Fall Break Beach Vacay

Ed's hunting trip always falls during the girls' two-week fall break from school.  Which I hate.  But this year I got over it by taking the girls to Virginia Beach for four days.  It.  Was.  #1!  Here's why:

Going to the beach in October is #1
The place is completely deserted.  Here's who was there - some retirees, a few surfers, the occasional family with children under 5, and us.  Nary a school child nor teenager in sight.  Restaurants whose Yelp reviews claimed 1.5 hour waits, we just waltzed in.  Acres of beach all to ourselves, every day.  And the weather was perfect.  70 degrees and breezy - perfect for playing in the sand, a bit of wading/splashing, and never getting too hot.

Did I mention it was deserted?

Playgrounds on the beach are #1
There were at least two, right on the beach, within walking distance of our place. 

Beach + playground + no other people = a very happy morning

Grandma is #1
My Mom came with us for two of the days.  She led us on an expedition to the beach shop across the street, where we invested in proper shovels, new watering cans, and other necessities.  She brought surprise activity bags for the girls for each day, which included "beach buddies" (small teddy bears with tiny pillows and quilts she had made), lip balm, books, Skittles, and lacing cards, among other things.

Twinners Poppy & Grandma having a snack at the playground

Cutest group EVER, in a particularly windy spot

 She stayed with Poppy during her nap, while I took the older girls exploring the town, including the fudge shoppe.  Natch.  She also sent me off on my own after bedtime, for a couple of relaxing and much-needed solitary beach strolls.  She even went out one morning to buy the girls each a small treasure chest, with a sparkly gold keychain as treasure, for them to bury and unbury, which they did over and over again.

Playing in the sand is seriously #1
Kids, at least my kids, don't need much else.  Or they didn't for those four days.  We went out to the beach each morning after breakfast, around 9, and came back for lunch around 12.  Then went back around 3, until we got hungry for dinner, or the hotel shadows became so long we got cold, whichever came first.  And most of that was sand play.  You cannot beat it!  (Especially since we got good and proper digging shovels.)

Allowance, post cards, and journals are #1
The girls have been getting allowance for a few months now, and they brought their money to the beach.  We scoped out the beach shop the first night, then counted their money and talked about all their buying options, which they slept on.  In the morning, they wanted to go back right away to make their purchases - each bought a roll of bubble tape and some postcards.  The second day, we wrote them - one to Ginger's friend, three to Hazel's teachers, and one to Grandma Marsha in Colorado.

I also brought their journals, and we wrote in them during Poppy's nap our third day.  Hazel liked it so much she wrote in hers almost every day.

 While coming home is not, and was not, #1 - we were all sorry to have it end - it was still pretty sweet when Ed finally made his way home to us last night, in all his annual mountain man bearded glory. 

 
Pretty cute, right?

I'm pretty sure we will be going back next year.  If not sooner.

Assateague Island

I lived in Virginia the first 18 years of my life, and it wasn't until last year, while reading Good Night Virginia to my children, that I found out we have an island with wild ponies on it! What?!
We've been meaning to go to "the beach" all summer. The girls love playing in sand, and at least Hazel, Ed and I love the water. But it's been a busy summer and we never really got around to doing the research that would make it happen.

Then some friends from church sent an email to a bunch of people, telling about their favorite beach destination - Assateague Island - and setting up a group beach trip day. It was perfect - someone else knows where to go and leads the way, we just show up and follow. And even better, what's important to us was what's important to them - clean beach, uncrowded, non-commercial. And hey, ponies don't hurt.

The weather was iffy. But we decided to be optimistic and go anyway. I had invested in a big beach umbrella for our fair-skinned family just for the occasion. And it had been a long time since we took a family road trip. So we showed up at the church at 5:50 am last Saturday to meet with the others going - apparently experience had shown going early is how to beat the Bay Bridge traffic. And we did. We sailed across the bridge and the other 150 miles to the island. Luckily it appeared the misty weather had deterred other would-be beach-goers.

