Melders Meet HHI, Part IV

Friday
I think perhaps Friday was my favorite day thus far on this lovely family vacation to HHI.  We just made the most of every moment, the boys were in good spirits, the weather was pristine (mid-80's, less humidity, sunny and a breeze) and of course, there was the beach.  We got to the beach at 9:30am and the tide was out, but starting to come back in.  At first the waves were just choppy, frequent and small, but later they really got rolling and Koen had an opportunity to work on his boogie-boarding skills.  Doug took Tavin out to teach him to ride too.  They had a blast!

I love this one because you can see how Tav holds his breath with his cheeks all puffed out.

So I mentioned that the boys were all in great spirits and overall that was the case, but the morning was a little rough for Tav.  He was TIRED.  We were still paying for the fact that we thought he didn't need a nap yesterday.  Yeah, that is definitely not happening again.  Here's exhausted Tav taking a chill (with a significant pout on his face) at the beach.

At about noon, we headed off the beach for a refreshing splash at the pool and a snacky lunch poolside.  It was perfect!  (And just what Tavin needed to get a second wind).  Penn hasn't been happier on this trip.  Although he's a good sport at the beach and can get very into jumping in the waves or playing ball on the sand, the whole windy, salty, sandy experience can be a tad overwhelming to him.  The pool was more his thing.

Penn experiments with swimming moves in his little puddle jumper every time we take him out in it.  On this pool visit (on his own initiative) he mastered laying on his back and kicking his legs.  

This is just one of his moves.  Balancing on his back with his feet out.  Could he be any funnier?

After Doug gave him a ride on his back, Koen wanted to do the same.  Penn LOVED it.  Tav got to ride on Doug and they had fun scooting around the baby pool like crabs with barnacles on their backs.

This is a pretty cute pair.  Koen was being so sweet with Penn and when he wants to, he can do such a great job communicating patiently with Penn.

Koen and Tavin had a huge second wind after leaving the beach and being refreshed by the easiness of the pool atmosphere.  They made up this crazy game in the pool.  Tavin said, "I'm a crocodile" and then Koen said, "well, I'm a pink hippopotamus.  They are enemies and are both masters of the river, so they have to defend it and try to kill each other."  And then the mayhem of pretend attacking ensued.  Doug had to catch a video because amidst the craziness of the big boys, Penn was just happily going about his business of floating around and having a blast in his own little world and it was just quite the cute contrast!

Around 1:15pm I took the little guys back for naps.  Doug and Koen stayed at the pool until about 2pm.  Koen has been pretty tired in the afternoons too and has enjoyed long stints of quiet time with audio books or a movie and that's been nice for Doug and I so we get some quiet time too.  Everybody was up and ready to go by 4:30pm, so we decided to let the boys decide beach or pool (Doug and I couldn't decide if we wanted to do all the effort to go back to the beach even though we both enjoy it so much, so we figured we'd let the boys make the call...nothing like indecisive parents).  The boys voted for more pool play, so that's where we headed.  We did the baby pool and the big pool this time.  Doug shot the boys out into the pool like cannonballs out of a cannon and they loved it.  Check out Tavin flying through the air.

And then this is what Koen calls the "advanced version."  Doug goes underwater and Koen stands on his shoulders and then pops up and shoots him into the air.  It works pretty well!  My Dad used to launch my brother, Phil, and I this way at the lake at our summer camp.  It brought back memories to watch the boys enjoying the same exact thing.

Around 6pm we headed back home to grill up our dinner and wind things down right on time.  I got to take another walk on the beach after the boys were in bed.  It was glorious.  Almost cool with the beautiful, strong breeze and less humidity.  It is amazing having the beach just a few steps away.

Saturday
Doug and I are at the point in this vacation where we are physically exhausted!  We are both super active with the boys at home, but this rigorous routine of outdoor elements and activities has us a little drained.  But it feels good to know we've been making the most of this opportunity and we are both quite rested in other ways with just the break from the normal routine of home, Doug's work and the usual things to do.  We'll have some time to sit too on that long car ride home, so I think we will arrive in Pittsburgh on Tuesday well-roundedly-rested and hopefully ready to return to the regular summer routine.  We woke up to overcast skies and a light rain, but the forecast said scattered showers were 30% chance, so we decided to do our usual morning beach routine.  We are so glad we did too because it was completely dead on the beach.  A local resident was chatting to Doug and said Saturdays are the best day for the beach because for renters, that's the check-out/check-in day and everyone's off cleaning and packing up and can't get to the beach in the AM.  We practically had it to ourselves for hours.  The tide was out too, so there was plenty of space to play.  With the sun hiding behind the clouds it was less hot and even more comfortable than the past few days.  Right after arriving at the beach, we realized we forgot something so Doug biked back to the house and I killed some time on the beach with the boys letting them take pictures.  Here's the only good one we got (Koen was the photographer).

