Edisto Island, SC

We headed out of town last Friday afternoon for a week of relaxing and having fun at the beach.  Our first stop was Walterboro, SC where we stayed a night in a Hampton Inn.  The kids liked it, but kept asking where the beach was.  We were only an hour away at that point, so Saturday morning we already felt like we were ON vacation…instead of having a 6 1/2 hour drive on our hands.

Molly in the hotel room.  This was their first stay in a hotel room, to my recollection.

When we got on the island we ate lunch and then went to the bike rental shop.  Josh got a bike for me with a carrier on back and a bike for him with this big carrier that you hook onto the bike.  Mack was loving that thing!

I drove beside/behind them on their trips to the house from the shop.  Molly was having such fun!  We took bike rides most every day and let the girls ride their own bikes for two of those times.  They did a great job, for the most part.  Ruby, while she keeps great form and stays in the correct lines, tends to take her sweet time.  Molly, on the other hand, kept up with Josh the entire time.  She looked like she was made of jelly though…arms were going every which of way, her body was leaned way over and her legs were just pedaling like crazy.  It was a sight!  I was behind them, so watching them both on their bikes was very funny.  So different!

Mack enjoyed riding on my bike and chatting away.  He liked singing songs that I would make up about people riding their bikes.  One afternoon he fell straight to sleep.  It was so cute.

This is Uncle Jesse.  He cooked pancakes almost every morning.  And eggs with cheese!  Marcy, my sister, helped with the bacon.  She might hurt me if I put a picture of her cooking bacon in the early morning on the blog, so I won’t.  She was cute in her apron though.

My mom and dad are the ones who got the beach house for us for the week.  It was our Christmas gift–and a good one!

The very, very sad part is that my younger sister, Cacy, couldn’t come!  Her kids got a HORRIBLE virus that had them running fevers and crying over painful blisters in their mouths.  The pictures looked so awful.  It was so awful that they couldn’t come on this vacation with us.  It really wasn’t all that it was supposed to be without them.

Vance enjoying some coffee on our first morning.

Ruby and Rennison

We made our way out the ocean (o-SHIN!!!!!!, as Vance would say) and the kids had a blast.  They loved the waves knocking them over and ended up with little pieces of shells all over them at the end of each day.  We will probably be finding shells in the girls hair for weeks!  I loved how the ocean waves were such good playmates for my kids. They would chase them, run the other way and then come right back for some more.  It kept them entertained for hours.  Gotta love that.

This is how we spent most of every day.  Sitting in the sun watching the kids play in the water.  Edisto is sometimes jokingly referred to as “Dead”isto.  I can see that.  There is very little to do….ride some bikes, buy overpriced ice cream, and soak up the sun.  That is about it.  And that is exactly what I needed.  Josh and I loved our time away.  It didn’t fly by.  We don’t feel like we did too much while we should have been resting.  It was just very simple and very nice.  This time of year it was not crowded one bit either, which was a definite positive.

PawPaw even made a few appearances on the beach, though never for entirely too long.  Mack never did get to “bury PawPaw in the sand” like he had been talking about doing.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Molly.  Maybe because of the colors, the hat, the sand….or maybe because it is one of the few times she was on the beach and NOT eating or drinking or asking for a popsicle.

Sweetie and my kids at the ocean

Vance turned 4 years old while we were there.  Fun little party was had with gifts and cupcakes!

Even Uncle Josh got in on the fun time.

We made a sand castle!

Sweetie had the best chair!  This covering for her face was perfect, and we would steal her chair any chance we got.  She did a lot of sitting in the sun and reading.

I have so many more pictures, and I hope I get a chance to post them over the next couple of days, but I must get some sleep at this point of the day!  We had a great time, and we are so glad we got to spend some time with the family.

OH, and I will have to take a picture of what our front porch/yard looked like when we drove up to our house this afternoon.  We have a very kind group of friends!  We are so blessed.  I will post that picture soon…..

Good night.