Tuesday was probably the most fun that we had on the entire trip. It's where we really got to enjoy the lifeguards and it made us decide to spend more time at the pool over the rest of the trip.
We DID manage to get up early, grab a quick breakfast, and head out to the beach. We went over to Folly Field Beach for the day to show the kids the inlet we had enjoyed so much. Parking is $1 per hour and it's SUPER limited around the beach area. We tossed in $5 and walked down a crazy long walkway to get to the water.
After setting up our glorious tent and letting the kids get settled with their toys, Cecil and I took off to see if the inlet was still there and if it was as fun as we had experienced before. The walk felt like it lasted forever. The only kind of direction I can give is that you walk to the right, past the first row of houses. You'll see a cliff looking area with more houses in the distance. Keep going towards these and you'll hit the inlet right about the time that you feel it's a hopeless endeavor. After your excitement dies from making it there, you realize you have to walk all the way back, get your kids, and do it all over again
In reality, it's probably 1 mile, one way. In the heat/direct sunlight it feels like you're tap dancing on the surface of the sun.
This little guy greeted us as we approached
And yes, Cecil is lobster red. He just haaaaaaaad to 'get his base' without sunscreen the first/second day
He regretted that decision. A decision he also repeats every time we go to the beach. Wear sunscreen, folks.
The inlet did not disappoint. We found tons of hermit crabs, blue crabs, and there is a section of the inlet towards the back that has literally hundreds of crabs like the one above that move in waves. It's disgusting and hilarious.
They really DO put their little pinchers up to fight when you approach like the crabs in 'Finding Nemo' - hey, heeey, hey
The herons were out and about - it's really just a great area for wildlife.
There was a teenage boy using a GoPro in the water to record all the different stuff under the rocks and following crabs around, etc. Cecil has wanted one for awhile, and unfortunately being a saltwater fish enthusiast he immediately looked at me and said 'I'm getting a GoPro today.' Well, great. I love spending hundreds of dollars on a whim for a toy for a grown man.
We walked back, packed up our stuff, and went back to the resort to spend the rest of the day at the pool before the Pirate party. We were only at Folly Field for around 3.5 - 4 hours, but it was enough. We decided that the rest of our beach days would be spent at Disney's beach where we could get cold beverages, food, swim in the pool to cool off, and we didn't have to pay to park. The inlet was fun, but the beach itself was essentially the same.
Now, for the Pirate Party. I highly, HIGHLY, recommend attending this. It was an absolute blast for everyone. I did, however, completely misunderstand what it was. The Pirate Party at the pool is free and for everyone. I wrongly had the impression that we had to pay $27/$13 to attend it. Apparently, that's just the cost for the Backyard BBQ Buffet that's offered DURING the Pirate Party. I just thought it was all the same thing - the buffet/party going hand in hand for the cost. Nope. Doing it all over again I'd absolutely eat something else before the party starts. It was standard buffet food, although, the BBQ ribs were a nice treat. Unfortunately, since they start at the same time, the kids missed the first few games and festivities because they were eating - and not eating well, since they were anxious to get started while watching everyone else playing games and having fun.
Once they finally started participating, they had an absolute blast. Skyler is special needs, so it's always kind of a toss up on how she will react to new things like this. She was timid, and got kind of a slow start, but she really enjoyed it.
There was music, face painting, lots of different games, dancing, and obviously food. I really just can't say enough about the different things and the fun everyone had.
The first thing the girls did was pick a bandana. Skyler also chose to sport an eye patch for the evening which I thought was hilarious. SHIVER ME TIMBERS!
They went over to B'Lou and he made them each a balloon animal - a parrot, and stuck it on their shoulder. Because every pirate needs a parrot companion!
Next, they went over and got their faces painted. I don't know why, but every time my kids see face painting they go absolutely nuts with the desire to participate. They want to do it here, at the zoo, at Disney, at the carnival... 'oh, is that someone painting a lemonade stand sign in their front yard? Maybe they'll paint our faces!' Whatever. It's better than being fixated on American Girl dolls I suppose.
