Chincoteague (or where the Mosquitoes vacation)

Our friend, M, graciously invited me (along with the little Hu's) and another friend (also with two kids) to stay at her family's camper for a few days in Chincoteague. Now, I've lived in Maryland all my life, and have never been to Chincoteague. I've been to Ocean City, Rehoboth, Dewey, Bethany, and Assateague, but never Chincoteague. So, I was intrigued....

It would be 2.5 days with the kids sans husband. I smelled trouble a brewing, but I figured that there will be a few other moms there, so no "permanent" damage can befall on my kids.

We planned to carpool with my friend, C, up to (or down to or across to...I don't know my geography) the beach. I told my friend that I will try my best to get to her place around 8:30am, but I also knew that the husband is so not a morning person....we didn't get to their place until 9am. What did I tell you C? I managed to get up early, go grocery shopping, feed and dress the kids, but the husband could not manage to get up before 8:15am....UGH!!!!!

3.5 hours later, we are in Chincoteague. We crossed a bridge littered with dead birds. C asked "why are there so many dead birds?" I said...."all I know is....we are so not eating the fish in this town!"

We arrived at the camp site, and met up with M....who is so dark from being there for the last two weeks. Is it possible to be a redhead and tan? I envy thee!

The beach is really nice, and miraculously no one got sunburned. The kids were all well behaved and had fun collecting sand crabs, and cocinas (the little clam thingies that are the size of a rice kernel)?

The little Hu's and friends on the beach.

We took the kids to play miniature golf, and probably annoyed the crap out of the people behind us...because there were nine of us...and we were slow....

Miniature golf

The moment we stepped out of the car (returning from the beach) we were attacked by mosquitoes. I mean, not just a little bit, but ALOT! I was a little shocked at how fierce the mosquitoes were there. I mean, when I woke up in the morning, I had a welt on my face. Apparently, I was bitten while sleeping. I also woke up to planes spraying the area with bug spray, and they also have a truck that drives by and spray the area as well.

We all had our bathing suits out on the clothes line to dry overnight. C wondered if we should rinsed them since the area was sprayed....well that would be the smart thing to do right? To rinse the clothes....but I was too lazy to...so me and the little Hu's will probably come down with some funky illness because my ass was too lazy to run our suits under water or something.....

Second day at the beach...utterly gorgeous. We spent like four hours or something there, and again no sunburn....We left the beach to get ice cream. Now...how much do you think ice cream cost? I mean we bought three small scoops, and two large ones with the fancy waffle cones.....$14! Apparently, Chincoteague has a 9% tax rate. 9%! M forgot to tell us that if you ask for the "kid size" cones, you'd save alot of money. She bought two cones for like $2.50.

Had dinner, sprayed the kids down with OFF! and then headed back to the beach for a beach fire. We planned on roasting marshmellows for s'mores. My kids (along with the others) were so looking forward to this event. I bought two bags of marshmellows, two boxes of graham crackers, and two trays of chocolates bars. Needless to say, we were prepared to put our kids in a sugar coma. But as we were driving to the beach, we noticed that there were alot of cars driving away from the beach. And now I know why....I think the whole Mosquitoes species descended on the beach. We didn't last ten minutes there. We stayed for the ghost story, and as soon as the fire opened up to everyone...I let each child roast just one marshmellow....I didn't even break into the chocolate before I bellowed that we needed to get the heck out of there (I used a slightly different word though....).

We are so afraid of getting bittened, that getting out of the car was like a military exercise. We unhooked all the kids, made sure everyone was positioned right near the exit, threw the doors opened, and screamed "Run, run, run!" Our kids high tailed it out of the mini-van and into the camper in like five seconds flat. It was hilarious!

That night, determined not to get bittened again...I slept with the covers totally over my head (except for my nose...I will sacrifice my nose for oxygen).

On the last day that we were there, we took the kids fishing. I'm going to give my woman M props for this. For she is a WOMAN, and I am merely a girl in the fishing department. Girlfriend single handedly baited six fishing rods with live minnows, and also sliced frozen squid for bait. Surprisingly, the four out of the six kids caught a fish! M was good about unhooking them and throwing them back in the water. Of course, when my daughter caught one...M was not in the area. C and I kind of looking at each other...realizing that neither of us were willing to touch the thing...so I screamed at a teenager nearby if they can help. Nice, huh? "Hey, I've never met you, but could you pull this stinking, writhing, slimy thing off my hook? Thanks man!"

The female Hu progeny caught a fish!

Heck, I tried fishing too! At one point, I thought I caught something....I'm reeling and reeling and it just never let up. I had M try to reel it in...she said "If you caught something...this is the mother of all fish!" I was getting so excited, because damn...I am a WOMAN afterall. But this is what I caught.....

Catching a crabbing net with weights attached....

So after all of this camping, isn't it time the Hu's get to go on a luxurious vacation some where?

We are leaving in a couple of days to go to Houston....where we will be staying at a ridiculously trendy and luxurious boutique hotel....my pay off for visiting the in-laws. Will must try to weasle out a massage and facial from the hubby while I'm there as well.....