12 May 2003

 

First Day on the Beach

  • Tobin and Syd on the beach
  • I was awakened by the sunlight filtering through the blinds. I peeked out and watched the later part of the sunrise over the ocean while sitting on the porch hammock swing. Then I woke up Syd to see the beautiful, sunny, cloudless morning sky. She was a little dazed, but soon became excited by the sun and the waves; it suddenly occurred to her - we're at the beach! We rushed through breakfast, grabbed our swimsuits, towels and the beach umbrella, and walked down to the beach.

     

  • Gavin's beach gear, inside
  • Daria, Gavin and Sydney on the beach
  • Bergen-Hill family on beach
  • Daria and Sydney chase the waves
  • The water was at low tide. We made some sandcastles right where the sand started to get wet. The wind was stronger, and it kept uprooting our beach umbrella. Later, Daria and Gavin joined us. We came up with a good strategy for planting the umbrella: dig a deep hole, stick in the umbrella, then pack on sand, wet with water and repeat until there is a big mound of wet hard sand keeping the umbrella in place. Gavin was reclining in his bouncy chair, and Daria relaxed in her beach chair. Soon, both kids wanted to go back inside. I grabbed them both while Daria gathered up the supplies. I started playing with Gavin and Syd; this distraction allowed Daria to return to the beach for an uninterrupted relaxing session in her chair with her book. When everyone started getting hungry, we called her back in; she said that she had seen some dolphins surfacing just offshore.

     

    After we ate lunch, the excitement died down. We used this down time to unpack and settle in to the house. We even got out a 1000-piece puzzle that we had bought back when we were married but never put it together. Eventually, both children were napping, and Daria and I had the house to ourselves. But that didn't last long; Gavin was the first to awaken.

     

     

    A Nice Dinner Outing

    We planned to go out to eat at Quagmires, one of our favorite restaurants that we discovered here 5 years ago during our honeymoon. So, we showered and dressed up a little, then hit the road. We eventually found the place, but the parking lot was empty. The restaurant did not post any business hours; it was obvious that the place was closed, but we wanted to know why. We drove around until we found Kelly's, a nicer place that we also had visited during our honeymoon. The server told us that Quagmires was only open Thursday - Saturday during the off season (e.g. pre-Memorial Day weekend). But our meal was enjoyable, once we adjusted ourselves from expecting Mexican to seafood instead. Both children were very well behaved.

     

  • Bergen-Hill women relaxing in hot tub
  • We returned home at sunset, and decided to jump in the hot tub. Luckily, Gavin fell asleep, leaving Daria, Syd and I to enter the tub together. The tub was located on the upper deck, facing the ocean. We were under a starry sky, and the moon was three-quarters full. With the ocean waves pounding in the background, the setting was very tranquil. [We had learned from yesterday's experience not to turn on the jets while Syd was in the water.] This was a great, relaxing way to cap a wonderful day.

     



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