Our second day at the beach was the day I realized that the vacation I had pictured in my mind and the vacation I was actually going to have were two very different things. The People magazine I brought along with Brad and Angelina, hoping to peruse leisurely by the sand and sea? Better save it for the girl's trip next spring or 6 years from now.
We knew the weather might be iffy, so we scrambled down to the beach first thing. It was me, my kiddos and my sister, Ana. You'd think 2 adults watching 2 kids would be sufficient, but it wasn't. I had tried to bring the stroller down in hopes that I could push it on the packed sand. It worked, until I put Eli in it, then it kept getting stuck. The surf was pretty rough (one red flag out), so I told Elena she could walk in the surf, but not get in. While Ana and I were trying to deal with the stroller, Elena got ahead of us and walked around a sand bar. She fell in and must have slipped down a shelf in the water. Next thing we know, she's flailing about and getting pummeled by waves. Thankfully there was a gentlemen fishing right by her and he stuck his pole out for her to grab. I was panicked and grateful and generally feeling like the biggest loser mom around. Not a great way to start the day. In retrospect it was probably a good lesson for Elena. We kept trying to tell her the ocean is not a pool, but I don't think she believed us until then. For the rest of the morning she either stared pensively at the waves or sat at the edge much like this:
In the back of the picture you can see my poor mother trying to keep Eli from certain death as well. I love this shot of his sweet feet in the sand. Someday they'll be huge, ugly man feet, but for now . . .
Before we could scramble back to the house, the rain started coming down in buckets. And it never really stopped for the rest of the day. We tried to make the best of it, and took the chance to drive down the road to Rosemary Beach. Very fancy, with lots of cute shops, and praise God a Starbucks (Eli was up again at 5:30 that morning). Olivia took up with this toad (or frog? I can never tell the difference) and wouldn't let it go, so of course Nana Ana forked over $20 for it! And it was the hit of the beach house for the rest of the week. Unfortunately no amount of smooching will make a prince appear. It's a shame, we really could have used an extra pair of hands.
And when all else fails, bring out the cheetohs and the telly. And a giant pomegranate margarita for mommy.
And finally, in the You Get What You Pay For Category, here's abuela's idea of watching Eli while I do something else (probably fix above margarita):
big, ugly man feet… hehehe, you totally crack me up.
and that frog is hilarious!