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.
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