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.  

Vacation Time

Image via WikipediaI have been looking forward to this week since the beginning of July.  On July 5th, we had to take our son back to school for his summer school session.  The summer school session is the longest session that he has without a weekend home, a little more than seven weeks.

I was particularly concerned about this particular session, not only because it would be so long and we would have to wait so long for him to come home, but because there would be some changes to his routine during the new session.  He does not respond well to change.

The main reason I was concerned was because he was going to be moving to a new classroom.  He had really connected with his first teacher and one-on-one aide when he started at the school last November.  While the school must have thought he was ready for the change, I was apprehensive to say the least.

He was scheduled to come home from school tomorrow, but we received an email from the school nurse on Monday.  First she informed him that she had found his glasses on her desk and that they were bent to the point where they could not be worn.  In six weeks during the summer session, he had broken four pairs of glasses, only one of which could be repaired.

Her other concern was that on Monday he refused to get off the floor.  He kept saying, "I have lost so much weight."  He must have heard that from somebody at school, but the nurse did express her concern as he has lost over 30 pounds since starting school.  He had also started to refuse to eat his favorite snacks.  For all of those reasons, it was decided that we would pick him up a couple of days early.

So, yesterday, my wife went out to the school to pick him up and bring him home.  Unfortunately, he has come home to a hot house as our air conditioning is out, and we have to wait until Saturday to get it repaired since they had to order a part.  Plus, I had to go get my second sleep study done last night, so I was not able to spend as much time with him as I would have liked to on his first night home.

I can't say for certain that the change in classroom teacher and aide had anything to do with his behavior during the summer session.  I do know that in the first seven months he was there, he didn't break a single pair of glasses, and to completely break three pairs in six week is saying something.  We also do not get the same feedback from his current teacher as we did his former one.

Image via WikipediaIt has been our plan since we learned his summer schedule that we would spend a few days at the beach next week.  We have access to a mobile home in Ocean City, so we will head out one day next week for a few days.  He has been looking forward to it for a long time so he can go play some miniature golf at the Maui Mini Golf Course.   It isn't the greatest miniature golf course out there, but he likes Hawaii, so that is where we will go.

Of course while we are out there, we will go down to the boardwalk and hit some of our favorite Ocean City eateries like Bull on the Beach where they have some tasty pit beef sandwiches.  While we are there, we will probably spend an evening or two at Arthur Purdue Stadium to check out a couple of Delmarva Shorebirds baseball games.  I can hardly wait.

Losing $900,000 For Not Having a $15 License

Image via Wikipedia

My father in law is an avid deep sea fisherman.  We love it when he comes home with some fresh caught tuna or rock fish.  He frequently enters fishing tournaments.  One of the big ones is the White Marlin Tournament in Ocean City, MD.  He has won some prizes in these tournaments, and there have been a few times that he has come real close to winning a big prize.  I don't think he ever lost out to a prize like this poor group.

North Carolina recently held their annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Fishing Tournament with total prizes of $1.66 million.  The boat Citation managed to land an 883 pound marlin that would have been a record catch and good enough to garner a prize of $912,825. 

The tournament rules require that everyone on the boat have a North Carolina fishing license which costs $15 for residents or $30 for non residents.  Unfortunately, one of the crew members did not have a valid license. The offending crew member had told the boat owner and captain that he did have the license.  Consequently, due to the rules violation, the crew lost their record catch and more importantly, lost nearly $1 million.

As I mentioned before, my father in law has come close to winning one of these big prizes.  One time he lost by a very small amount of weight.  My brother in law asked him if he ever considered artificially adding some weight to the catch, in other words, cheat.  My father in law replied that the fishing community is a very close knit community and such an action would be reprehensible to him and the community.  I think to lie about  having a license would be just as reprehensible.  Especially when that lie costs your mates a cool million.

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Big Assawoman Bay

As I mentioned last week, we spent a couple of days in Ocean City, MD over the Memorial Day weekend.  While browsing through some tourist magazines and maps looking for some coupons for activities for the family, I came across a map that showed two bodies of water that caught my attention; Little Assawoman Bay and Big Assawoman Bay.  I am sorry, but when I saw Big Assawoman Bay, the only thing I could think of was the video below.

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.