Happy 2nd Birthday!

Anna officially turned 2 years old on September 3. Many acquaintances have smiled knowingly when we told them she was about to reach this major milestone and commented, "ahhh....the terrible twos," as if they were in on some secret. We have news for them....Anna started the terrible twos at about 18 months. I believe the phrase that made us realize we had entered a new phase was "that's mine."

For Anna's birthday this year we decided to take advantage of her pre-schools status and spend a week at the beach while all of the other kids were returning to school. This seemed like a good idea at the time....a relaxing stay at the beach fill with days of frolicking in the sand and waves. As always, things did not go according to plan.

Things got off to a bad start on Saturday (we were scheduled to depart Sunday) when Mom enlisted Dad to assist in the ceremonial removal of the crib to be replaced by a "big girl" bed. The big girl bed of choice was an antique rod iron bed from the 1920s. Mom became emotionally attached to the bed. Dad became frustrated with what became a series of installation challenges. First, the bed needed some touch up paint. That never happened after we discovered that the frame was broken and would require a welder to fix it. Then the mattress was too small (apparently they had longer mattresses in 1920), requiring a traditional frame on the inside of the old frame for the mattress. During the course of the set-up, Dad injured himself and could barely walk by the end of the day.

Sunday was the big departure day and Dad was still in serious pain. He soldiered on, we loaded up and off we went to the beach. When we arrived, we found a lovely oceanfront condo awaiting us.....on the third floor. The third floor is a key point here. Remember that Dad was in pain, leaving the unpacking to Mom. Those of you that regularly travel to the beach know that it is not something you pack one bag for. There are usually several bags, sheets, towels, food, toys, the kitchen sink, etc.... Let's just say that Theresa got a workout the equivalent to 1 hour on a stairmaster with weights. The rest of the week was filled with sunshine and ocean breezes. Anna spent her birthday watching Dora the Explorer in the morning and preparing for the beach. The preparations took an ugly turn when she got sunscreen in her eye. This resulted in Mom holding Anna down while Dad rinsed out her eye, a sort of re-enactment of water boarding. The rest of the day was much better as Anna spent the afternoon at the pool, ate a special pasta dinner (one of Anna's favorites), followed by birthday cake, and presents. Anna got some new books, princess shoes, and an art/drawing set.

The week at the beach concluded in a dramatic fashion with Tropical Storm Hannah. Hannah was scheduled to hit the Outer Banks "late Friday," so we decided to go to the beach in the morning, pack in the afternoon, and depart late in the day..ending our vacation one day early. The storm actually started around noon, before we were even packed. Of course it did not start with showers but rather a hard, driving rain and wind. This meant hauling all of our belongings down three flights of stairs in the rain. Theresa was completely soaked after this exercise. We finally fled the beach and headed home with Hannah close behind. Saturday was spent bailing water out window wells before it flooded our basement (good thing we came home early). It seems that Hannah dumped 8 inches of rain in Northern Virginia but much less at the beach. Needless to say, it was a memorable week.