Wednesday, May 30, 2012

wordless wednesday: water day fun

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Myrtle Beach {part 2}

One thing you should know about me is that I love the beach.

Like, really love the beach.

I love the sand, the water, the feeling of your skin after you leave all toasty and sticky from the salt air.

I love it. Spending a day on the beach makes me smile big time.

My husband? not so much a beach fan. So while my idea of a vacation is lying horizontal somewhere on a beach, his is quite the opposite and therefore we don't spend a lot of time laying on the beach.

But for our trip to Myrtle Beach I was flat out determined that we would have a beach day. And not just a beach day, but BG's first "real" beach day and it was going to be awesome.

Then we walked out to the beach the day before the scheduled "best beach day ever" and my toddler, for lack of a better phrase, lost her everloving mind.
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She hated the water, she hated the sand between her toes, she hated the waves. What the heck?

I tried. I played fun chase games and picked her up and did almost everything I could short of doing the "Call Me Maybe" dance in the middle of the surf. And still? not a fan.

Blast.

But, the best beach day ever was still going to happen.

So the next morning, we packed up bright and early and headed down to the beach.
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I would like to say that the skies parted and the sun shone down and miraculously the kid loved the beach, but... that would be a lie. However, she did get down and play some.

Her Dad is a gem and took it upon himself to play with her and keep her entertained so that I could spend some time lying horizontal just like I do love to do. So they dug holes and hunted seashells while Mom read and watched.
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Mr. P dug her a little hole up by me and filled it up with water and that turned out to be much more her speed. She loved it. She splashed and splashed and sent him running back for water many more times.
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Eventually I had to give the water another shot. So I took the little one on down to the water where she quickly clung to me like a spider monkey. But it was okay. Because we jumped and we splashed and we laughed like that. She was okay with the water as long as her Mama had her.
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please ignore the scary bathing suit pictures! all for documentation folks!


Eventually Nonny and Pops came down to play a bit and then the three of them headed back inside. Mr. P hung out on the beach with me for a bit before we both headed inside as well.

It wasn't the "perfect" beach day I planned, but it was almost better. BG had fun despite trying to hate her Mama's happy place and I got to get my tan on. We'll call it a successful first beach trip.



Tuesday, May 29, 2012

memorial day weekend 2012

You know those weekends that you just want to bottle up forever and keep in your pocket to pull out time and time again when things are tough just so you can remember the good times?

Yea. That was this weekend.

The only thing that could have made it any better was if Mr. P had been able to take any time off. Poor guy worked the entire weekend. But, that gave BG and I some much needed bonding time as we've been butting heads more lately than singing Kumbayaa together.

Apparently BG got the memo that it was a holiday weekend and decided to start it bright and early Saturday morning. At seven something. Which isn't that early, but is very early for my child. Maybe moving her bed in front of the window really was a dumb idea...

Being as how we were up so early, but 9 am we were outside. And pooling it.
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Last time we tried out the pool, BG was less than interested it. This time? She was over the moon. And stayed in it for an hour. While Mama got to sun and read and relax. It was just about heaven.
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An early lunch and early nap were on the agenda since my best pal was coming to town to spend the afternoon with us. Fortunately, getting up at daybreak tires my child out and there were zero arguments at nap time.

Once AP arrived, we hit the road to Simpsonville for Freedom Weekend Aloft.
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I'm sad I didn't realize this was going on sooner as Gavin Degraw played there the night before and I do love me some Gavin Degraw. Next time. Sigh.

Anyway, it was hot. So hot. But we strolled up and down every aisle checking out the booths and all the food. Weight Watchers points don't count on weekends. At least I sure didn't log my funnel cake, cotton candy, and drink. Oops.
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We bought tickets for the bounce houses which BG loves, but as per usual, she decided to buck our plans and flat refused to go in a single bounce house. Nice. She did however entertain the crowd at the concert with her sweet dance moves and found a train that she just had to ride. Twice. But chickened out on the second time so really only once.
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I take a lot of pictures when she's strapped in. Sue me. It's just about the only time I get a smile.

AP and I snuck away for a girl's dinner that night leaving Mr. P and BG home to crash on the couch early. And this girl was in bed at 9:30. I'm old.

Sunday I managed to get the little and I out the door to church by myself. You can go a head and put a "win" check in the box that is Sunday for that feat.
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I suck at self portrait phone pictures.

BG took a ridiculously long nap that afternoon while I ugly cried over the last episode of Glee. True story. It was ugly. Then, we hit the pool outside again. Because it's gorgeous out. And, well, why not?
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By Sunday evening, I was riding a "heart so full" high. I love my child more than life, but this age can be tiring and tough and lots of other adjectives that don't equal me feeling like I'm rocking the Mom hat. But this weekend? I felt like maybe I didn't suck at being a Mom.

Monday was just as good. We talked a bit about what Memorial Day meant as we put on our red, white, and blue to head to Target. She doesn't get it yet, but she will.

After Target and nap time in which I considered cleaning but ended up reading on the porch, we hooked up the pool to the hose and hit it hard again.
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Even a small disaster with colored bubbles didn't dampen my spirits (although my deck now looks like someone was murdered on it, yay). We blew bubbles, we drove the Cozy Coupe around, we slid down the water slide; it was a perfect afternoon.
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I'm not sure there's a better way to celebrate Memorial Day than by enjoying the freedom and the life I'm able to live because so many sacrificed everything. For them, I say thanks, for giving me a life in which I can have weekends like this.
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