Vacation, days 1-2

Jack and I and really all of us have had a pretty baseball intensive summer, so a vacation was much needed. Walking to the park for practice Friday evening we realized it was our 4th straight and 9th day out of 10 that we had walked there for a game or practice in the evening, not counting the tournament the previous weekend. So we were up for a break.

Hit the road Saturday morning, driving a good 2 1/2 to 3 hours before stopping for lunch. Went to a Wendy's that seemed so clueless that we ended up leaving to cross the street for McDonald's. Kids were happier anyway. We ate in the car and cruised into our vacation home (we call it that because we have stayed in the exact same condo three years in a row) in record time, and were swimming in the pool an hour after that.

Highlight of checking in is the kids scurrying up to their room, putting their stuff away, plotting future forts or games, reminiscing about things they played with the previous year. They have whispered conversations that last some 10 minutes before it occurs to them they could be at the pool.

At the risk of overdramatizing, they kind of almost drowned me. I pulled Jack off the edge into 8 feet deep water. Then Kate, who is fearless but not yet a star swimmer (she is good, don't get me wrong, but we watch her like a hawk in deeper water) jumped in, too. And then she had an arm around my neck and I couldn't tread water very well with her on my back. So I kind of wrenched her off me, and then Jack was there, thinking we were playing. Ultimately I got free of them and dragged Kate back into shallower water, and explained through a mouthful of pool water that I couldn't tread water with 80 pounds of kids around my neck. A little scary at the time.

On the flipside, there is a brand new bar at the pool. Boo-yah!

We had dinner at a seafood place and made Jack order seafood, rather than chicken fingers. He basically complained most of the way through an expensive plate of scallops. I mentioned that he could have had fish and chips, which he quickly (not quickly enough...) realized were fish sticks, which he loves. Sigh. Next seafood meal. Kate had Mac and cheese, and then we all got ice cream that neither kid could finish. Not the best eating day.

Back at our vacation home, Jack and I had a catch in the postage stamp back yard. And played an old school pegboard baseball game. So Ok, even on a vacation, it wasn't a totally baseball-free day. What can you do.

Day 2

Woke up late, pleasingly, and came downstairs to find Jack and Kate playing pixie sticks together, one of the old-timely games the vacation house has. We used to have the game, known as Jack Straws.

Gradually we put everything together and went to the beach. It was a glorious day. We made sandcastles. Spent a good hour finding rocks near the shoreline. Jack and Kate dug a hole, frequently stopping to check out a nearby hole three other kids were digging, to make sure their hole was better. Jack and I played whiffle ball. Frisbee. Bought hotdogs.

Kate led me out into deep water. "Daddy, will you go out into the wild with me?" Ok. she jumped in again and again and did her fish-like steamboat swim over and over.

Best part was either playing whiffle ball with Jack or finding rocks with both of them. It became a contest - is this colorful enough? Flat enough? Striped enough? Think we could have done it for another hour or two, but we were meeting friends for dinner and had to book. There were steamers, and ice cream, to be eaten.