First Vacation

We went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina where we have had many relaxing vacations throughout our 19 years of marriage.

Phoebe is 20 months old at this point. She has been in day care since she was 5 months old, has pretty good socialization skills and a speaking vocabulary of several hundred words. She listens well and never hesitates to tell us what she thinks and wants; which is the center of what made this a vacation like no other.

It was Wednesday for me before I had a few moments that remotely felt like a vacation that I could recognize. I don't think that Dee ever felt like it was a vacation. Phoebe didn't like being hot. Phoebe didn't like the ocean. Phoebe didn't like the sand. And Phoebe didn't want to spend a single second separated from her mother.

As I alluded to above, Phoebe was very vocal about her likes and dislikes and we got to hear her cry more in this one week than in the entire previous 20 months of her life. Phoebe has never been a child that would cry too much. She is generally a very happy child most of the time. But she woke up one morning about a month or so again and she was a two-year old: a foot-stomping, mommy's-girl, gotta-have-what-I-want-now two-year old toddler.

Instant crying fits (just add air) come from nowhere now.

The fits were overwhelming, but we understand that she is a toddler and every thing was strange and new. Her comfortable routine had been shattered.

Though I paint a seemly bleak and unpleasant picture of our vacation time we built some great memories. Phoebe did eventually get to the point where she would play in the sand, burying Mommy and Daddy's feet. She even let us bury her feet which was a great feat for a child who didn't like to get her feet dirty.

We stayed in or shopped during the heat of the day or took the Phoebster to the pool. We started attempting to go to the beach only in the early morning or late evening and met with a higher rate of success and less grief. Phoebe played with a sand crab that was more afraid of her parents than it was of her. At one point the sand crab ran across her foot eliciting a wide-eyed look of shock and then later a brief cry. Late into the night, even as she slept, she could be heard saying, "Crab ran right over my foot. Crab go night night in the sand."

For several days anyone who listened would be told that short version of that evening on the beach. Listen longer and she would show off some of the new words added to her vocabulary that week. She will tell you that the birds at the beach are mostly seagulls. And that the seagulls were "silly seagulls." She liked feeding the turtles at a nearby pond where one time a little old lady was urging the turtles to move faster. Seems the "silly seagulls" would swoop in and take the food before the turtles could get to it.

Phoebe learned what a lighthouse is, adding "lighthouse"  to the list of words she would just recite randomly when bored; "lighthouse, turtles, seagulls, silly seagulls won't eat, beach house, crab, sand, ocean, beach, swimming pool."

Every minute with Phoebe when she was not crying was a Kodak memory. She wore her sunglasses and big purple floppy hat and an array of matching sundresses and bathing suits.

She enjoyed many hours in the swimming pool and is very comfortable jumping off the side into Mommy or Daddy's arms. She has walked miles and we have carried her a few. She prefers to walk rather than be carried, but at times we pick her up and carry her despite her protests to save time Ü otherwise the entire vacation could be spent walking from the beach house to the beach or pool and back.

As Phoebe walks every little thing is a great discovery. No rock is just a rock. Each one is special and requires a lengthy inspection. She now has a rock collection Ü or a cup of gravel. It's certainly a matter of perspective.

As Phoebe naps this afternoon I am writing this. It is the seventh day of our vacation. Tomorrow is Friday and the last full day. We will leave on Saturday to start the 13 hour drive home.

Phoebe does well in the car. And I anticipate the trip back to be even easier as she plays with some of her souvenirs; a plastic squeaking crab (she loves to say "crab") and a small book about turtles are among her favorites.

Before we leave I am sure that we will feed the turtles one last time and stop by the lighhouse to take a picture in front of it (a Kodak moment we missed on two earlier trips because someone got fussy).



I've been telling Phoebe that it is not nice to tell Mommy "no!" So Phoebe has adjusted on her own and now says "not now Mommy!"



Add North Carolina to the list of states that Phoebe has been to.

She is from Ohio and has been to West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia (Atlanta Airport) and North Carolina.