Things have just not quite been going as planned at our house. We've had an injured kiddo, sick kids, some crazy field trips, lots of moving boxes to pack, and a vacation that did not go well.
We're moving this month!
Yay! That was completely sarcastic........Yes, I'm excited about our new house. But moving again? Not what I enjoy doing. This will be our third move in a year. I deserve some type of award I think! (I might try to talk my hubby into letting me order a pile of new books that are all just for me!) Anyway, our vacation was planned right before our move so we could enjoy some fun family time before the real chaos began.
We planned to go to the beach!
We had our week at the beach all planned. We were staying in a cute beach front condo with a pool. The big kids were going to go to a baseball game one evening. The rest of the time we would spend at the beach enjoying the waves.
The day before we left I spent 6 hours cooking all the food for our entire week at the beach. Our kids have food allergies to eating out or picking up takeout is never an option. So, we have one giant ice chest and one other large tub that always hold our food for our trips. I cooked everything, cleaned everything, and had all the food organized. I also packed all the bags along with the towels, pack and play, bouncy seat, and all the diapers, wipes, and baby paraphernalia. Ohh, and we strapped our canopy tent on top of the van. We were so organized and ready!
We planned to leave right after the kids' violin lessons. That didn't quite happen. We had several stops to make before we could actually leave town. We had some packages we had to go pick up and we had to go to the urgent care to have Tiger's stitches removed. We left town two hours later than planned.
We made it to our condo and got all unpacked, ate a quick dinner, and then headed to the beach. After about ten minutes in the waves the kids came back up on the sand. Curly started shrieking and dancing around on the beach. She hopped on one foot, then the other foot while waving her arms and scratching frantically at her hip. "It iiiiiiiiitches!!!!!! It buuuuuuurrrrrrrrrns! It huuuuuuuurts!!!!" I was trying hard to understand what was going on but she kept bouncing and hopping right out of my reach. I worked to capture her with one arm while I kept from dropping Punkin. My first thought was some type of allergic reaction since the girls have allergies. I was finally able to get a look at her once I got her calmed down. I could see red marks on her leg, hip, and side. They were starting to swell and become welts. It suddenly dawned on me - JELLYFISH! She had been stung.
Well, after Curly's Oscar-winning performance of the jellyfish dance, no one wanted to get back in the water. The kids spent that evening playing on the sand as we watched the sun go down. I kept telling myself that the next day would be better. It was a fluke thing right?
The next morning we grabbed all our gear and walked downstairs to the beach. We passed another lady who gave us a warning about jellyfish. She said the waves were full of jellyfish. Then she told us about how her son had been stung 4 times and she vividly described his stings and how swollen he was. I felt sick just listening. We walked past her to the beach where no one was in the water. We played in the sand for a time, avoiding the water completely. Then we walked down the shore to look for shells. As we walked next to the waves, we could see jellyfish drifting on the water. There were so many! And there were jellyfish of every size! You could not walk out into the waves without getting right by one of the many floating jellyfish. One even washed ashore right in front of us. That was the deal breaker for me. What were we going to do for several days if we could not even get in the water?
My hubby and I made the decision to head back from the beach and enjoy some of the fun spots in town. We drove home that very afternoon while everyone napped in the car. That night my hubby took them swimming in our pool that is always jellyfish-free! We also went to a wonderful little amusement park nearby. The kids rode the carousel, drove little cars, rode trains, played on the playground, fished in the pond, drove remote control boats, and played indoors in the sensory village with a kid-sized weather station and grocery store. The next day, Daddy took the big kids ice skating.
So, our vacation did not go as planned and we were sad to leave. But the kids were not enjoying being confined to the beach with no opportunity to play in the waves. I'm thankful we could come up with a backup plan. Our trip was cut very short but we still enjoyed some fun family time close to home.
