Melders Meet HHI, Part II

Wednesday
Our day started similarly to Tuesday with great sleeps, quiet morning before the boys woke and a blitz through breakfast, swimsuit dawning and sunscreen lubing to get to the beach as quickly as possible.  We were more efficient this morning with what we needed to take, etc. and it was less stressful.  Definitely getting into the vacation swing of things!  The boys just love riding their bikes to the beach (or anywhere for that matter!).  This is such a great place to vacation for an active, energetic family like ours!  Again, when we got to the beach it took only seconds before the boys were in the ocean.  This time we brought a boogie board and it took only a few minutes of training for Koen to have the knack of it.   

Koen was begging me to take him "out to sea" as he calls it.  That's when we go out into the bigger waves together and jump them or dive through them, or yesterday I started teaching him to body surf.  Today we brought out the boogie board and he LOVED it!  He quickly gained confidence and spent much of our remaining morning hours riding the waves all the way to shore.

Looks like we have a little wannabe on our heels...

Check out the 5 pelicans fishing up ahead of us.  They are everywhere diving and searching along the tops of the waves.  The boys love it (especially Penn Rye).

Koen gets to ride the wave and Mommy, the trainer, gets splashed in the back.  Ha! 

Finally Koen eventually came in to work on a digging project with his brothers.  It was so cute to see all 3 of them playing/digging together as usually Tav and Koen team up or Tav and Penn, but rarely do all 3 of them find the same thing to do at the same time.

PS - I promise we are feeding Koen...he just has a high metabolism!  
In the picture below, Tav is telling a story about what they are making.  I had to include the picture because of Penn's adorable stance...he was working so hard to fill up that bucket!

As you can tell from the pictures, it was an overcast start to the day and a scheduled high of only 85 (that's low for these parts), so we took advantage of not being quite as sun-drenched as the day before and were happy to enjoy the more mild beach morning.  Our plan was to go back home for lunch again, but with the mild temp and less sun, we decided instead that this was a great day to bike somewhere for lunch (it gets so hot and humid at midday that the thought of the effort of biking to get to lunch is just unbearable).  We figured pizza would be fun, quick and easy.  It started out that way, but started raining just as we arrived in Shelter Cove at the restaurant.  The sun came back out as our pizza arrived and we figured it had all worked out to be perfect timing.  Thumbs up from the Tav.

Well, almost perfect timing.  There was another downpour for our entire bike ride home, but it was super fun and hilarious and we laughed and enjoyed it.  Koen thought it was so exciting and fun and the two little guys in the bike trailer just peered happily out from underneath their plastic canopy.  Disaster averted...we're on vacation.  Don't worry...be happy!  We got the boys down for the naps really quickly after that adventure.  They were bushed!  Koen had some quality rest time too and then around 3:30pm he was ready to get back outdoors and Doug took him this time.  They went for a bike ride and ended up riding on the beach.

The little guys and I joined them around 5pm after yet again suiting up, sunscreening and jumping on our bikes.  Koen had found some starfish that he was so excited to show to Tavin. I was impressed that both boys were willing to pick up the amazing little creatures.  Braver than I!  Tav looks pretty proud of himself.

Koen absolutely loves animals and all sorts of God's creatures these days.  He just soaks up facts and then happily spouts them when the time is right.  He looks like a pro showing off these starfish tentacles.

After a game of beach soccer and lots of splashing and digging, it was time to get these kiddos home for dinner (not to mention Koen was waaaaayyyyy overtired).  We did the blitz bath and into PJ's while dinner was on the grill/stove and then we enjoyed a lovely family meal before putting these tired beach babies to bed.  What a full and lovely day of vacation at the beach.  I even got out one more time for an hour long walk at the beach as the sun set to the West and the clouds reflected it gloriously to the East.  And yet another lame selfie (at least these prove I'm on this vacation too since I'm usually the one behind the camera!).

Thank you, Lord for your imaginative creation.  I'm loving soaking up these beautiful coastline.  It's a treasure to me and a testimony of your greatness and your love for me.  Can't wait to enjoy it more tomorrow!