Today was a pretty full day and I'm exhausted....so here it goes!
I woke up (the first time) at 5:30 and decided to go back to sleep because it was still too dark to run. So, about an hour later, I got up and hit the beach. I decided I was going to run down the beach 3 miles and turn around and come back. It was a beautiful morning for it. Along the 3 miles out, I watched the sun gradually rise over the water to my right and studied the many beautiful homes to my left. At the 3 mile mark, I turned around and let the sun chase me back. The worst part of my run was the turn around. Nothing quite like looking up and seeing your destination and it appears as though it's about a quarter mile away but knowing it's 3 miles. It never feels any closer!
When I got back into the condo, the kids had just finished up their homemade donuts. Apparently, they were a hit. We all got cleaned up and ready and headed out for a walk. We walked down to the Heron park and wondered around for a while. We found the nature center and pool. We played on the playground and then we headed to the soccer field. I had promised Avin & Parker that we would "go for a run"....so, we raced from goal to goal at the soccer field. Cooper & Reed made their attempts to out pace their big brothers but they couldn't...that is until daddy snatched them up and took them into the lead. After the races, we went to check out the bike rentals. We decided not to commit at that point to renting the kids bikes and everyone was ok with that....except Parker. After convincing him that we were going to get bikes just not right then, we headed back to the condo. The kids all ate an early lunch and Reed went down for a nap. We all hung out in the condo for quite a while (the adults could have the rest of the day). Around 1pm, we decided to get the kids ready for the beach. Reed was still sleeping so Ashley stayed back with him while Amanda and I took the others down. This was the highlight of my day. Avin, Parker & Cooper loved running around in the sand and playing in the water. Cooper was the biggest surprise. As I eluded to in yesterday's post, Cooper refused to come into contact with the sand last year, but this year, she was having a blast splashing around in the water and running around on the beach. It was almost 2 and time to head in. I had called another bike rental place and scheduled delivery of bikes for the kids around 2. We got them back and cleaned up and prepared for the bikes to arrive. While we were waiting, Reed finally decided to wake up (after a solid 3 hr nap). Since neither he or Ashley had been to the beach yet, they decided to go down, along with Amanda, to introduce him. The other kids and I waited, and waited for our bikes. Finally (about 45 late) the bikes arrived. The condo has 4 bike already, but we rented 2 for Avin & Parker as well as a trailer for me to pull Cooper & Reed in. About the time the bikes arrived, Amanda, Ashley & Reed were coming back from the beach. They got themselves together while the rest of us rode around the Parking lot....then, we all went for a ride. We considered riding the bikes to dinner but opted not to for fear that we wouldn't be able to get back before dark. Instead, we did a mile loop around the resort area. Avin had his struggles. Parker, on the other hand, was a champ. Despite struggling a little at times, Avin still claimed that was his favorite part of the day.
Once we arrived back at the condo, we got right into the car and headed to the village for dinner. We've always strategically done early dinners while on vacation in order to beat the crowds. Tonight, we went to Kings Street Cafe. We all had great dinners. Amanda ate what she called "The best salad" she had had in a long time. I did my standard burger. After dinner we stopped in a few shops and ended up buying Cooper and Parker their first pairs of Toms. They were so proud! With their new shoes on, we did more laps around the big Christmas in the middle of the village (we're a bit of a running family if you haven't noticed) then took turns sitting on the antique tractor. After the tractor, it was time to visit Santa. I always get nervous when we do this. Our kids know that Santa is a pretend character but we encourage the imaginative aspect of Santa. I just get nervous that one of them (particularly Parker) is going to run in and yell at the top of his lungs "YOU'RE NOT REAL!" This was not the case tonight. Each of the kids told Santa what they wanted....all but Reed, who let Santa know how he REALLY felt, by screaming. Parker wanted a Lego building, Avin wanted a remote control Lego train and Cooper wanted a pine cone.....yes, a pine cone. We got our complimentary 5x7 and made our way to the market for some Mayfield ice cream. After our bank account busting ice cream from the night before, we opted for $5 worth of Mayfield Birthday Cake and Moosetracks ice cream. It was equal to, if not better than the expensive stuff.
Ice cream devoured, we headed to the car....but not without one more lap around the Christmas tree. It was about 6pm when we returned to the condo. We got the kids all ready for bed and sat down to watch a movie. Open Season was on TV so, the decision was made. During commercials, at one point, we went through everyones highs for the day. For Avin, the high of the day was the bike ride. For Parker it was his new shoes. For Cooper, the high was the bike ride. For Ashley, it was the beach with Reed. Amanda's was breakfast and mine was watching the kids play at the beach.
The kids finished the movie while the adults all drifted in and out of consciousness. Once the movie was over, the kids went down without a fuss. They were exhausted.
It's time for the grown-ups to do the same. The plan is to visit the aquarium in Charleston tomorrow. The forecast is calling for rain, so we'll stick to indoor activities.
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