We left Friday afternoon and headed to Rockport to spend the weekend with some friends. A good time was had by all, but it is good to be home.
What is it about little coastal towns? They have a unique thing going on that is all their own. You can guarantee you’re going to find a lot of places with the word “crab” in it. The Crab Inn or The Crab ‘N or The Crab Trap or Bob’s Crab Shack. It’s like the locals think boy, I’m going to use the word “crab” in my name, that will draw in the tourists like flies.
My personal favorite name that I spotted this time was the Do Drop Inn. Get it? I only ask because it took me awhile. I’m sharp, y’all, I am sharp.
When we left Friday, I had a sore throat and felt certain that I had a cold coming on and sure enough, full blown congestion and sore throat by Friday night. It is just wrong to have a head cold when it’s 108 outside. Head colds are for winter, not Labor Day weekend, but because I am a trooper and because Caroline knew we were going to the coast and could NOT stop talking about it, we went ahead with our plans.
As soon as we got there, Caroline and her daddy headed out in a kayak and I was able to spend that time concocting the perfect Bendadryl/Sudafed cocktail. I repeat, head cold in September, just wrong.
That night we all slept in the same room. Caroline had her little inflatable Cinderella bed with built in sleeping bag and P and I had a queen bed. I’m sure that sounds great to most of y’all, but P and I need our space when we sleep. We bought a king size bed about 1 year into our marriage and I am not kidding when I tell you it may have saved our marriage. In fact, when we’re counseling young couples about to marry, we actually include a discussion on the importance of a king size bed. Those young fools may think they want to be all cozy in a double bed, but give them a few months (or a kid) and we believe they will live to regret that purchase.
True story, we had only been married about 3 months, when we went to visit some friends and they directed us to their guest room which held a double bed. After we quit laughing hysterically, we told them, “yeah, we’re going to need some blankets so that P can sleep on the floor.”
I admit that I am probably mostly responsible for this need for space. I don’t like to use the word “finicky” because it maybe sounds a little controlling, so let’s just say I like things the way I like them and I like to have room for myself and about 5 pillows surrounding me. Even in the king size, P doesn’t really get 50% of the bed square footage.
So back to our sleeping arrangements. P and I are crammed into a queen size bed and Caroline is on the floor next to me. I actually felt so bad and was so tired (maybe from all the Bendadryl, Sudafed, and narcotic cough medicine consumption) that I could’ve slept like a baby in the queen bed except for two factors. The first being that Caroline was so beyond excited about our trip that she woke up every 2 hours ALL night long saying “Mama, this sure is fun being at the coast!” and I’d say “I know, if mama lives to see the morning we’ll have fun. Now go back to sleep.” The second factor was that P apparently was a little congested himself and was making noises that made me think I was in bed with a cougar named Karen (if you haven’t seen Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights, you’re just thinking I’m weird). Maybe he always growls like that in his sleep, but since we usually have 6 pillows and 4 feet between us, I don’t hear it.
I’m sure I was making my own share of noise since I had completely lost all ability to breathe out of my nose and my head was on the verge of exploding, but my own noises don’t keep me awake so in my opinion they are perfectly acceptable.
Anyway, we woke up the next morning and while well rested might be an exaggeration of our state, we were ready for a day ‘o fun. We went to the beach and P pushed a push net for Caroline and caught crabs, shrimp, little fish and other slimy little things. She was in pure heaven.
At one point he brought in a blue crab that had lost its claws and it became her most treasured possession. She named him “Crab” because she’s creative like her mama. She carried this thing around for the two hours we were at the beach. She swam with him, she talked to him and before it was all over she was referring to him as her “baby sister”. I don’t even know what to say about that.
She proved once again that she will touch anything and really the slimier the better. It’s just further confirmation that 50% of her DNA is not from me. I’m not really a slimy kind of girl. In fact, at one point while I wasn’t really paying attention she handed me some sort of “sea jelly” and I thought I might gag. Seriously.
We went back to the beach on Sunday and this time Caroline found a bunch of other little kids to play with. Once these kids saw the net that P had been pushing filled with all kinds of stuff, it was like kid crack. They couldn’t stay away from us. We had kids swarming around our net looking at all the sea life. At one point I think Caroline might have gotten a little tired of sharing all her daddy’s ocean finds with these kids because she started telling them, “You guys, there are sharks all in these waters.” Nothing like a little fear mongering to keep the crowd at bay.
On the way back to our friends’ coast house, we stopped at McDonalds. Now Rockport is a small, little town so you know life moves at a slower pace. But we pulled through the McDonalds drive thru at 5:45 pm and ordered a Happy Meal with a cheeseburger, and y’all they told us to pull up in the parking lot because it wasn’t ready. It was like we had ordered a Big Mac with no special sauce or something. Really? You don’t have a prepackaged Happy Meal ready at dinnertime? Really? Caroline was very impatient (and tired) so didn’t really appreciate this introduction to laid back, small town life.
We finally made it home this afternoon. Caroline actually slept for an hour and a half in the car on the way home which means she is beyond any reasonable amount of tired. She didn’t even wake up to tell us, “that sure was a fun time we had at the coast!”
I’m still suffering from what is becoming the longest head cold ever and am so thankful that tonight I will sink into a luxurious King size bed and not hear anything except the sound of my own labored breathing.
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