The Beach

I got these pictures up fast, huh? It's so I wouldn't lose the nerve to admit that our vacation . . . sucked a little. Such an unsavory term, but it captures it so well. Not that I harbor any illusions of people following this blog and thinking our lives perfect, but I believe a good dose of honesty can be helpful sometimes. I rapidly developed a fever, ear infection and severely sore throat that may or may not have been strep (You're four years old!). Which made me pretty beastly on the trip. Cole spent a night vomiting and otherwise disposing of various toxins in his system. And now he is running the high fever. Tim was starting the symptoms by the time we hit mid-week. The boys, already sick of each other this summer, were not magically cured of said condition by the beach. Sadly. So there was a lot of whining and complaining. Mostly by me. Poor Tim. But Caroline had a great time. All summer, ever since Grandma showed her you can hear the ocean in the big conch shell on her coffee table, Caroline has been picking up the shell, dialing up a number on it, holding it to her ear, and then holding it out to the nearest adult: "Wanna talk to the lotion?" So I'm really glad she's seen the real ocean and gets the concept - because it's a little embarrassing that she thought you had to call The Lotion on a cell phone (shell phone?). In any case, the weather was gorgeous, the kids played in sand, sea and pool, did tons of resort activities (all cheerfully charged by Marriott to our American Express card - I'm dreading THAT bill). All in all - it was a vacation. Not every vacation has to be perfect, right? And eventually, we'll all be healthy again.