What a Week!

Well, the boys and I are finally back from our trip to Panama City Beach, FL. It started off as the worst beach vacation ever for this family with constant thunderstorms, the beach covered in nasty seaweed, and an extra clingy baby. Everything turned around for the better the last few days we were there except the clingy baby (that drove me crazy).

My mom, two sisters, the boys and I left early Sunday morning in hopes to being able to spend time at the beach that same day. By the time we got there though, everyone was so tired that we all passed out. When we finally did wake up, the sky was overcast and gloomy. We still wanted to check out the beach. Dylan is so funny with his quarks. He walked on his heels the whole time because he didn't want to get sand on his toes. Of course he wouldn't get anywhere near the water, which was fine because the beach and water were kind of dirty with a bag of trash and other unmentionable things that I guess got washed up on shore from the storms. To start the "worst vacation ever" for us, we got caught in a downpour. I warned my family that we shouldn't take a walk along the beach, that it looked like it was going to pour buckets of water on our heads, but they wanted to take a walk and said the rain clouds were heading in a different directions. When did they become meteorologist? It's a burden to be right all the time.

We made it back to the hotel soaked. That's where we stayed for the remainder of that day and the next. The hotel was really very nice. We stayed at The Inn at St. Thomas Square. It had everything that we needed, including a washer-dryer in the suite and a full kitchen. My mother brought with us everything from her cupboards so we wouldn't have to spend money and eat out too often. She does this for every trip we take. We make fun of her, but it always works out for the best in the end. We did go out once and that was to celebrate my older sister's birthday. Happy 36th b-day, Nikah!

Because the beaches weren't in the best shape from the storms, we spent some time at the pool. Getting Dylan in the pool took some gentle work and coaxing. I had to use a lot of patience to get him in. At first I could only get him on the steps and then I'd get him to go out a little further and so forth. By the end of the trip, I had to force him to get out of the pool so we could go home. He had a great time splashing, "fishing" with his foam noodle, and jumping in. I bought him a car shaped float. That was the best thing ever to him since he loves cars so much! We would drive around the pool, stopping at one spot to get gas then another area to buy groceries. He would make the engine sound and honk his horn. He even got to play with some little kids. Dylan was having such a good time in the pool that he felt confident enough to keep his life jacket off. Trust me, I was right by him the whole time. But he had no qualms stepping off the last step and having his head go underwater. I had to help him up, but he didn't cry like I though he would.

What was Devin doing the whole time? Crying for me. He was OK if I left and he didn't notice. But once he saw me, it was all over and he would cry until I picked him up. At the pool he rode in his float and was content as long as I was near by. The last time I took him in the water, he was in a good mood and had a great time kicking his legs and splashing. He had a big, silly grin on his face the whole time. I loved seeing him like that.

We finally did make it to the beach the last two days we were there. We went to St. Andrew State Park. Gorgeous! From there we went to Shell Island. Breathtaking! Shell Island was perfect for my little guys. For starters Dylan got to take his first bus and boat ride to get to the island. He really liked that. On one side of the island, there was a rock formation that created a shallow pool. Dylan could stand and play in the water without any threat of waves knocking him down. He didn't notice the fish or else he would have probably freaked out and wouldn't get in the water. My sisters and I did a little snorkeling (with one mask between us). We saw a lot of cool fish hanging out around the rocks and found a few sand dollars. Funny thing: I dug my hand in the sand, nonchalantly picked up a shell, and about freaked out when I realized that it was a crab. I'm sure he was more scared than I was, but still....When I dropped it, the crazy little thing started to chase me! My sister picked it up with a net and gave it to a little boy. I always feel a little torn as a semi-environmentalist about picking up sea life. I hope the kid put the crab back before he left the beach.

St. Andrew State Park was nice. It was still fighting the seaweed but there were clear spots and the waves were a little rough. The first time I took Dylan and Devin out with my mom the waves were really rough. Dylan wasn't having it and I had to take him back to the beach with my sisters. Later on in the day the waves didn't seem so bad and I took Dylan out again. He complained but he was OK. I got him to say, "I'm in the ocean. I'm in the Gulf of Mexico." It sounded so cute with his little voice. There were also jellyfish that chased us out of the water. We later learned that the ones we saw didn't sting. We didn't believe it, but then saw these little girls holding some. I held one. Squishy.

We finally said good-bye to the beach. I hated to leave. Maybe one day Bart and I will have a home on the beach. I can hold out hope, right?

After this trip, I think I can officially say that Dylan is completely potty trained! A round of applause for my little guy please. Not one accident the whole time, not even in the car. He does say he needs to go to the potty when he wants to get out of doing something, including getting out of his car seat because he's tired of being in it. So a car ride that should have taken 5 hours turned into a 7 hour trip because of all the potty breaks. We used his Kalencom POTETTE - On the Go Potty in the van, on the side of the road and on the beach. It was perfect for every occasion!

It was a good trip overall. I was worried about the boys and the sun. I'm such a beach lover that I want to spend all my time sitting on the white sand and playing in the water. But with the kids I have to be careful not to overexpose them and to use a lot of sunblock. With his eczema and very sensitive skin, I have to be careful with what I use. All these products that say they are for sensitive skin really irritate his skin. The one thing that I found that I can use daily on Dylan has been the Aveeno Baby Continuous Protection Sunblock Lotion SPF 55 - 4 Oz. It worked great on his skin.

Did Bart have his party like he planned. Nope. We got into a fight about it. He was being a jerk (to put it nicely). He decided to cancel it and apologized for acting the way he did. I told him to go ahead and have his friends over, but he didn't want to go through all the trouble. Oh well, there will be other chances for him. We go on vacations a lot without him during the summer simply because Bart has to work. It would be nice to go somewhere as a family of four one of these days. It will happen soon enough.