A Beachin' Weekend

This weekend we took an impromptu little jaunt to St. George's Island to join Alex's aunt and uncle at their beach house rental. Since my my father-in-law and mother-in-law were also there, it seemed like the least we could do was bring our traveling shitshow over for a visit. We packed everybody up in the ol' Buick, timed nap times perfectly, and enjoyed a relatively peaceful drive over. 

My favorite part about living back in the States, especially down in the South, is that the kids are able to see their grandparents so frequently. They see my parents every couple of weeks, since they live only two hours from us, and they see Alex's parents every few months, as they live in Atlanta. It's not as often as regular kids who live in the same town as their grandparents get to visit, but that is still so much more frequently than most military children get to see their grandparents. 

When we arrived at the beach house, we were all so excited to see everyone. Alex's aunt and uncle are snowbirds from Ohio, so we only get to see them once a year or so. They rented this beach house for an entire month, and the first thing I noticed was "damn, y'all are tan!" I was immediately determined to catch up. 

Perhaps the best thing about family get-togethers like this is that there are five extra sets of adult eyes and hands around the house, so mama gets to sleep in til 11am. It was glorious. I can't remember the last time I slept that long. I awakened slowly and peacefully, without any hair pulling or eye pulling or crotches to the face, and I relished lying in a clean, white bed with the sun streaming in through the blinds. That's heaven, y'all. 

After my amazing wakeup, I joined the rest of the family down at the beach with a turban on and a copy of Killing Reagan. I didn't bring a sunhat because I pride myself in the fact that I've never had a sunburn, and I scoffed Alex when he suggested that I put on sunscreen. I already had SPF on my face, but I surely don't need it anywhere else. The kids went back up to the house for naps, so I sat comfortably in a beach chair with all the other adults and read my book while sipping on hard root beer. No chasing people, no sand flying--just three hours of sunshine and reading and digging my feet into the sand. The only sound, aside from casual conversation every now and again, was the roaring of the ocean. I haven't had a beach experience like that since having children, and it was much-needed. Unfortunately, I must've had one-too-many hard root beers, because I had no idea I was getting burned to a crisp. The weather was perfect--not cold, not hot--so I wasn't uncomfortable and sweaty, and I just couldn't feel how much sun I was getting. I didn't realize it at all until Alex brought the kids down after their naps. He looked at me and laughed, but I couldn't imagine it was as bad as he was making it out to be, so I continued to stay out on the beach watching my kids chase birds, build demolish sandcastles, and frolic in the freezing water.

Vivi was enamored with the birds and heartbroken when they flew away from her. A little six-year-old girl came up to Viv and handed her a chip to throw to the birds, but Vivi looked at the chip and then promptly stuck it in her mouth, and the little girl stared at her incredulously and then said, "no more chips for you!"

After we chased more birds than necessary, I went inside to assess the damage to my body, and I was embarrassingly red. "It'll brown out by the morning, though," I cockily assured my mustached husband, who had a shit-eating, I-told-you-so, grin on his face. 

Afterward, we showered up (a painful shower, I might add) and went to eat oysters at a fun little hole-in-the-wall oyster bar with a live band. The kids had a blast eating rocks and soliciting the bar patrons, while I was in heaven eating oysters. At one point, Vivi climbed up on stage with the band, and instead of kicking her off the stage, the singer just picked her up mid-song and rolled with it. Vivi was loving the spotlight, and I'm beginning to think that between her lack-of-stage-fright and her lovely renditions of "The Wheels on the Bus," that we may have a future performer on our hands. Or a groupie. Hard to tell at this point. 

Unfortunately for my ego, I did not awaken to a brown tan the next morning. In fact, it looked even redder. "You're gonna peeeeel," Alex keeps telling me, while trying to conceal his gloating smile. I've been applying aloe and thick lotion non-stop, but I'm really afraid that might happen. We returned home last night, and it looks more and more red with every passing hour. So that brings me to right now, as I am sitting by my electric fire place with the AC on, because I can't decide if I'm too hot or too cold. And I am debating how noticeable it will be if I continue to wear my loose fitting gauze nightgown on my Monday grocery run, because I'm not sure that I can bear to put on pants. 

But aside from the foolishly acquired sunburn, we had a great, low-key weekend with family on a beautiful beach. It doesn't get much better than that! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that you have a prosperous week. Happy Monday!