground and at the local library for storytime. In the afternoon we met my friend Kappi and her kids at (another) local playground. Kappi has a son who is about 8 weeks older than the boys and the kids had a great time playing with Brian. Kappi had thought ahead and brought tons of sand toys and the kids had fun digging, playing with trucks, running around, and climbing/sliding. In the evening we celebrated my mom’s birthday with several of their friends. And even though Leanne and I had dreaded putting the kids to sleep mid-party (we were going to keep them up a bit later than normal, but Carter started melting down and when I asked if he was ready to go to bed, he answered with, “YES!” we knew it was time. And thankfully, thanks to the white noise machine the kids went to sleep without a hitch and never woke up (well, you know they woke during the night, but not until well after the party was over!)
Wednesday we had to pack up to leave. Unfortunately, the only flight was mid afternoon and both kids fell asleep en route to the airport and therefore wouldn’t nap on the plane (so no nap/reading for us) but we got to DC without a hitch. When we got to the car we found our battery was dead (we’d somehow hit the overhead light when we were loading/unloading the car and not noticed it.) But we got that resolved within 20 minutes and on our way home. We’d planned on going to the mall and eating dinner rather than braving the rush hour traffic, but once we turned the portable DVD player on Caillou the kids were nearly comatose and we decided to head on home.
We had a wonderful time with Grammy and Papa (or whatever he is being called!) We can’t wait till we don’t have to high tail the kids every waking minute and can sit, chat, and relax without worrying about what they are doing!
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