Since we'll be in 'close quarters' down in Florida, seemed like a good idea to get the boys used to being bunkmates. Worked out pretty well until 5:30 AM when Eric decided he was not a fan of the nightlight, and then too awake to go back to sleep. No fun being awake alone, so Mom took one for the team until 6:30 and Evan decided he was ready to start the day. He did win some points at breakfast though by saying "Mom, today is the day we see Cal Ripken and the Hall of Fame, right?" The kid might bleed Eagles green, but he still has his priorities straight (sadly, we did not see Cal Ripken, but Grampy and Uncle Tom should have some great firsthand stories for us).
After breakfast, it was off to the beach! Getting there is kind of like unpacking a storage closet--it's amazing how many things you can pack into a wagon (plus 2 kids) and how much space all that stuff takes up when you get it all out and set up. Kudos to Ethan for pulling it across the dry sand (he said he felt like a contestant in the Strongest Man in the World contest pulling an 18 wheeler).
Eric's first few minutes in the sand didn't go too well, but once he accepted the fact that sand was going to be stuck on him for a good couple of hours, he really got into it.
Evan and Ethan spent lots of time jumping waves, and then practicing for some marathon sandcastle building in Florida (very few pictures of Evan because he was in a MOOD and did not want anything to do with the camera)
After a couple of hours, Eric was so used to having sand in every crack of his body (I know this, because I had to clean it out of every crack later), he actually decided to get comfortable. How you can sleep like this, I have no idea.
After dinner (pizza w/mushrooms and an Old Bay crab pizza), we headed to 'the boards' (hence the blog title, this was a sign we saw) for a walk and some ice cream. Had to cut things short because of some showers, but not before riding a few kiddie rides and proving that I have not lost my touch on the claw machine (you don't think I'd spend money on a neon green Tasmanian Devil without some sort of challenge involved, do you?). I'm proud to say I snagged it on the first try, but not willing to say how much that 1 try cost...since when did claw machines get so expensive??
What a perfect ending...chocolate ice cream dipped in chocolate :-)
After a much-needed nap by all the boys, we headed down to the boardwalk to play some games and take Evan on the rides.
Uncle Sean, Emma, and Fiona (or Fion-ee-ia, as Evan calls her) arrived a little before dinner and brought the volume and pitch in the house waaaaaay up :-) Now that the kids are sacked out (I'm afraid to think about tomorrow's wake-up hour), the men are doing the manly thing on the porch. Decided to call it a night once stories started about a party attended by Ben Franklin and Eli Whitney. Okay, maybe it was just a costume party, but did I mention what time we got up this morning??
