Vacation 2010, Part Eight

Being five has its privileges.

The resort that we're staying at offers various activities during the day. And being that Will just turned five, he was finally old enough to take part.

We made tie dye shirts earlier in the week.

Wearing plastic gloves + sitting on a plastic tarp in the sun + 100 degree heat = FUN!

Before.

After.

We played Bingo...

He attributes his success to The Force.

He won a gourmet cupcake and

gift certificates to a breakfast buffet and Art Cafe.

At breakfast.

At the Art Cafe.

He picked out a treasure chest and three little fish to go inside.

Three little fish.

He painted the bottom.

I painted the top.

Once he saw the table sitting by the pool, Will has been begging to play "Pong Pong". We didn't correct him because we found this incredibly hilarious.

Playing pong pong.

Diaper wearing, trash talking two year old.

As you might have guessed, there wasn't much of a volley.

Still talking trash. What?!

And lastly, turtle races. The organizers drew two concentric circles and the racers placed their turtles in the inner ring. Whichever turtle made it out of the outer ring was declared the winner.

Picking his turtle.

Getting ready.

The race begins.

The turtle jockey at work.

Will was eliminated in the second round. His prize was a single Silly Band and 2 pieces of candy. But after the haul he took in Bingo, he wasn't complaining.

Vacation 2010, Part Seven

With a few exceptions, it's basically all about the beach, the pool and the ice cream around here.

Last Wednesday, the local theater was offering a change of pace. A free family movie-- "Furry Vengeance"-- with Brendan Fraser. Liam has been to three or four movies in the last couple months-- all animated, so this was a long shot. We went to theater and as we got settled, we prepared ourselves with an exit plan and meeting arrangments should Liam not make it through.

We were sitting there for all of five minutes when I texed this photo to the internets...

... bragging that all I needed was a car seat and a big bag of popcorn to get my barely-two-year-old through a movie. Surely, I jinxed myself.

About thirty minutes into the movie, Liam started chanting, "I want Buzz. I want Buzz. I WANT BUZZ." He's seen the Toy Story movies roughly six-thousand times, so clearly it's his movie of choice. I'm no movie critic, but I assure you that Furry Vengence is no Toy Story.

So within about a half hour, we went from this...

to this...

I spent awhile chasing Liam around the shopping mall that houses the local theater. Then I remembered the toy store that's just around the corner. And it occurred to me that it's way easier to chase a two-year-old in air conditioning than outside with the 110 degree heat index. So into the toy store we went.

I'm not sure why, but both of my boys have always had a thing for doll houses.

And strollers.

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In order to allow Will to partake in some 'big kid' activities, we had planned to split up a few times during the trip. Will has been begging to go play mini-golf all summer and there are a bunch of courses here.

So one night, Will and I headed off to mini golf and Bill and Liam went off on the bike to do some shopping.

On our way to mini golf.

About fifteen minutes later, Bill texted me this photo along with the message, "I'm at a McDonald's drive-thru with Liam on my bike!!!"

Oh boy. Look at Liam. He's two and even he knows this is just wrong.

Meanwhile, Will and I pulled into the mini golf parking lot. Will had a minor meltdown when he learned that we would be eating dinner first at a nearby restaurant. However he quickly recovered when he learned that there would be coloring, ravioli and ice cream.

Another guy too distracted to talk at dinner.

Getting schooled in tic-tac-toe.

I totally asked the waitress to take this picture.

After dinner, we headed over to golf.

Going for a birdie.

The course we were at had lots of water features and traps. The object, of course, is to keep your ball out of the water. However when your five, I suppose that it's much more fun to hit your ball into the water.

"Whoops!" he says, as he hits his ball into the water for the 78th time.

"I'll get it, Mom!"

"Got it!"

And as is customary in first-time mini golf outings, the winner shall receive a glorious trophy.

Meet Crabby, our six thousandth stuffed animal.

