The Best and the Worst of Vacation

Vacation brings the best and the worst out of a family. As you drive in a van full of seven, healthy people loaded with luggage and stuff, you learn that there is a lot more to a family than meets the eye. There are moments when one can't be touched by another person or she may die, yet moments later she would be cuddled up asleep with that same untouchable. You learn that even though a girl says she can't possibly swallow fruit loops for breakfast, she is thrilled at playing with them in the car for hours. These same girls who whine that they don't get to see their friends often enough play with their sisters like they are their best friends. (That is the goal, isn't it?) They can fight like cats and dogs then turn around and be laughing till they are crying over nothing. Some of us like the beach better than the pool so there was friction about that too. But who could complain at the pool seeing our sweet littlest one who has just learned to swim under water? Or at the beach seeing the girls riding waves on the boogie board? Because Hurricane Bertha was brewing so far out in the Atlantic we experienced the tallest waves I've ever seen. It is a little frightening to see your daughters' heads under five foot swells. (I don't know how a real surfer's mom survives the fright.)
We stayed in the same hotel room as last year and it has plenty of space for us all to sleep, but still only one bathroom. The kitchen wasn't as well stocked as we remembered so we ate on plastic spoons the whole time and cooked pancakes on pans the size of a small hand. Rachel said she felt like we were the Boxcar children making do with what we had so we didn't have to leave to go to the grocery store again.

We also found that apparently sunscreen can go out of date. There can be no other explanation for being burnt to a crisp after staying covered in sunscreen. Other random things learned or remembered - Ray is like a little boy running in the water at the beach, Rachel's wide brimmed hat was the smartest buy of the week, Hannah's amazing tan can peel, Sarah's eyes blister worse than anyone, Mary can still read three books a week on vacation, and Lydia must have a warm, hot bath. We had a great time!