Is There No End To The Things That I Learn From Him?

That whole beach getaway was just what we needed to recharge our batteries, but unfortunately it wasn't exactly a dream vacation for Micah. The poor boy was sure that we were out to kill him from the stress.

The first day was rather cold-ish and the beach really wasn't an option, so we headed to Dover's Air Force Base to tour the museum. The boys thought this was all kinds of cool, and Becky patiently tolerated it, but Micah spazzed. The poor, poor boy. He hates to fly, and when I say hates I really mean that he gets so worked up that he loses all bowel control. So you can imagine his reaction at an Air Force Base, with planes in and out of the runway non-stop. I had to physically remove him from the van myself. Inside the museum wasn't a whole lot better because GAH! There are planes in there! Once he figured out that we were just looking and not actually getting on one, he calmed down and tried to enjoy himself.

And then we got on one.

The poor kid was beside himself, trying to keep at least one of his parents from boarding. Obviously if the whole family isn't on at once it can't accidentally take off. He had a plan. He was also much relieved when everyone was back on firm concrete.

The museum was not his favorite place. Still, being a trooper, he managed to have a good time between freak sessions.

We headed to a beach there at Dover and soon realized that Dover's beaches aren't the best in the state. It looked like mulch floating in the waves, and Micah's sensory issues kicked into high gear. I haven't seen him that skeeved out over sensory in a long time. He nearly lost his lunch in the gagging, and that was just looking at it. Still, since it was too cold to actually swim and we were simply walking the beach looking for things of interest, he managed to overcome his horror and enjoy himself. It became his personal mission to toss every dead horseshoe crab back into the water. There were a lot of them.

The next day was incredibly hot (yeah, beach weather!) and we headed to the ocean to swim. Micah was thrilled. THRILLED. He donned his life vest and trunks and ran ahead of us to the shore. We wanted to walk a little ways down-beach from the crowd but he was having none of that listening to us stuff. He was headed to the water! That excitement lasted right up until a wave bowled him over, and then it was all over. The water tasted nasty, we didn't have a drink for him to rinse his mouth with, he spit and gagged, and refused to go back into the water for a good 10 minutes. He did finally learn to deal with the waves, but they certainly weren't as fun as they looked, and after 90 minutes he deemed it Time To Go. He was going back to the van with or without us. It was lunchtime, so we chose to join him.

So all in all, his vacation was kinda the worst ever, and yet he never grumbled or complained. He didn't set up a non-stop whinefest of wrongs, he didn't sulk in the back of the van, he didn't even sigh and roll his eyes at us. That boy just never ceases to teach me things. Sometimes life isn't what we expect it to be, but we've gotta make the best of it and have fun anyway. That's what I learned at least.