Soon after heading to the waves to cool off a little, we found a real live shrimp.  Koen was very interested in it and kept picking it up and handling it.  At one point, Penn dropped a soccer ball on it.  I felt bad for little shrimpie.  Eventually the probably relieved and half-dead shrimp got thrown back in the ocean.

Usually about an hour into our beach mornings, Penn needs a little chill time.  This usually involves a granola bar and a rest in the chair.  This morning he asked for his "Beep, Beep" blanket which is his lovey he sleeps with.  Obviously, I didn't have it at the beach, but I improvised with a soft towel.  He went with it.

To buy some more time from our youngest for this long morning at the beach (we ended up staying over 3 hours, our longest AM trip yet!), I dug a pool for he and Tavin to work on and play in.  They got super silly with it and Penn just loved mimicking all of Tav's ideas, moves and sound effects.

Here's a video...

Koen spent a ton of time out in the waves with Doug.  He just loves riding them on his boogie board.  He asked me to go "out to sea" with him too though and he wanted to just "duck dive" and jump in the waves with me instead of use the boogie board.  We had a blast working on our bodysurfing skills.  Koen is getting so brave in the waves and working on his swimming skills in the ocean.  It's so exciting!  Doug actually caught some pictures of our fun.

I'm a little focused here and Koen is happy to try and keep up.  So cute!

Both going for it!

Doug also caught some pics of the sweet little guys (you can see K & I in the distance behind them, like I said, we were pretty much the only ones at the beach!).  Sorry for how many there are, but i just couldn't pick a favorite.  Can you?

Penn was literally embracing the waves.  We have to keep a close eye on that one!

After the water fun it was time to drip dry for awhile.  The boys found an abandoned huge sand castle that they worked hard to modify into a fort complete with dozens of cannons.

Before leaving the beach we also found another critter, a fast moving, tiny crab.  (It's in the lower right-hand of the pic).

We grilled hot dogs for lunch which the boys gobbled up as if they'd never eaten before.  These long mornings out in the fresh air have certainly churned up a big appetite!  Then it was nap/rest-time (ahhhhhh....).  It was still pretty overcast in the late afternoon, so we decided that rather than do another water activity (pool/ocean) we should bike ride to a dinner spot.  Tavin rode in the bike trailer with Penn.  They are quite a cute pair in those tight quarters.  We stopped for a water and picture break along the way to our dinner destination.

A little farther along we stopped on a footbridge to see if we could spot any alligators.  At first some turtles came over to see us (3 to be exact!).

And then moments later an alligator came swimming over.  Yuck!!  They give me the creeps!  People must not obey the signs all around this area saying, "Do Not Feed the Alligators" because these animals definitely knew to come right over to the humans staring at them.  They just swam beneath us as if posing for the pictures.  

Note here how the turtles are swimming right towards the alligator.  They must not be afraid of him and he must not care about eating them because they were nipping at his feet and swimming across his tail and he only seemed mildly annoyed.  Strange!

After that exciting spotting we headed on to really get to our destination this time. =)  We tried a restaurant at Coligny Plaza, a classic spot on Hilton Head supposedly.  Seemed more of a tourist trap, but it was interesting to see all the quintessential beach shops and outdoor attractions.  Unfortunately our dinner was a let down.  The boys were happy with theirs, but ours was just not good.  Oh well, one miss after a week of several meals out isn't bad I guess.  After finishing dinner we headed back onto our bikes and Doug had the fantastic idea of riding home via the beach!  Coligny Beach is a huge space with bathhouses, swings, live music and tons of people.  Once we navigated through that we just turned left and quickly rode home to our part of the island.  It even cut off about a mile of the ride.  I got to take some pictures of the majority of our caravan on the move with the clouds and the waves in the background.  Not a bad vacation outing!

Koen was such a good biker on our little journey.  He was a great listener and obeyed all the instructions he was given.  I was so thankful to see that in him when push came to shove (because in the regular routine of the day sometimes these traits can be tough to spot at this stage with this one).  He got a little crazy on the way home, but who can blame him.  He was tired, full and ready for a good night's sleep.  =)

We got the bikes back to the house just as the thunder started to rumble.  We quickly got the boys to bed and then had yet another relaxing evening reading, chatting, watching some TV.  Ah, these nights of little responsibility have been so restoring for us both.  Stay tuned for more on the blog as our vacation winds down towards departure...