A few minutes...

I have a few minutes alone, everyone is watching Ava take a tennis lesson and I had to come back to put Riley down for a nap, so here I am, catching up on this blog.

We've been having a great time since we arrived Sunday afternoon. Riley was a pistol on the way down, but it turned out that she had a diaper full of poops. She's never done that before. But we arrived, unpacked, and hit the pool right away.

It's amazing to see how the kids have all taken leaps and bounds since last summer. Emma, Jack's eight year old cousin, basically can swim laps now and flips around under water. It's crazy, b/c I remember so clearly when she was just toddling around on the beach. Time flies. Ava, Jack's 4 1/2 year old cousin, can touch in the shallow end and jumps in all by herself and "swims" around. She's pretty independent in the pool now.

Jack can barely touch in the shallow end up against the edge of the pool. So he thinks he's hot stuff and holds on to the ledge and "walks" down the side of the pool. He is getting braver though and jumps in w/o us catching him. After he hits the water he grabs for our arm and then pulls himself up. We then push him over to the step and he "swims" the rest of the way, if you call that swimming. I call it floundering, but it works for him. He's pretty darm proud of himself and I guess that's what matters.

We've been swimming every day. The kids prefer the pool and that's fine w/ me. I don't particularly care to take Riley down to the beach by myself and watch her and Jack- not fun in my opinion. She loves the water and splashes around in it like a rock star. She's a trooper too and will hang out for a long time at the pool w/ the big kids. Thank goodness.

On Tuesday Jack and I hit Myrtle Waves, a HUGE water park, w/ my friend Martine and her son Lucas, who lives up in Myrtle Beach. It was lots of fun and cost lots of money, but Jack had fun (a few tears were shed when I forced him to go down some slides) but in the end it was worth it.

My friend Marcie, who I used to teach 4th grade with, came for a visit yesterday. We hit the pool w/ the kids and had lunch at the beach club. It was great catching up with her.

I can't believe it's already Thursday. Time is flying. Our first week will be gone before we know it. We've been really busy. The kids have been playing tennis, golfing, crabbing, going on cart rides, swimming, eating, playing and watching virtually no TV. It's been great. I've been running every morning and taking long bike rides with Tracy, my sister-in-law, at night. It's nice to get out and do some exercising outdoors for a change. We've been cooking yummy, mostly healthy, meals and we're having dinner tonight at the beach or pool and having a late swim w/ the kids. Should be fun, if Riley will hang, once again.

Todd comes tomorrow afternoon, which will be nice. I'd like to hit the beach by myself one day and dig into a juicy book. Jack's super attached to me right now and driving me crazy, full of fear that I will leave him. I swear- it better pass soon. I need a break!

Riley turns one tomorrow afternoon at 3:39 p.m. I absolutely CANNOT believe she's one tomorrow. It seriously seems like only weeks ago that she was tiny. Here's to you Riley, your first year of life over.

Until next time...