Bacon, books and beaches

This past weekend was my first vacation while pregnant. It was a party weekend my brother and I planned with our cousins well before I knew I was pregnant. As I boarded the plane on Friday, I must admit I was a little concerned about how I would feel being the sober person amongst was was sure to be a booze infested weekend for the others. Never in my entire adult life have I experienced being in a party environment without being a partier...I am not one of those people that is just as much fun sober as I am drunk. To those of you that are, kudos - but I am skeptical of anyone that would voluntarily hang around a bunch of drunks and claim to have just as much fun as they do. It's not natural.

My cousin Matt and his fiance Stephanie were letting us crash at their place for the weekend, and on Friday night I experienced the first upside to my being pregnant (besides the whole "baby" deal) - I got a bed to myself! My brother slept on the floor, the homeowners on an air mattress and Jill in a couch/cocoon/bean bag/hot dog device that looked like a recipe for back surgery. I gave a small pat to my belly and thanked the fetus for finally being good for something. While they spent the evening outside having drinks, I coziedup in the bed and read a book. I was asleep within two minutes, at least I didn't even know the fun I was missing.

Day two started with a breakfast that consisted of BACON RICE...my first encounter with this delectable treat and the first time in months I had a homemade breakfast (I don't cook so much). This vacation was panning out to be quite the retreat. We then made our way to the beach, with four people (including me) stuffed in the back seat of a truck and my cousin and aunt as pilot/co pilot. It took us "35 minutes" to get there - my cousin Matt thought it was funny to keep saying this even though it took 1.5hrs, not realizing it's not funny to jack with a pregnant woman about the time frame in which she will get to pee. I got the last laugh though, I just peed on his back seat. They took a cooler with beer to the beach, and there was also a bar less than 100 yards from where we planted our towels. The scene looked like a community college spring break party - not the MTV type co-eds out to hook up, but the people that have night jobs, or full time day jobs, and kids at home and don't have time to f*ck around and are just looking to tie one on. Thank goodness no one was checking me out in my maternity tankini - I guess that's another plus side of pregnancy, usually I'm having to beat guys off with a stick when I go to the beach. The family proceeds to start drinking while I down virgin daiquiris - which at first where delightful and made me feel included in the group - of course the novelty of this wore off when they became drunk and I got a tummy ache from too much pina colada mix. A nice nap on the beach resolved this problem, and before I knew it I was driving everyone home. Last thing I remember from that night is watching my drunk brother and cousin Matt play "cowboy, ninja, bear," a life size version of "paper, rock, scissors," -and me commenting on how nothing is as funny as drunk people think it is, then heading off to bed. Again I read for about three minutes and was out like a light.

Day three was me accompanying them on a bar tour of the "bad part" of Tampa (I live in Philly, it looks like the worst thing that happens in the bad part of Tampa is people don't tip 20%). This actually was fun to get to visit with everyone - we found a bar with mega touch (i am a champion) that served spicy virgin bloody marys and I was a happy camper. We then went to the Hard Rock Casino where my cousin Jill made out like a bandit within 30 minutes. Again we were home early, I was in bed reading, and they had their fun without me.

All in all, this was a fantastic and much needed break. I feel like such a grown up being able to go to the beach and casino w/o drinking. I got tons of sleep and lots of reading done. Plus bacon rice. It's amazing how your perspective changes on what constitutes a good time.

Thanks fam for being so considerate of 71.... I found out this weekend that my baby will be the 71st born into that side of the family. Yet another reason to consider the name "seven" (for those of you that are seinfeld fans).