our crappy vacation (pun intended)

Okay, it wasn't ALL bad.
But I definitely learned that autism and vacations don't always mesh well. Particularly when it comes to sleep. The first night, it made me sad to see Noah grab his blankets and go to the door (I'm assuming asking us to go home so he can go to bed). There were plenty of highs and lows.

Crappy parts of the vacation:
1. Sleep deprivation. The first night, Noah was up until 2am. The next night, it was 5am. It wasn't until the 4th night that Noah was able to fall asleep before midnight and sleep all night long. After several attempts to help him settle down, we finally figured out he likes to sleep on the couch the best. He also didn't want to be left alone anywhere. So I would stay up with him until he fell asleep, then move the loveseat next to the couch. That way he wouldn't fall off in the middle of the night.
2. Inner ear infection.  Not Noah. Brad. Brad actually had complained a couple weeks before about his ear bothering him. But like a lot of men, he ignored it. So when we got down to Kiawah, it was hurting him to the point of him being miserable. Thankfully, they have a doctor there, and he got it taken care of.
3. Poop on the beach. Noah's sleep wasn't the only thing that got completely thrown off by our vacation. The poor boy didn't poop for 3 days. And of course, when he finally did go, guess where it happened... in the ocean. Brad picked him up, not knowing the state of Noah's pants, and was consequently covered in poo. I think this was the lowest point of our vacation.
4. Miscommunication in packing. First, Brad and I messed up by forgetting to pack our swimsuits. I remembered Noah's, just not mine.
Then the night before we left Kiawah, Brad went to bed early, so I decided to get a little packing done. But all I really achieved was putting away some of Noah's toys away. The next morning, Brad let me sleep in while he finished packing. For some reason, he thought I'd already packed away Noah's clothes we'd put in the drawers. I assumed he got them. Yeah. Noah has several articles of clothing just hanging out in the Kiawah place. Thankfully, my dad is the next one scheduled to go down, so he's going to grab them when he's there.
5. My dad getting called back in to work. My dad and stepmom were supposed to join us over the weekend. Unfortunately, after my dad left work early, he got a phone call that one of their apartment buildings caught on fire. Seriously?! So he didn't get home Friday night until dinner time, which basically was going to make the trip to Kiawah totally pointless. They would've been there for a day and a half at most. So my 30th birthday trip with my family was shot.

But. It wasn't all bad.
There were good moments too. Noah absolutely loved the beach. And he loved the ocean even more, even though the water was ridiculously cold.

Noah made some friends, a teacher and her husband. They were so sweet.

We brought the big guns with us this time. Noah's all about using the big boy tools.

Usually around this time of year, gnats are prevalent out there. Like biting gnats. Except this time? Not one gnat. Instead, there were butterflies. Everywhere. In the midst of my tiredness and all the other stuff, it was a nice little pick-me-up to watch a butterfly fly by me on the beach.
Also, instead of jellyfish, there were hundreds of starfish that were washed up onto the shore. So Noah and I went on a little walk, picking up the ones that still looked alive and tossed them back into the ocean.

 

So despite all of the crappiness, it wasn't totally terrible.
And really, if you're going to have a couple of rough days? Might as well happen in paradise. ;)