Beach Run

Here is the first part of Ben's adventures with Maddie at one of the beaches nearby. We think she is really going to like roller coasters someday! I think this burst of energy actually drove Ben to attempt the "big sand hill" run... There is this hill of sand along the highway that people walk and maybe run up for exercise or training. Shortly after we ran out of activities to do at the beach on a cold spring day, ben announced that he was going to run up that hill. Let me state, that this hill, may be considered a mountain by some who have completed this task. Well, Ben was pretty confident and started out at a fast pace. A few seconds later (and maybe a quarter of the way up) he had stopped and was crouching over. He continued run, stop, pant routine until he was about half way up. Then it began to be a WALK, stop, panting routine. After a long time, he had made it to the top and by this time he was a tiny speck of a man up on that huge mountain. From my viewpoint at the bottom, he appeared to be seriously struggling, laying down.  After a few minutes of him laying there, I started to worry.  Did he pull a muscle... ?  And then a few seconds later my imagination jumped to the conclusion, he is having a heart attack.  I proceeded to climb that sand mountain with Maddie in tow.  I decided to go slow and steady to insure that I would make it there without a heart attack as well.  I kept calling Ben's name and finally, he had moved into a sitting position.   I was about half way up and Ben began to come down to me.   Finally, we met and he explained that he was fine... but that if I was going to try to get to the top, I should look out for that morning's pancakes that he had left at the top! Poor guy!