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Later in the week, it was Bill's turn to spend some 1-on-1 time with Will. So they went on their annual waverunner trip.

Last year.

Bill not looking at the camera.

This year.

Again with Bill not looking at the camera.

Upon pulling up to the marina, I realized that I had made a critical mistake. I forgot the stroller. This was almost a dealbreaker. But ultimately, I spent quite a bit of time juggling Liam and the camera-- trying to take pictures while trying not to lose my 2-year-old off the dock.

Some more "waverunner pictures".

And here is a "chasing Liam" picture.

Once the big boys were headed to the bay, we headed to breakfast.

Harassing the waitresses again.

"To infinity and beyond..."

Whoa. They don't make pancakes like this in Jersey.

Take note. If ever visiting South Carolina, the pancakes are bigger than your head.

Your welcome.

Vacation 2010, Part Six

A little background information: Bill hates the beach.

He'll protest and he'll say, with a defiant tone, "I don't hate the beach..." And then he'll add, "I just hate the sand." And this, of course, makes no sense at all because beach pretty much equals sand by definition. So, yeah, he hates the beach.

Last Tuesday was our first beach day. Last year, we had rented two kiddie carts. One for the beach stuff and one for the kids-- so we were able to go to and from the beach together. This year, having only one kiddie cart presented a challenge.

Bill drove the van, with all of our beach stuff, and I rode the bike, with all of our kids. Liam had gotten used to riding solo, while Will was on the tag-along, so he wasn't exactly thrilled.

Here was our set-up on the first day. There's a fairly large cooler, a beach bag, and a blanket stashed in the cart in hopes of keeping them clean and dry.

Tuesday was the only day that we made such a big effort. Because, as we soon learned, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

There's Bill and Will playing in the sand and surf. And then there's Liam, keeping clean and dry, at a safe distance. Also, looking completely miserable.

After about two hours, Liam wanted nothing more to do with the beach. Will probably could have stayed all day, but after two hours, he had done a fair amount of swimming and sand castle building himself.

We could have let Liam nap under the umbrella, but the idea of tandem naps on vacation is not a pleasant one. We've been having the kids nap together back at the condo. They sleep for two to three hours and Bill and I have some well-deserved downtime.

So we decided to scale things back for the rest of the trip. All of our next few beach visits were shorter and simpler. Bill and Liam could not be happier and Will and I just go with the flow.

Now that we're packing much lighter, we're able to go to and from the beach together on our bikes.

This is our new set-up. We only carry what we can squeeze into the cart, behind and beside Liam.

We stay for about two hours or so and then we ride back for lunch and naps.

The ride home from the beach is a tough one. Everyone is tired, sandy, hot and hungry. Here's a snap from last year, when the kids shared a cart. We convinced Will to calm down long enough to take this photo, but he was not exactly thrilled about being a pillow for his little brother. Remember-- hot, sweaty, sandy, exhausted-- not exactly the best circumstances for a cuddle.

And here's a snap of us arriving home this year. Will, riding on his own, has been relieved of his 'big brother' duties. He couldn't be happier. Poor Liam on the other hand...

Some more beach photos...

Bill and Liam building a trench.

"Swim through it, not over it..."

Bill and Will working on creating an ocean side pool.

Will and I.

I thought I wanted a bikini-beach-body this summer.

And then I realized that what I really wanted was ice cream every night.

Will tags the beach for me.

The entrance to the public beach, which is totally FREE.

New swings and benches recently added to the beach entrance.

The blue chairs and umbrellas are rentals.

They have fold-up footstools and are so comfortable.

This is how we used to roll-- with a bottle of water, a book and a towel.

The sand here is hard packed.

You can ride bikes on it and water pools on it as the tide rolls in and out.

You can find crabs and jellyfish on the beach when the tide goes out.

You can also find starfish and sand dollars.

For now, we'll be happy if we can find some nice person to take a family photo for us.