At the Seashore

Last week we spent several days in Cape Cod. My husband's family has a condo there, making it an affordable vacation spot to us -- we are lucky that we can visit Vermont and Cape Cod annually without having to rent a cottage or stay at a hotel. We were at the Cape for five days, and tried to cram as much as possible into our short vacation.

Right now, vacations are a challenge with the twins. Just preparing for vacation and packing is difficult. And then there is the whole "not in your own home" challenge: Staying in a place that is not babyproofed, where there are strange and exciting stairs and intriguing items all around. Having the tots sleep in their pack-n-plays, which they are outgrowing. Going to wide open spaces where little ones are both thrilled and scared by ocean and beach. By the fifth day I was more than willing to go home and back to our routine!

Bunny Twin LOVED the beach and the water. Buddy Twin HATED the water. Repeatedly told us he was scared of the water. I think the waves freaked him out. He screamed at his twin sister to get out of the water with panic in his voice and told her "Come back to Mommy! Come back to Mommy!" I don't know what he thought was going to happen to her...

Finally, on Buddy Twin's third trip to the beach, he finally relented and went in the water. We were at a bay beach which did not have waves, but very mellow water and lots of sandbars, so he finally relaxed about the water.

Big Girl had fun too, although she had a minor panic the night before we went to Nauset Beach, the sight of a few Great White Shark sightings recently. (Stupid "Shark Week!!!") She had major anxiety, but I just told her to not to worry, and if she was really worried, just don't go out deeper than your waist and stay away from seals. When we got there, she was just fine, and the waves were too big for her to get too far out anyway!

Of our five days, we made it to the beach on three of them. Another day we just hung out, shopped at Christmas Tree Shops and went to the beach at sunset.

We went mini golfing one afternoon, which was an adventure! My husband thought I was nuts when I suggested taking two 2-year olds golfing, but I wanted Big Girl to have some fun...

And on our last day we stopped in Woods Hole to visit the free science aquarium. It was small, but very cute, and nice to have an completely affordable activity that did not leave us covered in sand and salt :)

And did I mention that it was free??? And it had many tanks, exhibits and seals in residence. If you are in the area, it's a nice activity that takes about an hour.

This vacation was actually a hard one for me. The twins were a complete handful and there were moments when I was very tired and cranky about it. I definitely had a revelation about going forward to survive with two very active little ones in the coming months. To start, I think I need to join a mothers of multiples group. I need some form of social support for getting through this stage and I'm hoping such a group might bring me that encouragement.

On this vacation, I also came to the conclusion that it's all about "baby steps" right now. Little victories. When we left the beach that last day, I told my family that I was proud of us and that we managed. My husband looked at me like I had three heads, but I told him that even though it seemed chaotic, crazy and despite the kids whining at the end, I never thought we could actually go to the beach and manage but we did. When we took them mini golfing, which was an utter disaster and a workout as we chased after the twins with sweat running down our faces, I told my family, again, that I was proud we did it and didn't just avoid it. Right now, it is truly the little things, however, crazy it all seems when we are in the thick of it.

I could not, in all my efforts, get a photo of all three of my children together on this vacation. The little ones would not cooperate. But I did get this shot:

I guess it will do, and it shows them all doing something TOGETHER. And that is all that matters right now. We are all together, in the thick of twindom, but we are surviving. We made it to the beach, we made it through our second summer vacation adventure. I am proud of us, and me.