Tuesday- Enjoying the Atlantic

Last night was a rough, rough night. G has some awful cough which I am
sure is some variation of the swine flu I had last week, (kidding),
but it is waaaaay worse at night, and I couldn't get it to stop last
night. I brought THE cough meds (if you use the same ped we do, you
know what I mean), and it just wouldn't stop. We were up for hours,
and it was miserable, but I felt especially bad for Joel who couldn't
escape and had to be up and ready by 7. Finally I got G propped up and
a second dose of the miraculous cough syrup down him, and around 3 we
were all back to sleep. I barely heard Joel leave this morning and we
didn't leave the hotel until 11! G seemed fine this morning and has
only coughed when we are inside places. Maybe it's the AC that's
bothering him?

Anyway, we ate breakfast at . . . Starbucks! Shocking, I know. We
tried their oatmeal bowls. The kids loved them with all those fun
toppings. We are VERY tired of eating out, and that's probably the
'healthiest' the kids have eaten! I use the term 'healthy' very
loosely.

Next we headed to the mall to change some sizes of clothes I got for
her bday. That girl is GROWING!

On the first day we got here, I let the kids stand in front of one of
those pamphlet stands of all the tourist things to do in the area. The
first thing G picked was a pamphlet for a docked submarine nearby that
was open for tours. I kept thinking we could tack it on to a day that
we didn't have a lot going on, like today. Great idea, but
unfortunately we'd waited too long and the sub us closed on Tuesdays
and Wednesdays!! Oh G was so disappointed! I felt awful, but I knew
the other thing he (and the other kids) really wanted to do was play
at the beach. Someone told me that York, Maine had nice beaches, so we
took the scenic route (slower, but prettier and no tolls!). While I'm
on the subject of getting places, I have to say that I have used my
GPS on my phone SO much on this trip. It has been a real life saver,
especially traveling without Joel!
So, we made it to York. The sun was out and the beach was perfect. It was sort of in a bay, but there were still small waves- couldn't have been better for the kids to play in. We stayed for hours. For a while Carter stayed next to me- in the warm, dry, sand, but eventually he got brave enough to play at the water's edge as well. Such a perfect afternoon. I got caught up on most of my blogs, and had fun taking pictures. (So far all these pics have been with my iphone- I didn't bring my computer so actual camera pictures will come later.) Just laying in the sun was so nice too. Finally, after giving my kids '10 more minutes' a dozen times, we left. I stripped them down, washed them off at the faucets, and drove them back to the hotel in their unders.

They were still so sandy though and once we returned to the hotel we went straight down to the pool. We swam for close to an hour, showered before and after, and I think by the time we got back to our room, at 7, we were all mostly sand free, finally! We were also completely exhausted by the sun, surf, and swimming so we ordered room service to celebrate our last night in New Hampshire. Joel didn't get home until 8:30 (UGH!), but we had fun eating on our beds, the kids worked on their journals, and I tried to get packed up.

Tomorrow will be a long day- we don't get on the plane until 5 (eastern time), and we land 8 (which will be 11 here!), so I am a little anxious. But they've done so well on this whole trip, I'm sure it will be fine. Maybe even fun. And we're all looking forward to seeing Sammy the cat and sleeping in our own beds again. Joel will follow on Friday, but he will pass Madeline and I in the air as we go to Idaho to watch my cousin, Berkley's dance recital. Never a dull moment!! I am definitely looking forward to next week when our normal lives resume!