Our First Family Vacation

We traveled to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina this past week for our annual vacation with my side of the family. This was the first time my husband and I went on a vacation together with Evan. The flight down to NC was very smooth other than the AC not working properly on the layover flight. At least we had time to get a bag of ice from the flight attendant before take off, since the spray bottle wasn’t doing a justice! Evan did well otherwise and we were so excited to arrive and start our vacation.

Giving the pool a try..

In the beginning of the week, we lucked out with some cooler and cloudy weather. This gave us the opportunity to do more things outside with Evan. We tried the pool first but he was not happy with the temperature of the water (even with all of the distractions from his cousins). Then we walked down to the beach to give the ocean experience a test drive. I think it was a little intense for Evan since the wind was whipping and the water had cooled down significantly. He was not the happiest camper when we stuck his feet in but at least we tried.

Unfortunately my husband had to head back home in the middle of the week for work. I was definitely bummed since he rarely gets a real vacation and now I would be taking care of Evan without him.  Luckily, we were able to go out to dinner alone before he left, which was a nice treat. My sister was watching Evan for the first time ‘alone’ and initially I was nervous but then actually was impressed at how well she did. (I have the tendency to tease her about her lack of babysitting experience)

The typical NC heat returned pretty much the day my husband left, so hanging out outside was limited. We managed to get outside here and there since all Evan did was reach for the door when we were stuck inside. But Evan was definitely entertained by his 6 cousins ranging from ages 1-12 years old. All he seemed to want to do was be around them and watch them play. Hopefully sooner than later he will be playing with them too.

Best time of day to be out with Ev

As the week wrapped up I was becoming exhausted with Evan’s out of sort routine. I had a ‘sad’ day the last day we were there especially since it was the hottest day of them all. It finally hit me how challenging life is going to be for Evan to do the simplest and most exciting things in life, a beach vacation. That day it was so sad for me to see all of my siblings and Evan’s cousins get to enjoy the beach so carefree. Once Evan is walking and talking, Im sure it will be ‘easier’. I was also hesitant to even bring him down to the beach (when the temp was right) after an uncomfortable encounter with some strangers a few days earlier.

I was offered a lot of help, from family members, to take care of Evan but didn’t take much of it. I was too nervous to let anyone else bring him outside and be the judge of his temperature. I got a few hours here and there to get down to the beach and jump in the pool. It was definitely a different experience being on vacation with my child. Never mind a child who is 2 and still cannot walk, talk, sit or eat well. I think if I had my husband with me for the entire week I would not have felt so overwhelmed.

Having fun with Uncle Matty's drumsticks

Hopefully next year Evan will be begging me to go to the pool and go down to the beach. I can’t wait to hear his little voice ask me questions and have a conversation with me. A lot of what I took from this vacation is that I hope others do not take their life for granted and appreciate how ‘easy’ the simplest things in life are (like going outside, flying a kite, swimming in the ocean, going out for ice cream, or even sitting in the sun). All of these are things we either struggled to do or did with a lot of preparing and planning.

All in all, it was so great to have my entire family together. Evan definitely learned a lot watching his cousins and he had so much social interaction. He experimented with new types of crackers and snacks that his little cousins were eating and has a new thing for straws thanks to his cousin Aaron. Now home, I think he is wondering “Where did all the kids go?” Soon enough they will all be together again.

The 'Clan'