Come to the beach with us...

Our patriotic drip sandcastle

standing still just long enough to get a quick photo

non-stop boogie boarding

father & son heading into the surf

Kendall & dad dancing to steel drums!

day one, Justin runs into a boy from school!

small world, huh?

out to dinner, tired children :-)

The beach was great! The hotel was great (as it is every year). The water was cool and refreshing. The waves were big, but safe. We had a blast. We ran into several families we knew (but didn't know they'd be at the same beach/hotel as us)... what a small world! The kids were non-stop: surf, sandcastles, games, pool and round and round it went. They completely wore themselves out each day. Unfortunately, a couple of things happened that I wish hadn't. On day one, I sunscreened the kids once we were on the beach with spray on sunscreen. It was breezy. Apparently I didn't do as thorough a job as I thought I had (I blame the wind blowing the sunscreen away before it got on). By the end of the day, Justin's back looked like I had drawn on it, not sunscreened it. And even though I reapplied, the first few hours had done the damage. With Kendall, it didn't matter so much. She doesn't burn, she just gets as brown as she can be. But poor Justin was uncomfortable the rest of the time. If one positive could come from that, it is that he will never give me a hard time about wearing sunscreen again; he knows the pain of sunburn :(

Wednesday, after arriving late in the afternoon, we spent our time on the beach and at the pool. A movie was started at dusk on an outdoor screen on the pool deck. Justin and Kendall watched from the hot tub and pool. We didn't get back to our room until after 10pm. Now, that is what I call vacation!

Thursday, we spent a FULL day on the beach. 10am until 6pm. Thankfully, we had the shade of an umbrella and the air conditioning of a great breeze and cool ocean. A news channel came to do a story on the holiday weekend and our kids were on T.V. When I find the link, I'll pass it on in case anyone wants to see the news clip. Thursday night we dined on the hotel patio with the steel drum band playing. It was wonderful.

Friday, we planned a shorter day outside due to Justin's sunburn. We were going to shop a bit and find a seafood restaurant for dinner. Justin also began to complain of not feeling well. We thought it was probably the sunburn. We had our shopping adventure and a great dinner at a marina where we watched heavy boating traffic through the inter coastal waterway, including a couple of magnificent yachts! We got back to the room, exhausted, and got ready for bed. Justin began shivering and complaining of feeling lousy. He felt like he was burning up. It was a restless night of him moaning, getting out of bed because he didn't know where he was or what was going on (common for him when running a high fever), and eventually kneeling at the toilet with nausea. We decided at 3:30a.m. that we'd head home that morning rather than Sunday, so he can at least be sick in the comfort of home. When we got home, I took his temperature. It was over 103 (waaaah), so Keith took him to urgent care. We thought he had sun poisoning. They diagnosed him as having rocky mountain spotted fever, which is what he is being treated for. We are not sure about that diagnosis, but taking a course of antibiotic won't hurt anything; whereas if he were to have it, not treating him could cause very serious complications (organ failure, meningitis, shock, death. The poor thing! Six days off from school and he's sunburned and sick. Oh, and bruised on the torso from a nasty boogie board wipe out.

All in all though, I'd say that even Justin would have to call this a wonderful getaway. There is nothing like to saltwater air, sand, surf- the wonderful, relaxing sound of waves crashing the shore- to call a vacation!