Family Tennis Outing

Our family rode bikes over to the local tennis courts to practice hitting against the wall on Sunday afternoon.  The boys each received tennis rackets for their birthdays from J’s mom and wanted to try them out.  There’s a small fee to play on the actual courts but it’s free to practice on the wall of the racquetball building.  Since our boys have never really hit tennis balls before, we figured we’d save playing on an actual court (and bothering the serious players) for another day.

The racquetball building did a great job of blocking the wind.  But as you can see from my hair in the above photo that it was still a little gusty.

J’s bike had a flat tire so he ended up riding his skateboard over.  I didn’t realized he’d also stashed a banana with our gear 🙂  He’d forgotten to eat breakfast, apparently.

The boys did surprisingly well hitting the tennis balls.  They were able to hit them when we dropped them.  It was so cute to watch them run to hit the rebound.  Wildman and Cutie Pie also made excellent ball boys.  It saved J and I few trips around the building to pick up our Wilson 4’s…

J used to be on the tennis team in high school.  He still has it!

Wildman found the dart guns at the bottom of Cutie Pie’s backpack and decided those would be much more fun.  🙂

We went by the shallow canal near the tennis courts to see if the manatees were there.  Indeed, the canal was thick with them.  Poor things don’t do well in the cold weather.  We’ve been have some very cold nights (for us) lately that dip into the 20s… I really hope they all survive.

We ended up hitting tennis balls for close to two hours.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it.  J and I used to play every night in college, especially in the winter time.  It brought back fond memories and a sore right shoulder on Monday morning 🙂

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Sunday Evening Drive

We had not left the house all day on Sunday.  The weather was quite cool making us want to stay inside our nice cozy home rather than go outside.  But cabin fever began setting in around 5 PM…  We were all itching to get out of the house for a while but did not know where to go.  It was too cold for a park or a walk to the beach.

I suggested that we take a little drive.  We bundled the kids into the car and set out.  J steered the car toward Mathers Bridge and then up Tropical Trail.  We watched the sun set over the river as we cruised.

On our way back we stopped by a little restaurant near our home called Sun on the Beach.  It’s well known for yummy breakfast food.  But it’s perhaps better known as a perfect beach viewing spot.  Behind the restaurant is one of the only places around here where you can pull your car up to the dune line and see the ocean without having to get out.  Most beach accesses have obstructed views of the water where you can only really see plant life, trees and boardwalks.  You have to exit your car and walk up on the boardwalk to see the ocean.

Cruising behind Sun on the Beach was a perfect ending to our Sunday evening drive.  We could take in the beauty of the sea without freezing our tails off.  After 15 minutes or so we decided to head home for a Mexican dinner, Jimmy Buffett in the CD player, a fire in the fire pit and some time in the bubbly hot tub.

Frost

We awoke Tuesday morning to a frost!  It looked like our neighbors’ roofs were iced with snow!

The boys loved checking out the layer of frost that had formed on our lounge chairs.  Cutie Pie’s face cracks me up in the above photo.  He’s such a nut.

I could also write on the fire pit cover…

As cool as it was for the boys to play in the ice that had formed in their water table, I’m ready for a warm spell!