Vacation, Part 1

The Philosopher Jagger once said, "You can't always get what you want..."

How much have I told you about our vacation? I don't remember. I'll start with some background.
My husband is in an extended family of 12 first cousins. His mother's siblings (3 of them) each have 4 kids. Many of them are married, with children of their own. The matriarch of the family, G-ma, turned 80 this year and talk was begun a couple of years back about a family reunion for G-ma's birthday. Lots of ideas were tossed around and eventually it was decided to hold it on the Outer Banks of NC. 18 months later, and my MIL had organized the details and all of my immediate in-laws (Daddy Fuss's 3 sisters, 1 BIL, niece and mom), an aunt and uncle and 3 cousins, their spouses and children were able able to make it. One whole 3rd of the family was unable to make it due to medical issues, money, previous commitments, etc. All in all, 16 adults and 6 kids under 4 rented a big house on the beach in Corolla (pronounced Core-AH-la by the locals) one of the more northern towns on the islands.

There were 8 bedrooms. 4 king-sized beds, 2 queen-sized beds, a room w/ 2 twins and a room with a "pyramid bed" which was a set of bunk beds with a double bed on the bottom and a twin on top. When we asked my MIL what the room assignments were going to be, she basically said she didn't want to be in charge of it. We looked at the layout of the house and made some logical choices based on the locations of the common rooms and the make-up of the couples sharing a room (6 married couples with assorted kids, my 2 single SILs and my MIL and Gma sharing a room).

After much discussion and gnashing of teeth, my MIL decided to throw out our suggested plan (we didn't pick the best room for ourselves, btw - as a matter of fact, we offered to take a room that was a 2nd or 3rd choice because The Fuss can usually sleep through anything and this particular room was right off the game room which was likely to be used late into the night). At the last moment, she declared that G-ma would be taking the king-sized bedroom on the top floor and everything else was first come, first served. Daddy Fuss was peeved, but as we were the first ones there, we decided to make the best of it. I pointed out that his mom was as selfish as the rest of them, since she would benefit from whatever benefit G-ma got.

Anyhow, we checked in, selected our room and moved our stuff in, plus all the groceries we had hauled up, etc. The Fuss was all screwy because she was sick of being in the car, was off her schedule and was in an unfamiliar place where her parents were running around trying to get settled, etc. We were going on more than 24 hours without sleep (we drove through the night and each caught very short naps in the car, but it was not nearly enough to do more than keep us from falling over.)

My MIL, who until 2:00 in the afternoon was under the impression that she was the only one who would be allowed to check in with the rental agency (thankfully, this was not the case) didn't start early enough from the hotel on Saturday morning, so she was hours late for the original 4:00 check in. As it was, we were able to do the check in and we were allowed to check in at 2:30 since everything was ready for us. Others began arriving around 4:30. Relatives poured in and claimed the various rooms. When my MIL and SILs arrived with the rest of the dinner fixings, we had dinner and some people walked down to the beach. Daddy Fuss and I finally got shower. A crazy card game got started and I read and relaxed until I went to bed, where I fell into a dead sleep.

More later. Pictures to come!