Beach "Vacation"

We returned from the beach this past Monday. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, rejuvenating, and wonderful. But traveling with a toddler and a newborn kinda make that near impossible. Our vacation started off very badly. I was planning to pick Sam up from work at 3:30 so we could beat the traffic. So we all woke up at 6am to drive him to work so this would be possible. Because we were all up so early, schedules were off and Simon was not very happy to get in the car at 3:00 to go pick up Sam. We had to stop 2 times just to get 5 miles down the road because Simon was screaming so much. I knew the drive would be bad at that point. We had to stop 5 times on our way to Destin, averaging once an hour. By the end of the trip i was sitting on a sleeping bag between the two bucket seats contorting my body so i could nurse Simon while we drove (while he was still strapped in, of course). Then he spit up EVERYWHERE because of the motion while eating. Poor baby. Every time we got in the car after that he started crying right away. The beach was hot. The water was as green as grass from all the seaweed (so much seaweed that on the best day when you took off your suit, your body was covered in green underneath!). We did more during the day then normal, stayed up later than normal, and, since we all had to share a room, woke up earlier than normal. So i was pretty much exhausted the whole vacation.

But, it was a wonderful vacation! We got to spend quality time with my parents, my sister and her new husband, and my brother who is in the Seminary now. My dad and brother really bonded with Daniel and taught him lots of Arabic and gave him lots of piggy back rides. Simon got to be held for almost 4 straight days (which makes him very happy). Sam and I got to go on our first post-baby date for two whole hours ( i love Simon's eating schedule of every 3-4 hours)! Daniel loved the pool and the sand. Sam and I got to enjoy a beautiful lightning storm over the ocean our last night there. And Simon slept almost the entire drive home!!!