"Ew-eh pay san. Ew-eh pay wah-way" (Evan play sand. Evan play water)
"Ew-eh go wayce caw houw" (Evan go race car house)
The main themes of our vacation were, well sand and water of course (it was the beach), and race cars. We spent a week in a house on Emerald Isle, NC with some of the family. Evan dubbed the house "Race Car House" because the kid is currently race car crazy.
As of July 24th, E was completely unaware of the Disney movie "Cars". By August 2nd, E had seen the movie at least 8 times and was completely obsessed with it. He has only seen this movie while in a car. Powerful drugs need to be administered with restraint.
E even got to "drive" a race car on vacation. OK, it was a go-cart and his daddy was doing the driving but I wont tell him if you wont.
Another highlight was the nearby aquarium. Drawing on our own childhood memories of aquariums, the Mav and I had sold E on the idea of holding a fish, assuming that he could briefly hold a starfish. To all of our surprise and disappointment, the only sea creatures that could be picked up were the hermit crabs. E wandered about the facility, nearly in tears, asking to "hole fee-shee". We bought him some plastic fish from the gift shop and he spent the rest of the morning with a fish clutched in each hand. Periodically, he'd stop to have the fish kiss each other.
We all enjoyed spending time with family and friends that we don't get to see nearly often enough. Well, mostly. E was alternately entranced by his somewhat older cousin or devastated by having competition for toys and attention.
After past experiences, in which E was not too fond of hanging out with his cousin, I had spend the drive to NC gearing him up for the fun that was in store for him. By the time we got to the VA-NC line, E was demanding that we arrive at his cousin's house NOW. We developed a plan. He would greet his cousin with a hug and then share his toys.
When we finally arrived, E marched up the driveway clutching his small case of toys. When he saw his cousin, E solemnly set down the case and approached her. He let her hug him and then he returned to his case. He opened the case and proffered toys. He shared his toys very well for the rest of the evening. And not again thereafter.
We broke the drive home into two days, stopping for the night in the area that may be our next home. We did some sight seeing in that area on the morning of the second travel day and then got on the highway, heading back to the midwest. It was this final day of vacation and traveling that finally did us in. E watched the race car movie for about 8 hours straight.
Amazingly, when I threatened E with a car trip the other day, when he was not cooperating, he was quite excited for car trip and now asks for more car trips.
Be careful what you wish for little E ... more car trips are in your future.
