Finally on December 20th, Rick found out his schedule for the weekend and miraculously he only had to work until the afternoon on the 23rd and didn’t have to be back at the office until 28th. This gave us the opportunity to tell our friends that we would joint them for Christmas.
We had to decide which gifts Santa was going to take to the beach and which he was going to deliver to our house in Morristown. We also had to make sure that everything would fit into our car for the 7 hour trip.
Katie woke up sick on the 23rd and I called our friends that morning to tell them we might not make it because Katie was so sick. After I was informed that a sick kid wasn’t a good enough excuse to get us out of coming I finished packing the car and loaded up my bag with any drugs to help Katie and threw in a bowl for her to throw up in just in case. We left our house at 2:45pm on Friday and headed to the beach. We stopped at the South Carolina visitors center to take a picture with the kids. It would be Brady’s first time in North Carolina or South Carolina. It was also his first time to the beach since the last time we visited the Atlantic he was snug in my belly.
We had to stop for gas and some milk along the way but were able to get to the cottage around 10:15pm. Luckily it was a vomit free trip. The kids were excited to be out of the car and played until late.
Unfortunately Katie didn’t get any better the next day. She spent the morning throwing up. Poor thing. She did however recover by the afternoon and seemed to be doing great just in time for us to go enjoy the beach for a little while.
Between the 2 families we had 10 people. We would call for a ride from our cottage to the beach and they would send a stretch limo golf cart to transport us. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and it was in the high 60’s.
The water was cold but that didn’t stop us from having a great time. Rick even found a jellyfish that had washed ashore.
That night we video chatted with my parents. My mom read the kids her annual new Christmas book and they were able to open a present with pajamas inside. The kids also put reindeer food on the lawn so Santa could find us. We put the kids to bed and all 6 were asleep by 9pm. I think they were worn out from the beach.
We laughed with our friends Lisa and Ken until the wee hours waiting for Santa to visit. Rick snapped a picture of the tree just after he left.
We went to bed just after midnight. I don’t actually remember sleeping though. Brady was up at 2am wanting a bottle. Katie woke up at 4am sick and threw up consistently until I took a shower with her at 7:30am and woke everyone else up. She survived opening presents but it took all her energy and she soon crashed and just wanted to be held afterwards. The guys took the rest of the kids to the playground while Lisa and I did our best to make Katie comfortable. At this point she had gone 3 days without keeping anything down. She is a small child to begin with but at this point she looked like a starving child from Africa. Her ribs and bones just stuck out and her eyes seemed sunken in and black. I held her and she finally started to doze a little. When she woke up she had tons of energy. She ran and played like nothing had happened.
I took a nap with Brady while Rick went for a run on the beach.
When I woke up we walked all the kids to the beach again. As we walked onto the beach we noticed a pod of dolphins swimming just off shore. It was amazing to see. The beach was empty because there was a light sprinkle of rain. Brady chased the seagulls around and Katie loved playing in the sand. It had to be one of the most content Christmas days I have ever had!
We played with the MacArthur’s that night and packed up our stuff for an early departure the next morning. I always fight back tears saying goodbye to Lisa. I’m glad though because it reminds me just how much I love her and what her family means to us.
After we left the cottage we didn’t want to head straight home. Instead we took the kids to the aquarium. Katie had earned a trip to the aquarium on her rewards chart and we figured it was a great time to go. Brady loved seeing the fish. He would run up and hit the glass. He was pointing at everything and very vocal the entire time.
We even topped off our trip by walking along the shopping pier and getting some ice cream.
The kids did better on the drive home. Brady stayed awake most of the time and Katie slept for a few hours. We did stop to have Brady stand next to the state signs to document his trip.
We got home and opened the rest of our present while video chatting with my parents and sister.
I feel so blessed. This holiday was looking pretty dreary on paper. Stuck in Morristown alone while Rick does a rotation. Only to be able to go do something fun as a family, spend time with our friends who are family to us. I haven’t seen the kids so happy in weeks and I truly got the best gift of pure joy for Christmas. Who would have guessed. We also received so many nice things from our families. My family, and Rick’s dad spoiled us rotten. I just can’t say thank you enough to everyone that played a part in making Christmas memorable for me this year.