Vacation - Poor Lance (poor me!)

Poor Lance was sick with the flu that first night and all of that first day. Being the empathetic and compassionate wife that I am, I sat by his bedside all day and nursed his brow. Right. I ran to the local CVS, picked up some Pepto, gave it to Lance, and left for a morning at the beach with Spencer. (I left Josh to take a nap at the condo.)

While I wasn't exactly excited to wear a bathing suit, I didn't dread it as much this year, either. I found this cute suit at JCPennys. I like it because of the board shorts - I don't feel quite so exposed. I look just like this picture, too. Only with short, dark hair, a smaller bust, and the body of a woman who's had two babies in the past three and a half years. But other than that, just the same! :)

Spencer LOVED the beach. He couldn't get enough of the sand and the water. I got quite the workout by holding him while we went wave surfing. Although the water in the Atlantic is quite warm, Spencer could only handle being in it for about 20 minutes before he started shivering and his lips turned blue. (You can actually see his ribs in some of the pictures!)

I wasn't surprised by Spencer's love of the beach. I was surprised by his tantrums, though. Spencer has always been a really good traveler, and he had been so good the day we traveled. But he fell apart at least once a day for the rest of the trip, with the biggest tantrum on that first day. Man, nothing makes you feel like a lousy parent more than a tantrum from your child in front of people you don't really know. Here's why I think he just couldn't handle life:

1. His routine and schedule were totally messed up
2. He wasn't sleeping in his own bed
3. There were lots of other kids that he had to share and play nicely with
4. He's three and a half and that's his job.

So that afternoon wasn't much fun. Lance slept all day and I dealt with grouchy boys. Not much of a vacation.

Luckily, by that evening Lance started playing Dance Dance Revolution again, so I knew he was better. That gave me a chance to start my summer beach read: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Yes, it's the Oprah book club book, and I'm not usually one to jump on that bandwagon. (I'm not in love with Toni Morrison like she is.) But it was on sale and had lots of good reviews. It was GREAT! I could hardly put it down to go to the beach! Very well written and a very unusual and compelling story. Yes, there is some sex in it, but nothing too graphic. I highly recommend it.