Vacation....NOT!!!

I feel as though my summer/maternity leave is slipping away very quickly! In a little over a month, I will go back to school.  It's a good thing that I love what I do because it is the only way I can leave my precious angels.  I have truly enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom this summer.  It's the first time since high school that I haven't worked outside of the home during the summer and I am loving every minute of it!  Too bad we are not independently wealthy or I would be staying home in the fall too.

We spent last week at Ocracoke Island, NC.  It is an annual vacation spot for us.  It has always been a fairly relaxing and enjoyable vacation....until this year.  Our vacation started out with our first day on the beach...Jackson was VERY fussy and clingy and HATED the beach. The biting flies were out in force so I couldn't put Grayson down so I sat in my beach chair, under an umbrella, down by the water (where the flies were not so bad), with two kids in my arms.  By the time we left that afternoon I swore I was done with the beach!  Dinner that evening did not go much better.  On the walk to the restaurant, my flip flop broke so I had to go quickly to a nearby store to get a new pair (actually I got a pair of yoga mat flip flops so this really wasn't a bad thing).  Then Grayson had an explosive diaper! After changing his diaper and outfit our food came...YEAH...not so much!  I gave Jackson a bite of my rice and when I was about to give him a second bite, he started throwing up...UGH!  At least the restaurant was outside.  We quickly paid for our dinner and then walked home.  That night Jackson woke up with a fever.  We gave up going back to the beach the next day (I wasn't going back even if Jackson was feeling better).  About mid-morning Jackson began throwing up again.  At this point we knew that it was more than just something that he ate.  We decided to quarantine Jackson to the bedroom because we didn't want anyone else in the house to catch it, especially Grayson.  The next morning we took him to the local clinic on the island.  We found out he had an ear infection...I had suspected as much since I knew he was teething.  By that evening he was feeling so much better!  The rest of the vacation did not get much better though.  Jackson did develop a love for the beach which I was happy about (I gave in and gave it another shot...so glad I did) but mealtimes out were so stressful!  I think it was because my children (especially Jackson) is so routine and not being able to take a good nap and then a late dinner did not create the best of situations for dinner time.  We were never able to stay at the restaurant for the entire meal.  By the last day I told Kevin that I was done with going out...we brought dinner to us at the house. That worked out much better.

I am hopeful that we do not have a repeat vacation.  Perhaps next year, with our children being a year older it will be better....OR IT JUST MAY BE WORSE!!!  Either way, we did get to have some family time together.  If there was a silver lining to Jackson getting sick on vacation it was that Kevin was there to help me through Jackson's first time throwing up.  Had we been home, Kevin would probably have been at work.

This week has been much better...being back home and back on a routine!  Maybe it's me that has the problem, not Jackson, when it comes to changes in the routine! LOL.