Beach Day

Saturday the guys went four wheeling in the morning so Toni and I packed up the kids and headed to the beach.  We went out to the Bellows because it's beautiful there and it was the easiest beach for the boys to meet up with us when the were done playing.  I'm not sure that Toni realized what going to the beach is like with babies.  It's not just laying out your towel and sunbathing.  It's much more complicated as a parent at the beach.  Riley is an absolute angel anytime we are at the beach.  She is literally in heaven.  Both Hadley and Harry were grabbing at the sand and throwing it everywhere.  Toni wasn't a fan of Harry getting all sandy.  She said she'd much rather have him somewhere that he could be in his stroller and staying clean.  My response:  a vacation in Hawai'i probably wasn't the right choice then.  So what if your baby gets sandy.  You are in paradise, deal with it!!  This was Harry's first trip to the beach and he seemed to enjoy the water until the water hit him!  Once he got wet Toni took him up to our blanket and got him changed because he was all wet and sandy. 

Hadley fell asleep so I laid her down so she could nap a bit.  I took Riley into the water to play for a bit.  Then all of the sudden I felt this tremendous stinging on my leg.  It was a horrid burning pain like no other.  Then Riley started screaming and I knew she was feeling the same thing as me.  I grabbed her up out of the water and ran up to our blanket.  I looked down at my leg and realized I still had the creature suctioned to me.  "Holy shit" were the words that came out of my mouth!  I got my leg cleaned off and put ice on Riley's sting hoping it would relieve the pain.  I knew how much pain I was in and felt so helpless trying to calm Riley down.  I took her over to the lifeguard tower and he sprayed Riley's leg with an ointment.  Of course he ran out before he could spray me.  But as long as Riley wasn't in pain anymore was what mattered most.  We had been stung by a Portugese Man-of-War.  It's no ordinary jellyfish and I hope to never encounter one again.  Some people have horrible reactions to them and luckily we didn't break out in hives.  At this point we had been at the beach for about 4 hours and the guys had just shown up.  We were ready to leave which disappointed the guys, but I didn't really care.  My leg was burning like a bitch! 

I got the girls changed and ready for the drive home.  It wasn't the best time at the beach I've ever had.  But that's only due to the fact that Riley and I got stung.  I was hoping that the rest of our vacation wouldn't go like this day!