Vacation - for real

Today is Sunday.
I woke up early. No surprise. To stay in bed past 6:30, I'd need medication!
I went out to find a grocery store for breakfast food, coffee and a newspaper.
When I returned, Mark and Pat were awake. Mark was enjoying his book on the covered porch and Pat was watching tv (detect a theme?).
We had an easy start to our day.
By 11Am, we were on our way to the beach. It is a 15-minute walk, 5 minute bike ride or 2-minute drive from our villa to the beach access for our area. The villa provides two bikes and we brought Patrick's, so three of us rode and two walked.
The weather is sunny and hot, a bit humid as well. The beach is large and pretty crowded with families like ours. The dry sand is fine and very white. We arrived at low tide, so the beach was very deep. We chose to set up closer to the water. The sign said that the water temp was 82 degrees! Bath water!
We all covered up in SPF 50 sunblock before doing anything else.
We all tested the waters, some of us more than others. It was great to experience salt water again. Since the water was very warm, the girls quickly explored to greater depths. Pat was still getting acquainted with the idea of waves and sand and moving water. At one point, he declared, "I don't like waves." But he gradually figured out how to work with them and really enjoyed his ocean time.
Within an hour, the water crept up to where we had set up camp. We had to quickly move all of our things further away. However, within another thirty minutes, the water again approached and we were uprooted. We body-surfed and built a small castle during our first day at the beach. It was great fun!
As we prepared to return to the villa, we packed the sand and saltwater soaked towels into a plastic tote bag. It weighed about 40 pounds!! Being one of the two walkers preparing for the 15-minute journey, I was the likely candidate to carry the heavy bag, or should I say "dead body"! We learned a lot on the beach today, including the idea of setting up our towels in dry, fine sand that will stay at the ocean when we leave!
We showered and went to Panera for a late lunch at 3:00. Hannah stated that she really wanted to go to Panera today. It is my hope (and Mark's) that we don't spend a lot of time or money on national restaurant chains during this vacation, but we indulged Hannah today.
After Panera, we drove over to Sea Pines, a beautiful plantation near our area. We stopped in Harbourtown, the heart of Sea Pines, to shop and enjoy a treat. We will definitely return to Harbourtown several times during this trip, as it offers lots of family activities and attractions.
We returned to the villa at about 6:00. Polly and Pat wanted to swim in the pool here at the villa. Mark accompanied them - he is almost finished reading his vacation book, The Innocent Man by John Grisham.
Hannah's back had burned today. She's hurting a bit and didn't want to swim. I was content to relax a bit as well.
Since we ate a late lunch, no one wanted a big dinner. We reheated last night's pizza and watched the 2005 version of King Kong. Patrick was most interested in that.
It's now 9:51 and I'll turn into a seashell if I'm not in bed by 10:15! Good night.