These are the words that my husband kept repeating during our adventurous weekend. He wanted to prove something to me and he surely did.
So last Friday night my hubby went to bed really early after having such a stressful week at work. I stayed up late and for some reason couldn't fall asleep and then I suddenly woke up at 5am on the sofa. I had only slept about 4 hours but couldn't fall back asleep and was too lazy to go upstairs so i just continued to lay there. The hubby came downstairs about an hour later surprised to find me on the sofa. Then he said "why don't you go upstairs and sleep some more" I told him that even though I was tired I couldn't fall back asleep so he said "OK, how about we go to the beach". Now we live in Northern VA and the nearest beach is about three to four hours away. I said "OK let me get ready, don't wake up the girls until I pack". Now I typically plan everything and am not a spontaneous kind of person but after being married to the hubby for almost three years I pretty much gave up on planning anything because he never plans anything and says that I'm too rigid and that i need to just go with the flow because every event happens for a reason. Surprisingly, I packed for our beach weekend, woke up the girls, gave them milk, got them dressed, and got dressed myself in about an hour and we were out the door at about 8:30 am.
The hubby decided that we'd go to Ocean City, MD and I simply agreed trying to keep an open mind and follow his lead. The weather was beautiful it was around 76 degrees outside but was breezy and beautiful. Our drive was pleasant as well and we stopped at a Wawa half way through Maryland and grabbed coffee and snacks. People were pleasant and happy and it seemed like the whole world was enjoying this beautiful day, I was actually enjoying this ride and the girls were behaving and seemed to enjoy the drive which they rarely do. After about four hours of driving we arrive at Ocean City and I'm just instantly happier. Now I've been a beach girl all my life, I grew up in Alexandria, Egypt right on the Mediterranean and when I moved back to America with my family we lived in Ventnor, NJ (south Jersey). So getting married has been rewarding on so many levels but sadly didn't provide a beach.
Anyway, after arriving at Ocean City we were just driving on the main strip and the hubby pulled into a Holiday Inn and told me he'll check it out as i waited in the car. I was just watching people walk around in their colorful beach clothing and was remembering childhood memories by the beach. When he finally came back he said "come on I got us a room, lets go" I asked him how much it was because with no prior reservations I knew it was a hefty price. He smiled and took a deep breath and said "it's expensive man but common lets just have fun, if you sat there and planned everything it'll never turn out as expected. The best times I've had in life were the ones that weren't planned". So we grabbed our stuff and the girls and headed to the elevator. Our
room suite was 1109, Yes! on the eleventh floor right on the water. It was a beautiful view and a beautiful suite, it had a living room, kitchen, jacuzzi bath, a separate room with two queen beds, and a huge beach front balcony. What I really love about my husband is that he's so generous and never holds back anything just to make his family happy. Even though I was sure that this was above our budget and that we could have stayed somewhere not as nice and still enjoy the beach. For him it was all about having a great experience and not worrying about anything but having fun on the beach and enjoying every minute of this weekend as he had to be back to work by Monday.
After settling in our room and changing we got our towels, umbrella, and beach chairs and literally just went downstairs. Safiya my 2 year old was a little worried about being bare foot on the sand but quickly got over it and ran in the water and it was so much fun for her. I even took Sumaya my 8 month old and dipped her feet in the water and she was so excited and screaming out of joy. They are both mermaids like their mama. I remember growing up I would spend the whole day in the water until sunset, and I was known in the family as "the mermaid". The water was cool though as temperatures had dropped, after all there were so many tornado warnings on Friday and so many thunder storms, but the sky was blue and clouds looked like cotton candy. It was just a picture perfect day. After a couple of hours on the beach and after Safiya got her tan lines we headed back upstairs and showered. The hubby said he's leaving to get us food for lunch and anything else he felt we needed. After all the room had a complete kitchen with all appliances needed to make just about anything. I stayed with the girls and fed them and gave them a photo shoot as we hung out on the beds. When the hubby came back with our meals we set up in the balcony. We had Singapore noodles and crab cake sandwiches as we watched people in the water and seagulls in the air. This weekend was only getting better and better and the hubby was just happy to prove to me that unplanned things are just more enjoyable and I was starting to become a believer. After lunch we went downstairs and just walked on the boardwalk and played with the girls until everyone was tired. We headed back upstairs later in the day at about 7:30 pm and changed the girls. Sumaya fell asleep right away but Safiya didn't want to even though she was so tired, she just didn't want to miss out on anything. I took a looooong warm shower and "lotioned" up and then just hung out on the bed overlooking the water with Safiya as we watched tv. Hubby left again to go get us pizza and check out the city, I was happy to just lay down on this comfy bed. Safiya was starting to fall asleep next to me right as her dad walked in, so she jumped out of bed and came to join us again in the balcony as we ate pizza and chips. It was dark but just as beautiful. He also bought back milk for the girls in the morning, orange juice, beagles, and tea. Tea was the most important as it's addictive as coffee and we hadn't had any since Friday. Safiya finally fell asleep and me and the hubby just hung out for the rest of the night until we finally fell asleep.
