Beachin Asbells

This summer headed back to the beach!!!

We have visited the 30A area many times with and without kids. We like the lack of highrises (less bodies on the beach) and non-touristry atmosphere. We headed back to Sea Grove this summer for our family vacation.

Luke has been talking about the beach since the last time we went three years ago. He talked about the 'pirate room' him and Evan shared, the elevator to the 4th floor, the balcony. He talked about it all! 

Now, three years ago, he did not enjoy the beach as much as I wanted him to. He wanted to remain in the pool. He was also too little to be in the water by himself so one of us had to follow him around constantly. Not my idea of a relaxing beach vacation. Like my friend once said, "I mean, if I can't relax on the beach with a book and cold beverage, I am not sure I'd like it either. It's hot...and sandy..." But, I knew this year would be different.

On our way down, I pulled my blog post from 3 years ago to read about the things we did. I was quickly reminded to set my expectation low....very low.

The trip started out very rough. Evan had spent a week at Camp of the Rising Son in French Camp, MS. We had planned to pick him up and drive straight to the beach. It would add a little time to our drive, but it was at least in the general direction. I got a call the night before we were leaving. I had been waiting for this call all week. I just knew the camp was going to call me to say he wasn't eating...or wasn't sleeping...or broke his arm. I have a very active imagination. When I saw an unknown number at 8pm from Pontomic MS, my heart immediately sunk. 

Nurse: Mrs. Asbell? Um, hi. I have Evan here and his eye has been bothering him all day. He's come several times to us to talk about it. This time when he came we saw it was really swollen and goopy.

OMGAHHHHHH - I don't think I heard a word of what she said after that. I knew in my mommy heart Evan had pink eye!!! I classify pink eye up there with lice. So gross. So very gross and so very contagious. 

They told me they could keep him for the night in the infirmary. This means he got to sleep in air conditioning AND watch a movie. We arrived around 8:30 and I immediately knew it was pink eye. We grabbed his stuff, thanked the amazing staff at CRS, squirted some drops in his eyes, and took off....but didn't get far. Luke quickly puked in the back seat. 

**SIGH**

Thankfully he hit a blanket in the floor, so clean up was easy. I bought some Dramamine, told him to open wide, and then we took off again.

Thankfully those were the two worst things that happened the whole trip. Evan's pink eye spread to the other eye, but he was completely healed by Monday. And by a complete miracle and a metric ton of hand sanitizer, no one else got it. 

We enjoyed a lot of good food, amazing weather, and some really fun times in the ocean all week. 

I think my favorite memory was at lunch one day. The boys were just talking and Evan casually said, 'Luke, who is your best friend?" Without even looking up from his lunch, Luke pointed to Evan and simply said, "You."

I love how easy their friendship is.

The kids (and adults) spent a lot of time looking for ocean treasure!

We had a great view from our balcony. That is a VERY important feature for me when choosing a condo. I like to take my coffee on the patio, my dinner, my 5pm drink, my everything! It's also great for people watching. Especially when you people watch the same family take family photos three nights in a row...

The boys LOVED the ocean. The rougher the better. We had several calm days, but the boys always seemed to enjoy the rougher ones better.

We did some non-beach things as well. We ate well at Florida Fish House, The Hub, Bruno's, Grayton Brew Pub, Blue Mountain Creamery, Goatfeathers, The Perfect Pig, and more!

But my favorite time was when we were all together on the beach.

Thank you family vacation for giving us a reason to slow down and focus on each other. We'll see you again next year.