It's 5AM on Saturday August 20, 2011. I'm sad to be having to leave Hilton Head this morning. We've had a really nice week (or 6 days really), and it just reminds me how fleeting our current life is and how times like these are special. There were some great and special times, but things changed a little, and I can see subtle changes in the dynamic as Jake hits full teen status. Usually, Liam cries when we leave vacations. He won't be alone this time.
I'll do this day-by-day, diary style, since I've really figured out that this "blog" is more like an on-line diary/memory dump. I come to it frequently to check when we did certain things and see old pictures.
Saturday 8/13 -- What a start. In order to help Jake secure his 10-14 BAR (best all around rider) victory, Jake and I got up at 5:30 and drove to Ellicot City MD for Jake to do a 4 minute long hill climb time trial. The promoter was nice enough to send him first at 8AM so that we could turn around and immediately leave for vacation. So, Jake and I drove an hour to the race then and hour home to pack up the car and drive to HHI. Unfortunately, that put us on the road at 10 AM instead of 7 and as a result traffic on I-95 south was HORRIBLE immediately starting at Dumphries. It took us nearly 4 hours to get to Richmond. Then, once we cleared that, it rained, torrentially, all the way through North Carolina. This was particularly nerve racking because we had mine and Jake's bikes on a new trailer hitch rack on the back of Loren's car. Even though driving in South Carolina is awesome because you can do 80 and have zero traffic, it still took us 11.5 hours and we didn't get to the house until 9:30PM. Oh, and it was raining again when we got here.
On the up side, we stayed in the same house as the last two times, and as soon as I walked in I said "I love this house."
Sunday 8/14 -- Just like in 2008 and 2009, Liam and I got up first (ok, I got up first and walked down to the beach but when I got back Liam was up) and Liam remembered how he and I rode our bikes to the grocery store. So, he and I went for a ride, not to the store but up to Harbour Town, where we wandered around a little. It was about a 45 minute ride on the beach cruisers.
Then Jake and I went for a training ride. Just a zone 2 ride to check out the route I'd seen on a local bike shop website. Basically, we did the exact same thing every day. Riding out of Sea Pines, then out Arrow Road to pick up the Cross Island expressway, which has a very wide shoulder. We'd ride it out to the turn around, come back then repeat the expressway again. I love the view from the bridge we cross, and the green sea grass.
The rest of the day Liam played in the pool a bit, and we all went to the beach for about 30 minutes before thunder storms forced us home at around 2pm. The boys and I went to the driving range at Sea Pines after the storm and before dinner. For dinner, we went to Marlies, which is where we had eaten with Lee Anne/Bob/Matthew back in 2008.
Monday 8/14 -- Jake and I got up at 7AM and went for our training ride, Then me and the boys played in the pool and at the beach a little while Loren went for a long walk around Sea Pines. Monday afternoon, me and the boys played golf at Hilton Head National. This is the same course where we first played in 2008. No pictures this time, but they were so young then. Now, poor Jake has reached the size and age where he hits the ball a long way...which means a long way into the woods when he miss-hits it. And given how little we play golf, it is to be expected that he'll mis-hit it, right. But still it really frustrated him and he stopped playing for the last few holes. Generally, none of us played too great. But we were going to play Harbour Town for my 45th Birthday the next day so we needed to get the kinks out. We grilled hamburgers for a nice dinner at home, then the boys and I went and got ice cream.
Tuesday 8/16 -- I turn 45. We had a tee time for 1:20 at the famous Harbour Town course. It was going to be an expensive gift to myself. Unfortunately, Jake was wishing he could get out of it after the day before. I did my 7AM training ride that Jake declined to wake up for (threshold intervals for my birthday), then we all wandered to the beach for a little while Loren did another long exercise walk.
Harbour Town was nice.
Unfortunately, none of played really well (I played terribly; I was killing my drives right down the middle but then hitting my irons super fat; horrible; and poor Jake was all over the place). Liam started to hit the ball nicely mid-round, which was good.
