Bye bye pier

We have been to the pier a handfull of times. To eat sweet potato fries with ranch on its roof, to have delicious paella at the Columbia, to fish from the sides, to run laps along the water, to get ripped off at the tiny aquarium, to swing dance under the stars, get grossed out by the pelicans, and for photo shoots. We always thought it could be better. There could be more events there, less t-shirt shops, and more fun. Oh well. It will be torn down in 7 days. Seems like a waste. 

We went toJonnie Reno's for dinner. Horrible service. We waited for a hostess. Waited for napkins. Waited a lot. They gave us a free brownie sundae which was scarfed down by greedy boys. 

It took so long the sun was almost down. 

We fed the pelicans for our last time. I love that the kids and Steven like it but will not miss the bird poo smell. 

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (not)

Steven was my photographer for a photo for which I've purposely been growing my tummy. 
It's nice and round now, so we went for the shot:) 

 He had the idea for me to really go under the pier and waited for the bird to be in the right location. 

 Of course we had our other babies with us.  They found two beached flopping fishies.  Our jungle man, Dylan, picked his up and threw it back,

 But Isaac only touched his then pointed at it. 

 Dylan threw them both in for us. 

Now this is probably what we should have been doing, picnicking in our Sunday best staying in the shade of umbrellas with our family and friends, just admiring the water, like the proper people in Georges Seurat's 1884 painting. 

 But what temptation!! 

 Isaac knows how to enjoy God's creations.  He punches back when the waves are rolling in with their Sabbath Day karma. 
I could go hang out at the beach every evening. I'm always in the mood for a beach picnic - and Steven had the idea to take us to the Reddington Beach Long Pier to show me where it was because I have a photo session there this evening. Of course I said yes!

Then we dug in one spot for coquina shells and watched them dig down in the sand.  We'll be back tonight:)

Stubborn Eater

Like I said before in the boots post, it was finally a cooler evening so I wanted to eat dinner outside. We decided to meet Steven after work at the Pier downtown by us. I always say that the food's not great, but the view is. So Dylan had some Daddy time while we walked to the end of the pier.

This pic is for you, Steven. (He insisted on making faces in the elevator b/c he thought it was dumb of me to be taking pictures like a tourist when we've been to the pier a million times.)
While we waited for our food, Dylan ran around chasing the birds in the wide open area. I don't know why the pier isn't more crowded. Maybe it's b/c the pier doesn't put forth any extra effort in making it a fun experience or something. This is the reason for this post now. Dylan hasn't been eating well. He's getting kinda picky. I thought this time was b/c he was feeling sick sick so I almost gave in. We ordered the yummy sweet potato fries. Dylan likes to dip things so he liked dipping them in the ranch and applebutter. He'll keep the same fry until it accidentally breaks off in his mouth. It keeps him occupied so I like it. The problem is, fries aren't as healthy as the beans and rice we ordered him. He was being so stubborn and would NOT eat or even taste his food though! He was beign loud and was wanting another french fry. Steven wasn't going to give in. We were outside and the place wasn't that populated, so we let him have his mini-tantrum. We got the check and a to-go box (for his food) pretty quickly b/c of his pouty mood. The funny thing is that as soon as we put his food in the to-go box, he wanted it! So we sat there and let him feed himself. We thought we were victorious in not giving in, but then again, he probably thinks HE's victorious b/c he didn't have to eat out of that plate. He now had RICE on the beans instead of the BEANS on the rice - THAT's what he wanted. He didn't even ask for the pile of fries I set aside for AFTER!