Yes, we took our second vacation in less than a month!!!!! Daddy heard about this fact at work, but after only having one vacation in the past 11 years before this summer, because of Bobby's issues, we aren't apologizing!! Bobby is able to go on vacation now, so we are taking full advantage. Don't get me wrong, we aren't able to go just anywhere, we have our vacations on Bobby's terms....just like the rest of our life.
I planned this vacation in January while laying on the couch after a bout of the worst case of Bronchitis that I have ever suffered. I was sick and totally miserable. A vacation rental catalogue had come in the mail and I had plenty of time to look through every page. Daddy came home from work and I said, "look what I found!!!" I think he felt really bad for me, so he said "book it" without giving it another thought. I got on line, booked our house, and had months and months to wait!!
I decided that I wanted this vacation to be just the three of us, Bobby, Daddy and me. I wanted to be selfish and just worry about us. After all, we have never had a vacation with just us.....it was time!! At the last minute, Zoi's dog sitter got a better offer to go on a vacation of his own, so we decided why not? Let's take Zoi along too! Our little family of four was going to the beach. I also said that I wasn't cooking on this vacation, I wanted a true vacation! I did make our breakfast daily, but all of our other meals were take out or dine in!!!!! Whoo hoo!!!
Zoi is a good car rider, but has never been on a major road trip, we were worried. However, she takes the award away from Bobby as the best car rider ever!! The two of them did great together in the back seat of the car. We had zero Zoi issues on the ride. She was happy to get out and go potty, have a drink, but was just as happy to get back into the car and keep riding!!!
The first full day of our vacation, Bobby remember how much he LOVED the ocean. He sat in the sand and happily let the waves lap over his body for hours every day!! Zoi loved the ocean too and got to get into the water and play in the mornings and evenings.
Here are a bunch of pictures of the kids playing in the water (in no particular order).
The last time we went to the Outer Banks in September the temps were in the mid-70s. This time, high 80s-low 90s with super high humidity. It was HOT! On the third day of sitting on the beach for hours, I had to think of something to do with Bobby to get a break from the heat. We took a drive south and ended up at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Ok Bobby, get out of the car, Mommy wants a picture!!!
I can make him stand in front of a sign, but I can't make him took at me!!! LOL!!!
I found an activity in one of the vacation magazines in our beach house that I thought that Bobby would like, plus it was an hour drive north to get there, a 2 hour activity and an hour drive back home. A four hour break from sitting on the beach!!!
We left a little early to drive around the northern shores of the Outer Banks and low and behold, another lighthouse!! A photo opportunity that Mommy was not going to miss!!!
This would have even more beautiful if it had been about 20 degrees color!! Whoo hoo.....HOT!
It was time to go to our fun activity......four wheeling in a Hummer to go look for the wild horses in the most northern area of the Outer Banks, Carova, which is only accessible by four wheel drive due to the fact that there are no paved roads, only sand.
Bobby saw the Hummer and had an extremely hard time waiting for the ride to begin!!
Let me on this thing!!!!!!
The company could not have been nicer!! The closer the time came for the ride, the more nervous I became about Bobby's ability not to bother the other riders during this two hour excursion. I asked the staff for seating preferrence for Bobby and explained that he had autism. Absolutely was their response!! The guy actually said that he didn't care if Bobby bothered anyone, he was more interesting in making the ride enjoyable for Bobby!!! We put him in the back row in the corner....the bumpiest ride possible, the most sensory seeking fun possible!!! They didn't put anyone else in the row with us (there were four seats in each row and three rows of seats), so we had the back to ourselves. When they started boarding, the three of us got to board and get situated before they continued!! Oh by the way, they even had a super large bean bag in their office/store (known in autism land as a crash pad) that Bobby laid around for 10 minutes or so to help with the waiting process.
The ride started out on the main road up to the beach area and then we went four wheeling!! Bobby did great, until he saw the beach, where he was kind of like, "dude, could you just drop me off here so I can play in the ocean, just pick me up on the way out!!" He rode well, but kept saying "beach."
Most of the houses on this beach are rentals, but some locals do live here year round. There are grand houses and some not so grand houses in the area. Seems odd to see power lines and some street signs in some areas.
Funny seeing horses in people yards. You are not allowed closer than 50 feet of the horses. Absolutely no feeding or petting the animals.....and the locals mean business with this fact!!! When the horses started walking about the road in front of our Hummer, the driver actually backed up to give them their space.
There are some canals on the sound side of the town. Kids who go to school ride boats across the sound to the main land instead of trying to get across the beach side to get on a school bus. Just a totally different lifestyle.
Definitely wasn't difficult to tell the males from the females!!!!
Late in the week, Bobby was getting bored with the beach, or he was just so sand chaffed that he hurt too much to sit and play in the sand. He wanted to go for rides in the car. He did NOT, however, want to swim in our pool that we paid a nice premium to have!
He was in this pool for a total of 45 seconds only because I made him. He didn't want any part of this area. Mommy and Daddy didn't get to use the pool either since we could't leave Bobby in the house by himself. The step down hot tub that is covered didn't get used either!!! Major bummer.....and waste!!
I took him for another ride. We stopped by the lighthouse that was 5 minutes from our house even though we had been there before.
It was funny, he got out long enough to take a picture and immediately headed back to the car!! We drove to Manteo and visited the NC Aquarium. He especially liked the outdoor displays, but again, man it was HOT and HUMID!! We didn't stay too too long, I needed some air conditioning!!
The dinosaurs were loud, making their noises, and a little boy in front of us was scared to death!!
Such a beautiful place!!
He really wanted to put his hands in the water!!
Our last day at the beach, Bobby wanted to go grocery shopping. He announces this by saying "push the buggy." I took him to Kmart instead because we didn't need any groceries. He picked out a wooden train set and was getting it!!! He sat it up when we got back but never really played with it, just liked it set up.
Bobby got some fresh cut fries at Dirty Dick's, where their slogan "I got Crabs at Dirty Dick's" is a huge seller in the t-shirt market!! Yes, we helped the economy and Daddy got one too!
Bobby enjoyed the bunk beds in one of the bedrooms and perched on top to watch movies on the tv.
Zoi had a rough start to our vacation, her anxiety level was high and she didn't poop for a couple of days. After she finally calmed down and pooped, she felt much better. She understood that vacations are for rest!!
The Smith family had a successful second vacation of the summer!! Bobby didn't shed one tear, didn't have one meltdown, he just had fun. He calmed down by Tuesday and Daddy and I were able to actually sit down on the couches and relax a little ourselves.
If he could find this much true happiness every day.........well, even better, if we could all find this true happiness every day!!!!