When we arrived, paid our $15 park entrance fee, and parked, the beach looked like this (about 10:30 am.) Not bad for a Saturday in August.
Here is our little camp. Later in the afternoon it became more sunny and more people showed up, but it was never what I would call crowded. Thank goodness.
The weather was perfect - in the 80's and breezey. The waves were nice and big and we had fun watching surfers. Our group had some body boards and took turns riding on them. Then of course there was all the other fun beach stuff: frisbee, kite-flying, kid-burying, hole-digging.I got a lot of my book read (and have the sunburn on the back of my legs to prove it.) Hazel spent almost the entire day running in and out of the waves (and has the sunburn on her legs, where the sunscreen washed off, to prove it.) Ginger didn't care for the water and spent most of the afternoon building an elaborate sandcastle, and an elaborate conversation, with our friend Emily.
And what about the ponies? Yes, we saw them. They weren't on the beach while we were there, but were along the road when we arrived and left. And they seem to prefer leaving their manure in parking lots, so that was a delicate treat to navigate. This one came bounding out of the bushes just as we drove past.

So the day was a huge success. The weather was great, the beach was pristine. The water was cool, wavey and refreshing. A day full of fun in the sun for everyone.

In fact, nothing could sum it up better than this picture I took less than 10 minutes after leaving the island:

Escape to Paradise

WARNING: Reading the following may cause you to feel jealous of or happy for me, or a combination of the two, depending on your natural disposition. Last weekend I had a rendez-vous with my sisters, the beach, and my inner child in an alternate reality located in Clearwater Beach, Florida. We got to escape the cold weather and responsibilities of normal life for a few days. It took a miracle to make it happen, working with budgets and schedules of three very busy families, but miracles are more common than you might think. This was one I won't soon forget. And yes, I actually took this picture with my own camera from a 5th floor window of the hotel.

Friday, February 15
We were all scheduled to meet in the Tampa airport within a few hours of each other, around midday. I secretly relished in being dropped off at LaGuardia by Ed and the girls and waving bye-bye as they drove off. Before boarding I even bought an actual newspaper and even actually read it on the plane. When I arrived in Tampa I had a message from Maren that her flights were all screwed up and she wouldn't come in until later that night. Major bummer. But I met Tona and we loaded into our little "economy" rental car and drove over two awesome causeways to get to the Sandpearl Resort, our home for the next 3 days.

As if the sunshine, warm green-smelling air and palm trees weren't enough, things just got more surreal as our car was whisked off by a pith-helmet-donning valet, and we were brought goblets of non-alcoholic champagne with pomegranate seeds while we waited to check in. An exploration of the hotel and grounds confirmed we were no longer on planet earth.

We had 3:30 spa appointments so we made our way to that wing after wandering the beach, pool, and numerous outdoor corridors. After changing to chenille robes and sipping cucumber water we had massages. What a way to start the trip. I could write a whole post on that massage. Next we had manicures and retired to our room to savor the moments. We had a quick dinner at a beach cafe best known for their grouper sandwich, then headed back to Tampa to pick up Maren, who had waited 4 hours in Burlington and 7 hours in Cleveland to reach us, 17 hours after she had woken up that morning.

Saturday, February 16
I slept like the dead. No dreams, no stirring. I don't even think I moved for 10 hours. Maren and Tona rose early but I slept in until 9am - it was heaven. Maren had rescheduled her spa appointments for Saturday so while she got pampered Tona and I swam in the pool and then went to a local Italian festival at a park, where we got lunch and watched Italian folk dancers. I also got my main souvenir of the trip, a Venetian glass necklace. After meeting back up we went to the beach. I've never been on sand like that - it felt like powdered sugar and was almost as white - so white that it didn't get hot even in the afternoon sun.

We each had a few must-do's on the trip, and one of mine was going to a movie, preferably a chick flick. Saturday afternoon we saw Definitely, Maybe, a perfect 3-star romantic comedy for the occasion. Then we had dinner at the hotel's beachside grill cafe, each of us opting for one of their delectable salads. Saturday night was a facial extravaganza back in our room, where we pooled our skin care products and performed full facial regimes, complete with cucumber slices on the eyes. We also looked through Maren's blog book created on Blurb.com, which was amazing and reinspired me to make one of my own. That night I again slept like the dead.

