We spent a couple of nights in Bolivar Peninsula during Labor Day weekend, and I can't describe how good it was for my mental health. Thanks to Madonna, my college roommate, for initiating this! Both of us have been taking the pandemic seriously and doing our part to keep our families and our loved ones safe since it erupted in March. After much discussion, we hung out a few weeks ago at her house (since we are a bit limited in space these days) and decided to continue our social circle small. This arrangement is rather perfect because it has been a decade since we lived in the same area(ish) and our kids were close in age - her daughter #2 (aka M) is merely 5 days older than Zoe.
She booked a oceanfront beach house through Airbnb, which gave us a convenient access to the beach and very dog and kid friendly. Getting to Bolivar Peninsula requires either taking a ferry or a longer roundabout way, which was about two-hour drive for us. We chose the latter because we weren't sure about leaving the dogs in the car during the ferry ride in a hot Houston weather. We spent Friday and Saturday night at the beach house; we left Sunday around 11am to allow us time to recuperate from the trip. If you have ever traveled with little kids, you'll know that it's more like a trip than a vacation.
It's trip like this when I appreciate finally having an SUV after being a sedan driver for more than a decade. We (but all my idea, of course) ended up having to pack so much because #littlekids. Thankfully, the Airbnb place did come with a crib and two highchairs, which made me and Madonna's #mamalife away from home a little more doable.
Taking little ones to the beach is a no relaxing task by any means, especially when they are both obsessed with water but no sense of fear. All four parents spent the majority of the time chasing after M and Zoe as they bolted to the ocean. Zoe was whiplashed by the waves a few times, but that didn't her dent spirit or fear whatsoever. I just loved watching her in complete happiness and the curiosity she has in her surrounding.
We were out there only in the morning for both days because it got uncomfortably crowded by early afternoon. If you are curious, there was absolutely no social distancing or wearing mask (but we didn't either) by other people, which gave us more the reason to vacate the beach by the afternoon. We wanted to enjoy ourselves but only within our comfort zone.
One of the many upsides to becoming a mom is that I get to see the sunrise more often. If you know me at all, I am a diehard night owl and 99% of the time miss the sunrise...although I did still miss the gorgeous sunrise on Sunday morning (I was sleeping in a little bit with Zoe). Enjoy the picture taken by Z instead haha!
Since we had a hard checkout time of 11am on Sunday, our goal was to get the little ones ready, eat breakfast, and hit the beach as early as possible so they can be worn out for the drive back home (aka nap lol). Z happened to cook the majority of the time so he was, once again, in charge of breakfast while the moms were chasing after the girls to get them changed. M ended falling asleep in her mom's arms as she never fully recovered from all the activities the day prior, while Zoe was still 100% beach mode. It did make for a very peaceful ride back home as she was completely zonked out. :)
As we were watching the girls splashing in the ocean, Madonna and I were reminiscing our college years and giggling by the idea of us now being moms. We didn't attend college to find our husbands (granted, we both ultimately met our husbands in college LOL) and had zero idea what our friendship or future in general would look like. But here we are in 2020, Madonna is a mom of two girls, and I am a mom of a 15 month old, and my gosh we are finally back in the same city since 2010!
It was a much needed change of scenery and break from the pandemic lifestyle that unexpectedly defined this year.
