Elmo, beaches and naps, oh my!

This past Christmas season the boys freaked out when they saw an 8 foot tall walking Frosty. They were shaking in fear -hiding behind us- while screaming loud enough to hear us from California. So we were unsure how breakfast with the characters would go. No one screamed or "freaked out", but at first they were surprisingly happy watching their friends Elmo and Zoe from a distance.

Luckily the breakfast wasn't very full -no more than 15 families were there- so the boys had many chances to warm up to the characters. First we stood in line and waited to get a picture taken with Elmo. Don and I walked over, gave Elmo five and a hug, but the boys weren't buying it. Luke looked curious and quickly reached his hand out to touch Elmo, but one touch of the red fur was enough for him and he took a few steps back.

Back over at our table, we ate more breakfast while watching Zoe, Bert, Cookie Monster and Count come out. The characters mingled with the kids and we saw Bert go to a few different tables feeding some babies a spoonful of oatmeal here and there. The Count came to our table and pointed to one, two and three boys while his helper counted them out loud. Next thing we knew Bert came to our table and grabbed a spoon. Being a good sport, Don obligingly opened his mouth as Bert fed him a spoon of oatmeal while the kids just watched in amazement.

After that the boys warmed up quite a bit. They decided it was time to get out of their seats and into the action! Jax was over the shyness and giving Zoe and the other characters hugs. I wish I had taken a picture of the look on his face after he hugged Elmo. I could totally tell it was the moment of all moments for him.

We got a couple more pictures of the boys taken with Count, Cookie and Bert and finished our breakfast. They did a couple dances and a parade around the buffet and it was over. Only about 5 minutes before we left I finally had the idea to get out our video camera, but really didn't catch much on it.



Later in the day after the boys woke up from their naps we took a walk out to the beach. Cathryn and Mike took a couple of bikes that are here at the cottage to use, and TJ decided he was up for the stroll as well. The weather here is pretty chilly so the boys had on their jeans and sweatshirts. Wyatt and Lucas screamed and cried when we got to the sandy area of the beach. They were not crazy about the texture difference, but Jaxon took right to it. He didn't complain when Don took off his sandals and just ran to catch up with TJ.

Eventually we got down to the firmer sand by the waters edge and the boys got a bit more interested in the bikes that the kids rode out in. TJ helped Lucas sit on the smaller one and Don put Wyatt in front of him on the larger bike and rode up and down the beach side. After they took turns- after turns- after turns- with Don and TJ, Wyatt and Luke finally didn't mind the sand texture so much and started enjoying walking on the sand.

We all played run from the waves as the water receded and came up again. Jaxon got a bit distracted by a kite surfer and almost got caught by a bit of water, but ran just in time. When he would run from the water, he would have a scared look on his face for a second and then would break out in a huge smile for the rest of the run. Luke was a bit more cautious about it all, preferring to play with Cathryn digging in the sand. Wyatt liked to wait until the last second to run from the water with loud little giggles like he was taunting the waves. One time he turned too fast and fell down right as the water came up. I pulled his little body up, but his jeans and cuff to his sweatshirt still got wet.

We are having such a fun time, much more enjoyable for Don and I since the boys are napping again. The nights are late and the mornings very early, but I am thankful we still have a few nights left here.