Elena is taller now, and better able to navigate sand and surf. We rented a beach on the water, which means that Elena can get to and from the beach on her own (if we are off the beach, she needs a ride in a car or wagon).
Elena and Vivian loved "wave jumping", where they launch themselves over/into oncoming shallow waves. Elena did this by herself this year! She typically launches herself off her strong leg (left)--which can make for a very tiring, sore leg after a lot of waves.
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| Preparing for wave launch |
We built sandcastles (the "figure 8 castle didn't quite turn out), hunted for shells (lots of shell crafting this year!), playing in the waves and catching little fish in the surf. Vivian was very interested in catching her own fish (with a little net, as opposed to the cast net the grown-ups were using) and she was hugely successful! Elena even caught a few little fish with the net and one crutch! Elena was almost entirely independent while moving in/on the sand this year (some falls, but no bad ones as there really weren't many shells on the beach).
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| Wave rider |
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| Beach cuties |
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| Figure 8 |
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| Fish pond |
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| Viv is REALLY excited she caught a fish! |
The other big event was we decided to go deep-sea fishing (half day trip). I went when I was a little girl with my brother and father, and it was...memorable. We didn't have the best time--big boat, my brother and father we seasick, I didn't catch anything and was really whiny about it. My mother stayed on shore with my very young sister.
This year, we tried something different: a chartered boat. Mom and my sister wanted to go, and then our immediate family. We were all excited about all the fish we were going to catch. Jason kept talking about how great it was going to be...I kept telling him to replace "great" with "memorable". The weather looked good.
The morning of our arrival the weather turned. The captain told us it was still average swells, but he lied; we had to move from our intended fishing spot b/c the sea was too rough, and settled on a different location where the average swell was 8 feet high.
As a precaution, my sister and mother and I took dramamine. I thought about giving some to the kids, but remembered my last trip I wasn't seasick, and hoped that kids were less susceptible. WRONG.
Viv was sick on the way out; she is a very well behaved sick person, so she managed to keep it together. Elena was next, once we stopped and the boat started rocking. Jason was next. The Dramamine Ladies kept it together; barely. I felt terrible, my sister didn't feel so great but was catching a lot of fish, and mom just clutched the side of the boat and prayed that we would go home soon.
We fished for less than half an hour. It was that bad. BUT, we got this gem of a picture (thanks Jason!) which makes me crack up every time I see it.
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| Deep Sea Fishing: Memorable edition |
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| Amberjack dinner! |
Once we recovered from our fishing expedition, we had a few more days on the beach. Elena moved pretty well, using her old pair of crutches (rusted shut, so I put some PVC pipe extensions on the bottom). We made sure to do lots of stretching and resting after being in the sun/surf all day.
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| Beach combing |
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| Mermaid! With shell tiara! |
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| Family |
It was so nice to be at the beach with family. We miss all of you!
1 comment:
Wonderful to see you post again! About being seasick, Elena may be more sensitive to being seasick because of her balance issues from the CP. I met someone with a similar form of brain damage who is now extremely prone to getting seasick post brain injury. It makes him downright miserably ill with dizziness/vertigo/nausea. It's painful to watch him get that sick…
When did E learn to sit cross legged? I can't even do that. :)
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