beach beach beach - part 3

And more totally random pictures and in a totally random order. . . 

While the girls picked out beach chairs and the kids picked out bad flavors of ice cream, these two hunted for who knows what.

Picking up BBQ one night for dinner.

We went to Murrell's Inlet Friday night for dinner. Our party of 12 was seated immediately at Wahoo's in the outdoor area at 2 tables. It was great and such a fun atmosphere. Definitely go eat there if you have the chance.

The 5 second rule isn't so awesome on the beach.

We went to Broadway at the Beach one night. Crazy! Some generous people gave our kids their extra balloon hats. They proceeded to hit everyone near them in the face. They didn't last too long.

Ted took a gnarly wave and hit the bottom. That's a bit of a scrape on his forehead (and a finger over the camera lens) that has since scabbed over. He took it like a man though and got right back on his boogie board.

This is as close as we got to burying anyone in the sand. Although you would've never known that by the pile of sand that came out of Sophie's swim suit every night.

More Can-Jam or Jam-Can. I can't remember.

Ted was the "coach" as compensation for not being allowed to play.

We had a most excellent week. 

- The moon was full around the middle of our week, so late night walks on the beach were absolutely beautiful. 

- We had 7 straight days of no rain - something we haven't seen all summer. There were a few cloudy days, but I'll take anything but rain.

- I loved sitting on the beach talking with friends. And the front porch. And the living room. And Starbucks. It was especially fun to spend time with JB and Bethany as we rarely spend time with them outside of some Young Life function.

- Sophie napped on our last day at the beach. Actually, when I put her to bed the night before she said, "Can I take a nap tomorrow." She was worn out.

- It took us 12 hours to get home. Sophie fell asleep about 30 minutes from home. Ted never slept. I'm super thankful for portable DVD players and an ipad. I know that is such a luxury and many did without for many, many years. But I'm telling you I'm thankful.

- I loved my time bike riding with Sophie on the back of my bike. She sang a lot back there. And we talked about great things.

- I loved talking with the kids about the way that God made the ocean and how big it is and how small we are. It was cool talking with them about something so vast and big.

- No one got super sunburned. Just a little red here and there. 

- Our 2nd camp trip was at camp while we were there. We got a call around 11:30 Monday night that one of the two buses had broken down right outside of camp. Never a great phone call. Thankfully we have most excellent leaders who kept things under control until a new bus arrived.

- Steph makes the best 'drip castles.' They are beautiful! Her castles looked like a scene straight out of Narnia. 

- We ate so well - whether we ate in, ordered in, or went out. I told Steph before the trip that I would not offer to feed them my spaghetti sauce out of a jar, but I would certainly help prepare with instruction and oversight and do the dishes. It worked well!

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beach beach beach - part 2

As our days at the beach wore on, Sophie got more and more comfortable with the water. She had less sand everywhere, but also wanted to be in the ocean where she couldn't be by herself.

After a bit of a cranky Tuesday morning, Ted, Sophie and I skipped the afternoon beach time in exchange for some naps. Everyone felt much better.

There seemed to be a lot of coloring happening towards the later part of the week - with and without kids present.

And then there was late night game playing - Phase 10, Monopoly Deal & Apples to Apples

Doing a little princess wedding reading with JB.

Can Jam (a frisbee game that requires knocking a frisbee into a can-type contraption) was a beach favorite for the boys.

When JB & Bethany came, the kids moved into our room. Actually into our closet. Nothing like a good closet for some real fun. Ted made himself a bed from a chaise cushion and Sophie used a crib mattress. They loved (and chose) this as their "room."

Greg brought a kite to fly. There was one particular day that was an excellent kite day.

We went to Wahoo's Fish Grill/Restaurant/Something-or-Other on the last night at Murrell's Inlet. Loved the atmosphere of the whole thing. JB & Ben shared some crab legs.

And we took some fun photos. Sad to say the humidity was absolutely killer on my hair.

Ted purchased the great WV hat with his allotted beach souvenier money. You can take the boy out of WV but you can't take the WV out of the boy. He also purchased the aviator glasses for himself before we left. We've pretty much given up on him wearing his glasses this summer.

