This is the stuff...

Okay just a little warning before reading this post... This is a completely honest post, and I don't mean to make anyone feel bad. Lets just say I was a little upset a few days ago, (more like yesterday) but I am over now... never the less I feel like if I don't say anything, or just sugar coat it (like I do everything else), than I'm just not being truthful and I shouldn't write anything at all. So if you don't want to read than you can just stop right now, and I won't care. I just feel like a lot of us moms have gone through this, and I know how they feel, and no, they are not the only ones.

So last week I went on vacation... Remember that vacation I was waiting for and excited about? Well it wasn't a total bust and I did have fun, but wow... I think it was more work then worth (if you know what I mean by that). Okay so I'll tell you about it.

Sunday (day 1), Getting there...

I woke up around 6:30, so get the kids ready. We had a sleeping beauty on our couch (Jeremy's sister Christen), she had stayed the night, so we could get an early start (we were going to meet Jeremy Parents at the house we were renting). I must say though that this sleeping beauty can really sleep through anything. Once everyone was up, it was kind of noisy in the house (everyone was really excited to go), and that didn't wake her up.

Everyone was ready to go at 8:30, so off we were. It wasn't a very eventful ride, and that can be a really good thing. Apparently our list of both Jeremy and Randi approved music was getting old. Jeremy and I have different taste in music. There are songs we both like, but the list is small. When you have a music library of 1000+ songs, and you can only come up with a list of 97 that you both can agree on, than your road trip may be dull. So we ended up playing a few made-up game (this all started in Norfolk). My sister in-law wanted to know why she kept seeing mermaids in Norfolk. So we told her that, that's just the way Norfolk is, they like mermaids... My guess is that, that's their mascot, but I've never thought or cared to look it up. So we made a game of who could spot the most Mermaids, and I think Christen ended up winning this one. Yes but that game only lasted through Norfolk, and we were bored again. Once in North Carolina, we thought of another game. We kept seeing these No Olf signs, and had no idea what they meant at the time (yeah I did find out later, and there is a link, if you are curious), but we did make a game of who could spot the most.

Finally we get there, (to the happy crab in Duck, NC) and after a bit of unpacking, and checking out the awesome house...

We decided to walk to the beach (just down the street and over the dunes). The beach was beautiful and mostly empty (only one other family was there). We found some great shells, and walked back.

We had dinner, and it got late and I went to bed early that night.






Monday (day 2) Beach, pool, and sunburn...

Monday was going to be a warm day,  so it was perfect for the beach. I was woken up a 5:59 by Olivia (she was sharing a room with us), and had no choice but to get up. After getting her up and feed and the kids up and feed, I ended up waiting until 8am for everyone else to get up (this was the not so fun part, and most morning were like that). Once everyone was up and feed, I began to put sunblock on me and the kids. Everyone sat there and watched me do it, and yet they didn't think to put some on themselves (remember this, because I'll talk more about it later).

The beach was great. The sand was warm and the water was cold, the kids had a blast, and Olivia loved both the sand and the water (yay for me).

After coming back from the beach we got in the pool (water is good). We ended up playing with the beach ball as if it was a volley ball in the pool. We also ended up getting in the hot tub.

Okay now I know what you are thinking... "So far Randi your vacation sounds great. What is the problem?"

Just keep reading okay (if you dare).

After coming inside everyone (everyone but the kids and me), noticed they had some serious sun burn (yup). And I had the pleasure of listening to them all complain about it. Yes the complaining lasted for the full week (yes all week long). I'm sorry to say that I didn't have much sympathy for them, after all they did watch me put sunblock on the kids, and myself, and I did mention that they should do the same (the whole I told you so is running through my mind). Needless to say, I was really tired of hearing about it.

That night we had hamburgers and hot dogs. We were going to cook them on the grill, but the grill wasn't working (something wrong with the lighter), so we ended up broiling them in the stove.


Tuesday (day 3) Festival park, and the Lost colony...

The day started at 6am again. Jeremy got up with me this time. He was having trouble sleeping anyways because of his sunburn, and couldn't wait for morning (he was tossing and turning all night and looking at the clock). Once again no one else was up until after 8am, and no one else was ready to go until 10am. Yes I know, this is a vacation your suppose to sleep in on vacation. It's just because I had to get up early, it was very boring for me. At lest Jeremy was up with me this time.

We finally get to Roanoke island, and finally to Festival park. The park was great they had a ship to tour, a colony style village, and a museum...

We went to lunch at McDonalds where Jeremy announces that if he see another hamburger he's going to puke.

After lunch we went to Fort Raleigh, where the first America colony was (the one that was lost, and no one knows what happened).

It was just leftovers that night which didn't make everyone happy. (Jeremy really didn't want another hamburger). After Olivia was in bed, Jeremy, Christen, and I went out to shop at the little shops in the town of Duck. This was when Jeremy bought the boys 3 coins that looked like gold doubloons (this will come into play later).

After getting back we (the three of us), got in the hot tub. That was nice until we had to get out. See it was about to storm so the temperature had dropped and it was windy. "burr!"


