goodbye seabrook

Our home away from home. Nana and Papa had the bedroom on the 2nd story with the balcony. A.Jenny, U.Matt, Reagan and Reilly had the bedroom behind that on the 2nd floor.We were lucky to have the master bedroom on the main floor and poor A.Hildy was on the couch. ;) Good thing it was a comfy couch.What a GREAT, GREAT trip. We are so thankful we were able to get our whole family together to spend a week enjoying this beautiful place as well as enjoying our time together.

On the way out of town we stopped at Angel Oak.

Beautiful.

And ginormous.

Presley kept asking if all of those trees were connected....even after we were several miles down the road. ;)

Goodbye Seabrook, we will miss you!! You will not be forgotten. You were great to us and we hope we will meet you again!

beach sunrise

We knew we had to get up early at least once on vacation so we could enjoy the sunrise. It was a bit cloudy and buggy (and early). In fact we waited until the last possible moment to wake Reese up to go. We took her in her p.j.'s and changed her at the beach. ;)

But it was beautiful too.

And we were at the ocean with family so we will not complain.

pool time

Not only were we so fortunate to be able to be so super close to the ocean we were also able to enjoy the MANY different pools our village had to offer. It is amazing to me how much my girls (all 3 of them) have learned in swimming this year. They all go under without plugging their nose now.

Reese's new trick was putting both of her arms up so it would lower her into the water a bit.

Addison started diving and swimming underwater.

Chad spent most of his time in search of lizards. ;)

Good thing for him, he was able to find lots.

And Presley was a little fish like normal.

shopping

One night after dinner we headed down to the market area to do a little souvenir shopping with the cousins.

They had these cute little frogs all over the market place that my girls insisted on hugging.

After a bit we split up so we could move a little faster. ;)

Presley picked out a stuffed blue crab (to match cousin Reilly).

Addison picked out a stuffed dolphin "that we saw swimming in the ocean while we were swimming". :)

And Reese picked out a stuffed sea turtle. Each of the girls were also able to pick out more shells to take home. And they each got a book about the ocean to remind them of our trip.Chad picked out a South Carolina golf shirt and I got a t-shirt and key chain. We also found some coffee mugs and a magnet.

We ended the night with a treat for us all.

beach day

The girls are on their way to our favorite beach of the trip. The tide was low and the undertow weak. Since the tide was low there was also a low tide pool that the girls enjoyed.

All of us (even Reese) were able to find several live sand dollars to keep. We had almost filled our bucket that Presley was holding when she saw the mouth open. Scared her enough to drop the whole bucket in the ocean. Good thing there were lots to be found and we were able to re-stock our bucket. I also found a live conch shell that we brought home.

baby gator

While Chad went out on his bike ride that first night in search of the crabbing dock he spotted a baby alligator in one of the lakes. He didn't have his phone or a camera with him to show us when he got back. We checked almost every day for the next couple of days (several times a day) and never found him....until the day before we left. On our way to beach we all were with Chad when he once again found the gator. This time we were prepared with a camera and video camera.

crabbing & fishing

One of the priorities on Chad's list of things he wanted to do in South Carolina was to do some crabbing (and hopefully eat what he caught). He was happy when he checked out the basement of our beach house and saw a crab trap for him to use. The first night we were there after the girls were down for the night he rode a bike down to the crabbing dock to check it out.

Then he did some research and found out he needed to buy chicken necks to put in the trap. The next day he picked up a couple of necks and went out to set his traps. He tried several days and although his chicken necks were gone each time, there were no crabs left in his trap. He did try to put a neck on a line and attract a crab to that. He had a big one bite and as he was pulling it up to get it on the dock the crab fell off. :( Oh well, he had fun and the girls were able to see lots of crabs. Another priority for Chad was to take the girls fishing in the ocean. Lucky for us, the Island had a fishing tournament for kids on Wednesday morning. $5 a pole.

Again they were able to get a fish on the pole but while they were reeling it in, the fish slipped off. So they only thing we were able to keep from that day was a shell that they caught on the line. :)

Oh well, a good time was had and now the girls (and Chad) can say they fished in the Atlantic Ocean.

rainbow row

After Daddy picked us up we headed out to Rainbow Row. We jumped out of the van for a few quick pictures.

This pink house was the girls favorite. (surprise, surprise)

I loved all the wrought iron details.

And the super cute gardens.

Now whenever we pass by houses that are a bit more colorful than regular houses, the girls ask if that is "Rainbow Row".

Before we left Charleston to go back to our beach house we made a quick stop to pick up some yummy cupcakes and cookies. Cute, cute and delicious to boot!