Plum Island-Round 1 (August 15)

Every summer since I can remember, my dad's family gets a beach house at Plum Island for a week and we would go up for the day once or twice, since we live really close by.  This year was no exception.  We had been nervous to take Emmett to the beach because of his central line.  When we had taken him the year before (at 11 months old), he had liked getting wet so I figured it might be easier to avoid the whole issue.  Even if he didn't want to get wet, I was worried about sand getting on the caps or under the sterile dressing....sand can be fun for castles but really is such a pain for trying to stay clean!  Since we wanted to visit my aunt and uncles, we decided to give the beach a try.  Plus, how can you be so close to the beach for a whole summer and not go?  (Being in not only a landlocked state, but also a desert, we have been quite beach deprived!)  Like I said, Emmett hadn't been at all for a year but I swear that when we got out of the car, he knew the beach was up over the hill and recognized where we were.  I could be wrong, but he seemed to know where he was!

It was especially fun because I'd never spent the night before, but this time we were able to!  It was like a mini vacation for us.  Emmett loved the beach and didn't want anything to do with the water, but liked sand castles.  We put lots of cling wrap and tape around his central line and everything stayed clean.  (Well, maybe we wrapped him a little too well because he got sweaty and then the sterile dressing started to peel off anyways underneath it all! But that isn't too hard to fix....I was more worried about gritty sand and salt water getting in).

Unfortunately, we brought so much stuff, but the one thing we forgot was our camera.  We did get a few pics on the iPad, which is another thing I wouldn't put near sand.  We had a great visit with family, great food, a great sunny day and enjoyed our get away!  The only down side was that the next morning, he had an appointment with the visiting nurse at home. I tried to make the appointment as late in the day as possible, but that was 1 o'clock, so we didn't get to stay long.  

Before we had to leave, both my uncles put on their gear and
 hurried to find some sea creatures for Emmett

Emmett's sitting and watching and not one bit jealous of them being in the water.  

New England beaches are notorious for being cold.

They found a camo crab (some plant growing on its back), a hermit crab, a snail and 

another little crab.  It was quite the catch!

The bad news is that after hurrying home, the nurse tells us she could have come to the beach house! argh...  Didn't think to ask if that was part of their region....  The good news is that we did go up for dinner 1 or 2 more times and were able to visit some more and see the beach.  I'm so glad we made it because Emmett ended up loving it and his central line caused no problems.  We really enjoyed our time with family!  Thanks for taking such good care of us!