And the vacation takes a turn (well, a spin) for the worse...

So far for the first 2 days, the weather has been pretty nice, actually, mostly perfect. Casey is attending a conference for the first few days that we are here and yesterday he was busy with workshops and tests to keep his board certification current. But the boys and I had a great time on the beach and at the waterpark that is part of the hotel complex where we are staying. Coulson used to have an aversion to water, especially water in the face, so our experience at the beach has been somewhat ambivalent. He likes the idea of the beach and he gets excited and knows it's supposed to be a fun thing, but in reality, he never really liked the unpredictibility of the ocean and he quickly got bored with playing in the sand unless he had a friend to play with him. But he's been making great progress in the water in the past few months and enjoys getting his face wet (when wearing goggles).

So now, at the beach yesterday, he was like an entirely different kid - he ran into the ocean and jumped with the waves, wading in waist deep by himself. He got completely knocked over by waves 3 times. 3 times! That means he went back into the ocean again after he got knocked over - the old Coulson would have given up after the first wipe out and not gotten back into the water. And at the waterpark, he got completely wet and we played with the spashing water., but I still couldn't get him to go down the water slide. (By the way, Charlie is also fully enjoying himself and doing well in the water.)

And of course, as the kids are having a blast in the water and Casey finally gets finished with his work stuff for the day and is putting on his swim trunks - it thunders. So Casey didn't get to enjoy all the fun. But this morning he skipped his meetings and did get to enjoy the boys on the beach and Coulson even asked if we could get a boogie board.

But tragedy befell our family vacation when we went inside for lunch. A tragedy that will change the course of our vacation and put a damper on all the great progress Coulson has made in the water. In the living room area of our hotel condo, there is a chair that spins. Right next to a coffee table. Need I say more.

If you're going to get a gash in your head while on vacation, at least do it when there are 50 emergency physicians at a conference on the first floor of your hotel. For some cuts, instead of stitches, doctors can use a special glue called DermaBond to close the wound. It's pretty handy stuff and ER docs who have been lucky enough to get their hands on a spare vial like to keep them in their first aid kits. Casey has already had occasion to use some twice - once for my niece's forehead and once for Coulson's chin. But of course we didn't bring any. So Casey went downstairs to the conference and they made an announcement during lunch asking if anyone had some DermaBond. Success! So Casey patched him up.

But here's the fatal flaw - He's not supposed to get it wet for a week! And we can't put sunscreen on it! Hmm, no water and no sun. And when we vacation at the beach, that's what we do - maybe a game or two of mini-golf, but other than that, we don't spend a lot of time at the touristy attractions or shopping, so we are re-strategizing our vacation plans. Casey is thinking that maybe after 3 days he could get it wet...(Just don't tell anyone that we aren't following doctor's orders....)