Fun for the whole family...is there really such a thing? Jerry Seinfeld says, "There is no such thing as fun for the whole family." It is not easy with a family of 6 to find activities that we all enjoy. There is always someone that is not happy or at least less happy than the others. But part of being a family is doing things together...right?!?!?
One of the things that we do when we go to Kiawah is rent bikes. It is what one does when one goes to Kiawah. The island is covered with bike paths that are shaded by the huge trees and that makes for a pleasant ride. When you are out and about on your bike, the cars slow down and give the bikes the right of way, people say good morning as you pass by others riding in the opposite direction. People of all ages ride their bikes. I have seen grandmas riding with their grandkids to get ice cream, I have seen dads with their young children still learning to ride with their training wheels, and groups of kids with towels hanging around their necks on their way down to the beach. But fun for the whole family?
Last year I made everyone go on our rides...this was a family vacation and you can "hang out" and watch tv at home, we didn't travel 10 hours to just "hang out!" But this year I just asked who wanted to go. I wasn't so animate about everyone going. Kiawah does have fun for the whole family, but not everyone thinks all the activities are fun. So our first trip was just with the boys. Shannon, being the teenager, wanted to sleep-in, and Molly who likes to follow in her big sister's footsteps at times stayed behind as well. So it was just me and my three guys.
Our first stop was the Nature Center where they have some of the local animals that were found injured on the island. They also had a poster of how many Loggerhead Turtle nests have been found this year on the island.
My three guys just "hanging out" after a hot bike ride and some refreshing ice cream.
Timmy just soaking in the sun.
The next morning, we had lost another rider. Timmy wanted to venture out on his own. I think sometimes with four kids in the family there are not many opportunities to have alone time. I think Timmy just wanted to go exploring on his own. So with a map in hand he headed off. Now our group was down to three, Ry-ry, Chris and myself. Just as Timmy wanted to go off exploring on his own, I think Ryan was loving having his mom and dad all to himself.
So the three of us started our journey to the east end of the island. We spotted an alligator in one of the ponds on the way. I know he's hard to see but he was there, right at the edge of the water.
Water break.
Time to climb a tree.
Enjoying the scenery.
On our way back, Ryan found a small sprinkler which was just enough to hold him over until we got...
ice cream.
Our next adventure was to ride to the west end of the island on the beach. It was low tide, the best time to ride on the beach. You can see all the tracks of the bike riders that were down there before us.
Some finds on the beach.
Our view in front of us...
and our view behind us...no one was on the beach that morning.
We finally made it down to the west end. One thing that we have learned about Kiawah is that the tides are drastic. They come in and go out quite quickly. Notice our bikes sitting in the sand. In just a mere twenty minutes, the water will be up to them.
Chris walked out onto a sand bar and then the water came up.
Chris and Ryan then had to find a way back to shore.
All of a sudden, the water was much deeper than they thought.
It was time to go when we saw the water getting closer to our bikes. The hard sand was being overcome by the water and it would be too hard to ride our bikes in the soft sand. We love coming to this place. You never know what you may find. You may even be lucky enough to see some dolphins feeding.
So bike riding fun for the whole family? Maybe not. But for Chris, Ryan and I, we certainly enjoyed our adventures together...
...and all the ice cream.
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