You know how when things go smoothly it’s not really that memorable; but the things that don’t go as planned, those are the memories that really stay with you?  Well, our beach trip was certainly a memorable one.  First off, it took forever to leave the house.  After we got Ashley fed, changed, and lathered up, we packed the truck full of umbrellas, chairs, a tent, towels, a cooler, drinks, koozies, toys, and watermelon.  We unloaded everything at the public access and unpacked on the beach.  Van carried Ashley out there and when he arrived where we were sitting, his shirt was soaking wet.  Apparently, those Huggies Swimmers aren’t worth a darn.  I didn’t know this until now because when Ashley is in the pool, she is always wet so I had no way to know that the diapers leaked.  Not only did they leak all over Van, but we also found out she had left a deposit in there.  And these aren’t regular diapers either.  They are pull-ups!  How do you get a pull up off a baby without spilling the contents everywhere?!  Well, with the help of your Mom and sister of course!

Actually, let me back up a bit.  After discovering Ashley’s wetness, I had the brilliant idea of just putting her in the ocean to clean her off.  Ha!  Seriously?  Yea, I’m an idot.  I just held her while I stood in the ocean (didn’t even put her in) and she hated it.  It didn’t help that it was rough water yesterday.  She cried.  So I tried putting her in some water that had puddled up on the sand.  She cried.  I put her feet in the sand.  She cried.  We changed her diaper.  She cried.  Tried to put her suit back on.  She cried.  So we just left her naked with a clean diaper on.  She took about a 5 minute cat nap laying on my shoulder, and when she awoke she was good to go!  It was so funny.  Like she just needed to re-charge.  So from that point on, she was fine.  She ate some watermelon in her mesh feeder, lots of watermelon actually.  Played under the tent and entertained herself for quite a while.    When she began getting tired again, we packed it all up and came back home.

Man, it was exhausting.  She hated the water.  Hated the sand.  She was content just playing on a blanket under the tent.  So I don’t think we’ll be making another trek to the beach anytime soon.  All that work for such little reward.  Some would say it wasn’t worth it.  But having this story about Ashley’s first beach experience…priceless!

And I’m not the only one who has problems with fireworks.  Toby can’t stand them.  He barks, pants, and runs around the yard in circles. He gets all worked up.  There is no rationalizing with him.  It’s like he is in a trance, another state of mind. This year we locked Toby and Blake up in the garage under the house.  A few of you may remember the story a couple years ago when Toby was going bizerk at the fireworks so Blake thought he would “stop” the fireworks for him.  Blake proceeded to jump in the waterway, during the pitch black night, and swim up the waterway towards the fireworks.  Long story short, we barely got him back, and it was a nightmare I will never forget.  So tonight, Toby is on anti-anxiety medication and they are both locked up downstairs.

Anyways, it was a pretty chill day.  We really didn’t do much.  Perfect for a vacation huh?  Played ball with the boys, they swam, and I read a book sitting by the pool (I’m just now getting in on the Twilight craze!).  Played with Ashley and gave her some watermelon.  Van relaxed and enjoyed himself.  I don’t think I saw him open his laptop until tonight – which is a first!  And even then, it was just to download pictures.  We watched the fireworks from the waterway.  Very pretty.  And Ashley did good.  The noise didn’t bother her and she really didn’t show much of a reaction.  She was pretty indifferent to the whole thing.  Well, until you tried to put her to bed.  But overall, a wonderful holiday!

Here are some pictures from July 4th 2010…