Day 48: From Fair Harbor, Fire Island

Holey wholey holy heck - YES I'm still here. From Sat - Tues, here's the short version:

Arrived on Saturday morning, VERY glad to have that day of packing/organizing/freaking out hell behind me. Sat and Sun were busy days of getting settled, hanging with our friends and friends/family of those friends who were all here for the weekend. Sun night everyone left except myself, my friend Sara, our 4 kids and 2 dogs. Mon and Tues we've been doin' the Fire Island thang...going from the ocean side beach to the bay side beach, riding bikes all over, eating ice cream everyday (well, everyone but me - SAD).

I'm not going to lie - it's great to be here. This is a special place where virtually everyone is on vacation and in vacation mode. It's verrrrry relaxing. That is, when we're all set up on the beach, or riding our bikes around. Being here with 4 kids and only 2 parents means a significant part of our day is spent getting ready for beach or bike rides, or dealing with the individual dramas and group dynamics of 4 kids under the age of 7. So it's fun and relaxing, but also a lot of work.

Fitting the workouts into these 2-parent days has been a challenge. For the first time, I've been splitting up the jumping and the exercises, which I kinda like from a stamina standpoint. Jumping I've been doing first thing. But it ain't easy to find the time or the space or the focus to fit in the rest. So far, I've figured it out - but it's been kinda laughable. Sit-ups on the deck with 2 dogs and 2 kids in my face...planks in the kitchen at 10 pm while veggies roast in the oven...kung-fu sit-ups at the playground in front of the playground rush hour crowd...it's a different type of workout.

At certain points, I find myself feeling overwhelmed, frustrated by the feeling of being half-assed in both the PCP world and the social/IRL/vacation world. I feel pulled to be be as focused on PCP stuff as I've had the luxury of being all summer. But at the same time, I want to fully enjoy every day here without being so serious all the time. Any other time we've been on vacation with friends, I'm the party girl - always ready with a drink, always willing to indulge. (Which reminds me - indulgence #2 comes at a GREAT time!) I miss that girl. I miss getting a little loosey goosey. And now I've driven Sara to drink alone - NOT FAIR!

On the plus side, there is only one more full day of 2 parents/4 kids (hopefully). Dan is supposed to join us out here on Thursday, to stay for the duration - yay! Also Doug (Sara's husband) will be coming and going over the next two weeks. Another plus is that I've been having a really good time with the kids - this is a little slice of heaven for them, being here. It's great to see them doing their thing and to do it with them or alongside them. New activity this year: jumping from dock into bay!

No wifi here, but we do have an (meaning one) internet cable. With 2-4 laptop-ed adults and only one connection at a time, I don't get much time to blog or respond to blogs. I really, really should be asleep now, for instance. Gotta get to that - so g'night, will try to respond more tomorrow.