My Week In the OBX - Part II

I am 34 years old and I remain as clueless today as I was as a 4 year old when it comes to managing my sun exposure. One would think that with a father from Southern Italy, that I would be able to handle a little sun and that I might be able at some point to establish some sort of tan. My younger brothers both get tan, although they work outdoors a lot and are in the sun far more than I. However, while my dad is from Southern Italy, he chose one of the Kentucky hill people for his bride and it would seem that I received those skin genes. It is Thursday morning and even though I doused myself in SPF 30 sunscreen yesterday, I am lawn flamingo pink and feeling it. I am reminded of pictures from a day trip to Wildwood when I was five that we took with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. In the pictures my cousins (Mark and Michael) are both very tan. I am white as a ghost. I took a nasty hit of sun poisoning that day and ended up covered in blisters. Ah, fun in the sun.

Prior to my realization of being burnt to a crisp, I spent a very enjoyable half hour swimming in the ocean. I had made some progress with Zachary and his fear of the water, getting him to allow me to carry him into the surf. However, the first two waves that met us where we were wading came in chest-high on me, and face-high on The Man Zachary. After catching two partial waves to the face Zachary's sea-based fears were confirmed and we were resigned to trying again tomorrow. After handing him off to Mommy I stayed in the surf and had a fun, relaxing swim.


Speaking of The Man Zachary, the last two days have seen him take a significant step backwards in his restaurant behavior department. Normally, he is fairly well-behaved when we go out to eat. It would seem now that with his second birthday less than a month away, we might be well into the "Terrible Twos". We will probably eat take out the rest of our stay.

It's Thursday night and I am getting a bit down as the realization hits that tomorrow is our last day down here. My week started fairly crappily and I didn't really get into the vacation swing until the last couple of days. I hereby swear to come into vacation next year with a completely different mindset (and hopefully a new level of fitness). Vacation when you have a child is a completely different animal than vacation pre-kiddies. The onus isn't on relaxation anymore, it needs to be on playing with the kid and spending quality time with family. I did get to swim some again today, and I enjoyed it. Swimming in the ocean makes me feel like a little kid. I never went on vacations with my family. We just never did that sort of thing. I did get to go to the Outer Banks twice with the Alessi family during my mid-teen summers and they were two of the best weeks of my life. Tom, Jamie and I couldn't wait to get into the water and had to be dragged out for meals and other family activities. I always told myself that if I were to ever be blessed with a family and the means to take vacations, we would go to the Outer Banks. I am very thankful to be able to follow through with it.

We have had non-stop fantastic weather since early in the week, and today (Friday) was no exception. I had to fold my 6'5 frame the past two days so that I stayed in the shadow of one of our umbrellas but it was still a nice day on the beach. Due to my el-blotcho rushing sunburn I even kept my shirt on when I wasn't in the water. This probably saved a bit of my honor as I am built like a manatee and shouldn't be exposing my torso in public anyways. I have a nasty stretch of burn that extends across my back at my waistline which is particularly painful. Between my pants/shorts rubbing across my sunburn and my not having any skin on my feet moving at all pretty much hurts. I spent a lot of time with Zachary today picking up shells and trying to ease him back into the water. Got him to let me take him in once but he got spooked and we got out.

I should probably cut this short and post before I get caught on here again. I am supposed to be showering and getting ready to go back to the beach for pictures before going to grab something to eat. Not looking forward to packing everything up to go home but that will likely be our last vacation activity tonight. Here's hoping for a smooth trip home.

[Currently Listening: Shaggy - "Oh Carolina"]