Wednesday (day 4) Early day, Rain, and shopping...

This day started super early for me, because Olivia woke up at 2:30 and started crying. Jeremy wasn't sleeping well, because of his sun burn, so after 10 min of helping me, he gave up and went to go sleep on the couch (... I don't need to type what I'm thinking in here because I'm sure you all know). I tried milk and rocking her, and nothing was working. Finally 2 hours later she throw up (oh so that's what was wrong). Yeah she was fine after that. She still ended up waking up early 6:30 this time. Since we knew it was going to rain this day we planed on shopping that day. It wasn't until after 10:30, that everyone was ready to go, and beings that it was almost lunch it, we just decided to stick around the house until after lunch.

After shopping that whole day at lots of stores and the outlets, all I had brought were some books (this coming from a girl who loves to shop). Lets just say the outlets were horrible, and shopping with a man who can't wait for you to be done, is no fun. I mean nothing agents Jeremy, but he really doesn't like clothing shopping, and it shows when we are in the stores, and it makes me feel bad, so I just don't end up getting anything. That's why I like to go by myself if possible.

We ate at Applebees for dinner, we were going to have sea food at Captain George's (Jeremy and my treat), but after every grumping about sea food and the price, we just said forget about it. Olivia was really grumpy (that was so much fun), and despite Jeremy helping me out with her, it was still really stressful for me. Not to mention when it came it for dessert I didn't get what I wanted.

Once we got back Jeremy set the boys on a treasure hunt. He had buried the three coins (the ones he bought for the boys), and made a map.

That night Jeremy and I did get our walk on the beach. The tide was in though, and we got wetter than expected. We only wanted to walk and hunt for cool things that the storm may have washed up, but yeah the waves got us anyways.


Thursday (day 5) Morning walk, and afternoon nap...

I woke up Thursday determined to get out of the house before 8am. Needless to say I was tired of waiting for everyone, and I wanted to hit the beach. I decided that if they wanted to wake up later than they could just meet the kids and me down there (when ever they wanted). After being at the beach for about 10 mins, Jeremy and his mom did meet us and we took a long walk (way to long if you ask me, I had Olivia in the sling), mom was determined to find a conch shell, and ended up leaving us in the dust.

Once we got back I was tired and Olivia was grumpy. Everyone else wanted to go play mini golf, so I told them to go ahead, and I would stay home (yeah that was nice). I took an hour nap, and once Olivia got up, we swung on the swing that they had on the deck.

<- this is what they did...
  ...and this is what I did ->







Once everyone was back, they all wanted to go out to eat. Once again Olivia was grumpy, and when Jeremy asked me why I looked so shell shocked, I told him that we need to stop eating out, because it was becoming way to stressful for me.


Friday (day 6) a whole lot of nothing...

This day was full of nothing really. I think we just hung out at the pool and in the house all day. I didn't mind though, because it wasn't stressful, but once again I was up at 6am (thank you so much Olivia).


Saturday (day 7) A little bit of shopping, and a lot of re-packing...

At about 10am we went to shop in the town of Duck again, I wanted to get the kids each a t-shirt, to remember the trip. We ate pizza, and came home to re-pack. This is when Jeremy and Olivia both fell asleep and slept for over 2 hours. Because of that Jeremy wasn't able to sleep that night, and he just stayed up and put everything in the van.


Sunday (day 8) Sorry to say, but lousy mothers day (*cry*)...

So I wake up a 4am, because we wanted to get a really early start (I was ready to go home). All of us were in the van by 5am, and off to home.

Because Jeremy was up all night he was tired, so once we got to Norfolk I took over with the driving. I ended driving for over 2 hours, and everyone else was asleep for most of that.

My plan for getting home was to order food (I really didn't feel like cooking). Letting the kids play some video games (to make them happy). Turning on Star Trek (on our spare computer), and Playing Warcraft with my husband (that was my perfect idea of mothers day, because I knew that everyone was tired). I really didn't think it was to much to ask for. *sniff, sniff*...

Okay to make a long story short, after ordering the food, and eating. Jeremy and his Sister fell asleep on the couch (they ended up asleep the whole rest of the day away), and the kids ended up watching tv, and I ended up unpacking everything (yes that was my day). It also didn't help that all of my facebook friends were having wonderful days, and not afraid to say so (yeah that wasn't their fault, but it just made things worse). The ended with no Warcraft and no Star Trek (I was very sad).



Well there you have it. The worst part about it all was the having to wake up early (thank you Olivia), and having to wait hours for everyone else to wake up and get ready. It was just very lonely. Not to mention that my mother's day was just icing on the cake.

Like I said, I don't mean to hurt any ones feelings, and I am over it now, but I'm just being truthful. I know a lot of us moms feel like this on vacation, we end up doing so much, and just end up getting stressed out.

So I was feeling really down yesterday until I heard this song. I forget that even though I had a bad week that I'm still really blessed, and God loves me, and there will be other vacations and other Mothers days...

Thanks for reading...