Adventures of the Sea Turtle

Mark had the brilliant idea to drive through the night to get to Ocean City for our first family trip to the beach (and I’m not being facetious at all… we hit no traffic and made the trip in a record six and a half hours). We decided to go to the Yo La Tengo concert at Hartwood Acres before we left, which was another brilliant move. Yo La Tengo was Laurel’s favorite band during her fussy newborn stage. I cannot tell you how many hours I spent listening to I am Not Afraid of You and I will Beat your Ass while vigorously rocking the stroller back and forth in the living room and praying that she would fall asleep, or at least stop crying for a while. Anyway, she still likes Yo La Tengo, and she totally rocked out during the concert and then fell asleep and slept most of the night in her car seat.

Vacationing with a baby turned out to be a pretty good time. Laurel loved the pool, loved the ocean, loved the sand, loved the ceiling fan in the condo, loved the boardwalk, etc. The second we put her down in the sand she turned and crawled headlong into the ocean. Seriously…right into the surf like a sea turtle returning home. She even fell into a hole on the way, but scrambled out and kept going. She loved watching the waves wash in and didn’t seem to mind when salt water splashed in her face. She squished sand castles and spent a good long while watching sand fall through her fingers. When we put her in the pool in her float, she immediately started kicking like mad and jumping up and down. She blew bubbles in the water and I dunked her a face times to teach her how to hold her breath. It was so fun to watch her explore new things.

And frankly, even if she had hated the beach, it still would have been worth it, because she looked so darn cute in her bathing suit.

We spent the first four days pretty much doing regular stuff, and by regular stuff I mean playing with the baby and cooking good food. (We may be the only family in America that packs its sourdough starter for a trip to the beach. ) On Thursday, we were joined by some of M’s relatives. One of the highlights was a family dinner on the porch followed by a trip to Dumser’s Dairyland. M’s aunt taught me how to eat crabs and Grandma Cake spent hours in the pool with Laurel. There was enough card games and Red Stripe for the grownups to feel like a real vacation. But it's nice to be home.