the beach really brings out the snot

One noun to describe our beach vacation: snot.  Jeff came with to the beach with a cold and he has had a runny nose/congestion on and off this week.  Lance came to the beach with a cold/teeth/something and the first couple of days his nose ran all the time and these past two days it only gets gross when we are out on the beach (we have to take a tissue box out to the beach with us it is so bad).  The salt water or wind must really clear out his sinuses, it is hard to get a good beach picture of him because he always has a yucky nose.  Sunday afternoon I started to feel that itchy throat and by Monday morning I was miserable.  Tuesday I felt better but was still not a happy camper and fortunately everything was much better by Wednesday.  I don't know if it is allergies or that cold that has been going around, but I was miserable, sneezing, runny nose, sinus pressure and though I felt worse when the Claritin stopped working it didn't seem to be doing much to stop the symptoms.  I don't know if I have the cold that was going around or that Jeff and Lance had because they didn't seem as bad as me and they didn't sneeze at all, but I guess time will tell if it is a cold or allergies based on whether my mom comes down with it.    The snot problem is so bad we had to buy more tissues at the store yesterday on Tuesday because we had gone through 3 boxes in 3 days!!  

Despite feeling horrible Monday and Tuesday the beach has been great.  Sunday we met up with my old college roommate for lunch.  We haven't seen each other in two years but we were able to pick up right where we left off and it felt like it hadn't been eight years since we were roommates. Speaking of eight years, we went by UNC Wilmington last night after dinner, it is so different.  I can't believe how different the college is in eight years, it doesn't even look like the same place.  I also can't believe I graduated from college eight years ago, wow, I feel old.  The campus was really pretty and so much bigger, there are two-thirds more buildings there now that weren't there when I attended.  Also, Miccah (my roommate) told me that it is really hard to get accepted to UNCW now, I wonder if I was a senior in high school now if I would get accepted there (she said that it is harder to get into UNCW then it is to get into Chapel Hill now, which could be true considering Chapel Hill is huge and can accept way more students then UNCW).  Miccah and I both were talking about how UNCW was the only college we both applied to and being so-so students we were thankful we went when we did.  

Lance really loves the beach and we have had a great time playing in the water and sand.  Lance is a bit strange though, he won't drink his juice box if his hands are sandy and he makes us hold his juice box, but he has no reservations eating goldfish with sandy hands resulting in gritty goldfish.  We haven't been able to make any sandcastles this here because Lance acts as Godzilla before anything can get established.  Oh, I almost forgot.  Lance is sleeping in a "big boy bed" and he is doing awesome!  He will climb in the bed, but he won't get out.  He puts himself to bed for nap, we come in for the beach, get him dressed and he climbs in bed all by himself and falls asleep.  When he wakes up me kicks on the wall and makes noise and waits until we come in a get him, it is wonderful.  I was a little worried he would be getting in and out of the bed all night long, but he seems to be very content in his bed and I wish we had a bed ready for him when he gets home on Saturday.   It does make me a little sad that my baby is a big boy, but he still looks tiny when he laying asleep in his bed, it is very cute, especially when he has his head on the pillow.  Lance has been so good this week, I think he really enjoys having mommy, daddy, and grandma around 24/7, it might be a tough week next week when it is just the two of us again.  

Because of my large pregnant state we haven't taken to many beach walks so we haven't seen many pods of porpoises in the early morning, but we did see a large pod Tuesday, it is so neat to see porpoises right beyond the breakers, but a little unnerving that it gets deep so close to shore and relatively good sized animals are so slow, it looks like you could swim out to them.  Speaking of animals, we seem to have a pet mocking bird at this house.  Every morning a mocking bird sits out on the power line in front of our house and goes through his song list.  I can identify several bird songs in his list and my personal favorite is his sea gull which is quite amusing to hear because it sounds just like a sea gull.  When he is done going through all of the different bird songs he jumps up, flaps his wings, and settles down a tiny bit further down the line.  Fortunately he doesn't stick around all day and he doesn't sing at night which can be really annoying (and something mocking birds have been known to do).  

Two days left and though the trip hasn't been perfect with all the snot issues, I have enjoyed myself and wish we didn't have to go home.