Beach bum....

We just got back from a wonderful week down in Virgina Beach, VA. Jason and I lived down there for 2 years and I absolutely loved it. Except for the fact that I had no family and no friends (all my friends were Navy friends and when the ship went out to sea, so did my friends). I loved living in a military town. I loved living so close to the ocean. I loved the warmer climate. I just wish my family could be there as well. Anyways, I digress.
This past week wasn't the best weather - 3 of the days were dreary, rainy, and cool. We still made it into the ocean each day, even with red flag warnings. The undertow was very strong, so we only went waist deep. It was still glorious to feel the ocean breeze, hear the rough surf, and see the dolphins. When we lived near the ocean, we didn't go nearly as often as you'd think. This vacation showed me that my kids are beach bums just like me. Jakey was so upset when we left and Jojo wanted to be in the ocean the whole time.
The whole atmosphere of being oceanfront made me so much more relaxed that I am at home. I'm a stickler for schedules (not so much in the summertime, but during the school year - definitely!) and as babies my kids were on pretty strict schedules. Since I was the primary care giver, I was on a pretty strict schedule as well. I ate when they needed to eat, I went to bed when they went to bed, etc. This vacation, any idea of schedules went right out the window along with the ocean breeze. We could eat dinner at 8pm and no one complained. We could swim for hours and didn't need to rush it to get back for nap time. We walked a lot and for long periods, and I didn't have to worry about bringing bottles, wipes, diapers, etc. I didn't have to push a stroller. We just opened up the hotel doors and went! I always worried that my strict schedules would make it hard for the kids to veer off them, but not once did they complain about anything we did on vacation. I wasn't stressed over anything while on vacation, it was really a nice change of pace.
I know if we did live down near the ocean, we wouldn't get there everyday like we would all want to. The kids school schedule, sports schedule, etc would eat into that. I'd still have kids to babysit and dinners to cook and a house to clean and places to run the kids to. We'd have no family around to watch sporting events or help out with babysitting. My kids would only know their Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins via Skype or short visits. That would stress me out. I like being able to travel 10 1/2 hours to my happy place and let the stress leave and the calmness return. I like that my kids know their extended family pretty well and that they have a big cheering section when they do sports. I like feeling the soft sand and cool surf hit my feet to remind me that, life is good. I like where I live and I like being able to afford to visit my happy place every so often.
I'm a beach bum when I can.