Bailey Beach Week Part 1

Our flight to North Carolina left on Saturday afternoon. Camden was able to fit in a pretty good nap and everyone ate a good lunch before we had to leave for the airport, so I was optimistic that we would have a good flight. The only hiccup was our seating assignments. Because we booked our flights under Zach's SkyMiles Rewards they would only assign us an aisle or window seat- which is great when you are an adult and things like that matter, but somehow I didn't see it working too well to have Camden in a random row all by himself- even if it was a window seat. All four of our flights were booked with all 5 of us dispersed in window and aisle seats. I was able to call and get 3 of the flights fixed, but the flight out of Salt Lake was so full they couldn't rearrange our seating much at all when I called. As soon as we got to our gate, Zach went up to the counter to see what could be done. They couldn't get us a row straight across like we would have liked, but they were able to get us in one row of three with two seats in the row directly in front. They told us we had seats A, B and C in one row and seats A and B in the other row. Since we were traveling with kids we got to board the plane first. Both Brady and Camden wanted a window seat so it worked out perfectly. Zach, Ryan and Brady sat in one row while Camden and myself sat in the row ahead of them. As the plane began to fill up all the seats around me started to fill in. I started to get a little hopeful that perhaps the seat next to me would be vacant but soon enough a young woman appeared and said to me, "Can I be the bad guy and snag the window seat?" Uh.... Keep in mind Camden and I had been settled in and sitting on the plane for some time by now. I kind of couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was she serious?! After thinking about it for .0009 seconds I said, "No. You can't. I need him in the window seat to keep him corralled." She said something sarcastic like, "Aww. I was hoping to see mountains today!" I tried to pretend I didn't hear her and stayed busy attending to Camden's needs while trying to avoid all eye contact with my seat neighbor. I hate situations like these and felt so awkward. I was determined that this was going to be a good flight and hoped she wouldn't continue to be as high maintenance as she seemed from our first interaction. 

Camden did awesome on the plane. Zach had some Curious George episodes on his phone and Camden stayed glued to the screen for the majority of the flight. He is definitely my TV kid which I usually feel guilty about, but as I was taking this picture I thought with pride in my heart- "This is it! This is what you've been training for all these months!" :) A total TV champion. 

Back to Ms. Awkward next to me. She put her earbuds in and kept to herself the whole flight. At one point I was handing out some Twizzlers to the boys behind me and offered her some. She accepted, said thank you and went back to listening to whatever she was listening to. That was my olive branch. A twizzler. Which, when I think about it, beats out a real olive branch every time. I truly think world peace could be achieved if we just started giving each other more Twizzlers. Annnnnyway... as the flight progressed and we were getting ready to land something didn't add up in my mind. I had been stewing over our interaction at the beginning of the flight trying to make sense of it but this girl next to me seemed like a normal girl. She did not seem like the type of person who would displace a two year old for her own selfish agenda. That's when my heart sank and I casually asked Zach to hand up our boarding passes. I looked at the seat assignments- we had seat A, B and C and seat... oh no... B and C! This quiet girl next to me was not Ms. Awkward. I was Ms. Awkward! This girl had not been trying to take Camden's seat in an effort to "see mountains" she was simply trying to sit in her assigned seat! My face turned red as I silently debated what to do next. I tapped her on the shoulder and interrupted whatever she was listening to and apologized profusely. I explained that I thought these were our seat assignments and I NEVER would have told her she couldn't have the window had I known the seat actually belonged to her. She was gracious and said everything was fine- she had sat in a window seat before after all- she also made sure to tell me that she would have NEVER requested to sit in the window seat had it not been her seat in the first place. It was a really interesting experience to reflect on. I spent the whole flight thinking she was crazy and high-maintenance while she probably spent the whole flight thinking those same things about me. Only problem was- she was right! Granted, I honestly did not know I was being crazy and high-maintenance, but still. I guess sometimes when the world around you seems crazy, it might be good to stop and consider that the crazy thing could actually just be you. I exited that flight having had my fair share of humble pie and it was awful.

We had a short layover in Detroit before making our way to Raleigh. The layover was so short that we only had time to take the boys to the bathroom and for Zach to run and grab some food for dinner. In fact, I had to call Zach as he was bringing dinner back to hurry up because we were missing our boarding call! The flight from Detroit to Raleigh was a dream. The flight was only half full so imagine my relief as Camden and I got a whole row all to ourselves. Also, we ate burritos. Burritos make everything more enjoyable. We got into North Carolina at 10pm. We got our bags, rented a car and headed straight to our hotel. The beach house rental was a Sunday-Sunday so we couldn't check into the beach house until the next afternoon.

This little set up saved us in the airport. Camden was happy to ride in his carseat and we didn't have to worry about him not keeping up with us or getting lost. 

The next morning (after a horrible night- there was no pack-n-play at the hotel so we attempted to have all three boys sleep on the sofa bed. Attempted being the operative word. It was all a little too much for Camden to handle and I think we all slept for about 4 hours total.) we got breakfast at the hotel and started out on our road trip to the Outer Banks. It was about a 3 hour drive. We drove for a little bit before stopping at a chapel along the way for Sacrament Meeting. We arrived to the beach house a little after 4pm and we were greeted with this lovely sign as we walked in.

It was so exciting to finally be there! I took this picture and sent it to Lindsey and my mom. They were about an hour behind us and I think they were going nuts knowing we were already enjoying the ocean views!

My boys were so anxious to try out the pool. After trying to put them off until Grandma and Grandpa arrived, I realized that resistance was futile and let them change into their suits. I got in my suit too and by the time my mom and the others arrived we were having a blast in the pool out back.

My mom is a miracle worker and some how managed to have a delicious spaghetti dinner ready in record time. So we all got out of the pool, got dried off and enjoyed a Sunday dinner together... at the beach. Nothing is better than that.

My brother arrived later that night with his two little boys. Hearing about his travels- complete with a huge delay on their connecting flight- made me feel a little better about my earlier seating assignment mishap. My brother's wife had a baby two weeks prior to beach week so she and the baby stayed home this year while my brother traveled solo with their other two little boys. It made me reminisce about the year I came to the beach with just Ryan and Brady. That was the year I vowed to never come to Beach Week without Zach again. It was fun and everything, but it was so. much. work.

After all the kids were in bed we spent some time down in the hot tub.

The next morning we wasted no time getting our suits on and jumping into the pool. My boys loved it. They were all at such great ages for the pool this year. Totally independent with their little Puddle Jumpers on. My dad is the funnest when it comes to pool time. Brady had a blast with him doing tricks in the pool.

Once Camden was down for a nap, we took the other boys out for a walk on the beach. James came too.

The boys had fun looking at the ocean

and playing "Charge and Retreat" but it was only a matter of time before they were all soaked and ready to really be at the beach.

So we headed back to the house and got some chairs and sand toys and had some beach time fun!

Once Camden woke up from his nap it was time for round 2 down at the pool.

And Brady discovered the awesomeness that is the hot tub.

Our kids warmed right up to the pool and Camden was super brave by the end of the day, jumping off the edge of the pool to Zach. The kids were go, go, go all the time- barely even stopping to eat. By the end of the day they were so tired that they all fell asleep as soon as their little heads hit the pillow. It really was the most perfect vacation ever!

Stay tuned for Part 2! :)