What I Did on My Summer Vacation...

It's been a busy couple weeks (month?). I know this post will end up last by the time I catch up, but our friend got elected to City Council (Den served as Treasurer) and that was pretty crazy busy till mid-July. The election was on a Tues, and we left to visit g'parents Wisc. on Thurs. Came home for a week and visited g'parents Ohio (long story, but it was supposed to be one longer trip with stops in both places). Home 3 days and left for the beach house, pictured at right, the day after attending the funeral of an elderly cousin of my dad's who lived in the area--bonus visit with g'parents Ohio.
We went with Eddie's buddy Eli and his parents to Tybee Island, GA (right outside Savannah). I've not really caught up with my travels online as I've been either packing or unpacking from a trip, or trying to squeeze in work.

The beach was fabulous--water a little murky, but the water was a great temperature, the beach was nice, and there was the ocassional wave to remind you that you were really at the beach. Above is the house we rented. Loved the house and it was just a short walk to the beach. It's for sale if you have a little over 1M to drop. Classic old house with character (if you don't count the chopped up kitchen). This was by far the most fully stocked house I've ever rented--it was fabulous in that regard--except that we couldn't find a baking dish small enough to accomodate the mini batch of brownies Den was making for the nursing mom and pregnant mom. Eli's mom thought of making a dam out of tinfoil and Engineer Den created the masterpiece in this photo.

We (all 7.5 of us) had been looking forward to this trip as a chance to relax and enjoy the beach. We knew it would be hot--as you want that at the beach.
Day 1 arrive on Sunday in 10 hours, 2 hours quicker than we'd expected. I'd had 3 hours of sleep the night before.

Day 2, got a blister on my foot on our way to the beach (it really was a short walk, too). Eli's dad spots a washed up jelly fish. Nevertheless, everyone enjoys the water.

Don't ask how, but Eddie fell and hit his head on the claw foot tub. He cried for a very long time. Then, we had both kids laying on the bed to change diapers and get ready for bed when Josie takes a knee to the eye--hard--curtesy of her big brother. She cried for a long time.

Day 3 (Tues), discover jellyfish infested water. Beaches were never really crowded (except by the condos 500 yards away), but on this day, the water was deserted. Everyone but the kids got stung (did Eli's mom escape?). You would watch people go into the water with smiles on their faces, hear a scream and watch them move quickly out of the water. Nobody was ever really close enough to warn. I suppose we could have posted a sign with big letters.

Day 3 also corresponded with the day we had to have hit 100 degrees with 80% humidity (and I like the heat, but this was too much). Eli's dad had grill duty with burgers. Don't know how he drew such a short straw.

Day 4, Wed. We still can't believe there isn't a wireless hotspot until we notice a laptop next door. If you are in just the right spot on the expansive screened in porch, you can get a feed that is like drinking a Frosty through a straw. Not worth my time--I can't even get an email to send, but do manage to download my emails--each one twice. Still can't decide if it was nice to be so disconnected, or just frustrating.

Walk to dinner at a local place, AJ's. Turned the wrong way at the end of the road and got some extra excercise and a little tour.

Day 5, Thurs. Jellyfish seem to have subsided, we find out about Safe Sea, a product claiming to prevent jellyfish stings. Worked for us--either that or the jf had left by this time. Worth every penny of the $17 we paid for the tiny bottle. Den's Wisc. heritage is coming through and the heat is taking its toll on him. Eli's parents agree to hang with the kids during naptime so we can get an hour at the beach. We're prepared to reciprocate on Friday when...

Evening of Day 5, Eddie woke up in the middle of the night with a bad cough. I gave all the usual remedies, but by 5:30am, it had become the croupy precursor to an asthma attack. And to think we almost left the nebulizer at home.

Day 6, Friday. After being up much of the night with Ed and having his cough get worse throughout the night, we debate about leaving and decide that if this develops into a bad cold, we don't want to be driving 10 hours to get home on almost no sleep (we were slated to leave on Sunday), as usually when Ed gets a bad cold, we don't get sleep for the duration. And we might have to figure out where to stop to adminster the nebulizer, which he loves so much.

Good friends, Eli's parents, watch the kids most of the morning instead of touring Savannah so we can pack and get going. The silver lining in all this is that when things were going well, we very much enjoyed hanging out with our friends. Hated to leave early, but we did get to enjoy a rarity where we live in August--Sat. and Sunday that are picture perfect upper 70, lower 80s with low humidtiy.

We are continuing to give Ed his nebulizer and he seems to be doing well. It's me that really needs the treatment as I've got a really bad cold now. Ugh. And it's now that Den tells me about the person he might have caught a small cold from and passed to us right before the trip.

Below are a couple photos from a beautiful sunrise--we had ocean views, but weren't oceanfront. I took a couple at the beach with a 'beach' camera--disposable/waterproof. Once I get those developed--someday, I'll post.