Back From the Beach

Yesterday, we ended our vacation at the beach.  My son was on his summer break which began on August 2nd and was to return back to school yesterday.  So, our plan was to schedule our annual trip to Ocean City MD around his return to school yesterday.  The vacation itself was rather nice, but yesterday was another story entirely.

My son had been really looking forward to this vacation.  All summer long, he would ask us, "Where are we going in August?"  That was his way of prompting us to ask him that question so that he could respond "Ocean City."  All he could talk about was going to play miniature golf at Maui Golf and wanting to eat at Hooter's restaurant on the boardwalk.

We headed out to the beach on Thursday morning and got to the beach that afternoon.  After unpacking our things, we headed out to the boardwalk.  My wife was hobbled by a bit of a sprained ankle, so it took us about half an hour to walk the boardwalk to have lunch at Hooter's.  My son enjoyed his usual fare of hot boneless buffalo wings and curly fries.

After lunch, we did not have time to get a round of miniature golf.  We had to hit the grocery store to pick up some food supplies.  Another tradition that we have when we head out to the beach is to also attend some Delmarva Shorebirds games.  Thursday night was hat night at the stadium and my son wanted to go.  There was a fairly long line to get into the stadium.  My son, fortunately, got the last hat given out to our line and the rest of us were out of luck.  With the long drive, everybody was pretty worn out and we only made it through half of the game before we headed back to the trailer.

The next morning was a beautiful day.  We got out fairly early and headed out to Maui golf for some miniature golf.  Originally, my son told me he wanted to play two rounds of golf, which was fine with me.  At Maui golf, you pay once and can golf as much as you want before 6pm.  It took us about a half hour to play our first round of golf.  I was all set to get two more balls and play again, but my son decided that he didn't want to play again. We went ahead and got wrist bands just in case he decided he wanted to play again later.  Unfortunately, he did not want to play any more that day, or at all the rest of the week.  It was kind of surprising and a bit disappointing as he talked all summer long about playing Maui Golf.  Such is life.

The weather all week was about as perfect as it could have been.  Temperatures were in the low 80's and sunny.  We got to go to two more Shorebirds games on Friday and Saturday nights, both of which featured fireworks.  My wife was not up for going to Saturday night's game but my son was set on going, so we had a nice father-son night at the game.  We also managed to get in a few meals while we were out there.  Another staple for us is to get pit beef sandwiches at Bull on the Beach.  It was a bad few days at the beach for me diet wise as I gained a few pounds back that I had lost.  Back on the wagon today.

Sunday night, my son started getting anxious.  While we had not talked at all about taking him back to school on Monday, he must have known.  He was starting to get awfully cranky.  Monday morning, we wanted to go out for breakfast to the Little House of Pancakes and Ribs so my son could have some bacon and pancakes.  We also wanted to hit the boardwalk one last time to get some more Fisher's Popcorn.  Unfortunately, he would have none of it.  It was over two hours of him hitting and kicking my wife and I along with dropping down to the floor.

Eventually, we were able to get him off of the floor and into the car.  By this time, any thoughts of going out to breakfast or the boardwalk were out of the question.  Instead, we headed out to our final destination.  Originally, we had considered stopping at the Golden Corral in Easton MD for lunch, but again we decided it was better to not take a chance on having one of his behavior meltdowns there.

Once we got him to school he was fine.  He got out of the car and headed to his classroom.  While we were saying our goodbyes, he started asking "Where are we going in October," which happens to be his next break.  He already knew his next break on the calendar.  In fact, he knew the exact date of October 11th.  One day back and he is already looking forward to his next break.  Typical teenager.  

Southern Maryland Blue Crabs

My son went back to school today after being home for the long Memorial Day weekend.  He was actually supposed to go back to school yesterday, but my wife and I could not get him out of the house.  He has this uncanny ability to know exactly which day we intend to take him back to school.  My wife thinks that when I stay home from work, other than the weekends, he knows that means it is time for him to go back to school.  There is probably some truth to that.

I have mentioned here before how much my son loves going to sporting events; Bowie Baysox games in particular.  Minor league baseball is just so much fun for our whole family.  There is always something going on prior to the game and between innings to keep the kids entertained.  Unfortunately, this season, the Baysox schedule and my son's long weekends and school breaks do not sync up very well.  Memorial Day weekend being a prime example as the Baysox were on a roadtrip and not scheduled to play the entire six days he was home this weekend. 

