While we did our little kansas loopty loop, we popped into Topeka to visit some friends, Jessica & Tom. Jessica had texted me that our other friends Mike and Gina were flying in from florida to visit family in Wichita and staying the night. She suggested we do too, but since it was on a thursday and I knew Ryan would have to take off, I didn’t even mention it to him. He hoards his vacation time and says I ask him to take off every week. I can certifiably say that I have no recollection of these demands, but I wouldn’t put it past my little-sleep self at 6am. It’s my last ditch effort for an extra hour of sleep, even though Annie normally wakes up anyway so I wouldn’t sleep in if he had taken off, but still. It’s nice to be sleep deprived with other people.

Wait, no isn’t. Haven’t you watched Survivor?

Anyway, I came in late with this group, meeting them through Ryan in college, but they’ve already seen the best and worst of me, so it’s all good.

I call Jessica my gateway baby drug because I was scared as heck to start a family. We just kept delaying, delaying, going on trips, delaying, sleeping in, delaying, delaying. And then Jessica got pregnant and watching her go through it and coming out alive on the other end urged me to do the same. And after I got pregnant, Gina got pregnant. So our first borns were all within that year. Fun!! And what better way to celebrate our soon-to-be girlie friends than a trip to South Carolina!

But as we discovered, there may have been better ways. Because, hi, we were tired.

I was too tired to even write about the trip and even took a mini-blogging hiatus afterwards that’s how zapped I was.  So before I nod off this time around let’s go down memory lane and revisit this vacation.

Ruthie did pretty well on the plane, sleeping for most of it. When I had to nurse her, Ryan would hold up a blanket really high thinking I’d appreciate the privacy. It really only drew everyone’s attention to the guy holding up a pink elephant blanket above his head

We landed in Jacksonville and visited my cousins briefly before driving to South Carolina. I did manage to write about it: here. We made a pit stop in Savannah for a quick tour with the most hilarious trolly driver in America and I did wrote about that as well: here.

So after we got in the car and drove a bit more, we finally made it to our beach house. Ahhhhhhh. Serenity now.
Little did I know, though, that the majority of the trip would be spent on that blue deck with a teething baby on my chest. See ya serenity.

But yay! We’d made it! And I forced Mike and Gina to take a selfie within .03 nano seconds of arriving.
Then we looked at the clock.
Holla, I yelled with a high kick. It’s after 12:00, someone grab me a beer!

That was my first and last attempt at getting loud and wild. I probably went in the back and took a nap afterwards. But soon we were out the door to hang out on the beach!
The weather was nice. I think we got there right before high season, so it was cheaper rent, but getting warmer.


Then all of a sudden everyone spotted something and started pointing. What is it? What is it????
Oh, just that chick nursing again.
So even though it was warm, it turned windy. Fast. To the point that our umbrella blew away and I never went back down to the beach.
Because this happened:
Mucho sand in the face.

So we moms spent a lot of time playing inside or on the deck.
Isla and Ruth getting to know each other.
The rest of us did too, over a heated game of Pictionary. There were four other people that came, and Jessica and Tom were arriving the next day.
And when Jessica did arrive? She walked in with a baby bump!! She was 5 months pregnant with her second just as Gina and I were finally coming to terms that we’d had our first. It was a complete shock and I of course squealed like the house was on fire.

It almost was, with Ryan’s birthday cake. Oh yeah, his birthday fell during this week and we through him a mustache party to celebrate him. And his mustache.
Pin The Stache on Ryan. This is called: What games can I make before hand and take on the plane without taking up too much room because, for the love, this baby girl’s stuff is all of a sudden crowding into my cargo space.

There was also a mustache pinata.

After Jessica and Tom arrived, we decided to go to the downtown and have a little picnic. I think everyone else went on an excursion to a fort or something.
We walked around for a bit and then went home… to probably nap. I feel like that’s all I did. I honestly can’t remember any stories. I think there was something about a group of girls staying in the house next to us and we were egging the single guys in our group to go over and talk to them. I think it was funny? I can’t remember.

You want to know what’s not funny? How about being the same size as a five month pregnant woman?
Breastfeeding does not shed the pounds off this body. Whatever!!

So that’s that. We got home and solemnly swore that we would not take babies on another beach vacation. When they’re older, yes for sure!! Babies? Nah. You guys are sitting out next time, sorry.

But I do love visits! And that’s what we did at our little pit stop last week. Our girls are getting to be at the same playing level, which is so fun to watch. But what’s awesome is that after Jessica had her second baby, Gina and I followed suit within that next year. So our seconds are also within a year of each other! I love it.
These two cracked me up.
I just remember Ruthie running up to Olive, poking her in the belly, then Olive poking Ruthie in the belly, them both laughing and then running off. Yes! Friends!

And the mommy friends had some fun for themselves too. Texts were thrown between us beforehand with suggestions on what we should do: thrifting or wine tasting… and then Gina mentioned that she’d love a hair cut. Next thing you know, Jessica had us all booked for a cut that afternoon.
I was so happy to have someone wash my hair and brush it. Happiness.

I got done first, so started roaming the store searching for an elusive brand of hair product. When I was in 9th grade, my friend Geneva had the best smelling shampoo/conditioner on earth. I’ve yet to find it since, but I was sure it was here. And enlisted an employee for help. I described the smell from a childhood memory for about five minutes and pointed to a hairspray that kind of looked like the bottle I remembered.

She firmly insisted I stay away from that brand because it would make my hair look crunchy, gently led me to another area with medium hold, and showed it to me.
I stood there, locked eyes with her and daydreamily said, “What do I do Sarah? Do I go for a brand that will make me look pretty or do I go with a brand that will bring back wonderful memories and smells?

[pause]

“What.” she said. Not asked. Said. She was annoyed. So I bought both for wasting her time.

The emotional buy ended up not being the one from my childhood. But I did find it! It’s no longer sold in the US, only Canada… Revlon Outrageous.. and seriously, I’m not the only. Every review mentions the smell: http://www.makeupalley.com/product/x_showreview.asp?page=3&pagesize=20&ItemID=12492&

So I left poor little Sarah with her cute braid and found Jessica in the makeup department giving herself a makeover.
Gina finished up with a cute cut and color and we were off!
I had to get a shot first though.
We did stop at a goodwill just so I could get a fix while the dads were watching the kids, and then we went home for dinner and playing. By 8pm, the kids were going strong and the adults were slowing down.

I love seeing our kids’ reunion and can’t wait for more of them, but dang we’re tired.

I think an adults trip sans the kiddos is in order. No offense Ruth and Annie. You need to spend quality time with your grandparents, that’s the real reason.

Ahem.