Nights (and Days) in Rodanthe

For Memorial weekend, we joined my parents and Jason and Kristan down in Rodanthe, NC. As soon as Brian got off work Saturday morning, we loaded up the munchkins and got on our way!


Once we reached Jockey's Ridge and Charis could see the sand, we heard "Going beach mommy! Going beach!" about once every 5 minutes. And it's still a good drive from Jockey's Ridge.




Needless to say, as soon as we got in the house and took care of Atalie's diaper explosion (Oh, how I love long car rides), we headed off to the sound.

The water is warmer and more shallow. You can also see the bottom better and don't have to worry about a current sweeping your 2 year old away.

She searched for shells to find and show off to Bean (grandma), dad, and her new BFF--- Uncle Jason.

And Uncle Jason pretended like every shell was the coolest thing he'd ever seen.

Here's another reason why Jason is the newest BFF.

The weather and then water was perfect. Charis rolled and splashed and had the best time.

In case you were doubting, more proof of fun.

When we finished at the sound, we came to the house to play in the pool. Atalie joined us for the festivities.

Yes, that is a 6'1" man in a tiny kiddy pool.

Everyone had a great time!

Too much fun, maybe.

Scary, isn't it?

When the girls went down for their nap, so did the boys.

That was Saturday. Before bed, Charis asked again to go to the beach. We made the mistake of saying, "Sure. In the morning."

I worried that since Charis was so tall she would have trouble sleeping in the tiny Pack-n-Play. I worried that she'd be uncomfortable. I worried that I'd hear cries from a newly claustrophobic toddler, frustrated that we'd stuffed her, her blanket, pillow, and 3 stuffed animals into this ridiculously small "cage" and expected her to sleep well and be happy about it.

My worries were misplaced.

Around 4:15 AM I am awakened by Atalie stirring. Ok, grunting. I go to peek at her, sighing in relief when I find that she's still sleeping. As I walk by Charis's room, I hear quiet talking, "Hi pink bear. *giggle* No, no. Hi." More giggling.

For an hour this went on. Since it was quiet, I let her play. She will do this at the house on occasion and always goes back to sleep without incident.

But I forgot one important detail. There are no blackout shades on her windows and it starts to get light outside around 5 AM.

No! Nononononono! Please let it stay dark in there. Please let her go back
to sleep. Please do not let the sun rise on time today. Pleasepleaseplease!

So I lay there an contemplate. And she plays with her bear. Around 6 AM, she starts getting louder. And singing.

"A moooooon, a bear, a biiiigg blue hooouuse!" Then happy squeals. So I decide it may be a better idea to get her up before her lovely serenade wakes the entire house. We sneak upstairs, she sits on the couch, and I make coffee.

Dark, strong, full-strength coffee.

So the rest of the house wasn't disturbed by the pitter-patter of little footsteps (ok, let's be real...the pounding of excited footsteps from a toddler that desperately wanted to go to the beach), Charis stayed on the couch and played with her stuffed animals. She stayed on that couch for over an hour and a
half until the family started trickling up the stairs.

Since she'd been up since 4:15, I knew she'd never make it until naptime. Sure enough, come ten o'clock, she crashed. She got cross-eyed, wobbly-legged, and cried out in a frantic voice, "See daddy!" When she found his large embrace, she slid into la-la land. (I will point out that she did not say "See mommy!" Um, hello?)

Brian enjoyed every second of this.

Once our little song-bird woke up, we headed down to the beach.

The water was freezing! Mom got as far as one toe in the water, I believe.

But like her uncle Jason, she enjoys any temperature water. So Charis, Brian, Paw Paw, and Tip Top (the pink giraffe) enjoyed the *refreshing* water.


What fun is the ocean if you aren't turning blue, right?

I headed back a little early with Atalie.

Note to self:

Heat + black sunshade + fat baby= high levels of discomfort.

At lunchtime, Uncle Jason sealed his fate as BFF with Charis by making strange noises that only he could do.

Notice we all tried to make the noise, but only Uncle Jason got the laugh.

After 2 beautiful days and relaxing nights in Rodanthe, we headed home on Sunday evening. Minus a few minutes singing Bear in the Big Blue House, we heard one thing from Charis the entire ride home. "Uncle Jasee coming birthday party, mommy?" Followed by, "Yes, Uncle Jason is coming to your birthday party."

And....

"Uncle Jasee coming birthday party, mommy?" (Repeat 20 or 30 times). Eventually my answer became, "Yes, (please please please) he's coming to your party."

So, Memorial weekend was May 23-25th, right? On JUNE 3rd we came inside to eat lunch. And wouldn't you know it...



Later that day I did say to her, hoping for some excitement (even feigned excitement would have been acceptable) "Mommy is coming to your birthday party!" To which she looked deep in thought, as if contemplating if this was good enough.

She replied, "MayMay (Major, the dog) coming birthday party, mommy?"

"No," I said, "Major has a boo boo and can't come." (Besides the fact that he is an overly hyper 104 pound doberman.)

To which she replied...




You've got to be kidding me!!!

All in all, I guess you could say that it was a very memorable weekend.