our visit to the beach was brief, but it gave us exactly what we desperately needed during this harried time in our family. with each of you at different schools, and all on the fringes of having the demands of the next developmental stage heavily on your shoulders, 72 hours without that weight allowed for these moments. these moments to be kids, to be carefree, to be light.
A panhandle beach visit in the fall has been our go-to for as long as I can remember. We love the 'cooling' temperatures while the water is still warm, and the crowds are typically less than the summer or spring break. Our schedule was a little up in the air, so the booking was last minute, but we did get three days in the sun and sand!
Ruby could not get enough of the sand. She loved digging and 'making spaghetti'...many many sandcastles were created. She did like the waves too; Maddux took her out on a board several times each day.
Eli and Maddux alternated between a stand-up paddle board, our beater board (pseudo surf board) and the boogie board. Maddux also built many sand castles with Ruby and I. At one point we had a whole city. (To Maddux's delight, it was still there the next day!)
Eli also sprinkled in some skin boarding; that's always been a favorite beach activity of his.
We ate fish sandwiches and shrimp and snow cones and ice cream..food is never far away when we are at the beach!
The sun comes up pretty early, so we rose early as well so that we could enjoy the beach before the heat of the day. One of the mornings found us a little slower to start, which was perfect for me to play with taking some 'moody light' photos of Ruby.
Eli slept through the whole thing, resulting in a "wake up!" tickle fight for all four of my kids at some point.
We joined friends at a pool one afternoon, and then on the last night we ran into friends from 'home' and ate with them. Eli also had friends at a nearby beach at the same time, so he rode his bike to hang out with them one afternoon.
The last day found all three kids out on the stand-up paddle. We located a sand bar not too far out that allowed for some great fun.
The five of us stayed out there for a long time, enjoying solitude of the stretch of beach we camped at.
We went home for a late lunch, but returned to the ocean just before sunset to enjoy a last, less-hot play-session. Of course I took all of the photos of the kids.
Of course Maddux took the best care of Ruby the entire time, even when we didn't ask her to. Piggy back rides and entertainment were her specialty.
There was the usual arguing and maybe even some yelling, but all in all it was a great trip. Even with the friends sprinkled in here and there, we had a lot of 'together' family time, which is hard to come by when we are at home.
Another great fall break on the books! We returned to 30A for our fall break, housing with another family - one we adore - which meant 10 people under one roof...fun fun fun!
For five full days we played in the waves and the sand, barely touching the pools this year! The kids seriously loved the ocean and all spent all of their time in there. Boogie boards, skin boards, surfboard/beaterboard, yolo board, nets for 'fishing', sandcastle making, and seashell seeking occupied every day.
Ruby could not get enough of the ocean. She LOVED to use the boogie
board and she loved to 'swim'. She would jump at the water and try to
glide, sometimes going under (which seemed to make her even happier!). Ruby rode in the bike trailer and on the front of Lehr's bike, which also made her happy as a clam. (We did have two bathroom accidents, reminding us that potty training is STILL going strong even when we think that after 1+ years we might be done.)
Maddux made friends with kids on the beach and worked in the sand and water most of the time. But she did plenty of boarding and swimming as well. She saw a dolphin and several huge rays during our stay. Her favorite activity seemed to be collecting live sand dollars...they were everywhere, which is crazy because before this trip, we'd never seen one before!
Eli was all about the boards, and all about swimming. He had a great time, especially with Drew and Davis and Bryce. We were on the beach by about 9 every morning and stayed until about 3 each day before going home to shower and get dinner. Each night we ate dinner at or on the beach, enjoying any extra sand we could.
We saw lots of other friends at the beach, at dinner, on bikes...pretty much everywhere! This was hands-down one of the best trips we've had, from the friends who shared it with us to the 'ease' of getting right down to the beach and just living there each day to the best weather and waves we've seen in a while. I love that this is our go-to vaca every fall!
We traveled down to Melbourne for a few days during the kids' Fall Break. It has been several years since we were all down there, but the kids still remembered all of the fun things they wanted to do. Specifically: the beach, pizza, ice cream. Not a bad list. And they were very anxious for Ruby to participate in checking it off.
We stayed with Mom-Mom, traveling over to the beach each morning as soon as we got up. Eli especially loved how 'flat' the shore was; this allowed him to practice skim boarding dozens of times on breaks from the surfboard or boogie board. And Maddux went back and forth between the inner tube and the boogie board the whole time.
Ruby? Well she did it all. She loved the sand, she loved the water, she loved the boards. We managed to stay at the beach each day for at least four hours, pressing well into nap time without any complaints from her.
One night we ate at a restaurant with outdoor eating on a mini 'beach', which allowed the kids to play in the sand. We were sure to stop by our favorite beach side pizza place the last night, putting away the largest pizza we'd ever seen. The kids loved this, especially because we got to walk down to the water while the pizza was being made. That dinner had to be followed up with ice cream at our nostalgic soft serve pit stop.
We snuck away to the beach for an extended weekend by waking the kids up their first morning of summer and telling them to 'pack a bag'. It was so so so fun to surprise the kids with the trip...Eli said, "Wait, cuz my head is still not awake yet...are you serious?"
We arrived just after lunch on Thursday and headed straight to the ocean. Ruby LOVED the sand. She kept scooping up a shovel full and walking somewhere to dump it only to repeat the process. And she walked up to the waves on her own several times. When they rushed in a little too quickly or roughly for her, she would wave her finger at the water and say, "NO!"
Speaking of that, Ruby is the queen of 'NO' right now. No matter what you say or do, she will yell at you tell you "NO!"
