Family Visitors - Day 2

Today, we found ourselves alone in Nikki's apartment; well, nearly alone. Nikki was at work by the time Andrew came in to wake us. Out in the living room, fat cat and scaredy dog were napping and were a little surprised to see us. Fat cat was cool, but scaredy dog made a dash for the dining room table, then thought better of that plan and ran for cover in Nikki's bedroom, where he stayed for the rest of the morning.

After showers and a microwaved cinnamon bun, we were on our way back to the resort. Once there, we changed into our swimming clothes, but things were slow to develop. Eventually, we made it to the North Village pool. This pool was much more interesting than the first pool. It was shaped in a horseshoe. At the left point, there was a small slide. Moving toward the middle, there was as in-pool volleyball area and basketball area. The middle featured a zero-entry area that increased in depth to the right and ended in a small waterfall. Most of the family spent a couple hours playing in pool before heading back to the condo for a break from the sun.

Back at the condo, I started getting restless, so Gabe, Caleb, and I jumped in the Honda to explore River Island. River Island is an amazing piece of engineered water and pool fun. It's main feature was a lazy river that weaves its way around the park. At both the north and south ends, it had 'exits' that lead into large, zero-entry pools for small kids to play. In the middle of the river loop, there is an elevated island with bridges crossing over the river. At the highpoint, there are two hot tubs surrounded by rocks that mark the tops of the waterfalls the cascade into the river below. The whole area is surrounded by cabanas, lawn chairs, and shops. When we left, we were all pretty excited about going back and spending some time there tomorrow.

Back at the resort once again, the ladies returned from the extremely long shopping extravaganza. I truly do not understand what takes women so long in a grocery store. They go in with a list, yet they're gone for hours. And with three of them, you'd think they could divide and conquer and be finished three times faster. It's a mystery to me.

It was getting late and dinner was the next order of business. The plan was to have homemade pizzas. Ever since arriving at the resort, I'd been longing a slice of the pizza that was advertised in the resort handout. It looked absolutely amazing, with rich sauce, large chunks of tomato, basil, and bubbly cheese. The visit to Cici's didn't even come close to satisfying my desire for good pizza. I was strangely surprised when I saw Noemi start browning about four pounds of ground beef on the stove. And, although I looked, I was unable to find anything resembling pizza fixings. Susan was busy chopping a huge purple onion. I asked her what it was for and she said it was for the pizza. If I wasn't so hungry, I would have lost interest altogether at that point, but my stomach was still curious about where all this was leading. Fifteen minutes later, out from the oven came two 'pizzas'. They were covered with ground beef and a touch of mozzarella cheese. The ground beef was smothered in barbecue sauce. After it cooled a bit, I was pleasantly surprised; it was much better than I had imagined.

Noemi and Gabe prepare to serve the 'pizza'

A close-up shot of the 'pizza'

After dinner, we had some frozen yogurt for dessert, then packed up to leave. Tonight, we were staying at the C&D B&B. As is often the case, we left some of our stuff where we didn't intend it to be. This time, we left a bag of towels at Nikki's, so we had to make a quick stop at her place before reaching our final sleeping destination.

Andrew, wrapped in my shirt, enjoying his cold dessert