Wrightsville Beach 2008

Note - I was rummaging through all of my posts, and realized I started this post, but never actually finished it! So I will write it now based on what I remember from a year ago...

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As is family tradition, we went to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. We stayed with my family at a house that's on the north end of Wrightsville Beach, on the sound side, not ocean side. But we are directly across from a Public Beach Access so we have very easy access to the beach with no driving necessary!

The trip down was pretty uneventful, and DJ did great. It wasn't nearly as difficult on me as I had thought it might be, and we made great time. Despite that, we were all very happy to be out of the car once we arrived.

DJ's cousins were thrilled to see (and play with) DJ, who was very interested in exploring the house. Even though the stairs are shorter than your average stair, we still had to watch DJ like a hawk on them. But those were a huge toy for him, to say the least.

He also discovered the little closet on the top floor loft. It was just his size, and he opened and shut that door millions of times over the course of the week! He liked playing hide-n-seek with it, too. It was his little hideout. He loved it.

We took DJ to the beach a number of times over the course of the week. He didn't mind walking on the sand at all (much to our surprise), but the water made him nervous at first. I'm not sure if the noise of the ocean made him nervous or just it's vastness or what... but he definitely wanted no parts of it initially. DJ and I sat on the edge of where the water came until he was comfortable with it. Then Steve took him in to play... and he had a good time!

DJ playing in the water

DJ and Daddy

As for me, being 8 months pregnant took its toll on me. And true to his nature, DJ was up at the crack of dawn every day and with the pack-n-play in the same room as us, there was no sleeping through it. I was very thankful that my active toddler was taking both morning and afternoon naps, despite the racket (ARG!!!) caused by the construction on the house next door (shingling). I'd nap with him when I could, but still. Chasing him around was a challenge energy-wise as well as physically e.g. getting up off the floor was not a fast action!

I also attempted to bake on this trip. Both attempts ended up in culinary disasters. Ok, I thought they were disasters, but they tasted they way they should even though they didn't LOOK they way they should. My Vanilla Butternut Poundcake burned AGAIN in that oven (you'd think I'd learn not to bake in that contemptuous oven), and my carrot cake not only came out flat but it completely fell apart trying to pull them out of the pans. I iced it anyway, and it became Rustic Carrot Cake. It tasted awesome... but was really... flat... and a crumbled mess. Ugh. Hate that oven...

DJ had a great time playing with his cousins, especially Spiro. There is just a boy bond there that can't be explained. It's awesome.

The week went by quickly, but Steve and I were happy to come home to our routine (and DJ being in his own room!). The drive back was a real challenge, with Washington DC traffic wreaking havoc on our ability to get home in a reasonable amount of time (Friday at 4:30 is bad bad bad). DJ was REALLY unhappy, and that shot our nerves in a hurry. But we got through it, not much worse for the wear. ;-)

Meanwhile, my father-in-law had spent the last few days of that week whlie we were gone prepping and painting DJ's new room, so that was a really nice done project to come home to!! Our plan to move DJ into his new room 6-8 weeks before the new baby arrives is coming to fruition sooner than we had hoped!

Next year, we'll have another baby to bring with us to the beach! YAAAY! We think we didn't get any rest this year on our vacation (it's a trip, not a vacation), we're certainly not getting any next year!

Driving in downtown

As I was leaving work yesterday, I pull out of the parking garage at work onto Calvert Street. Calvert Street is one way going North, 4 lanes, with the left most as the left turn lane. Many days. The right most lane is blocked by delivery trucks and such, so this really only leaves me the option of getting into the two middle lanes if I want to go north on Calvert.

By the graciousness of another driver, I’m allowed to pull out on to Calvert into the left of the two middle lanes. I wave my thanks and just as I start to accelerate, an oversized behemoth of a truck that is supposedly classed as merely an SUV, a GMC Yack-on, decides that it’s a good idea to try and turn left from the right hand of the middle lanes. That means this Yack-on was going to turn left into me and into the car to the left of me in the legitimate left turn lane.

So I ask, when, is it EVER acceptable, much less safe, to pull a maneuver like that? I can only think of one situation: a demolition derby. And even then, I believe the courses are figure 8s to encourage the demolition…

At no point was I going fast enough to not be able to avoid this situation; I wasn’t in any immediate danger. But I was amazed by the sheer stupidity that humanity manages to display daily when placed behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle.

To my immense amusement, there was a traffic officer at the intersection who saw this unfold. As the Yack-on tried to complete its turn, the traffic officer stepped in front of the cars in the left turn lane and almost in front of my lane to force the Yack-on to go straight. After a sharp whistle and way too many exaggerated hand gestures from the traffic officer, the Yack-on finally got the message and went straight. This meant that it was now directly in front of me in my lane.

Ok, so maybe it poses less danger to me in this situation, I think. And theoretically, it does. Until we get to the next intersection one block away. This time, the Yack-on DOES, in fact, turn left not from the left-most lane, but from one lane to the right of the left lane.

I quickly look to my left to see if anyone is going straight there (as this is a possibility on this part of the road) and to my immense relief, there is no one. The Yack-on didn’t learn its lesson the first time, and clearly not the second time either. That person’s license needs to be revoked.