What I did on my summer vacation

As promised, what I did on my summer vacation. First of all let me give you the specifics. My family including me, hubby, child, mother-in-law and sister-in-law renting a condo near the beach, not quite in walking distance this year, for a week. Well it was in walking distance if you like to walk very far carrying beach chairs and a cooler in the blistering hot sun, but that is beside the point. Last year we were much closer to the beach, but we did not go the week of July 4th and we did not wait until the last minute to book it. It is a great little stretch of beach along 30-A in beautiful south Walton County, Florida.

We had planned to leave at 10 on Saturday morning. That would have put us in our condo about 4 that afternoon depending on how much the pregnant lady (me) had to stop and pee. 10 o'clock came and went and in-laws were no where to be found. Finally at 10:30 they call, only 10 minutes away, yippee!!! That only puts us nearly an hour behind. Well they get there, we get ready to go, house is all locked up, cars all packed. Away we go! Well after we stop for in-laws to get gas and ice oh yeah and Dunkin' Donuts, can't leave for vacation without that. Needless to say hubby was pissed and pouting, which makes for a great fun car ride. We drive for hours and of course hubby and I are getting hungry because we didn't want anything at DD, believe it or not we had eaten breakfast while we were waiting on them to get to the house.

We go through Columbus, sister-in-law calls to see if we want to stop. We tell her yes that we are hungry, lunch would be nice. So they just keep driving. An hour later, we call them back and tell them that we have to stop somewhere because I have to go potty. So they stop at this dirty little gas station and I go potty and get some chips because I am STARVING, I know I might have mentioned that earlier but just stay with me. Finally about 30 minutes after the gas station we get to another town and stop there to eat at McD's. Apparently everyone else going to the beach stopped there also. I have never been to a busier McD's in my life, the food wasn't good, but I was so hungry I barely noticed. All aboard, next stop condo near the beach!

As we got closer, the traffic got worse. We were eventually sitting in barely moving traffic only about 20 minutes from our destination, but it took us more than an our to get there. Hubby was beginning to get ill and I was restless. I hate riding in the car for a long time, it just makes me crazy! Finally we get there, the condo is great. You park underneath, then have stairs to walk to the main level, then stairs to the bedroom. Stairs are not a good thing for a pregnant woman, an older woman with bad knees and a severely energetic 8 year old child. Not to mention we packed like we were moving and hubby had to carry all that stuff up 2 flights of stairs.

Yeah that was only the beginning. The rest of the week really wasn't any better. I will give you a quick rundown. Sunday, our first full day of vacation. We slept late then went down to the beach and I sat in my chair at the edge of the water reading my book, peace at last. Peace that is until later that day when my poor feet began to hurt and swell because of the severe sunburn. I think I had like third degree burns on my feet. It has been 2 weeks and they are still red and itchy! The agony of hurting feet was just horrible. I cried nearly everyday (mostly when I was by myself or with hubby) and I really don't think anyone understood how bad my feet were hurting, especially my hubby. It hurt to put on shoes, it hurt to walk, it hurt to sit still. I sat in the condo with them propped up most of the week. By Tuesday afternoon I was ready to come home. I wanted to go to my doctor and have them make the pain go away. It made the entire rest of the trip awful. I also realized on this trip that I need to be on medication to keep myself sane and to help the others around me survive on a daily basis. That will be one of the first things I do after I birth this baby and wean him from nursing.

Tuesday I went out to the beach for a little while, feet still hurting of course. We had a tent that I sat under so it wasn't as bad. Wednesday tropical storm Cindy came through that morning. It blew the patio chairs up against the windows and rained like crazy. The sky was angry, but by lunchtime it was gone. The ocean was extremely rough so we did not even go to the beach that day. The storm also blew our tent down and broke it, so there went my shade for the rest of the week. I spent the afternoon shopping with the in-laws while hubby took the child to play mini golf and ride go carts and play arcade games. I did enjoy that afternoon. I got some new clothes and shoes. That always makes me feel better, new stuff for me!!! By that night the swelling was going down in my feet and they were not hurting quite as bad.

Thursday we took a little cruise over to an island that is undeveloped. It was beautiful! White sand, shells, birds, dunes, just the way a beach should be. It was surrounded on one side by the gulf and the other side by this lagoon. We picked up lots of shells and had a picnic lunch. We also saw a seahorse that had washed up on the beach. A real like seahorse. He was still moving so after we snapped a few pictures of him hubby scooped him up on a seashell and tossed him back into the sea. On the cruise over and back we saw dolphins!

Friday we got up and watched the weather channel, everyone was keeping an eye on Hurrican Dennis. The in-laws were already at the beach so we got dressed and decided that we would go for a bit, since it was our last full day. We got there and they had changed the flags to red, meaning no swimming. A fireman met us on the beach access bridge to ask us to please leave the beach and the area. A voluntary evacuation had been issued for the area. The hurricane was expected to hit the area on Sunday morning. WHOOPEE! So we proceeded to walk down to the beach and get the in-laws and all of our beach stuff and head back to the condo to pack up and prepare to leave. We went to get gas before going back to the condo, we waited in line 20 minutes at the gas station to get gas and of course they were out of regular unleaded we had to get the expensive stuff. I am just glad that we got gas then. We had planned to eat in Panama City that night, which was about an hour from where we stayed. So we kept with our original plan and headed to PC to eat before we go on the road back home. We were extremely lucky that we did go to PC to eat, which put us on a different highway leading home. A less crowded highway. By the time we got on the road, most of the gas stations were out of gas.

After 2 stops to potty and plenty of nodding off at the wheel we got home, it was 3:30 in the morning on Saturday morning. I have never been so happy to be home. After a few hours of sleep I was up and unpacking. We are still not completely unpacked, maybe I can finish that grueling task this weekend. Around lunchtime on Saturday my bestest friend brought my dog home. I missed my dog, but I don't think that she missed us. She has been sad and mopey to be home. I think she misses her other family, with their dog and small child and farm.

So there it is in a nutshell, my summer vacation. I can't really say that I had a great time or even a relaxing time. Next year will have to be better. Maybe I will be back on the meds and it will be just wonderful!