Samantha's first blog

Posted By pamelamyers on May 15, 2017

Mother’s Day this year turned out to be very different than any other one before. Our neighbors, who bought a house down the shore last year, offered it to us for the weekend. We couldn’t figure out a way to spend even one night because of various goings on at home, but we definitely took them up on the opportunity to use the house for a day. Sam had me up super early, of course, and while we were waiting for my mom to come over, Sam gave me my presents. She has been bursting at the seams to give me everything for weeks! I swear, she truly loves giving gifts as much as getting them. My first gift was a new charm for my Pandora bracelet. It was so pretty – a heart that opens up and says “I love Mom.”

At school, the kids made gifts, as they usually do. My gift this year was this pretty frame and a card with a flower on the front. Each petal lifts up and says something about me. Mine said, “My Mom Is…Pretty, Cute, Cool, Nice, Awesome, and Good.” Her spelling is….interesting…but I was able to figure out this is what she was writing. After I opened all my gifts, Sam gave me a bunch of letters she had written to me. She made sure I didn’t open them until the end because it would have ruined the surprise if I opened them first because they were all about my gifts and how she worked hard making/choosing them. I swear, I will treasure her little notes forever.

I got a Mother’s Day hug from my boy, but Penny was nowhere to be seen. Sigh….

My mom finally came over and Sam quickly grabbed her gifts. Sammy loves her Grandmom!

I got her a new digital picture frame to replace the one that was broken, and Sam painted a new stepping stone for Grandmom’s back yard.

My mom bought me a beautiful bracelet with a photo charm of me holding Sam I believe the day after she was born. I just love it.

It’s beach time! We quickly hit the road. Time is wasting! It was supposed to be a mom’s day, but not unexpectedly, we wound up doing everything that Sam wanted to do. Hmmm….funny how that works. We ate almost as soon as we got there (Manco and Manco pizza, naturally!) then started walking the boardwalk. I knew Sam would want to play games, and she did. Mark found this awesome huge Space Invaders game. The two of them loved it and Sam definitely held her own with Mark. It must be all the playing on our home Atari game that Pop Pop bought her a few Christmases ago.

We stopped for a few pictures with the ocean as a backdrop. Ahhhhh!

There are a few stores that are Sam’s favorites. We stopped in one that she particularly loves. She tried hard to get me to buy her the mermaid fairy, but I told her that it was supposed to be MOM’s day not SAM’s day, and that now I know what she wants when we head to the beach this summer. She did wind up with some things though. Grandmom bought her a fidget spinner which she has been craving. It’s all the rage with kids right now. I don’t get it, but whatever.

The weather could not have been more gorgeous. It was super sunny, pretty warm (it actually got kind of hot as the day wore on) and we had such a great time just being outside and enjoying the fresh air.

Mark and Sam went to ride the Go Karts and my mom and I hung out and waited for them. I think this is our first selfie together! How’d that happen? Geez, it’s about time! I love you, Mom!

Mark and Sam had a blast. Mark wanted me to go to, but Sam wanted just her Dad. It’s a Daddy-Daughter thing for sure.

Sam was begging me the entire day to go “Skeleton Golfing” with her. She does like that one miniature golf place so much. I think every single year we have gone down the shore, I post pictures of Sam looking at that goofy skeleton outside. My mom and I indulged her and the girls went golfing while Mark enjoyed a bench overlooking the ocean.

More photo ops abound after golf!

After a quick stop at the beach house, it was time to feel some sand between our toes! There is something completely restorative about the ocean. It was so great being down there. It was quiet, and peaceful, and we loved being there.

Sam didn’t care that she had nothing to play with. She dug with her hands, we looked for seashells and interesting beach rocks, and enjoyed the view.

I decided to go and get my feet wet and was kind of surprised that, even though I know the water temperature couldn’t have been out of the 50s, it really wasn’t cold. I swear, we go down in the summer and the water temperature is 70 and it can feel shocking. But this didn’t.

It wasn’t long before Sam started wave jumping. It’s a good thing I brought a change of clothes for everyone because before long, we were soaked!

It reminded me so much of that summer so many years ago when we wound up at the beach one night in our clothes, soaking wet in the ocean. It was the first year Sam wasn’t scared to go in so I didn’t care and I just went with her. It was, and is still, one of my best memories. Why we always seem to have the most fun while fully clothed at the beach I have no idea. But I’ll go with it. 🙂

Family shadows! This is what it’s all about, isn’t it? I waited so long to be a mom, to have “family” pictures and now it’s hard to remember what it was like before.

Sam decided to sit in her hole. Oh boy. I guess her butt was already wet.

We had an amazing day. I am so glad we took the chance to do something different. My mom had a great time, I had a day when I actually just enjoyed myself and didn’t find stuff around the house to do, and Sam loved being at the beach. Mark got a chance to relax too, which he has needed for a while. We always say we will do more day trips to the beach and we never do. This year may be the first one where we actually do it. I hope!

Mother’s Day is, I guess, supposed to be a day to pamper mom, to spoil her, to let her relax. Well, let’s be serious. A mom never turns off. Not ever. No mom is truly going to relax no matter what day it is. But that’s what we all wanted, right? To be a mom, to have a little person to take care of. It’s what I wanted, for sure. It can be exhausting and frustrating, but most of the time, it is amazing. I have this adorable little person who thinks I hung the moon, who calls me her best friend. Who even when I am at my worst, thinks I am the perfect mom. Oh, she calls me on my worst, that’s for sure. She tells me I yell too much… But she loves me all the same. I love you, Samantha Anne. You gave me the best gift for Mother’s Day, but you give it to me every day. You are my little girl and you shower me with your love every single day. I don’t know what I did to deserve you.

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