It dawned on me this morning that more days have past here than remain. It's a sad truth but the timing is always about right. We love it here, but (for me) there's still no place like home. I have to say, it was at least a little comical to read all the facebook posts coming out of Evansville yesterday referring to the snow as we watched the sun reflect out over the Atlantic. We look forward to the activities of these last days of our trip.
Today was another chilly but beautiful day. I woke up and set out for a run around 6:30. The sun was just peaking out and the heavily wooded trails were still pretty dark. At one point, I rounded a turn, looked up and froze. Ahead of me, about 50 feet, was a deer. I slowly backed away and had a good 5 minute staring contest with the lovely doe. She finally retreated and I pressed on. I got to my turnaround point and worked my way back and once again came across a deer. This time it was a buck and this time he ducked into the woods right away.
Much to my surprise, when I got back to the condo, it was still quiet....but not for long. The kids began stirring and we all got up and got ready for the day. The kids ate some pancakes and we got them geared up for another bike ride. Our original plan was to do the same 8 mile round trip as yesterday. It was pretty clear early on that pulling off that ride for a second, consecutive day would be a challange. Between Cooper and Reed trading off crying spells and the boys obvious fatigue, it would take everything they had. At one point of the ride, Parker, Ashley and I had a pretty close encounter with a pretty good sized buck. He leaped across the trail into the woods and then we could hear him and another deer sparring. That freaked Parker out a little, but the good news was that it was the fastest he had pedaled the whole time. We reached the the 2 mile mark and discussed with Avin & Parker whether or not we should continue. They both were adamant that we proceed. It was pretty funny though when it only took about another quarter mile for their minds to change. So....it was back to the condo. Cooper was showing signs of being tired so we made an attempt to put her to bed while we ate lunch. That didn't fly! Finally, after a long battle, she came out to join us. With everyone fed, we decided to take our ice cream trip early. We've been wanting to try "Vincent's." It's a pharmacy and soda/ice cream shop located in the village. The kids all got little sundaes, Ashley got a giant scoop of Birthday cake ice cream, I got a chocolate shake and Amanda happily watched (she's a champ). It wouldn't be a trip to the Freshfield Village without some laps around the Christmas tree. The kids ran off some energy while Ashley & Amanda visited some of the shops. We then packed up and headed back to the condo once again. Before we returned, however, we drove further down the island to explore a bit. We ended up in a beautiful residential community full of some amazing homes each of which had unique southern character and style (not to mention, they were huge).
Having been on her feet most the day, Amanda decided to get some rest while Reed took a nap. With the two of them sleeping, I gave the other kids the option of going to the playground or riding bikes on the beach. Avin & Parker have been begging to ride on the beach for the past few days, despite our telling them that it would be tough for them to ride on the sand. The votes were unanimous, the beach it is! It didn't take long for Avin to speak up and say "this wasn't a very good idea." Ashley & I made sure to remind him that it was HIS idea. We didn't cover a considerable distance but we did have a great time. We stopped in a few areas to search for shells, crabs and other sea treasures. We collected several cool shells, a starfish and the tail of what had to have been a huge horseshoe crab. Parker & Cooper enjoyed collecting things but Avin was more interested in drawing in the sand. At one point, he wrote the words, "DAD I WANT TO HAVE FUN." I convinced him we were having fun and we started our way back. The beach is just soft enough to make riding a little more difficult but it is beautiful. It's amazing to see the difference in high tide and low tide. In high tide, the beach practically disappears, however, in low tide, 6 lanes of traffic could pass between the trees and the water. The areas that we most recently touched by waves seemed to create the best surface for riding. Once we were back, we locked the bikes back up and headed in. While I cleaned our pile of treasures, the kids stormed our bedroom, waking their mother. By now, it was time to start getting things together for dinner. We bathed the kids and Amanda started her homemade pizzas.
Ashley was kind enough to allow Amanda & I a date night. With the kids fed, we got ourselves cleaned up and headed to Hege's in (you guessed it) the village. The meal was amazing and the time together was even better. We don't get a lot of dates, for obvious reasons, and we certainly don't ever get to go out just the two of us while on any sort of trip. Amanda ordered crab cakes and I ordered a steak. Amanda really liked hers but was too full too fast. I on the other had no problem devouring my filet mignon. As we were enjoying our pumkin bread pudding dessert and tending to the bill, Amanda's phone rang. It was Ashley. Within seconds of answering the phone, I could tell by her expression that panic was setting in. She quickly excused herself from the table (nearly taking the table cloth with her) to see what was going on. Suddenly, she reentered the room, handed me the phone and said, "I lost her, call her back and see what's going on while I pay." I could tell she was scared that something terrible had happened, and it didn't help that the call seemed to have dropped. So, I exited the restaurant and called Ashley. In a very calm voice, Ashley answered saying, "Sorry, I went to put Reed to bed and I think Cooper called you while she was playing with my phone." That would explain the undecernable speaking and loud sounds on the other end. Once Amanda's heart returned to her chest, we were able to laugh about it. It didn't help that she had a moment of fear and discomfort as we left the condo for our dinner date. She asked on of those "what if...." questions that, I believe kept worry in the back of her mind all night.
Our dinner was fantastic though. We discussed the future of our family and the excitement and even the fears that come with adding two more to our already seemingly large brood. We also discussed the things that we've loved about our time here. Moments with the kids, beautiful sites, etc.
When we returned, Ashley was working on getting Avin, Parker & Cooper to bed. We went in and told them goodnight and then the 3 of us sat and chatted for a bit.
Everyone has now retreated to their beds and I'm anxious to do the same.
Goodnight,
JS
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