After her chemotherapy began and we started to get into the pattern of treatment, things settled down a little bit (it's all relative, of course). We were given information about some foundations and charities that provide services and assistance to families in our situation. You may have heard of some of then, such as Casey Cares. Casey Cares has already given us tickets to some local events in the Baltimore area. For that we are very grateful.
We then learned about Believe in Tomorrow. This foundation provides hospital and respite housing to families with critically ill children. They have a couple beach houses in Ocean City, another in North Carolina, and a house in Western Maryland. They allow families to stay there free of charge.
We made arrangements to stay there over the President's Day weekend. My kids originally had both Monday and Tuesday off from school, however because Carroll County Public Schools are liberal in there closings (they closed schools several times because of a dusting of snow and once because it might rain), the schools had used up all of their snow days and were actually in the minus. Therefore, the decision was made to open schools on Tuesday. But we already had plans, so they were coming. The net of this was we were taking them out of school for Friday and Tuesday.
We arrived at the house on the beach around 11:30. I checked in and was told that they were getting a package together for us that included meals and activities. I wasn't really expecting this. We had packed several meals in the cooler to prepare ourselves.
We got to our room and it was fantastic. It was extremely clean. You know my disdain for the overuse of the word "extreme", but this place was spotless. It had 3 bedrooms, 2 of the bedrooms had 2 beds. One was a parents' room, one was specifically for younger children and included both a boy's bed and a girl's bed. The other room was more neutral.
Fortunately our place was just up the block from Freedom ABBA's Bail Bonds. You know. Just in case.
Being February in Maryland, we didn't expect it to be too warm, but it was very warm on Friday. The temperature got up to 72. After some subs and pizza from Fat Daddy's, we spent most of the day playing on the beach in our shorts - something we don't do in Maryland in February. We put our toes in the water to feel how cold it was. It was almost instant pain. PAIN! It was so cold it hurt. The beach was nearly abandoned. As far as I could see there were probably 10-15 people total in both directions. This on a beach that would have thousands of people in the summer.
Every little kid has to throw sand into the ocean. If you have kids you know exactly what I mean. This one is 9 years old and he still does it!
When dinner time arrived we decided that we would use the gift card that was provided to us for The Outback Steakhouse in West Ocean City. We presented the gift card prior to ordering and the waiter said he would take care of us. I got a steak ciabatta. My wife got steak, my 2 older kids got ribs, and my daughter Payton, my 3 year old, got chicken strips. It was a good meal.
At the end of the meal the manager came over and asked how everything was. We told him it was great and explained that we were staying at the Believe in Tomorrow place and that Outback had donated the gift card to us and we were truly thankful. He said he knew the head of the foundation and was glad we got to come to his restaurant. He wished us luck with everything, left, and then returned with a bag full of commemorative Outback Steakhouse pins from each of the different holidays.
That evening we went out on the beach and took some photos playing with the shutter speed. I took this photo of the moon capturing the reflection off of the water and the beach. It really looks like it could be the sun and in the daytime, doesn't it?
My daughter and I then started messing with some time-lapsed photography of cars driving by. I think these are pretty cool.
The next day we used our passes to the Indoor Old Pro golf facility. Payton had a great time and I think she shot a 3 under par. Somehow my 9 year old son beat me. Legitimately. Am I really at that point in my life already???
Next we used a pass to Fun City Arcade. They gave us $40 in quarters to spend. My kids had a blast. They did everything from play video games, skee-ball, the quarter-pushing machine, and the crane that never picks up anything.
I really like this picture I took:
Later we went down the boardwalk and used our passes to the Ocean City Life Saving Museum. I had always wanted to go through it, but normally when you're on vacation you have a million other things you'd rather do (or more accurately a million other things your family would rather do). I found the museum very interesting. It's mostly one of those pictures and read as you go museums. It discussed the history of Ocean City and the changes that the town has experienced over 150 or so years. Upstairs were artifacts, such as the bathing suits over the years (apparently there were no thongs back in the 1920's), items that have washed up on shore or were recovered from shipwrecks, and other attractions that were once displayed in the various arcades and amusement parks on the boardwalk.
