Two beach trips = one helluva virus?

July 4th weekend was pretty quiet. Rather cool weather-wise, too. But we still made it out, visiting the Minute Man National Historical Park. The trip taught me that no matter what Igor or my mother-in-law say, I should bring food. We were going to eat out, but all the restaurants in town were full. Leaving us to drive home, grumpy and hungry, not able to think clearly of what to eat.

Once Monday rolled around, the heat picked up again. So, I took the family twice to the Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester. The place is fantastic for little kids because the water is shallow and the sand is clean. The first time we went, Nikita hardly left the water. Vanya, however, seems scared of the waves (no matter how small they were). And I had a fantastic swim on Tuesday, having forgotten of my increased buoyancy in salt water. The only problem with the place is timing the tides: Tuesday, the water level was perfect, but Thursday, the tide was so low, it seemed you had to walk a half mile to reach the water, and then another half mile to reach swimmable depth.

Thursday, we went earlier so that we could take advantage of the fantastic clam shacks in the Cape Ann area. My fave is the Clam Box in Ipswich (about 45 minutes from the beach, however!), then we picked up some White Mountain ice cream before heading home.

We were all so tired by Thursday. Igor was wiped, too, from work, so I let him sleep early. Which meant that I had to get the two boys ready for bed. Which completely wiped me out - by the next night, I felt the beginning of a sore throat.

I thought at first the sore throat was the same as the one that lasted 10 days at the beginning of the summer, but this one is much worse: it hurt to speak. The next night, I barely slept. Hard to decide what was the main reason: coughing from my throat or the really loud party down the street. And if that weren't enough, there was a skunk in the neighborhood. Yesterday, I slept nearly half the day, which was good because I had a little bit of a fever and a crushing headache. I'm feeling a little better today, but still need to put on a wool cardigan (in 80 degree weather!) every once in a while. And lest there was any doubt of the viral origin, this morning, my left eye this morning felt a bit puffy.

I actually think I got the virus from Ivan, rather than from the beach. Last Monday, I took him in to see the doctor because of white patches in his mouth. The doctor said it could be a virus, thrush, and/or a cold sore. He's taking Nystatin, which seems to have gotten rid of the thrush. Now, if this virus(es) could just leave us alone...