On Friday afternoon I packed up the kiddos and drove down to Bethany Beach. Between beach traffic, a closed bridge, and flash flooding, the car ride was more of an adventure than I had planned. For the first couple hours, I felt like I was winning! We left immediately after Evie nursed, and she happily went right to sleep. A good variety of special snacks, Putumayo World Music, and a set of mommy’s keys kept Ari content. The last two hours, unfortunately, were not so pleasant for them, as depicted by the state of Ari hair (mashed up, tangled-beyond-repair sticky beehive). I hope that most was forgiven when we arrived at this oasis on the bay. Our hosts moved their cars so we could park in the garage during the downpour. They cradled Evie, found toys for Ari to enjoy (at 9:30pm, was pretty special!), and they poured me a glass of cabernet!
John spent most of last week moonlighting at a beach nearby to Bethany, so he joined us after getting off his last shift, close to 11pm. We had a feast of meatballs that one of our favorite mothers had kindly made and frozen for us, and I subsequently threw into the car at the last minute. The sustenance was appreciated during what turned out to be a tumultuous night.
All worth it. So worth it. We hit the beach shortly after 8am and, for the next several hours, could not keep Aurelia out of the water. She would sprint to it, slash and fall delightfully into the coming waves, and it was all John could do to keep her from running right into the ocean. It was not hot, and we would have to take breaks when her lips turned blue, her body covered in goosebumps, and her limbs stiff. But we could hardly get her covered in a towel before she would be reaching toward the ocean, begging “wa-wa, wa-wa, puh-weeeess!”
And she learned a new word: BEACH! Of course, it came out like another word that starts with the letter “b” and ends with an itch. We didn’t help things by cracking up–Ari would smile proudly and repeat “beach,” or some variation, over and over again…*sigh*, we are in trouble!
Evie slept squishyly through most of her first beach experience:
After a similar outing the following morning, we made our way home, this time by caravan–so much better! We stopped briefly at the outlets, and Ari picked out these accessories:
She refused to take them off. Stylin’ since 2012, already cooler than her mama.
anna in med school 