Monday
Aug282006
FAMILY FUN: Anniversary w/Kids
Monday, August 28, 2006 at 10:00AM
Our Sunday at Portofino Island was, coincidentally, our 18th wedding anniversary -- which I still think is amazing and hard to believe, especially since I’m only 28 [where I’ve stalled for a decade, okay, okay].
While we might have hoped for a romantic getaway without the three children on our anniversary, we really couldn’t complain: We were enjoying true luxury at the beach; sun, fun and being together -- the kids were even getting along!
We enjoyed a lazy Sunday morning, waiting out an early rainstorm, watching cartoons; then we packed up and went to the beach for the day, which was Heaven, even with the kids complaining almost the whole time: "We want to go back to the pool!"
Given the choice between the beach and the pool -- kids will choose the pool every time.
(At least our kids will!)
"Can we go back to the pool now?"
Even with a brand-new skimboard, Zach lasted less than half an hour before he pestered us to let him go back to the condo. His two runs on the skimboard and an attempt at sea kayaking resulted only in a crushed foot -- mine, unfortunately, when I was trying to help him haul the kayak back up the beach against the current. Zach went off on his own, back to the condo. I sat up on the beach with an ice pack from the cooler until the swelling went down and the throbbing stopped -- not the sort of throbbing I was hoping for on my 18th wedding anniversary!
We distracted the younger two and kept them on the beach for a couple of hours with shell hunts, sand castles, lunch and "little baby scallops" [SpongeBob reference!], which Tiger discovered and with which he was fascinated. As the waves crash on the beach and then rush out again, at least at this time of year, hundreds of little tiny clams are uncovered and thrown about in the wash. When the water recedes, the little baby clams quickly dig back down into the sand, so you see all these little shells wriggling down into the sand, disappearing before your very eyes. It is pretty fascinating! It kept Tiger and Haleigh busy, and Russ and I sat on the beach, until I could walk again, and then we enjoyed a long anniversary hobble together along the beach.
We made it back to the condo and cleaned up in time to catch the 5pm water ferry to the Portofino Boardwalk, across the bay on the Pensacola Beach waterfront. We had dinner at our favorite Pcola Beach hangout, Flounders, which is always fun for kids (playground) and adults (Diesel Fuel & Live Music). We water ferried back to the resort to cool down with a late swim, the perfect ending to a magical family getaway weekend.
While we might have hoped for a romantic getaway without the three children on our anniversary, we really couldn’t complain: We were enjoying true luxury at the beach; sun, fun and being together -- the kids were even getting along!
We enjoyed a lazy Sunday morning, waiting out an early rainstorm, watching cartoons; then we packed up and went to the beach for the day, which was Heaven, even with the kids complaining almost the whole time: "We want to go back to the pool!"
Given the choice between the beach and the pool -- kids will choose the pool every time.
(At least our kids will!)
"Can we go back to the pool now?"
Even with a brand-new skimboard, Zach lasted less than half an hour before he pestered us to let him go back to the condo. His two runs on the skimboard and an attempt at sea kayaking resulted only in a crushed foot -- mine, unfortunately, when I was trying to help him haul the kayak back up the beach against the current. Zach went off on his own, back to the condo. I sat up on the beach with an ice pack from the cooler until the swelling went down and the throbbing stopped -- not the sort of throbbing I was hoping for on my 18th wedding anniversary!
We distracted the younger two and kept them on the beach for a couple of hours with shell hunts, sand castles, lunch and "little baby scallops" [SpongeBob reference!], which Tiger discovered and with which he was fascinated. As the waves crash on the beach and then rush out again, at least at this time of year, hundreds of little tiny clams are uncovered and thrown about in the wash. When the water recedes, the little baby clams quickly dig back down into the sand, so you see all these little shells wriggling down into the sand, disappearing before your very eyes. It is pretty fascinating! It kept Tiger and Haleigh busy, and Russ and I sat on the beach, until I could walk again, and then we enjoyed a long anniversary hobble together along the beach.
We made it back to the condo and cleaned up in time to catch the 5pm water ferry to the Portofino Boardwalk, across the bay on the Pensacola Beach waterfront. We had dinner at our favorite Pcola Beach hangout, Flounders, which is always fun for kids (playground) and adults (Diesel Fuel & Live Music). We water ferried back to the resort to cool down with a late swim, the perfect ending to a magical family getaway weekend.
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