On the Par 3 14th he hit a great iron just over the green, chipped on and sank his putt for par. The ball did a 360 around the lip first and Liam quote of the day was "my ball knows how to go in with style." That cracked up our caddie and playing partner.
Some photos from the more scenic last few holes:
We had dinner at Truffles, like we did for my birthday in 2009. Unfortunately, Loren had gotten a little stomach bug during the day and was under the weather.
Wednesday 8/17 -- Jake and I rode. Today we would go fishing. I had scheduled us again for a trip with Brian Vaughn of "Off the Hook Charters" just like in 2009. We had a great time. Brian tried to take us to a place for Mackrel but the wind was too high and we ended up in the same place at 2009 and again caught a bunch of sharks. But that was ok. Liam caught the first one that had come up right next to the boat to explore the chum bag. Liam was particularly worried about the sharks this time.
Liam and I caught a really big one. He started her, but after a while I took over. Brian said it was as big as a bonnett head gets and this one was probably pregnant. It was a beautiful day.
Of course the boys immediately ran to Sprunt Pond by the house to fish some more when we got back
(they of course didn't catch anything with their fresh water lures from home). That night we had a nice dinner at home, grilled chicken kabobs, then went for a evening walk on the beach. Loren and Liam held hands.
This reminds me of the photo I took in 2008 of Liam running down this path to the beach on the first morning
It was one of our really nice evening walks.
then we went to Hilton Head Ice Cream, which Brian had recommended. A big hit.
Thursday 8/18 -- The morning was kind of lazy. The boys went fishing a bit while I did some work and then we went to the beach for a little while and Loren went for a walk. The jelly fish were heavy and Liam got a little stung on his foot. In the afternoon, Liam and I played golf at the Ocean Course. We had a really nice time. Played with 2 nice guys. Liam really started to play well, and they had installed new "family" tees that were up the fairway a bit and perfect length for him. I played better as well, and it was really great to spend time with him. It was really special to spend time just me and him. It's so often me and Jake, or the 3 of us that it's rarely me and Liam. Jake did some fishing while we were gone. We were going to grill again but ended up having pizza at Mellow Mushroom. The boys and I dropped Loren off after dinner and were supposed to go get some water and stuff from the store. We did that but also grabbed ice cream bars.
Friday 8/19 -- Another similar morning. Jake and I did a 7AM training ride with hard intervals, then the boys did a little fishing while Loren walked and I did a little work. This time the boys caught some fish using saltwater lures and some shrimp someone left behind. I was sitting there working and Liam came running back. I thought he was going to tell me Jake had gotten attacked by an alligator, instead it was "where's the camera? Jake caught a pin fish" -- because pin fish are worth pictures?
There was a lot of "what do you want to do?" Liam wanted to play golf again but Jake didn't. But Jake was also ok with Liam and I playing golf while he fished. So we did that again. Again, it was super. Liam and I played, just the 2 of us at the Ocean Course. There was no one in front of us and we played in just over 3 hours. Liam played super, shooting a 48 on the front. I shot a 39 on the front. It seemed to be flying by. On the back 9 Liam struggled a little more, but on the par 3 number 15, which goes out to the ocean, he hit a shot to within 1 foot for a near hole-in-one.
He tapped it in for his first birdie. He saved the ball. Again, it was so special to have that time with Liam. He had such a good time. After dinner we went to the South Beach Marina and wandered around and got some ice cream, took a few pictures.
(some people were irritated at having their picture taken)
Saturday 8/20 -- So now I'm here, waking up at 5AM, sad to be leaving, feeling like we don't have enough time and sorry that days like these have to end. It's really comfortable here, although i don't think so much for Loren, although Thursday night she did say that we should buy a summer home here. It would be incredible if we could. I guess it reminds me some of growing up on Anna Maria Island (in a bigger way) -- sandy feet, surrounded by water, casual lifestyle, and gorgeous summer evenings. I had suggested that we stay for 2 weeks, with the second week being more of a working vacation for me. I can say "maybe next time" but there are so few summers left with Jake at home that time is short.