Sarah and Calvin Simmons have been some of our very best friends here in Charlottesville, so when they invited us to come to the beach for a few days a week before they had to leave FOREVER, I jumped at the chance to spend the time with them.
George had to work, so I packed up all four kids, pulled Lance out of school for two days and drove four hours to the Outer Banks. We met the Simmons at this cute little condo Cal's parents rented and headed to the beach for a few hours of fun.
Ellie LOVES Lily. She is constantly asking to hold her and will adamantly defend Lily against anyone else that might want to touch or hold her. It's pretty hysterical to watch her fend off the affections of Jude and Cole whenever she's at our house.
The water was still very cold, so I spent most of the time walking along the beach with Lily or holding Cole's hand while he walked into the "cold water". The waves were crashing right onto the shore and the boys got knocked over numerous times.
Lance jumped into the freezing water and didn't get out until it was time to go!
This boy is crazy!
Jude tried to "surf", but found it difficult with the strong current.
See what I mean about the waves crashing right onto shore?
Sarah and Cal were great and helped so much with the boys.
Cole really wanted to go into the "green water" (the deep water where Cal and Lance were playing), but the current was so strong and the drop-off so sharp that I only attempted to take him out there once before deciding it wasn't safe.
He sure loved the water, though, and spent the majority of the time running in and out of the surf yelling "cold water! Cold water!" It was super cute.
The beach does a good job of tiring kiddos out. :)
Lance convinced me to go out into the water with him. I didn't last too long--it was VERY cold!
This is the drop-off. Crazy, right? I'm standing up...the beach just kind of ended right there in the "green water". (The brown part is the sand you can see through the water that's only about 6 inches deep.)
Sarah and Cal :)
Jude also spent his time running in and out of the surf. Not quite strong or big enough to venture out into the deeper water, but he didn't need or want to hold my hand as he battled the water.
Lily was a trooper. She didn't much care for the cold water (we got caught by a wave at one point and she got pretty wet in her carrier), but was happy the whole time we were there.
Cole LOVED it!
Bumbo seats are awesome. Lily enjoyed sitting in the sand playing with her toes while we all played.
Ha! I laugh every time I see this picture.
She has the longest eyelashes I've ever seen on a baby.
After playing for a few hours we drove back to the condo where Calvin's parents prepared a delicious dinner. We spent the night chatting and showing pictures of our families to Cal's parents, then woke up, had breakfast of biscuits (made by Cal!) and french toast, packed up and then drove back to the beach where we played for a couple hours before driving four hours home.
Funny story on our ride home:
We snacked in the car, but needed to feed Lily and the boys were getting hungry, so we pulled over into a Chick Filet in Williamsburg, about the half-way point between the beach and home. We walk in and buy our food and go to eat it outside in the gated play area. I was so glad they had one! After playing for a bit and nursing Lily, Jude needed to use the bathroom, so I told him to run back to the women's restroom and I'd meet him there. I take Lily so I can change her diaper and Jude is nowhere to be found. He went to the men's room because he "didn't need help". Okay, I changed Lily's diaper met up with Jude and went back to the play place. A few minutes later, Jude announced that he REALLY needed to go to the bathroom and ran back. Luckily this time he went into the ladies room. I left Lily with Lance and ran back to see if he needed any help. I found Jude in the stall, sitting on the toilet with his underwear in a puddle on the floor. He had accidentally pooped in his underwear and then tried to wash it out in the toilet!!
Gross.
I threw it away, cleaned Jude up, washed hands really well and rejoined the other three kids outside only to find Cole sitting in a puddle of soda. He had somehow managed to poke the straw through the bottom of the soda cup and it soaked him from his belly button down.
Nice.
I leave Lance with Jude and Lily and take Cole to the bathroom to change his diaper only to discover that not only do I not have clean pants for him, I also don't have a Cole diaper--only Lily-sized ones. So here I was, single mom running back and forth the entire length of the restaurant with four kids in tow, one sans underwear and another looking awfully "white-trash" in a dirty shirt and too-small diaper. I didn't have time to watch the other patrons' reactions, but I can only imagine most of them were thinking "Glad that isn't me!"
It took us an hour and a half to get back on the road. Thank goodness for Lance! There was only one logical thing to do after all the crazy back and forth bathroom mess. We had to get ice cream.
Even with the lunch disaster, the trip was fun! Lance said even the long hours of driving was worth it, so I'd count that as a success. And I got to spend a few more precious hours with my friends Sarah and Cal. The only thing that would have made the trip better was if George had been able to go.