We had to really make sure they understood that the paint was going to wash off as soon as they started swimming again. There was a moment of panic, but they accepted it.
We had signed the girls up for the 'treasure hunt' and the 'ice cream drop' (which was called something else without the name ice cream in it). They wouldn't participate in the dancing which always annoys the heck out of me. Danica will perform dance routines in front of hundreds of strangers but refuses to let loose and have some fun in front of 20 people. Y'okay.
The treasure hunt was first, and I neglected to take pictures because I unfortunately became uncontrollably competitive and at that point, nothing else matters. Kids are set up in pairs of 2 around a plastic tub full of sand and buried trinkets. They have a laminated story paragraph that reference different objects and have a picture. Example, it said 'By the light of the (insert picture of a white moon here).' There were about 12 or 15 little items the kids had to find in the sand using ONLY a shovel and a sifter. Let me emphasize the rules, using ONLY shovel and a sifter. Because the older kids just dug in with their hands, found everything, and won. Ask me how annoyed I was.... go ahead... ask me. The kids still completed the mission, following the rules, and we reburied our items for the next group.
It was now time for the most hilarious event of the night - the ice cream drop. There were TONS of people signed up for this and it takes place right outside the pool area, in a straight row by the fire pit. The whole idea is that one person lays on the ground with an ice cream cone in their mouth, and the other drops big chunks of ice cream from a distance and tries to make it into the cone. Fun right?!
Neither one of the kids wanted to be on the receiving end of the ice cream, so we did the only fair and mature thing we could do to choose... Paper, rock, scissors. And Skyler lost... so she was the drop recipient. I was a little worried about her reaction. Once Skyler hits meltdown mode it's all over, but I was really pleased that she took it all like a champ. Once she realized that she'd get to wear a bib, goggles, and we'd wash the ice cream off of her face immediately after she was fine.
As I watched this spectacle go down, I realized that the only reason Skyler remained so still and so calm was because she had bitten a hole in the bottom of the cone and was sucking the ice cream into her mouth. Disgusting or creative genius? You be the judge.
The lifeguards gave prizes for lots of different things - cleanest, messiest, most accurate, etc. They had noticed Skyler's initial hesitation/discomfort and told the girls to grab a prize out of the prize box. I'm not sure if we technically won anything, but it was a really sweet gesture. Danica grabbed a pirate bracelet and a pirate necklace while Skyler got washed off and we all met back up in the pool area.
While the kids continued to swim and sing to the music Tim the lifeguard approached me and asked if I had anyone participating in the sword fighting tournament. Nope. Sure don't. My kids do enough fighting at home. I don't need them being encouraged with play swords, thank you very much. Little did I know that Tim was setting me up. 'Oh great. Would you mind being a judge then?'
I, uh, well I, uh, sure, I guess.... Tim handed me some scoring cards and told me to meet him over by the DJ booth in a few minutes.
For the next 5 minutes or so I internally panicked. I was sure that after the judging was over I would be pushed into the pool. Or showered with chocolate ice cream... or something. SOMETHING.
So Tim asks me a few questions - 'where are you from?' 'what's your name?' and then while still in my panic he asked me a simple question that really threw me for a loop, 'what's your favorite Disney movie?' My mind completely blanked. I had a full mental argument with myself:
'How can I pick just one?'
'I love to sing Frozen songs.'
'No, that's too cliche.'
'I love so many.'
'I CAN'T EVEN THINK OF A SINGLE MOVIE NAME.'
'OMG. He's staring. He's waiting.'
So I finally just blurted out 'Maleficent' and called it a day. Immediately after I said it, I was mad at myself. 'Hercules' is my top movie. And now I've let the movie down. I thought about changing my choice, but then realized I'd look like a complete weirdo having 'lied' about my favorite Disney movie and decided to just move on with my life and that everything would be okay
I was judging with an older couple who was from Kentucky. We decided that I was the Paula (friendly. Giving higher scores than people deserved because I didn't want to hurt their feelings), the woman next to me would give a 10 to anyone that went into the water during their 'fight,' and her husband would be the Len Goodman (tough, hard to impress). Before I sat, I confirmed with Tim that I was in for no surprises when judging was over, and he confirmed. Good man. Because the wrath of Arielle can be difficult to live through! Do not bring out the Cincinasty side, Tim. Just don't do it!