That evening we went to Mancini's in Fenwick Island, Delaware. During the summer it would probably take you an hour to get there. In February - 10 minutes. We presented the waiter with our certificate for a meal and asked him what that permitted us to get. He said we could get anything we wanted. Anything. Anything!!!
I didn't want to be a total gluten, but I got Clams Casino, a Gorgonzola salad, seafood primavera, and an iced tea. It was fantastic. And I ate it all! My oldest daughter got cream of crab soup, a Caesar salad, and crab raviolis. She said the food was awesome, but after the salad, bread, and soup, wasn't able to eat too much of the raviolis, but she did eat more the next day. My wife got soup, Caesar salad, and a seafood pasta without the marinara sauce. My son got the salad and crab and spinich pizza, He only ate one slice of the pizza and was stuffed. He's not much into leftovers, so I was the beneficiary of those. Yumm!!! Payton, on the other hand, only wanted plain spaghetti. But that's okay.
The waiter didn't give us a bill, but we still wanted to tip him as he did a fantastic job serving us. I mentally calculated the bill and estimated it to be between $125 and $140. Wow!!! We don't normally eat at places like this. We gave him a $25 tip. I hope that was enough. Again, we asked for the manager and told him that Mancini's had donated the meal to Believe in Tomorrow and we were the recipients of that meal. We told him the meal was one of the best we had ever had and thanked him profusely. He appreciated that praise and also wished us well.
The next morning we used our certificate for a box of donuts from The Fractured Prune. Let me tell you these donuts were good! They made them right there in front of us. The box was hot as I was taking it to the car. I saw their Believe in Tomorrow plaque on the wall and told them we were staying there and thanked them for donating the donuts to us. I asked them how they came up with the name "The Fractured Prune". She told me to turn around as the story was written on the wall. If you're interested, here is the story.
My mother in-law and sister-in-law also came to the beach (they have their own condominium) and they took my wife and daughters shopping at the outlets up in Rehoboth. I used this opportunity to take my son and nephew to Planet Maze, who gave us a day pass to their place. They are located around 30th street on Ocean Highway. They offer laser tag, video games, food, ball pits, and miniature golf. You can hold birthday parties there, too. We decided that we were only interested in the laser tag. We played for over 2 hours with various other guests. One game was as small at 4 people, another must have had 25. I don't know how he did it, but my nephew crushed everyone nearly every time. He'd have twice as many points as the next closest person. I use the old go-cart analogy. You know how there's always at least one go-cart that someone messed with that's just a bit faster than all the other go-carts. That must have been my nephews laser gun. Anyway, by the time we finished my shirt was soaking wet. I don't sweat that much in step aerobics, but boy was I a sloppy mess.
After laser tag, we traveled the boardwalk for a while (it was very windy - in fact a girl in a blue dress with a little dog blew right past us!). We stopped for lunch as Caruso's (no gift certificate), but the food is always good there, though expensive. 2 subs and a slice of pizza was $30.
We made a stop in Candy Kitchen. Can't go to Ocean City without stopping in Candy Kitchen 10 times. Am I the only person under 75 that likes fruit slices???
Finally, we wrapped it up with some french fries from Thrashers. Gotta love Thrasher's french fries. We started heading back because my nephew had to go home because they were supposed to have school on Tuesday. However, they were calling for snow.
The next day we woke to snow in Ocean City. We watched the local news and wouldn't you know it? Schools were closed!!! I gathered my oldest daughter and the camera and we headed to the beach. The sidewalks and road were very slippery. There wasn't much snow, just enough to make most things white. I snapped a few pictures of the snow on the dunes and some on the beach just to prove that we saw it.
We headed home on Tuesday afternoon making a couple of stops (3 kids, one who is 3 years old and hates to travel). We got lunch at Arby's in Salisbury and stopped at the outlets in Queenstown. My son entertained us with requesting that they play tag and hide-and-seek in the car.
So that was our trip. Thank you so much Believe in Tomorrow for making this trip possible for us. It rejuvenated us, allowed us to spend time away from everything that is reminding us that my daughter has cancer, and allowed us to be a happy family together for few days. This is not a feeling that we have had much in the last few months. Hopefully my daughter's treatment can continue to go well and we can make another trip soon.
Please support the businesses that made contributions to Believe in Tomorrow. They are wonderful companies for caring!
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