If I could say it plainly, the past two weeks have kicked.my.tail. We had a blast on our camping trip over Memorial Day weekend, but it has started a whirlwind of sickness in our family that we can't seem to shake. Add to that the fact that we had less than a week to turn this crew around from a camping family to a beach-ready crew of 5, and I was certainly overwhelmed. Jason had come down with some sort of stomach virus while we were camping that rendered him bed-ridden for 4 days, and the kids and I weren't feeling the best either. I figured it was the same virus and was playing the waiting and praying game, hoping that things would turn around in time for us to make the 9+ hour drive to the Outer Banks this weekend. Friday morning, I had prayed that God would give me a clear answer to whether or not we were well enough to travel. Within an hour, I had a text while at Kiwanis that Lauren was way worse than she had been. That afternoon, we had a confirmed strep throat test as well as four prescriptions for antibiotics. Mara, Lauren and I began medication and I held on to Josh's because he wasn't really feeling sick at all. But, as all things go, we were blessed by the doctor who was kind enough to prescribe something for us to bring along with us in case he took a turn into the club with the rest of us.
By some miracle, between Friday afternoon and Saturday at noon, I managed to pack and prepare this crew for a week in the Outer Banks. Impressively, we have yet to find anything REALLY important that I left without. That, my friends, is a miracle. I joked before we left that we were testing the theory that the only thing you really need at the beach is a bathing suit.
Our travel was broken into two parts, and that turned out to be a blessing as well. Lauren's stomach was still very upset, and we made more stops than either Jason or I care to count between Turbotville and Richmond where we stayed the night. Sunday morning we got up to make the last 4 hours of the trip, and had a few situations where she was sick at our stops. We were all very relieved to arrive in Corolla at our beach house around 2:00 on Sunday afternoon.
It didn't take the kids long to get into the pool! The house we are staying at has a private pool and sits right on the ocean, so it's possible to sit at your pool (without any sand!) and listen to the waves. I call this perfection! We do love spending some time at the beach, so we usually go back and forth a few times during the day.
We were blessed on this trip to get to spend a few days with one of Jason's friends from college. Evan was one of the groomsmen in our wedding, a fraternity brother of Jason's, and we really had a great time with them. They have a sweet 1 year old named Jackson, and the girls were especially smitten with him. They were here with us from Sunday until last evening when they had to return home to Durham.
The only strike of bad luck has been that Joshua has gotten sick in the past 24 hours, so I've started his medication that came along with us in the hopes that we can kick it and get him back to feeling better and enjoying the trip as soon as possible. It's no fun being sick, but certainly no fun to be sick while on vacation! This family has HAD IT with illness in the past few weeks--- so we're hoping this is the end of the line for us. All we want in the next few days is fun, and sun, and some beach time. I'm dreaming of a few hours alone on the beach with my Kindle and Sophie Hudson's new book. We'll see if we can manage that in the next 4 days of beach/pool time.
I'll leave you with a few more pictures. More of those to come, I am sure!
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