A Beach Kind of Day, With A Few Fireworks

We all slept into around 7 am, amazing for me!  Baylor started out in the bunk bed and Gloria was on an air mattress on the floor.  Sometime in the night he crawled over to me in bed and we woke up cuddling.  We picked at the cereal and watermelon.  The coffee pot was not working so making coffee involved boiling water and pouring it into the basket filter and swinging it over the pot as fast as I could.  I got burnt several times but morning coffee is worth a bit of suffering.  By 10 everyone was awake enough, dressed and packed for the beach!  We had to carry our stuff down and boy do those two know how to complain.  I don't like to pack mule stuff either but it is not like it is something we do everyday or all day.  Baylor found our spot, with a little guidance from me.  Gloria kindly rented two chairs and an umbrella for the day.  I set up camp and then went to the water with Baylor where I spent most of the day.  Gloria rested on the beach while I played and watched Baylor in the water.  She did come down and tag teamed me to watch Baylor for a bit.  I went out in the water and bobbed around a bit, watching for sharks because they have been bad this year.  Baylor made new beach friends all morning long, which is great because I cannot keep up with his running in and our of the waves.  The water was cold but we got used to it fast enough.  His first new friend was a boy a bit younger than him but they payed well in the water and sand.  

His second new friend was closer to his age, maybe even older. I love how he just sees them as a potential playmate and not a stranger on the beach.  

He learned to watch the waves this summer, one of my favorite things when I was a kid on the beach as well.  I took him out just a little bit into the waves and we were knocked down a few times.  I really do look forward to when he is older and a better swimmer and we can go out past the waves to be a wavoid (one of my favorite sniglets), people who go out into the water and bob around avoiding the waves.  Some day it will happen.   

Right now he is happy just playing in the surf. 

When it was my turn for a break, I sat in my chair for a bit just looking around and enjoying some rest.  Gloria and Baylor went up to the boardwalk for something to eat. 

When they came back Baylor saw his new friend was right next to us and went over to play in the sand with him.  The new friend's grandma is the lady in the two piece.  They have lived at the beach since her children were born and now brings her grandchildren here.  She was very nice and I enjoyed talking to her while the boys built sand castles.  

We stayed a lot longer than I thought we would because Baylor was having such a good time. He was playing in the water with two boys for most of the afternoon.  Gloria went up to Grotto to sit at the bar and have a cold beer while Baylor and I finished our day on the sand.  She bought a beach cart while she was up there.  Baylor dug deep holes and buried himself in the sand while we rested.  

When he was done, we packed up the cart, picked up Gloria, and started back to the room.  Baylor had sand burn between his thighs and complained the whole way back. I carried him for a bit but most of it he had to walk on his own.  Gloria hated the walk as well but at least everything was in the cart and we could just push it. Baylor showered up first and while I was shaking out the towels I saw the boys he was playing with out in the back yard below.  Turns out Rayce and Drew and their parents were staying in the cabin behind our house.  And they are from Tower City, PA.  And they know my friend who lives in Tower City as well.  Small world!  Baylor played with the boys in the back yard while all the parents showered in the outside shower getting ready for dinner.  Even though the two boys know each other well, they welcomed Baylor and played well with him even though he is four years younger than them.  We went to Sammy's again and I got the falafel plate and Gloria chose a kabob dinner.  Baylor had pasta again.  

We meet up with our new friends back at Walls and walked to the beach together.  Baylor had been asking all day why we had to go to fireworks tonight.  I told him it was something he needed to see.  I love fireworks and we don't see them every year.  They were the reason for this vacation, in my mind at least.  The boys played with a ball and with glow sticks I had brought while we waited for the fireworks. 

 

And once they began, we just watched in awe.  

 About ten minutes into the show Baylor said to me, " Mommy you were right, I did need to see this.  I am going to bring my kids here someday."  My heart melted and I told him he would need to bring their grandmother as well.  

 

After the fireworks, we bought three small ice cream cones (the total was about the cost of a bag of groceries) But again worth it.   

Saturday Road Trip

The Saturday forecast was for overcast skies and off and on rain.  I suggested a road trip to Chincoteague, VA as something to do for the day.  Gloria had never been and I have not been since I was in high school.  I had read the books Misty of Chincoteague

Novels by Marguerite Henry when I was a kid.  I am a girl, and lots of girls love horses at some point. It was a longer drive than I was anticipating but Baylor and I sat in the back.  He played on the tablet while I talked to Gloria.  We stopped at the Welcome center to find out where to see the ponies and we headed to Assateague Island to see the light house and hopefully to see some ponies.  We walked out to the light house and Gloria was nauseous just looking up at the top so Baylor and I did the walk together: all 175 steps to the top! It was a bit hot but we made it!  

Just keep stepping.  They only allow a certain number of people in at one time.  We passed a few people but not too many.  

We took breaks at the windows, enjoying the view of the ground getting further away from us as we climbed higher.  

Finally we were at the top!   

I yelled down to Gloria, she is the dark spot closest to the tress in the middle of the photo.  She said she could not even look up at us, it made her sick.  

There are ponies out there on the left side out by the second water inlet looking place down from the horizon.  They were the only ponies we saw and I know Baylor did not see them even with the binoculars they had up there.  

Hi Mama!! 

The ponies are out there.  Just super tiny.  

And then we worked out way down the stairs.  It was nice to be down at the bottom and it was fun to take Baylor up there. 

Then I made them go on a 1.6 mile hike.  The two of the complained the whole time.  It was hot, there were too many mosquitos, my legs hurt.  And the only wildlife we saw were the bugs, especially the mosquitoes.  

For me, it was about being with my family.  

We drove down to the beach and headed out as it was getting late in the day.  Gloria never stopped in town for me to pick up a magnet, my favorite souvenir.  She was headed directly to the NASA visitor's center on Wallops Island.  I think she was on a mission to stop there. It was a self guided center and we walked around checking things out.  Baylor does not like to stop and read so I followed him around so Gloria could take her time.  We took photos in the space suit of course.  

And we played with the air rocket plastic bottles.  All the kids loved them and the entire time you could hear the pop-whoosh of them flying up the cable as they released their air.  

Gloria watched Baylor when I went up to the roof to see the satellites.  I wonder if the aliens were sending any messages? 

They had a huge pile of plastic blocks with magnets in the corners.  They were fun building and destroying.  Another kid 'magnet' area. 

The place closed at 4:30 and we planned on stopping for dinner on the way home.  But Garmin took us back on some back roads where there were no places to stop.  And the Baylor fell asleep. And Ocean City was too packed and trafficy to stop.  So we headed to our place, in the rain,  and walked to Sammy's where I had seen kids eat free.  It is a typical Greek run diner and the food was really nice. They played straw soccer while we waited. We got Baylor spaghetti and while he said he was not hungry, he ate it all.  I ate my gyro too fast and Gloria had a chef's salad. 

 No one was up to walking a few blocks to the beach so we went back to our room.  Baylor and I played on the porch with our light sticks.  He was the King and the glow sticks were our gems made of pure starlight.   

We were out there for a long time and we could hear fireworks from one of the towns down the beach but while it was the 4th, Rehoboth was having their fireworks on Sunday.  Day two down, and while there was no beach time, it was good to be by the sea!