This weekend, my family and I will be spending time in Treasure Island with friends for our annual beach weekend getaway. Since our other mini-vacations were canceled this year due to allergies and illness, Allan and I chose to turn our weekend away into a mini vacation and arrived at the beach on Wednesday.
On our vacation agenda, Allan wanted to take the girls fishing at sunrise. I’ve never known my husband to get up at the crack of dawn and I was pretty impressed with his initiative. Thursday morning, the girls woke up before the crack of dawn and their excitement and a cup of coffee was all Allan needed to get moving.
I tagged along to capture the moment in photos.
It seemed it was going to be a while before anyone caught anything, so I decided to take a little stroll along the shore for some shelling and to fit in some fitness for my Juneathon efforts. Thinking I would only be gone for a little while, I left my flip-flops and water with Allan and the girls and headed south along the shore.
My shelling stroll quickly turned into a beach clean-up when I found several empty beer cans in the sand. Finding the beer cans infuriated me. With the blankets of oil arriving on the shores of Pensacola and the rest of Florida watching and waiting for the sludge to hit our shores, some drunken idiot must have interpreted the oil spill on our beaches as a landfill.
Even though bending over to pick anything up in the last few weeks of my pregnancy has been pretty painful, it felt good to clean up this small stretch of the beach. After my mini beach clean-up, it was time to return to my family. In the distance, I could see some hot pink and brown, so it seemed they were still casting away. But as I came closer to their fishing spot, I realized my shoes and water bottle were missing and the hot pink person appeared further in the distance. I assumed my family chose to try another fishing spot at the pier.
As I made my way to the pier to join my family, I chuckled how my husband left me barefoot and pregnant on the beach, but the morning heat was no laughing matter. As I waddled along, I began to feel dehydrated and tired.
When I arrived at the pier, there were no signs of family but plenty of other signs. I’ve never known groins to wave, but much like the Gulf, my pelvic muscles and my feet were beginning to swell.
It then dawned on me that my family must have returned to the hotel room. After reading all the warning signs on the pier, I contemplated waving down Turtle Patrol or the beach police for a ride back to my hotel.
Swallowing down my tears, my cotton mouth, the pelvic pain, my aching bare feet and my frustration for not taking my water with me or my phone, I had no other choice but to begin walking back to the hotel room. As I added the distance in my head, the numbers and the heat made me woozy. Visions of headlines flashed in my head. Passed Out Pregnant Mom Mistaken for Beached Whale
I passed a nesting sanctuary and I wished my own nesting had been sanctified. Why didn’t I take my water? Why didn’t my husband leave my water bottle? Maybe he did but some other self-righteous beach lover threw it away. Why didn’t he scratch a note in the sand for me? I realized once again that my husband and I need to work on our communication skills since sand sketches and skywriting are out of the question although texting is definitely his strength.
I finally arrived back at the hotel two miles and two hours later swollen, overheated, thirsty, tired and tearful but much wiser.
Hosted by Cecily
awww, i’m sorry you had such a tough walk back, but I am sure no one would have mistaken you for a beached whale.
GREAT photos nonetheless.
Well I must say that it’s better than leaving you barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen ROFLMAO!! Sorry I just had to say it. What an excursion for you…poor thing but I tell you it made for good reading and good pictures. You have a wit that just doesn’t quit LOL Can you believe people leave there rubbish on the beach like that…sickening. It’s like cigarette butts…now I’m a smoker but I always make sure mine are put in the rubbish can. Beautiful pictures and how wonderful that you got out there so early to enjoy the sites all too yourself. Love it. Reading that sign made my groin ache LOL
Crap…I forgot to mention about the rubbish..you are so right. After reading that article on Twitter yesterday you posted it’s just so sad that people don’t realize what could be coming your way. It just so pisses me off that they can’t clean up after themselves.
awww, you poor thing! i almost had tears in my eyes ….I recall too vividly being pregnant in the summer…oh boy, did i feel for you! but you are a trooper for hanging in there and not to mention taking such great pics and most of all being such a good samaritan and cleaning the beach! kudos to you!!
Super photos.
It looks like some great family time.
The Mrs. was pregnant with twins this time almost 4 years ago and she laughs about not being able to make it over the dunes to the beach–she is a beach walking maniac and we knew she had to be hurting not to put her feet in the sand.
Hi – here from the Tea Party – love your photos – so sad about the oil spill – my dad lives in FL and keeps me updated….
First off I LOVE the photos. So sorry you got lost from your family. With I had been there with you. It would have been fun to look for shells, not the trash. together. It makes me so mad that people can not put trash in a trash can. Once I watched someone drop an empty fast food drink 2ft from a trash can! BTW you needed you spibelt. Can you even wear it anymore? Oh And you do not look like a beached whale. You look AMAZING!
Hi! I’m here from The Lady Bloggers Tea Party Social! Pleased to meet you. I’ve got a HELLO, HANDSOME blog party happening at my blog right now. I’d be tickled pink if you stopped by and joined in the fun.
Deborah
Homemaker Honey
homemakerhoney.com
PBR!?!?!?!?! Do they still make that swill?
Stopping in from the Lady BLoggers Tea Party. I’ve got a nice tall glass of ice tea to help cool you off after that long walk on the hot beach. You got some gorgeous pictures and a great story out of it though.
Aw, I love the photos of the beach. I live in the desert and I miss the water. Thanks,
Mary
Very pretty place you traipsed all over.
Too cute story, I don’t by that beached whale thing a bit, I bet your the hottest momma around! Glad the vaca went well and all are happy. BTW the shot of the Heron very very cool!
Oh, I would have been scared! Glad you made it back safely!
And, seriously, beer cans on the beach?
If in the same situation I am sure I would have panicked and then blamed my husband for my near death. However, reading about your adventure did make me laugh out loud. Glad it all turned out ok!
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
You have a lovely family. Cute kids 🙂
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