Ted scored himself a picture with Nick.

Hanging with BA at Starbucks.

Steph, Bethany and I did some shopping one afternoon at some really cool local shops. This particular shop had a "joggleboard." Pretty fun to see. Super cute shops. I've decided I'm a sucker for atmosphere when it comes to these cute shops and eating at the right places.

beach beach beach - part 1

We went to the beach last week. It was awesome! Neither of the kids had been before. Well, Ted was at the beach when he was 9 months old, but I really don't count that. We went with the Isaacs (Greg, Steph, Meredith, BA & Rusty) to Litchfield Beach in South Carolina. JB & Bethany Ward joined us at the halfway point of the week and Nick Allen joined us for the last two days. All in all, it was a most excellent week. Great weather. Great food. Great friends. Great vacation. Such a complete blessing. 

This and the following 2 posts will be lots of pictures with some commentary. The pictures are so out of order. Everyone texted around photos (which is a great way to share) so I just put them in in the order I received them. My camera was at Young Life camp, so we trusted our phones all week. So here goes . . . 

We stayed the night with our friends Chad and Carissa in Charlotte on our way to the beach. I so wish we got to see more of them. Our kids enjoyed a late night and early morning dress up and video games. 

Sophie & Emalynn

Ted and Cayde

This was the chameleon we saw on the side of their house as we left Saturday morning. He's just laying back on a spider web.

And crawling up Emalynn's leg.

Friends. Love her!

We lived in this house - The Ugly Betty. Weird name for a beach house. But it was lovely. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a loft. 2 screened in porches and a great driveway for bike riding and long boarding.

We rented bikes and did lots of bike riding. That may have been one of my highlights. On the trail to Starbucks and the ice cream place, there's a pond with lots of turtles and . . .

2 small alligators. That's the head. They are always just hanging out.

This is Sophie with a dead crab she found. We didn't see much in the way of sand creatures.

But for two days in a room we saw dozens of star fish during low tide. So many you could hardly walk without stepping on one. That was definitely a highlight and the ornament we choose to represent our trip.

Both kids LOVED the beach. Ted boogie boarded and swam and jumped waves and loved every second of it. Until the first day when he got all chafed at his waist line from trunks a little too tight rubbing on the boogie board. Enter introduction to gold bond. That stuff is pretty great.

 And let me introduce you to Sandy and Sandy. SANDY #1: Sophie earned the nickname "Sandy" this week from being covered with sand and managing to fill most crevices with sand. We pulled piles out of her swim suit bottoms and she was fully bathed in the outdoor shower only. SANDY #2: Sophie got a little kickboard and named it "Sandy." That was her dog she pulled around who liked to play in the water but only slept outside in the wagon because she was so sandy.

The ice cream place was near our house. Ted and I had a date there one night. The first night we got ice cream, both kids got some ridiculous flavors and then hated it. From then on, they stuck with more traditional flavors like cookies and cream or mint chocolate chip. My personal opinion is that you can never go wrong with chocolate.

Sophie and Ted shared a room the first half of the week and then moved to our room when JB and Bethany came. One night I asked Sophie to pick up her things. She showed me that you she done a little "decorating" with her shoes, play doh, play doh accessories and hair things. I see interior design in her future.

Starbucks was also nearby. Some people went every day. We did not. My kids are 5 and 7. They don't need Starbucks daily. But they did enjoy a few hot chocolates over the week.

We got one of those pull behind bikes for Sophie. It was AWESOME. It allowed us to go much further, much faster. We took a bike ride every morning and most evenings. Loved it. We had some great conversations while bike riding.

We were about 4 houses, 1 road and then the row of beach front houses away from the beach. We borrowed a beach wagon from some friends that came in super handy. Ted eventually started riding his bike to and from the beach which was great for everyone. Sophie walked back and forth on hot asphalt and rocks in bare feet. Her choice.

"All hopped up on Starbucks and bad ice cream" was the caption for this on Instagram.