Recharge

 I didn't realize I was craving downtime.

I didn't realize I was tired.

(Well, okay, I did.

I knew that I was physically tired -

 that my idea of an absolutely perfect day was one where I could crawl into bed and catch up on all the sleep that I'd missed -

but  I didn't realize I was mentally tired.)

I didn't realize I was craving inspiration;

new surroundings,

new sounds,

new colors, even.

The good news is

sometimes we get exactly what we need

even when we're not self-aware enough

to know that we need it.

;)

Turned out, our hotel

that was advertised as being in the heart of Ocean City

was really tucked away almost directly across 

from the hotel we'd wanted to stay at

in a quiet corner of Fenwick Island

close enough that we walked almost everywhere we needed to go.

(It was also nicer than we'd expected - a pleasant surprise!)

( Also - I am so tan right now. I've never been this tan in my life.)

But of course.

There was quite a bit of sleeping on the beach, curled up on my big beach blanket under an umbrella, or catching some sun (while slathered in sunscreen, mind), or listening to coaching lectures (this worried Cris and Maggie until they realized that this wasn't me "working" - this was actually me "relaxing").

(I did start working on a training plan for my new coaches one day

but that did feel like work

 so I abandoned it. ;))

Watching the light change at sunset.

Reading on the beach - finished a novel while we were there, the lone novel of the summer.

There was also a lot of napping in actual beds. We ended up being happiest spending the morning/afternoon on the beach, sleeping for a few hours, relishing a last few hours of daylight on the beach, then staying up way too late finding dinner, playing putt putt golf. This particular day, I caught a John Wayne marathon while the girls napped. ;)

  

The first day out on the beach, we saw some kids playing with boards that weren't skimboards or surfboards or boogie boards but sort of similar to all three. We got vague answers from them about what exactly they were, but we ducked into a Sunsations later that evening and found them, so we bought one for Mags. ;)

She figured it out pretty quickly. ;) Cris and I even got into the act and caught a few waves!

Watching the other surfers

  

I conquered my childhood fears of the ocean and spent quite a bit of time in the water. So. Much. Fun.

We managed to squeeze in six games of miniature golf in between all the beach time, mostly after dark.

Maggie, resident clown.

On the last day, while Cris and I were plotting to beat Maggie (who was reigning putt-putt champion), the girl minding the counter overheard us and brought us a "lucky ball" to use. ;) It worked! Cris won the game!

  All in all - it was a fantastic getaway, and one we're already looking forward to repeating next year!