HHI 2015, Part 4

Saturday
As I mentioned in the last post, I've been having fun taking pics with Jansen before or after our quiet nursing sessions.  I figure I should get some shots of these tiny loves before this little guy gets much bigger.  I went a little crazy, so sorry, but I just want to have these photos to look back on.  He'll never be this little again.

Abbie got some good snuggles in the AM too.  

Now, enough Janse pictures for a paragraph or two, back to the beach...

We are definitely of the lineage that we can only take so many days in the sun.  Poor Tavin bears the brunt of these genes, but even still, our bodies just can't take the intense attention of the sun on a day after day beach vacation.  Last year we had much more stormy weather on and off that forced us to take off a morning or afternoon here or there.  But this year, we are just hitting the beach and pool hard since the weather has been perfect for it and after all, that's what we came down here for!  None of us has gotten sunburned (well, none of us Melders, Abbie and Zac have had a bit of burn), but we are all getting heat rashes and sun rashes of different sorts (and it's a good thing we all, yep, even Doug and I, wear rash guards now as I'm sure that has alleviated a lot of other issues/burns/applying more sunscreen/etc).  Poor Tavin's face was especially bad on Saturday morning, so we decided to change up the routine.  He and Penn stayed home with me in the morning and then Doug took Koen out to the waves for an hour or so.  When they returned, Doug took all 3 bigger boys on a bike ride to a destination for lunch about 3 miles away.  Hot day for a bike ride, but Tav's face was still out of the sun much of the ride, but the poor kid discovered that he is a major sweater in the relentless heat.  Even they guy at the restaurant pointed it out because he was so red in the face and dripping!!  Thankfully, Tav cooled down throughout lunch and got an ice cream cone at the end as part of his kid's meal.  Happy, messy ice cream eater!

With the big boys all out and about with Doug, Jansen and I went to the beach with Uncle Zac and Aunt Abbie.  I was really trying to keep him out of the sun and not have him out in the heat much either, so I kept the visit to an hour and had him shaded the whole time.  We had a lovely walk along the hard-packed beach and then played in the water a bit.  I got these pictures of Jansen with Ab and Zac as I packed up the stroller to head back for lunch and Jansen's nap.

I've been giving Jansen a bath immediately after we return from the beach so that I can wash that sunscreen off ASAP.  He loves the refreshment of the bath and the pleasure of kicking and splashing too.  I had to get a picture, right??

After his little bath, it was right to nap. These mornings at the beach just wear out the little guy!!  Doug soon got back with some VERY hot kids from their lunch bike ride.  I got to hang with Koen and Tav at the pool for awhile.  They were so happy to cool off.  After about 30 minutes or so swimming in the pool, they were just deliriously tired.  Clearly time to go home for some rest time!!  We stayed in until after the early dinner we fed the kids and then it was out to the beach to attempt family photos!!  I'm going to do a post for the photo shoot, but here's a taste of the best...

And the not the so good...

It was a super bright, sunny night (but gorgeous).  We just knew the kids were too tired to wait until after the sun went down more (and we didn't really want them up past bedtime anyways, we are all soooooo tired at the end of the day!).  We let the boys play a little bit after the photo shoot and then headed back to the house for bath and bed.  Then Doug and Zac ran out and grabbed some amazing Carolina BBQ for our dinner.  We had such a fun time around the dinner table unwinding after the busy, loud day.  Then, of course, we all turned in and slept hard yet again.  The beach air and these boys are the perfect way to earn a good night's sleep! =)

Sunday
We again adjusted our daily routine a bit to give Tav a bit of a break.  Doug got Koen, Tav and Penn to the beach right after breakfast. Then I laid Jansen down for his nap and Ab and Zac stayed at the house (they move slower than we do in the AM anyways!) and I got to go to the beach with my boys.  SOOOOO happy!  I took some pics and rode some waves.  Here's the little beach hat buddies doing their thing...

Here's a video of the hilarious duo they are in the water...

And here's a video of Doug and Koen out in the waves.  Koen can really ride 'em!

Koen loves one on one time with me right now and I was excited to get out in the waves with him.  First we went out without boards and just paddled around for awhile chatting (Koen's love language...I wonder where he inherited that from?!).

Then we got the boards out and had a blast trying to catch rides on the waves.  Koen is so good at it since he is so lightweight!

This might be an all-time favorite pic of he and I together.  =)

Around 10:30am, we got the boys off the beach as the sun was getting higher and more intense.  I headed back to the house to feed Jansen and Doug took the boys to the pool to cool off.  Thankfully the pool offers some great shade, so the boys can still be outdoors, but not in the intense heat and sun.  After I fed Jansen, I got to meet the boys at the pool and get Jansen in it for the first time.  He, as usual, was calm, cool and collected about the new experience.  No crying at all and was kicking his legs and enjoyed playing with some pool toys.  Looks like another water baby!  

Doug attempted to get a picture of mom with all her pool pals.  Check out the three hilarious shots...

After pool time, all the boys were worn out!  Today we knew we needed to give them all plenty of rest time.  This day after day of being out in the sun and fresh air and water has us all quite tired by midday (and that means the boys get crazy silly, or really poor behavior).  Rest time was rejuvenating and we had made plans to go back to the beach in the late afternoon before feeding boys dinner, but a large storm system moved in right as we were hoping to leave.  It was a blessing in disguise though as we all enjoyed some family time at the house.  We all hung out on the back porch enjoying the breeze of the storm.  Some of the boys played Uno with Doug and Aunt Abbie, I fed Janse his cereal out there and Zac and Penn were hanging out watching the rest of us and chatting.  Simple moments are sometimes the best.  The storm ended up being quite a dud though, so after feeding the boys dinner, we all split up for some low key activities.  Zac and Koen flew Koen's little remote control drone, an activity they've enjoyed practically daily (Koen absolutely adores Zac and so looked forward to one-on-one time with him this trip!).  Tav and Penn played in the playroom under Ab's supervision and Doug and I took a walk to the beach with Jansen in the BabyBjorn (and we invited Koen to join us on his bike since his drone battery only lasts a little while).  I'm so glad Doug had this idea of risking a walk to the beach.  It was beautiful, but it was also the only time Doug and I had gotten to take a little stroll together on the beach.  It was brief, but it was one of the highlights of our visit.  The landscape was especially interesting with the storm clouds in the distance and the gray sky, very calming.  Jansen was hilarious, so cheerful and adorable in the BabyBjorn.  Shouldn't he be in a commercial for this thing or something?

Doug and I managed to get a picture too, with Jansen's head in it of course.

This picture makes me think of when it was just us and one baby.  Crazy how time flies and now we have four little guys?!?!

We walked back in time to get Jansen down for his catnap before bed (babies just don't know how good they've got it) and to get the rest of the children bathed and ready for an on time bedtime.  After that routine was over, Abbie and I got to go out for one final evening walk on the beach.  Such a blessing to have had all this sister time and at none other than one of our favorite places in the world...the beach!

Truly a wonderful last full day on vacation (and equally exhausting!).  The boys are ready to head home to their usual routine and less intense heat and sun exposure.  I guess I'm ready to in a way, but being at the ocean is such a favorite of mine, it is so hard to say goodbye!