Back to the Beach

Tuesday was another picture filled day at the beach.

Chloe always jumped in to a swimsuit first thing in the morning and on this day she learned to hula hoop while the rest of us got ready.


On Tuesday morning the guys were golfing so the sisters and the kids took another trip to the Fun Zone. We took a walk, rode the ferris wheel and had lunch. They have taken out the carousel which makes no sense to me. They also took out the Scary Dark Ride that was neither scary nor dark but we grew up making fun of it and I do not like to see changes to my places.

Val didn't want to ride so I got both of these cute boys.



The glasses were buy one get one free so we got matching glasses for Chloe and Audrey.


When the guys got home we met up again and rented 3 paddle boards. These are a new addition to the island and since we had watched people using them for days and never saw a single person fall off we figured we could handle them. As it turns out, everyone else could handle them. I could not. I tried for about 2 seconds on my own and jumped off before I even got out of the sand. Then Seth tried to give me a ride on one while I sat down but water started coming up on to the board and I thought we were sinking so I jumped off before we hit deep water. You may be wondering if I mind being the wimp that sits out of everything and the answer is, sometimes yes. But when it comes to water, no, not really. I once fell off a wave runner and hyperventilated so Seth had to drag me and the wave runner to shore. This felt the same. When I got on I could not breathe and that is not fun for me so once I realized that I really just did not want to try it, I stopped feeling bad and had fun watching everyone else get out and give it a go. Plus, if we didn't have a weenie in the group who would take pictures and watch the kids. Just taking one for the team.





Seth and Alyssa went all the way across the bay and here they are on their way back.












I know Kelly was riding with the kids too but somehow this is the only paddle board shot I have of Kel.





Luke and Kristen were the only ones to fall in, but Luke basically jumped in and took Kristen with him.




Alex was jumping up and down and didn't fall and Seth tried to knock Alyssa in and she caught herself so the boards were pretty darn sturdy.


Kristen's boyfriend Niki came out almost every single day but this is the only picture I managed to get of him. Sorry Niki, but it was good to finally meet you!


Another one of the main events from Tuesday night was the wall challenge. Nine years ago Kristen and Valerie swam across the bay and then climbed on to a wall on the other side. It took them forever to get up and was hilarious to watch so they decided to reenact it, joined this time by Kelly and Steven. I am pretty sure, no absolutely sure, that I do not even swim well enough to make it across so once again I was on picture duty. These pics were all taken from the other side of the bay so I did the best I could.

Steven got up pretty much right away and then jumped back in and out repeatedly with little effort.


Kristen was the next one up.



I am liking Val's strategy in this one.

But Kelly was the next one up.


Valerie continued to try for a LONG time. We even had Seth and Jeff go over on paddle boards in case she got too tired and needed a ride back but she was not about to give up. When they came back they were laughing because Steven shushed everyone when she was almost up because he didn't want to distract her and make her fall. I didn't even notice until I loaded the pics to my computer but I caught the shhh on camera.





They did it!!! Val was pretty scraped up but somehow she even had enough strength to swim back across the bay.

And while all this madness was going on I had a close up view of these goofballs playing in the sand. They were having the time of their lives. They were trying to dig a big hot tub in the sand and we were out so long that the tide came in and they were so impressed with themselves. They thought all their hard work had caused the water to fill their hot tub. They kept telling me that they dug the perfect hot tub.







On Tuesday night Jeff and Steven were on dinner duty and we had tri-tip and shrimp with some spicy jalapeno chimichurri. Yum! And then we watched the US women win gold in team gymnastics. I am so glad swimming and gymnastics were on while we were there because I love to watch them with my family. We have many fond memories of Olympics past and it was fun to add to that.

Sorry if you are sick of beach pics by now because we still have 3 more days to go.