Once school was out on the last day we headed down to the beach!
Russ had a business meeting to attend, so we took advantage of the opportunity to turn it in to a family trip by joining him. We stayed a few nights in a hotel right on the beach.
One of the days we were there we met a bunch of friends from church who happened to be coming for the day. It was nice to be able to go back to the hotel room after spending the day together, and not have to face freeway traffic!
Another thing to remember about this trip is when Ben got sick and someone called the paramedics. Ben had been out in the ocean boogie boarding with Russ, having a fabulous time. After he got out and was drying off, I asked him if he needed to use the restroom. My friend Heidi and I, and Ben started walking across the sand to get to the restroom. As we neared the restrooms I noticed that Ben was lagging behind so I went to ask him if he was okay and he told me that he didn't feel well. All of a sudden he began throwing up. He was shaking like a leaf despite the very warm temperatures outside, and he was as pale as a ghost. A lady who saw this all happening said she was a nurse and she called 911. Some lifeguards showed up immediately to see if we were okay, and then all of a sudden firetrucks and paramedics began showing up. They wanted to check him out to make sure there was no second hand drowning going on. I told them I thought he had probably swallowed a bunch of ocean water from boogie boarding and it had most likely upset his stomach. He had stopped shaking by then and was getting his color back so I figured he was okay and I refused their request to take him to the hospital for further testing. We had drawn a crowd by this point and it ended up being quite the scene. People walking by thought something serious had happened due to the amount of paramedics and firetrucks that were there. We are all grateful that Ben is okay, but I think Ben actually loved getting all of the attention!