Sunday, February 17
We got up early and went shell hunting on the beach. Maren found some amazing shells Saturday morning - see her blog post for details -, so I went with her the next day to gather some for myself. I could really get used to a morning walk on the beach as part of my daily routine - talk about a serene start.

We attended church at a local ward. It was their ward conference and we heard awesome and inspiring talks from the Bishop and Stake President. The Stake President had blessed his new baby boy earlier in the meeting so he based his talk on names - choosing his own children's names and also us as a people taking the name of Christ upon us. We all glanced at each other - kind of spooky since we had spent part of the trip trying to name Maren's baby (due in May.)

Not complete gluttons for luxury, we did improve our minds and cultural competence on the trip as well. After church we visited Weedon Island Preserve, where we toured an awesome visitor center and walked around the grounds and up an observation tower. Sunday night we ate at a popular panasian/seafood place called the Island Way Grill, where we sat on the deck overlooking the water and sunset. I could have died. But I still had to eat my seared scallops over sesame lime noodles followed by ginger creme brulee, so I snapped out of it. After dinner we took a final dip in the hotel pool, which by the way is treated with ozone instead of chlorine and geothermally heated.

Monday, February 18
Poor Tona had a cruelly early flight so we said our goodbyes at night. When the sun rose Maren and I ventured out for a final shell comb on the beach, then returned to pack up and head out. The rest of the day is not much to mention, though flying alone was a luxury in itself. Ed was quite late picking me up, which only attests to some of the important lessons he learned over the weekend, among them being how nearly impossible it is to get out the door with the kids, especially on a deadline. Another was how much he loves and appreciates me, which was nice to hear. Another was that doing Hazel's hair is harder than it looks. But everyone was alive and well so it was a success all around.

Telling what we did is the easy part. But it was what I saw and felt, and the conversations we shared, that made it such a meaningful trip for me. And that's what is hard to put into words. All I can do is use my notes and pictures to bring it back. The most important determination of the weekend was that we are not waiting another ten years before the next sisters' getaway.

I'm already doing research.

"Doney Highland"

No, silly. We didn't go to Scotland last Saturday! We spent the morning at Coney Island, or as Hazel calls it, "Doney Highland." It's about a 15 minute drive from our house so it's easy to get there fast. And we've heard rumors that most of the amusement park features are going to close for good after this year, so we decided to take advantage of our timing and location, and go check it out.It's actually kind of falling apart down there - definitely past its hey-day. But there is a kind of historical charm, and you feel like you should see people in striped bloomers and bobbed hair (but you don't.) Notice the elevated subway train in the left background.
We skipped the "freak shows" (yes, they still call them that!!!!!) and the spook houses (just the facades got Hazel whimpering) and the - ahem - burlesque shows. We hoped Hazel might like some of the kiddie rides, so we bought 3 rides, and after looking at them all, she chose the fire engines. It was as mild as they come - just goes around in a circle. She really liked ringing the bell and sitting in there before it started moving. She even had a happy face on the first time around. But after that she became very anxious and they ended up having to stop the ride to let her off before giving everyone else their money's worth. Good thing we didn't buy a 10-pack of ride tickets! And that also helped us with the decision to not ride the giant ferris wheel as a family.We walked up and down the boardwalk, mostly people watching and sipping fresh lemonade. Hazel just wanted to play in the sand. We hadn't really come prepared for beach time, but we let her play in it a little. People come from all over NYC to spend the day at the beach there - people had coolers, umbrellas, radios, huge tents, baby pools, etc.

We of course got hot dogs for lunch, and while I went to feed Ginger in the car, Ed and Hazel got ice cream cones. I think it was the first time Hazel had strawberry ice cream and she sure loved it. She tried her best to finish it, and came close, but as you can see she just couldn't....quite....do it....
We hope to go back at least one more time this summer , in the evening. They do fireworks every Friday night during the summer, plus the lights on the boardwalk would be cool. And of course Ed and I both want to ride the Cyclone. Anyone want to babysit?