End of Summer

This year we were fortunate to close out summer surrounded by family. At the beach. And eating crabs.

Back to the Beach

Last Monday afternoon, a case of mastitis hit me like a ton of bricks. By 8 o'clock, I was at Urgent Care begging for an antibiotic. While I got the medicine, the pain, as it does, persisted for a few days. Still, my dad and I had plans to take the girls to the beach on Wednesday and Thursday. While I wasn't feeling 100%, I figured why get over my mastitis at home when I could do it at the beach. So Wednesday morning we left for Rehoboth.

We got to Rehoboth around noon which meant it was time for lunch and naps. By the time we got out of the house again it was after 3 o'clock. Cole's request was for rides and ice cream.

My grandparents hosted us for dinner Wednesday night which was a treat. I think my grandmother may have cooked everything in the house. We had tuna steaks with at least six sides. 

We finally made it to the beach Thursday morning. The girls beelined for the water and Cole kept begging to get in the ocean. After taking her in the ocean the week before, I realized I'm not yet comfortable taking Cole beyond the breakers. Despite her love of the water and eagerness to go under, she's not a swimmer. Maybe in a few more years.


I didn't take my DSLR camera with me but I had my phone and was able to steal the date-stamped pictures from my dad's camera.

A Hop, Skip, & a Jump

It's not so bad living 90 minutes from the beach. Last week we met Scottie and Bigs down in Rehoboth for a few hours. We hit the highlights: ocean, pizza, ice cream, and rides. Cole kept inching further into the water and begged for me to take her in. 

 

Easter

My brother who lives in Florida  flew into Baltimore for Easter weekend. Since we had plans to go to the beach for Easter, we made a quick trip to Baltimore on Friday to visit him. Naturally, I have no pictures of our visit with him.

Easter at the beach meant lots of time with my grandparents and more than enough Easter egg hunts for Cole.  We went to a little Easter festival in Lewes where Cole proved to be the most skeptical face paint recipient there ever was.

 We walked the beach and boardwalk on Saturday afternoon, around snack time. Cole spotted a few quarter rides and had a ball whipping her head back and worth while riding them. I have no idea where she gets this stuff.

My grandmother made us dinner Saturday night which was very kind and convenient for us. Cole served as a little helper in the kitchen while Ib motored around the house.

After the girls were in bed Saturday night, my dad arrived. Sunday morning we did a little egg hunt at the house for Cole. She was so excited to share her eggs, stickers and goldfish with PopPop! Around lunchtime we met my grandparents at their country club for yet another egg hunt and brunch.

After brunch, we packed up and headed out. And a short 90 minutes later we were home. Peter and I spent the rest of Sunday dumbfounded by how close we are to the beach. It's not that we didn't know, it just hadn't settled in yet.

The Trip

With major change on the rapidly-approaching horizon, Peter and I decided to take a vacation. We spent eight relaxed days in Cape Canaveral while our family in Georgia watched the pups. With the pool right at our backdoor and the beach twenty steps away, we spent lots of time in the water. My fair skin handles the Florida sun just fine as long as I'm cautious and covered in 50+ SPF. I spent lots of time under the umbrella reading {Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs; Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas; Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout}. Cape Canaveral is somewhat preserved and not overly touristy. There were few people on the beach and we practically had the pool to ourselves everyday. We bought a waterproof camera which was sort of fun. It was a bit of a throwback since I'm so used to digital. We tried to take some underwater pictures- they didn't work out so well. In between our time at the beach and pool, we saw a couple of movies, ventured around the Space Coast, and spent a day in Orlando. Some of our more noteworthy vacation events are highlighted below.

Da Kine Deigos

Da Kine Deigo's is a humble burrito stand with outdoor seating and a beach vibe located a bit South of Patrick Air Force Base in Satellite Beach. They make insane burritos. My "mini-b," on the right, was big; Peter's "regular" was a gargantuan. Both were absolutely delicious and unbelievably fresh.

Anniversary #2

For our anniversary we continued a tradition that we unintentionally began on our wedding night: pizza and ice cream. Our wedding was at eleven o'clock in the morning with a luncheon reception followed by a casual after party at a local tavern. By the time we had settled into our hotel downtown, it was late and we were famished. We walked around Fells Point looking for a place with quick service and ended up at a by-the-slice pizza place. It was perfect! On the walk back to the hotel we popped into Pitango Gelato because I'm a sucker for gelato and theirs is perfect. {Truly it is! In another life, I would open a Pitango Gelato right in Cooper-Young which would grow into the most popular dessert shop in Midtown.} In keeping with our pizza and ice cream tradition, we looked for a local pizzeria. We found a gem! Papa Vito's, a few blocks from the condo, was just right. After dinner, with no Pitango Gelato in sight, we headed to Cold Stone. Our pizza and ice cream tradition may not be fancy but it's us.

Day at Disney

We headed East to Orlando to spend a day at Disney. Last year, we went to Typhoon Lagoon, so this year we opted to try Blizzard Beach. The water parks are pretty insignificant on the property map but we're very fond of them. No one has a cleaner or more efficient water park than Disney! Blizzard Beach boasts the world's second tallest and fastest free fall slide, Summit Plummet. We rode every slide and floated the lazy river. Both of us enjoyed Blizzard Beach but prefer Typhoon Lagoon. After five hours at Blizzard Beach, I needed to get out of the sun. We headed to Downtown Disney where we perused the shops and enjoyed some good old fashion people watching. It's amazing/startling how much Disney merchandise there is. It is also amazing/startling how many little girls get $50-250 princess makeovers at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. I cannot imagine what about covering a little girl in makeup, glitter, and hairspray then giving them a tiara and princess dress to walk around in sounds like a good idea. It's hot! It's Florida! Of course the walking Christmas ornament is going to have a meltdown, if I was wearing all of that I'd have meltdown- but I digress.
Peter and I spent some serious time in the LEGO Imagination Center then shopped around to find a gift for our soon to arrive niece or nephew. After it cooled down, we headed to Fantasia Gardens Mini-Golf where we played the Fairway Course- the hardest miniature golf course either of us has ever played! It was basically a shrunken regular golf course that required more skill than your average putt-putt course. It took us ninety minutes to play the 18 holes. By the time we finished our round, we were quite hungry so we headed back to Downtown Disney for dinner.

Atlanta

As our vacation came to close, we decided to head out Friday night rather than Saturday morning so that we could spend a full day in Atlanta. We had errands to run and people to see and we didn't want to feel rushed.

On Sunday, right before we left, we got lunch at Tap with our dear friends S. & G. Lunch was delicious. I got a black bean burger with spicy cumber salad which was as good as you'd find at a veg-only restaurant. Really we could have eaten anywhere so long as we got to see our friends.

S. and I met the second day of our freshman year at Clemson and were instant friends! Perhaps its because we're both from the Mid-Atlantic or because we both lived in Sanders or maybe we're friends because we didn't know anyone else and were both hungry for free pizza, irregardless. We became and have stayed friends. {The picture below was taken circa 2004} It's always so so nice to see her, and G., of course, when we go to Atlanta; but, it often feels rushed with our efforts to maximize our time as we split it between friends, family, and errands. With my upcoming move, I will only be four hours from Atlanta so weekend trips will be much easier. Our lunch was a nice way to close out a great vacation. Now it's time for me to get down to business cleaning, organizing, and packing for the move that is only TEN days away!