6/27 - Virginia Beach (it's been a while but I want to finish last year's trip update so I can start thinking about this summer!)
After such a long, tiring drive the day before, we slept in late and then got ready to hit the beach! I had brought along a container full of little sand toys, shovels, buckets, and a new snorkel set for each of them. We gathered everything together and set out after breakfast.
It was a beautiful day and the sun was nice and hot, so I made sure to generously apply sunscreen to the kids so they wouldn't get a nasty burn. I thought it was awesome that you could rent beach 'furniture' so I got us settled onto a set of loungers with an umbrella and we hit the beach running.
No pictures of the trip to the beach - I was not about to try to keep track of 4 kids AND my expensive camera all by myself!
The kids played tirelessly for hours. Even Matthew got into it and almost put his hands in the sand. Almost, but not quite. He was very happy with a shovel and bucket. And he was happy to have water shoes on his feet as well.
Hannah took to the water like a fish and I had to keep making her come back closer to where I was monitoring. Clara also took to the water really well and was really great about staying within my designated area. She also made about a thousand friends in the first 10 minutes. Rebecca stayed close to shore, alternating between swimming, finding shells, and playing in the sand. Matthew stayed glued to my side, and no encouraging him to have a little independence would help. That's ok, though - better to have him constantly on my legs than to have him constantly running off!
Clara found the first little hermit-type crab. She dug him up with her toes in the water. It wasn't long before we were all digging them up, and it wasn't long after that until Hannah decided she was terrified of them. And, since kids are the way they are, it was hard work to get the others to stop tormenting Hannah by showing her the little crabs and pretending they were going to put them on her or something.
Hannah, having a moderately rough time by this point, suffered a devastating loss when she took her brand new snorkel set to the water's edge to rinse it. The waves pulled her mask and snorkel right out of her hand and just like *that* they were gone, swallowed by the sea. Oh, did she cry! Her heart was broken. I am so thankful that the other girls offered to share with her before I could even ask them. It was sweet to see them so sympathetic to her, especially after the crab teasing we had just been through. Maybe they were trying to make it up to her, or maybe they really will just band together when they can see that one is really suffering. I hope so with all my heart!
Six hours later and it's way past time for lunch. The kids are tired, I'm tired, and it's time to go. So we start drying off, wiping off sand, etc. And I start to notice something strange. My legs! They are stinging. They don't look weird at all, but they sure feel different. Hmm, must just be the salt water drying on my skin. It couldn't be sunburn because I had been so careful. I had slathered up the kids. I had slathered up my face. My arms. My neck, shoulders, chest. I had even worn a large t-shirt to get extra coverage because my skin is so fair. But ... OH NO! I never put sunscreen on my legs! The kids were so anxious to get to the water that I just forgot! I had exposed my most delicate skin to 6 hours of brutal sun on Virginia Beach with no protection! My legs hadn't seen that much sun in literally YEARS!
Worried, I gathered up all our stuff, stopped by Chick-Fil-A for lunch (yum - we don't have this restaurant in Chicago!) and headed back to the hotel. I could feel my legs, burning and hot. How in the world did I not notice before we were getting ready to go that I was getting burned? I guess I was busy and distracted keeping track of the kids and just had not noticed. Argh!
Back in our hotel room, I surveyed the damage. Not good; not good at all!
I got the kids into showers and washed off fairly quickly, and settled them in front of the tv for a bit. I know that is terrible but I had to cool off my legs somehow. I took my turn in the shower and lingered under the cool water. Now normally, I am in and out of the shower in 10 minutes, tops. But this time, I stayed in for a long time. When I got out, I was sure glad I had brought a bottle of aloe on the trip, just in case. I was able to sleep comfortably in the wonderful hotel bed.
Weathering the drought
5 years ago
