North Carolina Beach Exposure . . .

The beach was great! Well, I’m kinda surprised I said that because it started out sucky and ended sucky, but the middle was slammin!

The first day we were there I was in a bad mood, the boys hadn’t slept and the little tike needed time on the boob. So we took care of that, unloaded our car into our ‘living space’ which was the nicest room in the joint. Air conditioning, mini fridge and private full bath and even a little extra room/closet to set up the pack-n-play for Josiah to rest his tired body.

We spent 30 minutes getting ready for a beach trip that I was SURE would only last 10 minutes but we trekked up the driveway, across the road, through the sand, down the boardwalk and onto the piping hot beach sand, which was being blown so hard that I thought “If only I had ink I could give myself a little sand tattoo.”

It was so windy! I had Jonathan wrapped like the Christ Child but in one and half minutes he was both asleep and had his face holes covered with sand =( Josiah was freaking out and Stephen was getting more and more frustrated with the pup tent we brought to keep Jonathan out of the sun. It was flapping around like a loose take-out napkin. We brought weights to put in the corners because we knew it would be windy, but it wasn’t happening that day.

Later that night while the sun was setting I went out to the beach alone to watch a crab hunt and some kite flying. Some friends were also attempting to surf in some choppy waves and getting bashed about. When I thought it was dark enough, I ran back to the house, threw on my suit and headed back to the water. I took off what wasn’t swim wear and jumped in. I thought it was going to be chilly, but it wasn’t bad at all.

The next day was Mother’s Day and a wonderful breakfast came to me while I dozed and breastfed. French Toast on Italian bread (my fav!), crispy bacon and High Pulp Simply Made O.J. (the non-murdering kind) and it couldn’t have been better. I put on my – F R E E Z I N G – wet bathing suit from the night before and set forth to reintroduce myself to the world of surfing with a friend of mine. He was cold during out time in the water but I was just fine. I said, "Advantage number 1 of having kids, a layer of blubber to keep you warm in the winter! And the water." By the way, that's the end of the 'Advantage List.'

It took a little work getting past the break, where all the waves were so we could get behind them and ride some in. It wasn’t a stellar day for surfing. I’m still unsure where the time went because all of a sudden I was too dizzy to lay on the long board and it was two hours later. No waves were ridden by Abigail. I still had energy but I swallowed so much salt water I wanted to hurl. Maybe that’s where Hurly got their name.

The family and I got to spend some better time at the beach and Josiah still wasn’t attracted to the waves coming up to the shore. Something about the shear massive size of the ocean in the eyes of an-almost-2-year-old might have something to do with it. That trip lasted a little longer than our first voyage: more like 25 minutes.

The next day it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and….all day long. We went to the aquarium a few miles away and that turned out really well. Josiah was interested enough to make paying an entrance fee for Steve and I worth while. And Jonathan slept, but we still took pictures of him too so he will know he was there. That’s important to infants, you know.

For lunch, Steve took off on his own to search for food while I got naps started. He made a few phone calls back with different options, like all good husbands should. This ensures a happy wife! He has good taste and knows what I like. Since it was still raining when he got home with the food, he thought he would get less wet if he jumped out of the passengers side of the car: all of 4 feet closer to the house!

When it was time for dinner I found the car battery dead because Steve forgot to turn the lights off! He would have been reminded by chimes if he had used his own door for exiting like most normal people do! I had a brilliant idea for getting a jump and food… pizza delivery!!! Those people come with charged batteries and hot food! How could this not work?!!!!? We made phone calls to find someone who would come out to us, and explained our situation and promised a handsome tip if a willing person would give a little extra time. All parts of our situation was wrong.

1. We lived too far out for delivery. (This scenario is true of all Baptist Children’s Home of North Carolina housing.)
2. No one would take credit cards over the phone because of fraud.
3. People thought we were going to make pizza out of them while they were looking under a car hood. They didn’t take us seriously.

Since it was raining and we only brought beach clothes and not warm monsoon-type clothing, flagging someone down was out of the question. We called USAA and a tow truck jumped us in 4 minutes. Now, what to do about dinner… it’s almost 9 pm at this point. We drive into ‘town’ 4 miles down the street to one of the places who wouldn’t deliver to our location because we were too far (this was a Monday night mind you) and they told us they were closed! Steve told them who we were and he remembered and just gave us two large pizzas that were already made.

We left the next morning.