He comes home again for a longer two week break at the end of June, and there are only three games scheduled.  That has been one of the tougher things with him being away at school is not being able to go to Baysox games as a whole family.  So it has been a major disappointment for us that the Baysox do not play very often when he is home. We have a few major things lined up for when he has his two week break at the end of June.  I will be taking off one weekend from delivering pizzas so that we can go to all three games scheduled during his break.  At one of those games, I believe that one of the front office staff will arrange for him to throw out a ceremonial first pitch.  You can guarantee that will be a blog post.  We also have tickets for the 4th of July, the day before he goes back to summer session.

Thankfully, during the Memorial Day weekend, we did have an option available to us to attend a minor league game.  There are actually four more minor league teams in the state of Maryland besides the Baysox.  There are the Hagerstown Suns and Frederick Keys in Western Maryland, the Delmarva Shorebirds on the Eastern Shore (we go to those games when we vacation in Ocean City), the Arbutus Ironbirds up near Baltimore, and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in Waldorf.  All of the teams are affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles with the exception of the Suns (Washington Nationals) and the Blue Crabs (unaffiliated).

The closest of the teams to us besides the Baysox is probably the Blue Crabs.  They have been in existence since 2008 and began their 4th season this year. Since we spend so much time at the Baysox games, we had not had the opportunity to attend a Blue Crabs game. The Blue Crabs happened to be in town during the Memorial Day weekend so we decided to make the 45 minute drive down to Waldorf this past Sunday so my son could see a game while he was home.  We all had a good time, but to be honest, the Baysox games have a whole lot more going on during the game (as do the Shorebirds).  Still, if the opportunity presents itself, we will probably attend a few more Blue Crabs games in the future with their mascot Pinch.. 

Music Monday-Trace Adkins "Swing"

Spring training started for Major League Baseball last week.  That means spring is just around the corner.  In less than two months the baseball season will begin.  For my family, that means getting ready to go out to watch this year's version of the Bowie Baysox and the Delmarva Shorebirds, two of the minor league teams in the Baltimore Orioles organization.  For that reason, my Music Monday choice will have a baseball flavor to it, Trace Adkins and "Swing."

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Two Days at the Beach

Image via Wikipedia

We got home today from a couple of days at the beach in Ocean City, MD.  My father in law has a mobile home there that he uses for when he goes deep sea fishing.  If the trailer is available, we have a place to stay without paying for a hotel stay.

Some years, the trailer has cable television available, and some years it doesn't.  This happened to be one of the years it doesn't.  Now, as a general rule, I can do without the boob tube.  The rest of the family, on the other hand, usually has to have it on if there is one in the room.

Fortunately, the two nights we were there, the Delmarva Shorebirds had games scheduled and both nights were great weather to watch a ball game.  Both nights also happened to be fireworks nights.  By the time we got home from the games, everybody was ready for bed, so the lack of television didn't bother us too much.  The lack of internet access did get me a little jittery though.

Whenever we do go to the beach, our activities include a handful of things.  We usually head down to the boardwalk and walk from one end to the other.  We always have to stop at Bull on the Beach to have a pit beef sandwich.  The sandwich on Friday afternoon was perfect, not a bit of fat on it.  Then we hit a few of the shops on the boardwalk.

We used to always go to the arcades on the boardwalk, but for some reason, my son no longer wants to go to the arcades any longer.  In fact, getting him down to the boardwalk at all has become a bit more of a challenge.  There is one thing about walking the boardwalk.  For some reason, every time I get near the water and walk the boardwalk, I always end up wanting to get an earring.  I usually picture either an anchor or a nautical wheel. 

The other thing we end up doing a lot of is miniature golf, and there are plenty of those places around OC.  My son, really likes geography, and he knows most if not all of the islands of Hawaii.  There is one mini golf spot in OC called Maui Golf, so we usually end up playing there.  It isn't the most challenging course, but he likes it and that's all that matters.

All in all, it was a pretty relaxing few days.  However, no matter how nice a time you have getting away, it is always great to get home to sleep in your own bed.