The first morning we woke up, the kids were set for the beach again. Ruby was at least as enthusiastic, but even more independent (cue more 'NO!') Eli and Maddux had so much fun using the Beater Board (a smaller, foam surf board) and the boogie board. They spent the entire morning in the water.
After lunch, we put Ruby down for a nap and the big kids and I rode our bikes to play shuffle board. They love the 'hidden' court and the shade it provides during nap time.
Once we got Ruby up, we took an extended bike ride ending at the food trucks. Low and behold, we met friends there! (This was planned also, but the kids didn't know it.) We ate dinner and hung out on the green until a family movie started. Lehr even took the kids to get ice cream while we waited. (Best dad ever) Ruby was a really good sport and stayed up until about 9PM, fairly interested in the movie. At that point, I rode the two of us home because she was getting a little antsy. Before that, she was find, but she did like to play musical laps.
The following morning we loaded the car up (very unusual for us at the beach) and drove to the Marshall's condo so we could spend the morning with them. THe weather was overcast and a little chilly, surprisingly. Eli and Drew took turns on the boards and occupied themselves with getting pummeled by waves. Maddux and Davis and Emmaline built sand castles, and Ruby did a bunch of sitting. We drove home for lunch and then met them at the food trucks much later for dinner again. On this particular evening there was a live band on the green, so again we stayed and enjoyed the night.
Maddux and Davis and Emmaline also got very into collecting sea shells.
They spent hours at the edge of the water, waiting for waves to break
and then go back out so they could find pieces of sand dollars and
other cool shells.
The next two days were spent at the beach and pool and on our bikes. Davis and Maddux built a whole village of drip castles one day, spending almost the entire morning under an umbrella. Lehr rented a yolo board and took turns with each kid (except Ruby) on it out past the waves. The five of us had a really nice traditional last dinner of pizza on beach at sunset. One day during Ruby's nap, Lehr took Eli and Maddux around to each of the Watercolor pools (five?), riding their bikes inbetween them all. We found more music at sunset in a park one night, complete with strangers giving the kids their beach ball to play with. We may have indulged in more ice cream. We definitely got more than our share of sun and sand!
The day before we left, Lehr took Ruby to the park outside of our condo while the big kids and I got ready for dinner. He introduced her to the (for looks, not play) fountain, and she promptly went in. It might have been her favorite part of the trip.
We left after lunch one afternoon, making it home just before midnight. I had to drag the kids out of bed for their 9:45 swim practice the next morning, but they agreed that it was worth it.
To say our extended beach weekend was a welcomed change of pace would be a huge understatement. It was much, much needed time.
Time away from running from one therapy to another. Time away from driving frantically between doctor's office waiting rooms. Time away from worrying that Ruby is not meeting milestones fast enough. Time away from trying to wrap our heads around what her IEP notes really mean about the school system and her ability to succeed there. Time away from over analyzing evaluation reports. Time away from watching her with kids her age and unintentionally comparing her, and mindfully taking note of the areas she falls short. Time away from the daily catch-up game.
It was perfectly timed, perfectly given time away from all of that.
It was also much needed time watching Ruby be Ruby. Time watching everyone, EVERYONE, dote on her. Time watching her figure everything out on her own. Time watching her be fiercely independent because she CAN do it (anything and everything) by herself. Time watching person after person do a double take when they see her (not because of her Down syndrome or chemo hair, but because of Ruby), followed by a huge smile as they make eye contact and sincerely tell me, "She's adorable!" or "She's beautiful!" Time watching her play so well on the beach with anyone who occupied her space. Time watching her eat ice cream and watch outdoor movies in an environment that didn't magnify anything 'atypical' about her. Time watching her take in the sand, the wind, the waves, the sun, the noise...all in stride and with joy. Time watching her play on the green each night with kids of all ages, running around and doing somersaults on the grass as the sun went down. Time watching her in all of her glory without asterisk or exception.
It was perfectly timed, perfectly given time watching all of that.
We surprised the kids with a long weekend trip to the beach upon finishing the last day of school. The night before the final day, we were eating dinner and I commented how on Friday (the first non-school day) I wanted to just hang out at the pool all day. Oh, and wouldn't it be cool if Daddy could take the day off and hang out with us. We played around with that for a minute or two and then Lehr told them he would, but only if we went to the pool at Watercolor.
Of course, they nodded and said yes (thinking it was a joke, but yay that Daddy was staying home). Then Lehr told them he was serious, that he wouldn't join us unless we went to Watercolor. I told them we should pack our bags then, because I wanted Daddy to go to the pool with us. It took several minutes for them to get it, but they were beyond psyched once they did.
We left first thing Friday morning so that we could make it to the beach just after lunch. Ruby LOVED the ocean...she stood on the shore with the waves tickling her toes for a long LONG time. Then she was in and out of the water a bunch, in the sand a bunch, and then stayed awake until we rode to dinner, walked around, and then came home. In fact, she fell asleep on the bike ride home and slept later than we expected the next day...her body didn't know what to do with all of that natural PT!
Lehr rented a surf board for the weekend, so the kids were up and down
on that several times, and out with the boogie board several times, and
with the innertube several times. In fact, they didn't leave the water
much! Ruby stayed sand-side most of her time, but was very happy to
float in the ocean when Lehr would take her. (I'm not as water-happy as
the rest of them.)
We rode bikes, went to the beach, rode the waves, ate ice cream on our deck, built sandcastles, went to the pool, ate dinner on the beach, played shuffleboard, walked Seaside, found new pools, ate fish sandwiches, went to two farmers' markets, rode bikes some more, ate breakfast on the porch....I don't think we could have fit more into our weekend trip if we tried!
