Sand, flashlights, fireworks

Oh yah, the beach - sand, surf, etc. Sand also means sand fleas and as it turns out they like certain people more than others, like me. I sat in the tide pool with Nora in the afternoon buliding sand castles and playing with a little girl Lily. We made "mud stew", cupcakes and "yucky soup" for the pretent crabs. It was great. Well, at least until I realized later that day that I had a rash on my lower legs. Large (dime-nickle sized welts) red spots. Nothing above the knee. We checked the kids-nothing. Gammie, Papa, and Pete were good to go too. So, was I have a weird soap reaction as I have had in the past (Tide on the sheets?, new body wash-no, etc.). So, I used a little Cortaid and went to the bed. By morning, they were bigger and there were more. I moved on to topical and oral Benedryl. That seemed to take care of it and my Thursday they were almost gone. Moving on, or so I thought.


So, Friday around lunchtime, the rain that had threatened all week actually made it out to the beach along with a pretty nice storm. So lightening, thunder and quite a bit of rain for awhile. We packed up and moved indoors. Worked out well since the big kids were yet to see nightime all week due to early evening pass-outs on the couch. So, we managed to nap all three kids and a Mommy fell asleep on a couch too. They didn't miss anyhitng but rain. This also allowed for a night beach walk with special flashlights, looking for sand crabs and observing some free yet illegal fireworks up and down the beach. It was fun. Dylan went too. He had his own flashlight. Very cute. Kids had a blast.
So, we got back and I was a busy girl. I was finishing packing, had a late night etc. Well in the morning, I realized that I had been bitten by sand fleas again. Only a few I thought. Well, long story short is that by Monday evening, after traveling home Saturday, at home Sunday, back to work on Monday, I had about 30 bites on my legs. They itched like nothing I have ever experienced. 100X worse than a mosquito. I guess since this was the second round or more, my body was not on board. They turned into hives. I would have given everything to erase Tuesday from existance. I have ended up on prescription antihistamine and steroid to manage these. The itching finally stopped Thursday night. They are still there but no longer a hive and are geting smaller. Nasty stuff.