The next morning hubby woke me up early at around 5 am, i resisted because I got up a couple of times to feed Sumaya and to cover Safiya but he insisted that I get up so that I don't miss the sun rise. I stumbled on my way to the balcony half asleep and he was right it was absolutely amazing, the air smelled so nice and seagulls were flocking the sky, and the beautiful sun was starting to peek at us as I managed to fully wake up to soak it all in. I told him that my dream is to live on the beach one day and just wake up to this everyday. He agreed that he can get used to this too. I went to freshen up in the bathroom as he made us some Earl Gray tea with milk. When I came out the tea was ready and Safiya was beginning to wake up. She wasn't sure were she was so I said "go to the balcony and look at the beach" she ran to the balcony and said "mom the sea woke up, the sea woke up" it was the cutest thing and its the best feeling to see your little ones happy. We stayed up and made breakfast and again ate in the balcony, I then napped for about an hour. When I got up I started to get everyone ready and repacked our stuff because we had to checkout by 11 am. We finally checked out and then decided to walk on the boardwalk for an hour or so before leaving. It was getting hot out side as it was approaching noon, so we finally got in the car and on the road. But wait our weekend was far from being over. Instead of heading back home towards Virginia we decided to drive along the coast and see roads and places that we've never seen before. We were just enjoying the weather and the drive just kept on getting longer and longer, until we finally read the sign that reads "Welcome to Delaware and our beaches". OK so we were in Delaware and even though the state line was nothing but another traffic light as we kept on driving it felt different, even though it was the same coast line it felt different, it didn't seem or feel like Maryland anymore it felt just like Delaware. We drove through Bethany beach, Dewey beach, Rahoboth beach and we finally approached the end of the coastline at Lewes, DE. We were at the ferry dock yes the ferry that leads to Cape May, NJ the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. I mean we drove this far right so why not park our car for 85 minutes and take a break from driving as we observed NJ on the horizon as it approached us or actually as we approached it. We left the car and went up on the upper deck and enjoyed some more of this beautiful day that was just full of surprises and stunning scenery. We had a quick lunch and some snacks as we looked out on the blue waters of the Atlantic. At last we made it to Cape May, NJ and it has been four hours since we left Ocean City, Maryland the same amount of time it would have taken us to be home in Virginia.
We took the Garden State Parkway to leave the southern peak of NJ and called my parents and told them that we're about an hour away. They were so excited but also thought that we're crazy for making a trip like this but I think that for the first time in my life I actually focused on the journey and not the destination. I explained to them that we're just stopping by and that we weren't going to stay the night. My dad was just happy to see his beloved Safiya, he's a different person around her and much more happier. It took us an hour to reach Mays Landing, NJ and I was excited to see my parents, my brother, and my three sisters. We were soooooo exhausted at this point but we had some tea and my mom cooked us a seafood dinner of brown rice, garden salad, fried tilapia, and steamed shrimp. It was so yummy and I was hungry so it tasted extra delicious. We had some more tea after dinner and left at about 7:30 pm to start our four hour journey back home. It's like we basically left Virginia and circled around the Atlantic just to come back through land. Just as we left my parents' house it started to thunder storm outside and we just knew we were heading for a long long trip.
The trip home wasn't as enjoyable as our whole weekend but I think it's just because we were tired and because we knew that we were going back to our routine life. My back was aching and I couldn't push my seat back because of the baby seat behind me, I would doze off for some time and wake up again only to see the dark rainy road ahead. The hubby even took a couple of breaks to wash his face with cold water to keep himself awake. We were all so tired and the girls were getting irritated from being in the car for so long, it felt like we've been on vacation for a long long time and that we were heading back to reality. We drove some more until we finally made that right turn leading to the cul-de-sac that we lived on. We pulled in the driveway and there stood our house as if we never left, as if we didn't accomplish all these events in just forty hours, as if it was all a long beautiful dream. My husband then looked at me and smiled as he said "look we made it back before Monday, all this was during a weekend, look we're like Cinderella" he pointed to the clock and it was exactly 11:59 pm.
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| A visual of our 2 day road trip - Google Maps |
