foiled!

well, dear readers, it seems that there is great truth to the maxim that all good plans (in this case, of mamas and dadas) go awry...

as i mentioned in taking it to the streets..., we had a grand plan this past weekend. well, more accurately, it was a grand plan to not plan.

a plan to be spontaneous.

i know, i know. there's only a little bit of irony in that.

but, really, we set out this past Friday believing that a few things were possible:

1. we could arrange for dog care for our two Labradors for the weekend
2. we could pack all of e's clothes, diapers, stroller, pack-and-play, food, toys, and books and our gear
3. we could work a full day and still manage to get on the road to a-destination-not-yet-determined and arrive at a decent hour; and
4. we could find accomodations wherever we decided to go

and do all of that in order to leave at a decent hour on Friday to start our weekend of fun.

well, as you can imagine by my silence over the weekend, that did not happen.

we both worked all of Friday, and by the time we identified all of the items we needed to pack and managed to feed emma, bath her, and get her ready for bed, we realized we simply couldn't get anywhere worth getting before midnight.

so...we went to bed with the best of intentions to leave saturday morning.

of course, along came saturday and we needed to feed and cloth emma, do some of her therapy before leaving, pack the car, and give the doggies lots of attention and reassurance that the dog walker would be coming several times a day to check in, feed, and provide them with water.

needless to say, we didn't leave the house until 10:30 or so.

but, once on the road, we naturally veered toward water. and, after about 3.5 hours of driving, found ourselves happily on the Delaware shores... 

without a place to stay.

we didn't exactly realize how much planning really needs to go into spontaneity. we parked our car, and with little e in tow, walked from hotel to hotel looking for a place with a room. after an hour, we found one. according to most of the staff at the hotels we first visited, it was the only hotel room (or room at an inn or bed&breakfast) left for Saturday night. since it wasn't a place i'd necessarily pick and wasn't worth returning to for a variety of reasons, i'll refrain from mentioning it.

we eventually settled in, let emma roam around a bit, and then headed to the beach, where her first real experience with sand and surf was a wonderful one.

and so went our weekend.

it turns out that when you have two dogs, a house, a baby, and no grandmommy to help during the trip (insert sad face), going somewhere locally, on a whim, was a bit more of a challenge than our trek to Spain (for more on that, read: on how to travel 11 days with an 11-month-old in Spain).

but, a few things made it very worthwhile. they are, in no particular order:

1. our first real glimpse of water:

2. La Placita Tacos - a tiny little taqueria on the road heading to the Delaware shore. simple, homemade, yummy food that emma adored.

3. emma's reaction when the wave came crashing at her feet as we held her tightly on the shoreline.

4. Henlopen City Oyster House and their oh-so-yummy lobster mac-and-cheese. (while emma couldn't eat this, mama and dada could, and it was good....)

5. little emma chilling by the seashore as we walked her around to lure her into her afternoon nap...

 6. Ava's Pizzeria in St. Michael's for a quick (vegan) dinner, which emma could enjoy with us, on the return home

7. this face: