The Lee Family: Spring Break Day 3: Beach!

I woke up and had a cup of coffee in our house's kitchen. Along with snacks, we'd brought Keurig K-cups so we could enjoy coffee in the morning. Just as I was enjoying my coffee, Olivia came into the living room still waking up. She explained that she felt the bed "had too much sand in it" so she slept on the floor, which makes absolutely no sense. The floor is tile and probably full of sand. I can't imagine how uncomfortable her night was! Sofia woke up a bit later and stumbled to the big house for breakfast. We didn't really have any real food and she's our big breakfast eater.

The girls hung out with Charlie and Lisa while CK and I went with Chip to the grocery store. Chip and Lisa rented a car for the week, so he offered to take us so we could pick up food, snacks, bottled waters and sodas. We picked up bread, peanut butter, strawberry jelly, yogurts, bottled waters, and San Pelogrinos. The grocery store is such an interesting spot to visit and I really wanted to have the girls come with us so they could see that not every grocery store is Central Market or Market Street. The grocery store at Cat Island is small and doesn't have very many products or product variety either! But, it offers what we need for a few days. I really can't imagine it being the main grocery store to visit weekly! We paid for our things and headed back to FBV. When we returned, the girls were playing hide-and-seek with Charlie around the big house.

We unloaded our food and then got ready to go on an adventure with Chip, Lisa and Charlie to Shanna's Cove at the very top of the island. It is about 15 or 20 miles to Shanna's Cove, but that translates into about 45 minutes to an hour because of the road conditions. Chip, Lisa and Charlie have been to Shanna's Cove on past visits and said it was really fantastic. Sofia and Charlie sat in the back hatch area while Olivia, Lisa and I sat in the backseat together. We headed through a few little "villages" which is a generous description of the small little areas of houses, stores and a school. It was amazing to see how the Cat Island villagers live. It's such a small island and the villages are all tiny and almost look like just a couple of families houses grouped together.

We made it to Shanna's Cove and it was amazing! It looks like a fancier and better built FBV! It looked like a great place and it was fun to see a different resort. By the time we arrived, Sofia was feeling pretty nauseous, poor thing. Luckily we made it in time and she was fine once we stopped. Chip and Lisa chatted with the owner, who is German and has owned the resort for 20 years with his wife. It made me wonder how a German couple ended up literally at the end of Cat Island, and I'm sure they have a fascinating story! We headed for the patio which had an amazing view of the bay below. The day was perfect and it was exciting to be somewhere new. We started with some German summer sausages with mustard followed by pizza and crab salad. It was all delicious!

After lunch, we headed down to the beach, which was on a beautifully made stone and concrete sidewalk. The bay was huge compared to FBV and there are several people on the beach. It was really nice, but didn't feel quite as homey and cozy as our spread back at FBV. Plus, those stairs would be tough going back and forth to visit the beach. It was a beautiful beach though and fun to see a different area of the beach.

We drove back to FBV and both Sofia and Olivia fell asleep on the trip back. We were just thankful Sofia wasn't sick on the 45 minute drive home. Once we were back, the girls played on the beach while I read out on the lounge chair on the beach. CK also took the girls out to paddle board in the bay, which they were both pretty good at from the beginning. They had a lot of fun out there. It seemed like no time when it was time for drinks and appetizer hour and we were all very full from lunch. Ironically they had sausages and mustard for the appetizers! They weren't quite as good as they were at Shanna's Cove, but close. The kids continued to play in the sand and build sand castles until 7pm, when we were finally able to convince them to shower and join us for dinner.

Dinner was delicious and we enjoyed relaxing and catching up with Chip and Lisa while the girls sat with Charlie. After dinner, the kids headed to the beach where they used head lamps to continue building sand castles. Thankfully Chip and Lisa brought three head lamps, which the girls were happy to borrow to build their castles. I think those three could stay out on the sand all night long. Later we headed to the fire pit and continued talking until bed time.

My view while I drink my coffee. I could get used to this!