Beach Trip!

Well, we experienced the trials and tribulations that make up a "family vacation". Not so much of a vacation, really. First of all, what were we thinking but even though I have inherited the "weather nerd" genes from my Dad, I forgot to check the weather before we left! Nick didn't either. More on that later, but it just goes to show you that our trip started out on a bad foot. We were supposed to leave by 12:30/1:00, but finally got in the car at about 2:30. Part of the reason we left late is that Isabella took a 2 hour nap in the morning and also Nick had a hellacious half-day at work that morning. So we left at 2:30, had a couple of errands to run before leaving town. As we pulled up to the grocery store, Nick realizes that he left his flip flops at home. We HAD to return to get those - you can't go to the beach without flip flops!! So we pulled out of town at about 3:00. On a Friday. So we were already expecting to hit the Raleigh traffic. But we also hit Burlington, Chapel Hill, and Smithfield traffic. And since Isabella napped so well earlier, she didn't feel like sleeping in the car until about 7:00. She slept about 45 minutes. So already you're thinking, gosh, she napped at 7 but they left at 3...yes, by that time we had been on the road 4 hours which isn't too too bad for a 3 1/2 hour trip. But it ended up taking us 5 1/2 hours. And then the little miss wouldn't sleep in her pack and play. So she slept with us (luckily, Granddad has a king-sized bed, so there was plenty of room). She woke up at 6:30 the next morning. Why, I'm not really sure. It was cloudy, which turned into RAIN and there was rain on the forecast for the entire day. How dumb were we to go to the beach for a short little weekend without noticing that it was supposed to rain the whole time? Luckily it cleared up and we were able to make it to the beach for a little while yesterday afternoon. Isabella had a blast! It was a little chilly so we didn't stay too long but she really loved the sand. She only tried to eat it once, so that was good. But she was fascinated by picking it up and transferring it between her hands. So that was really fun. We went back this morning and she liked that too, although it was a little bright and the water was really choppy and kind of chilly. She didn't really like when the water rushed up on us when we were in the sand. I think that she likes the pool better because the water is more predictable. Last night we got to meet all of Robyn's family - her brother and sister and their families. That was a lot of fun and Isabella liked hanging out with all of those new people. Today's trip home was much better! We only had to stop once for the fussy girl, so we made it home much faster. Still she only slept for about 45 minutes. Our next trip to the beach is at the end of next month when Nick's mom comes to town! I'm sure she'll be crawling by then! :0

Enjoy these pictures of our trip. We've got some cute video too...if I ever find time to post it.

Boy all this playing at the beach sure does wear a baby out!