I hadn't paid attention to the fact that I haven't written an entry here for a while... It's been almost a month, and I had been on such a roll. Oh well. Here's to better days.
Wallace, Savannah and I went on our first vacation ever, as a family, this past weekend. My parents were camping at Myrtle Beach, SC, and they had invited us many months ago to come with them.
So, I spent a good part of last week doing laundry and packing. And, we left on Thursday morning bound for the beach.
We even managed to get up early enough to miss rush hour traffic here in Atlanta, which is a very good thing. And we were headed east by 6:45am, considerably earlier than I am used to being awake.
Wallace and I have taken a few trips together in the six and a half years we've been together, but... this was all new. This was the first time Savannah had ever left Atlanta, let alone the state of Georgia. And, neither one of us was very sure how she might handle all the time in the car.
But, all in all, she did well. She only got grumpier toward the end of the ride, wouldn't sleep at all, but didn't fuss much either. And, I think as she gets a bit older, she might do even better still.
When we were still about 100 or so miles away from Myrtle Beach, I called my dad to let him know that we weren't going to be there quite as early as we had hoped. And, my dad informed me that there were torrential rains going on there at the time, and had been all morning long.
So, we pressed on, and arrived during a storm that was quite heavy. We hung out with my mom for a while. We fed Savannah dinner. And, we waited for my dad to get back from going to inquire about a part for the awning of his trailer, which had broken during the early morning rains.
When my dad got back to the camper, he informed us that he was not going to be cooking outside. And, he invited us to dinner with he and my mom.
We had a nice dinner, and came back to the camper with hopes of getting little Ms. Grumpyhead-who-didn't-sleep-all-day to bed.
She passed out shortly after we put her down. And, Wallace and I decided to walk up to the beach, as this was Wallace's first time to the Atlantic Ocean... The waves were still rough, after the storm had finished. And we walked along the beach for a while, stepping over the piles of seaweed that washed up during the storm.
We chatted with my parents for a while, and then went to pass out ourselves.
Friday morning was a lazy morning. My dad made us all pancakes and sausage for breakfast, which we ate outside on the picnic table. We thought Savannah might take a nap (yeah, right?) and so my parents suggested that maybe we would want to go up to the beach.
We put on our swimming suits, got our towels and chairs and even took a beach umbrella. We were set. And, we walked up to the beach at about noon.
Wallace slathered himself with his sunscreen and I did the same with my tanning oil, and then we ventured out to play in the waves. (Can anyone see yet where this might be going?)
We were out in the water for maybe a half an hour or forty-five minutes. Jumping over and into the waves, trying not to get tangled in the seaweed still pushing toward the shore and being goofy.
We went back to the chairs and sat for a while, and then we thought maybe we should go back and check on Savannah and see what else my parents might have planned for the afternoon.
We took showers, and went to feed Savannah dinner... When I started getting a headache, a really bad one. I told Wallace I was going to take a little nap for a bit to see if I could 'head it off'. And, I preceeded to lay down on my parents' bed, wrapped up in a blanket and fell asleep.
My dad woke me up to help make dinner. And when I got up, I felt even worse than I had before I fell asleep.
My dad made hamburgers and my mom had made her world-famous potato salad, and all I could do was look at it... and try not to be sick. I did manage to eat about three tiny bites of potato salad, and then I ran to the bathroom, only vaguely hoping I might throw up and feel better.
I spent the rest of the evening quietly wishing for a quick and merciful death... I did finally get sick, and had next to nothing in my stomach. It was horrible.
I had sun poisoning. My face, neck, shoulders and back were all burnt. And only after a few handfuls of ibuprofen and a good long night's sleep, did I feel better.
Saturday we spent shopping at some outlet stores in Myrtle Beach. Wallace got an unbelieveably generous amount of new dress pants and shirts. I got a cute pair of jean short-alls and a bright purple (gasp!!!) tie-dyed high-waisted tank dress.
We had dinner reservations at 5pm at a restaurant called Bovine's and had a very nice, eclectic and relaxing dinner together.
We got back, and my parents offered to take care of Savannah and put her to bed, so that we might be able to go out and do something if we wanted. This was the very first time since Savannah came home that we've actually done anything without her, together.
So, we went and played minature golf. Decided it was way too hot. Stopped at the grocery store and bought some wine (beer) coolers, and went back to the camper.
How sad are we?
Sunday we spent mostly at Broadway at the Beach, sweltering in the heat and humidity... No, we weren't sweltering, we were melting. Just kind of oozing across the walkways, diving into air-conditioned stores every once in a while, just so we didn't lose our minds.
I was disappointed. It was like going to a mall and it was nowhere near the beach. I didn't want to spend my vacation at the damned Gap. And it was painfully hot.
My dad made steaks for dinner, and we enjoyed our dinners very much. We also got out a camcorder that my mom had borrowed from her work, and took some video of Savannah. That was cool too, as we hadn't done that before either.
We took Savannah up to the beach in the evening, and since she hadn't slept all day again, she was miserable. She didn't like the sand or the water; she wanted to go to bed.
But, we did get to watch the full moon-rise over the horizon... big and blazing orange over the ocean. And, that I was thankful for... I had longed to see the beautiful full moon over the ocean. I was glad we all got to see it.
We put Savannah to bed, and chatted with my parents some more and then finally went to bed.
We came home on Monday, and got home about 7pm. We were all tired, and it was nice to be home. But, we did have a great trip and a wonderful time with my parents.
Thanks, Mom and Dad... We'd never been able to go without your help.
And, it was so nice to get away for a while. I hope I don't have to wait again so long before we can take another little vacation.