Our annual vacation for the past 11 years has not changed. My husband and I, and now with our 14 month old twins, spend our annual 10 day vacation with family and friends on Hatteras Island North Carolina. The trip is something we look forward to and plan extensively for, every year.
Although it is a sweet, tender time of reunion with our East Coast family, this year seemed to have more than its share of trouble. To be brutally honest, not at all what I would consider a vacation in the restful sense of the word.
Since the twins were 14 months old, I felt I had to be uber-prepared. For weeks I had been making lists of everything we might need for traveling, playing, eating, sleeping and swimming: lists which included entries for items such as portable high- chairs, bathing suits, clothes, sunscreen, pool toys, regular toys, sleeping arrangements, diapers, wipes, diaper cream, snacks, car seats, to name just a few.
Despite the planning I was still overly anxious about traveling. Our flight from LAX to Washington Dulles was 5 hours long. What was going to happen in the plane for this amount of time? Considering my toddler twins, this question caused me to lose sleep at night. My biggest fear was the other passengers and how they would react to my little darlings losing their minds 30,000 feet in the air.
In an effort to mitigate potential problems we carefully strategized and planned our flights – we bought tickets on the red-eye going out and the family flight coming home. We even made goodie bags for the passengers seated immediately in front, beside and behind us. This bag included snacks, ear plugs and this note:
“Our names are Robbie and Phoebe. We are 14 month old twins from Ventura, CA. We are very excited to be on a plane. We are going to try and be very good on our flight and want you to have these treats to make your flight a little bit sweeter. We sincerely hope you won’t need the ear plugs. Thank you for your understanding.”
To my surprise, things went fairly smooth on our flight out.
However, the first day in Virginia – the first day of our vacation, was rough. The kids were completely discombobulated. Each new relative was met with screams and tears; it took a while for them to warm up to anyone.
Words cannot express the 8 hour trek from Virginia to Hatteras Island NC. You use your imagination. We were close to delirious once we finally made it to the beach house.
The house we rented was complete – 4 floors with 8 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, swimming pool, hot tub and the ocean right outside the back door. It was magnificent. But from the eyes of a toddler these things meant nothing; stairs and cords, computers and remote controls, they were exciting. With modest success, we created a play area blocked in by various chairs, sofas, and end tables. When we had a breach of the play area, you could expect LOUD protests at being put back into confinement. Breeches were often, the battle was constant. Ten days of it. It was exhausting.
And, then there was eating. I planned ahead and purchased 2 portable high chairs which we strapped onto the tall dining chairs at the Hatteras house. These are marvelous inventions – portable and compact. When we strapped my son in to eat, we scooted him up to the table so he could reach his food. He, on the other hand, thought it would be a great game to push back on the table with his feet. …and the chair went over backwards. We heard a LOUD thump when his head hit the hardwood floor. A piercing scream followed about 10 seconds later. I was terrified and couldn’t get him unstrapped from that contraption and into my arms fast enough. HE WAS OK – thank you Lord. It still brings me to tears as I write.
And, then there was swimming: No less than three times were my darling toddlers wiped out by rogue waves at the beach. Wipe-outs did not dissuade them from stuffing copious amounts of sand in their mouth. Through the wipeouts and gagging, Phoebe persevered but Robbie’s fear of the ocean and the waves, remained.
The entire vacation felt like never ending days of sleep, eat, chase, sleep, eat, chase, screaming and crying. There was but one activity with which they were happy and that was when we went onto the beach and simply walked. And, only then was I able to have peace and dare I say it… fun.
Let it be known despite all the drama, crying, screaming, chasing and hurting we experienced during our 2014 Hatteras trip – I will know no better vacation. For no other vacation will I get to spend 10 days with those that I love more than I can express in words – my babies, my husband and my family. It is a time that I cherish – one that I look forward to all year long – and one that I will remember and treasure in the years to come. As the months tick by the hard stuff we went through will be forgotten; all that will be left are the memories of the sweet times with sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. And that is what life is all about.
So, Hatteras 2015 here we come!