As you can probably tell from the look on my face, I took my job as judge VERY seriously. I believe at this very moment I was scanning the lineup to see who I thought the top contenders would be. The sword fights took place on the little walkway in the front of the pool and each fight was about 20 seconds. They used balloon animal swords, which made it even funnier when they popped mid fight! And then, little Jack and Nora walked out to compete. Nora. That tiny little girl stole my heart for the rest of the trip. She was absolutely adorable. She had to be close to 3 years old and her brother was probably 4 years old. She just hopped around for a few seconds and they got a 10 from me. I'm sure her poor mother thought I was some super weirdo saying hi to her all the time after that, but darn it, that kid lit up my ovaries and had me considering a 3rd tiny flesh monster.
In the end, Jack and Nora didn't win. But it was all good fun. The kids swam a bit since a lot of the activities now included publicly dancing, or repeats of the games they'd already played.
But then, it happened. Reggie the Lifeguard put on a goofy hat and started calling for all the 'dads' to head out to the dance floor. Yes. YES. This was going to be glorious. Cecil stayed in his seat shaking his head 'nope.' But when only a few dads willingly joined him center stage, he started fishing for dads in the crowd. Cecil was plucked from his seat and escorted to the dad circle, and I was loving every minute of it!
Each dad was given a goofy hat to wear, and Cecil scored floppy bunny ears. The man in front of him had on a Cheshire Cat face, one of my favorites. After getting all the dads in line, Reggie showed them the dance moves they'd be doing...but once the music started, that all changed. Over the speakers, the glorious sounds of the 'YMCA' blasted and you could almost feel all the souls of the men die a little bit. But at this point, they were all surrounded by their wives taping and laughing, so they really couldn't puss out and live with any dignity.
As you can see in the background, Joey the lifeguard knows what's about to happen to these poor fools, and he's loving every minute of it! The rooms with a balcony facing the porch also filled up pretty quickly to watch the festivities. I thought, 'that'd be a really fun thing to do' and then realized that it's probably really loud inside the rooms every evening, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTWTuBTRXLA
After I was done taping, I asked one of the lady life guards manning the DJ booth if they do something for the 'moms' later. She said yes, and I suddenly came down with an allergy attack
At this point, it was around 8:30p and the party only goes until 9:00p. I grabbed a fresh drink, went back to the room, and settled in for the night. I think my only complaint here is that the dining portion of this area closes at 5:00p, but this is also the only place to get hot chocolate. I'd love a hot chocolate right before bed instead of in the middle of a hot summer day.
The kids came back shortly after absolutely pooped. They grabbed a quick shower to get the chlorine out of their hair, and hit the sack.
We decided to do a full pool day on Thursday and that we'd make that the day we go to Lawton Stables and Salty Dog Cafe. We planned on heading down to Savannah on Friday for dinner and walking around the area. All the plans were tenitive as rain was being forecasted. I will say though, that the entire week leading up to our trip it showed rain every, single day and it really only rained a few times and in short spurts, or in the evening when we were eating and done with the pool anyway.
All in all, the Pirate Party is an absolute must do, but I'd definitely forgo the cost portion for the food and grab something cheaper and tastier.
She also has decided that she wants to be a lifeguard when she grows up - so they definitely made an impression!
The resort provides life jackets for the kids at the pool and the beach house that we started using going forward. We'll sign them up for lessons this summer to get them swimming on their own. While it was a nice idea, they were super resistant, and I really just didn't want them hating the pool all vacation. And it's just not fun or enjoyable being terrified that your kid will drown every second their in the water. The positive of using the jackets was that it really let the kids enjoy the pool, and get comfortable with being in the water itself. 
I think if I really got going I'd be okay, but going from a stop to a start... 
The hardest part about some of these is that several of them are smack dab, right in the middle of the afternoon when I'd like to be at the beach. But, we made a game plan... 
