Things have been slow around here blog-wise, but crazy chock-full in terms of busy. We’re in recovery from vacation and preparing for the next few adventures.
(Photo by Tom.)
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Home
Technically, we had the vacation house for one more day. But last night Tom and I talked about the trip. There had been lots of swimming, biking, beaching, exploring, and good times with family and friends. We felt like vacation was complete. It seemed if we stayed one more day, it might become that scenario where that tv show you love stays on one season too long—suddenly everyone is not as happy and the jokes are nowhere near as funny. We decided to leave on a high note, even if that meant leaving a day early.
So we emptied the sand from our shoes and packed our bags and loaded everyone into the car at the crack of dawn. The kids held up spectacularly well for the whole drive, as we only stopped by food and bathroom breaks. Hooray for good spirits and the hourly diversions.
A fantastic trip, but, oh, how I love my own bed after being away.
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Vacation: Day 7.5, Dolphin Tour
99% of our vacation we spent hunkered down at the house. We never once went out to eat (although the grown-ups ordered in a few times). We left the house to bike, go to the grocery store, or hit the beach, but left for very little else.
We did, however, decide our one tourist venture would be to seek out some dolphins. They head into the lagoon in search of dinner, which makes for a great viewing opportunity. Unfortunately, the dolphins were way more interested in looking for food than entertaining us, but we did get to see them slip in and out of the water here and there.
Scott, our faithful captain, kept us entertained with showing us the zillions of oysters, viewable when the tide comes in (the first photo). He even pulled a crab on board for inspection. But mostly the kids loved the speedboat, zooming through the water. Ellery did almost fall asleep at one point, which is a hazard of scheduling our tour during nap time.
Undoubtedly, the tour was well worth leaving the house. But then we went home, put our bathing suits back on, and got back to business as usual.
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Vacation: Day 6, The Pool
Oh, how these children love the pool. If they had their way, they’d never go to the beach. None of them can really get past the salty part, and they’re too small to really grasp the awesomeness of boogie boarding. Only Ellery loves it, as she is content to hang out in the world’s largest sandbox, mixing and stirring and building.
So we’re spending a lot of time in the pool.
Clearly, the best investment we’ve made so far is the killer whale pool toy, which has Neko beside herself with excitement. She’s been dreaming of a killer whale she can really ride, and before our eyes she has transformed the pool into our own private Shamu show.
Shep? He’s hiding from the camera this trip. But I swear he was here.
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Shep discovers Pac Man
My camera was still defogging for the day when I shot this, but I couldn’t miss the moment.
D has Pac Man on her iPad. When Shep discovered this, he gave it a try. And then he became a little obsessed.
While waiting for us to allow them in the pool (no pool before 9am…aren’t we unreasonable?), he built this Pac Man replica with his Bakugan ball as Pac Man and his GoGos as dots. It’s like we’re back in the 80’s around here, with all the dot eating sounds in the background.
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Vacation: Days 2–5, The Beach
We made it. The house is stocked. The beach is beautiful. The pool is great, although the shallow end could be about a foot shorter (Shep is barely able to keep his mouth above water).
But documentation? Not so good. Between the humidity, the air conditioned house where I keep my camera, and the record-setting high temperatures outside, a recipe for photo disaster was created.
Every time I took my camera outside, the lens fogged up. For hours. Then I would take it inside, and I’d have the same problem in reverse. It took me until mid-week to learn to set my camera out on the porch first thing in the morning to let it heat up before the activities began.
So in the days in between we’ve been enjoying vacation. The kids are swimming nearly every spare moment. There are bike paths everywhere, of which Neko and I have been making good use. R&D have joined us for the first portion of the trip, which has been great, since we don’t see anywhere near enough of them. That four adults to three kids ratio is pretty spectacular, too.
So just imagine that there are nice photos here. And a phone call to my brother-in-law Doug to wish him a happy birthday, which was Monday, because somehow that did not get scheduled as a recurring event on my calendar. Happy birthday, Doug!
The lesson here? Technology is nice to have, but is just as finicky as anything else.
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Vacation: Day 1, Asheville
With a massive drive to make to get to the beach, we decided it might be wise to break it into two chunks. So we stopped to see an old friend along the way. She has two kids, so it was perfect for us all to hook up.
One of the features of the place Julie took us to was a working farm. Where, out of all there was to do, Neko found a huge pen of chickens, and reached nirvana. I love that we travel so far to see new things, and she seeks out the comforts of home.
It was fantastic to see Julie and the kids, and we were overwhelmed by her hospitality. Exhausted, everyone climbed into bed far too late, trying to catch a few hours of sleep before we continued our journey.
