Summer Vacation 2010: Hilton Head - Day 7

8/26/2010 - The End
After finally having a night of sleep without Darren's snoring, we all slept in to prepare for our last day in Hilton Head.  I guess "slept in" is relative... for me/us, we got up about 9am and Rebecca hooked us up with some yummy pancakes.  We debated on whether we should hit the beach or the pool and decided the pool was more fun for Isaac.  No qualms here... I'd gotten enough of a workout getting to the beach other days.  As you may have already read, the pool was much more accessible and much easier.  We figured if we had time, we would hit the beach that evening for an after-dinner stroll and kiss it good-bye.

How you doin'?

Water buddies all week long.

So it was a quiet morning at the pool, then the usual lunch and naps.  Since we didn't get much shopping time in the night before, we headed back to the outlets. We sat through one last torrential down-pour in the parking lot before attempting to unload kids and stroller.  After hitting a few of our targeted shops, we landed in a Crocs store that smelled like a Goodyear factory.  How anyone could stand to work 8 hours or more amongst that horrendous odor is beyond me.  I had a headache after 5 minutes and felt the need to get my 4-month-old-unable-to-express-her-opinion daughter out of there.  I wouldn't have been surprised to see her unbuckle herself and learn to crawl out of sheer life-saving necessity.

Me and my Ella.

After the outlets we scored some Chic-fil-a for dinner and rushed back to squeeze in both that last walk on the beach I mentioned earlier, as well as a final evening swim for Isaac.  We capped the evening with some ice cream and watched a little of The Barnyard before Isaac crashed.  Rebecca soon followed and I stayed up packing, then blogging, and packing some more with SportsCenter providing some atmosphere -- significant because Albert Pujols hit the 400th homerun of his career that night.  Nice work, Albert!
I hit the sack around 1:00am.  Vacation was over.  I think we all had fun.

p.s. - I was just kidding about Darren snoring.  I never heard him once at night.  Kaitlin will testify otherwise.  :-)

Today's Good Read: John 16:31-33

The End.

El Jardinero

El Jardinero.  Spanish for... "The Jardinero."  What better nickname for a guy that does as much "yard" work as Albert Pujols?  Albert hit the Opening Day stage with not one, but TWO homeruns, sparking the Cards to an 11-4 victory.  Not only did "The Gardener" (okay, it's cooler in Spanish) jack two out, he finished with an incredible line - 4 for 5 (2 HRs, 2 singles), 4 runs scored and 3 RBIs, putting him on pace for 326 HRs, 652 runs scored, 489 RBIs and an .800 batting average -- all of which would be single season records!  I can hear them shouting his name in the streets of St. Louis... "Look!  It's El Jardinero!  El Jardinero, can I have your autograph?"  I think it even sounds biblical, so I know Albert (also a Jesus freak) would be a fan.  Who in baseball further epitomizes a man reaping the reward of what good seed he sows?  Baseball has run out of things to say about him.  So what now?  We just make up more legendary nicknames for him?  Like El Jardinero.  And check it out... within the name lies yet another Spanish term so descriptive of Pujols... do you see it?  Look closely.  J-a-r-d-i-n-e-r-o.  Oh yeah... dinero.  Money.  The guy is money.  I think this one's going to stick.  You'll be hearing this one on ESPN soon enough.  It's fun to say, isn't it?  El Jardinero.  I can't stop myself.
What's almost as exciting to me about the nickname is perhaps the sign of things to come.  The numbers I mentioned earlier may be a bit of a stretch, even if Albert stays healthy, but if the two homeruns on Opening Day are a sign of things to come, perhaps more team-oriented things -- which is more Albert's style -- then it's going to be a great year in St. Louis.  Do you know what happened the last time he hit two long-balls on Opening Day?  Hint: the year was 2006.  Yup, the Cards won the World Series.
Here's a shout out to Yadier Molina for capping a great Cardinals Opening Day with his ninth inning grand slam - the first of his career.
One win in the books for 2010.  It's going to be a good year.  I can feel it.  Look!  It's El Jardinero!

Today's Good Read: Galatians 6:7