I really need to write something. It's been a minute.
The reason why I haven't posted lately is because I've been super busy and just got back from a lil vacation. I went to the beach with my parents, sister, her husband, and both of their sons. We left early Monday morning (July 6th) and came back home late Wednesday (July 8th), but we had booked the hotel for another day.
I didn't know what to expect this trip to be like, but I didn't think it would be anything like it had been.
The first day we all went to the shore and my 5 year old, autistic nephew, J, had a blast. He loved standing in the ocean and having the waves hit him. He would jump up and land on his butt as the waves crashed. He loved when the wave was so strong that it made him turn around.
This was my second beach experience. The first time I went to the beach, that same one actually, was when I was 6 months old. I was totally unprepared for existing at the beach.
No one told me about how humid it would be. No one told me about how itchy the salty ocean water would be. No one told me about how the waves essentially erode the sand from right under your feet and begins to bury you (I almost got stuck from standing in place).
But despite all the unpleasantness I experienced, I was happy because J was happy. God, he was so happy.
There was a point in time where my dad was standing on J's left, holding his hand, and I was on J's right, holding his other hand, while the waves crashed at our feet and I could feel J shaking with excitement. I could feel him trying to rapidly open and close his hand while trying to maintain his grasp on my hand.
That boy was surprisingly unafraid of the ocean. He didn't particularly enjoy when the waves would occasionally splash in his face, but that didn't take away from his excitement. God, it was the cutest thing in the world.
On the other hand, his 3 year old little brother, CJ, could've been easily swept away by the waves. CJ being present just gave me anxiety the whole time, to be honest. He doesn't know how to not run away. He would just run straight into the ocean or just run up on the beach. He was such a handful.
The first night we stayed at the hotel was rough. J wanted to go back home so bad. He was clearly very tired and agitated and was beginning to have a meltdown. My mom and I laid down with him until he went to sleep. I slept with J each night of the trip. It's nice to cuddle with him in a bed bigger than a twin size. But he still tried to take up the whole bed by lying diagonally. Kids. 🙄
My mom, sister, the two kids, and I took a ride in the observation wheel on the beach. J loved it. I recorded a 20 minute video of him on the wheel. He was in such a state of amazement and fascination and luckily for us he wasn't scared about how high up we were. I don't think he got to show his full excitement though since we told him at the beginning of the ride that we have to be very still. But the awe in his face was clearly visible the entire ride. I barely looked out the windows. I was busy watching him.
CJ was too young to enjoy it, I guess. He whine for a good several minutes during the ride and kept wanting to get out of his seat to sit next to his brother.
The best part of the trip is what we spent the majority of the trip doing: swimming in the "lazy river" pool. This pool was 3 feet deep and J renamed it the "turning pool" because there were several turns/curves in the pool.
J and I were in that pool alone together the first day and I was so proud of him. He had his arm floaties on and he was so brave and didn't need me to hold onto him most of the time we were in there.
The second day, he wasn't as brave. He had to hold onto either me or my mom the whole time.
Regardless, he loved that pool. We had fun chasing my mom or her chasing us and me chasing them.
It was even more fun, surprisingly, when CJ woke up from his nap and joined us in the pool. He LOVED it. For at least the first 1 and a half laps, he was giggling non-stop. It was so easy to carry him around in the pool. He's so light already and it just feels like you're holding nothing while you hold him in the water. He insisted on touching the lights on the pool walls with his feet every time we passed by one. It was really cute.
My mom and I just traded J and CJ back and forth for hours in the pool.
Overall, it was a pretty decent trip. My parents and I do have regrets though. It would've been so much better if it had just been us three and J.
Neither my sister nor my BIL wanted to actually be parents the whole time, especially BIL. He slept pretty much the entire time we were there. I didn't know it until the second day, but my dad told me that my sister said BIL didn't even want to come. I was mad, to be honest. He shouldn't have came. All he did was eat and sleep and just dampened the mood.
Also CJ kept us from doing a lot of stuff. Like I mentioned before, he likes to run off a lot so we had to constantly have an eye on him. He was also whining or crying almost the entire time.
At the end of the day and the end of the trip, all that really mattered to me was that J had fun. Anything is worth it if it makes him smile. Loading...