For one dozen years, some friends of mine have been visiting Chincoteague. The group varies from year to year, and the weekend has moved from Memorial Day to 4th of July, but it’s always a fun time. I believe only Dan and Denise have been EVERY YEAR, which is fairly impressive.
Last year, this marked Ed’s and my final vacation before Connor’s birth. Which means it’s almost been a year since the little guy entered our lives, and that is nearly unbelievable.
As some of you know, the car has never been Connor’s favorite place. For a while, I was convinced there was something physically wrong with Connor which made the car seat incredibly uncomfortable for him. The pediatrician assured me this wasn’t the case. At another point, my dad and I were feeling all over the infant carrier because Connor’s howls sounded as if there was glass in his back, but we found nothing – and that was before the screaming got really out of control. In any case, though the traumatic car rides have virtually stopped, Ed and I are still wary travelers whenever Connor is involved.
Connor typically wakes up around 5:00 to eat and then goes back to sleep for a couple of hours. We decided to use this normally annoying habit to our advantage by packing for the beach Thursday night, and heading out after his morning feeding, hoping he would sleep in the car. And, that’s exactly what we did. Connor was apparently very excited about his first beach vacation because he woke up at 4:30 – but thankfully went back to sleep almost instantly until 5:00. At this point, I rolled over and asked Ed if he was ready to begin our adventure, and he mumbled something that I took to be a yes. I got out of bed and rather than taking Connor down to the guest bedroom to feed him and fall back to sleep, I nursed him on the couch in the sitting room. Connor knew right away that something was up. When Ed walked past us, Connor cried – and he cried a second time when Ed walked back through the room. I told Connor that I agreed his dad could be scary in the morning, but there was nothing to worry about. After Connor had filled his tummy, I threw him in the car seat and we were off without me even bothering to brush my teeth (YUCK!).
Armed with the AAA book of attractions between here and the beach, we set out at 5:30, hoping to cross the Bay Bridge before any sign of a meltdown. And, miracle of miracles, the little man basically made it to Salisbury, and all of the stars aligned when the zoo opened at 8:00 – just when we arrived! I fed Connor and let him crawl around on a picnic table outside the zoo while Ed filled the car with gas. Then we walked around the rather small zoo and then found a playground adjacent to the zoo. This was a big hit, as it included a tunnel to crawl through. We played there until naptime, at which point I fed him again, threw him in the car, and he slept until we got to the beach. Clearly, we were working with borrowed time here.
Upon arrival on the island, we headed for Cap’n Fish’s where Connor approved of the french fries, though he wasn’t much of a fan of the flounder. We then went to the rental office and met 5 more people from our group – 2 of whom would be staying in our house. The house we were scheduled to stay in wasn’t ready yet, so we headed over to the other house. This house was very strange. In the main room, there was no light, which definitely perplexed the little guy. What was he to do? Who could he impress with his skill of pointing out the lights on the ceilings? Well…in the absence of anything better to do, he decided to make his first adventure up an entire flight of stairs. This was a skill Connor would practice throughout the weekend, though our house blessedly had two half staircases instead of one long one.
While in Chincoteague, we saw the ponies from Assateague, swam in a pool, and hung out on Captain Barry’s boat. Can't you just feel the wind in your face? All of these things were met with the little man’s approval. The ocean was not so fabulous, either because it was very cold or because it was erratic. Connor is not a fan of others approaching him, and this apparently extends to bodies of water. He even seemed a little concerned for Ed when Ed waded out about ten feet.
Over the course of the weekend, Connor really seemed to open up and was exercising his ability to crawl away from me and actually played with a few folks, without me there. He was, of course, the cutest thing ever to grace the beaches of Assateague, and we look forward to another trip next year.
Elaine
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