Things I Learned on Our Surf City Vacation

By Guest Blogger Lauren Warren 

I recently traveled to Surf City, NC, with my family for Spring Break. It was a great vacation. Here are a few observations I made along the way:

– Everybody, no matter the age, loves a new adventure. Especially during COVID.

– My patience to questions like, “Are we there yet?” and “How much longer?” deteriorated much quicker than I ever could have imagined!
Hour 1:  Soon, sweetie, soon.
Hour 2: Ask your Dad. I am driving.
Hour 3: Roll down the windows to drown out the questions, swear I am never going on vacation again, and drive like an Indy Cup Driver to get there quicker.

– Sleeping on the bottom bunk with your child so they can fall asleep in a new place isn’t so bad. Waking up to whack your head on the top bunk? Not so great. “Wooden slat to the forehead” is not a good look for anyone.

– Children flock to each other like magnets on the beach. They need that social interaction. And as much as COVID may have hindered these interactions, they will recover, socialize, and make friends wherever they go.

– Easter Egg hunts on the beach are awesome.

– Those parents who throw their kids in the car to look at the houses on the beach, just to see what things look like, as their bored kids in the back ask when will we be home? My husband and I are those parents. And then the realization hits: “Oh no. We have become our parents.”

– Why is an outdoor shower such a novelty, even in 50-degree weather?

– As a child shivers and their lips turn blue, why is their answer to the question, “Are you cold?” always “No!!!”

– My two-year-old will shake, shimmy, and sing her way two miles down the beach. She will shake, shimmy, and sing her way a quarter mile back. The rest of the way? Snuggled up in my arms with an extra pound of seashells in her pockets.

– To a child, every cracked, broken, bleached-out shell is a treasure. Literally. Every. One.

– 5 and 7-year-olds want to play kickball on the beach against the adults? Yea, sure!! One hour later, as we are panting and sweating, covered in sand as the kids still run laps around us? “Whose bright idea was this?!”

– That feeling when a child kicks a toy into the depths under a couch at a rental house? Yea, that feeling….

– That feeling when your child throws their arms around you and says that “You are the best mom ever, in the entire world”?  Yea, that feeling, too…..

On a side note, we stayed in a rental called “C’Turtle” through Ward Realty in Surf City, NC. I would highly recommend the house and the realty company.  Everything was incredibly clean and we felt very safe staying there during COVID.

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