Seaside Retreat-Part 3

Cryptonite Hat, Boogie Board and the Buoy, and the White Shirt Club

The people who own the house we rented had a collection of silly beach hats. Zach wanted pictures together with his brother, wearing the hats. Our normally calm, sweet baby boy was HORRIFIED by the seagrass hat. I don't know what was so spooky about it, but I have never heard him shriek like that. The mere sight of it induced tears-even from across the room. The first part of the week, we had trouble keeping Reece off the stairs and out of the front hall, but realized that simply placing the hat in proximity to the hall or stairs produced an immediate fight or flight response and poof!, problem solved, no more baby up the stairs. We dubbed it "the cryptonite hat."

We bought a cheap boogie board for Zach and experimented with it through the week. After a couple of sandy crashes and salt water up the nose, he finally got the hang of it. Zach told us "Did you know the ocean is so SPICY?" He meant salty of course, but all seasonings fall into the category of "spice" when you are 4. He was pretty amused to find his trunks full of algae at the end of the day.

I was also quite confounded that my boy refused to indulge in the opportunity to utilize the ocean as a restroom! I thought all boys appreciated the ability to "go anywhere." So, now you can all rest assured, there is no P in our pool.

Always eager to try the things big bro does, Reece was very envious observing the boogie boarding from shore. When I saw him attempting to "surf" the sand, I convinced Trent to give him a shot. Daddy would do anything to amuse his boys! Its hard to tell from the photo, which appears to show an expression of horror, but Reece was cackling and enjoying every moment of his ride.

The BEST development of the trip was getting Zach to swim without his buoy. Swim Ranch lessons using the buoy floatie on his back were GREAT last year, but he just got to love that buoy so much he didn't want to swim without it. I can't say I blame him. Its nice to float around! So, the buoy suffered a tragic fate and "got a hole" (we deflated it) the second day. YAY! Bye bye buoy. I felt bad, but sometimes fibbing to your kids is easier than battling them.










We have a long running joke with our friends from Chicago, Josh and Jessica. If you have not been to the beach in Florida at dusk, you might feel awkward on your first visit should you choose to be the only person not in white and khaki. You may however, be familiar with the coveted family beach images created of people in these uniforms. Much to the dismay of our husbands, several years ago, we had the brilliant idea to stage our own professional beach photos, neutral attire included. I am sure neither of them were too pleased when we all went to dinner in our beach uniforms afterward. They deemed us official members of the "White Shirt Club." I have to admit, I now laugh at the obnoxiously posed and matchy photos, especially given that this is SO far from my personal favorite style of family photo. ...but we all have to have a few of them to look back on right? On our last night, we took one last walk to the shore to seek a victim that I could impose upon to take ONE picture of all four of us. Though we didnt all wear white and khaki, it appears not much has changed at the beach... (note the family posing hand hand in the distance in the second photo)



In the end, after a week of no naps and all that travel, we made it home safe. Zach took a tumble when he missed stepping off the escalator (as he says the "elegator") and scraped his arm up. On the ride home, Zach looked at me, well, more through me, with glazed eyes and said "I am NOT going to sleep! No naps for me." and this is what i saw a few seconds later. Amazing how he managed to keep his scraped elbow elevated. Each time it slipped down, he would rais it back up and somehow remained asleep....guess we successfully exhausted him.



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