Vacation life; sting ray attack edition

Hello lovely readers!

I took a week off to enjoy our awesome family vacation last week. It was so relaxing and fun; it flew by entirely too fast. This year, we went to Dauphin Island, Alabama. We have an awesome vacation group that consists of 11 people, and we all get along well. We all have our own roles to make the house run smoothly. For example: I do the laundry, my dad is the chef, my mother-in-law is the barista, my mom vacuums, etc. We all know what our jobs are without even having them assigned; it's really nice. There have been multiple trips we've been on together, and they have always been enjoyable. Overall, the whole trip was a success — from traveling, relaxing, game nights, and even an unexpected trip to the medical center.

I was really nervous about the car ride to and from Alabama, but honestly, it wasn't bad at all. We decided to leave around 4:30 am both times, and the kids handled the trip better than they ever have before. We even drove the whole way back in one day with no problems. On our way down, we drove 8 hours the first day and stopped to play at a park and then an indoor play place called Kidsville. It was really nice, and everyone had a good time. It also happened to be my hubby's birthday on our first day of traveling, so we sang "Happy Birthday" several times. By the time the car trip was over, we couldn't have been more ecstatic because we all needed to get out and run around. Boy, did the kids have some energy to burn off.

The beach at Dauphin Island is beautiful, and this time we had a house right on the beach with a pool. The pool happened to be a lifesaver because it was extremely hot all week; you couldn't be outside without a pool. Max, my one-year-old, didn't enjoy the heat or sand at all. He preferred being in the pool for a while and once her was done he want to be back in the air conditioning. He would give us some pretty dirty looks anytime we put his feet in the sand. By Wednesday, he kept pointing at the car keys and then the door to let us know he would like to go home. I guess he isn't much of a beach baby like his sister.

My 4-year-old, Myla, loved the beach, especially when her pop-pop took her down to it. At one point, they were at the beach together, and my husband and I went to see them. She said, 'Um, could I play with pop-pop on the beach without you here?' I guess pop-pop is cooler than us.

Honestly, I couldn't agree more with my sweet girl. My dad (pop-pop) is cooler than us. He rented kayaks and paddleboards for us to use out in the ocean, just like true ocean adventurers. It was really cool; I love paddleboarding, so I was pretty excited. We used the kayaks a lot. My parents went quite far out in the double kayak, and when they took my daughter out, they saw a shark! They all made it back safely, but that was pretty crazy.

Then, the craziest thing happened: my dad had my daughter out on the paddleboard, and while he was walking with her, he got stung by a stingray on his foot. Naturally, he started to freak out from the pain and tried to get on the paddleboard with Myla, but she wouldn't let him because he might get blood on her. They made their way back to the house safely, and I gave him ibuprofen and Benadryl before sending him to the medical center with my aunt and mom. Since stingrays are venomous, it's a good thing my dad went to the medical center. He got there quickly, so he didn't have any problems.

Due to this crazy experience we found out a lot about stingray attacks. One thing that is important to know is ice is not good for the sting; it actually makes the pain worse. Instead, you should place the area that was stung in warm water. Suprisingly this helps alleviate the pain. Also, if you ever get stung by a stingray, it's also a good idea to try to remove the stinger while in the ocean. Luckily, my dad didn't have to remove anything; the stinger didn't get lodged into his foot. After the pain subsided, my dad was sent back to the beach house with an antibiotic, and he went right back out into the ocean!"

The rest of our trip was really relaxing. We swam, ate, Justin and I had a date night where I had the opportunity to watch him play Cornhole, and we played a really fun train game called ticket to ride. It all ended too soon and I can't wait to see where our next adventure takes us.