Beach Week 2014

Hooray!  We're home after a week at the beach.  We rented a house with the Wheelers in Sullivan's Island, South Carolina and just had the best time.  Vacationing with friends is the way to go - other kids for your children to play with! free babysitting!

Two kids plus sunscreen and towels and chairs and hats and umbrellas and sand (did I mention sand?) doesn't leave much room for my big camera, so all of these photos are from my phone.  There are some good ones, though!  I did make a point to bring my camera to the beach on our last afternoon in town, but am saving those images for another post.

Matt's parents live in Tennessee and were kind enough to let us stay overnight at their house on the way down.  We really are so lucky that our friends have parents who love our kids when our family is farther away.

feeding the fish with John

playing blocks with Peggy.

Saturday morning was Pete's birthday - so Peggy had a candle in the banana bread!

sticker girl

Saturday morning we drove four hours to Matt and Jen's house where Pete was quickly adopted by Kate as her second Daddy.

she has a thing for tall guys - and the only guys taller than her daddy are Pete, Adam, and Mike :-)

 After a quick lunch we headed for the beach!

Helping her daddy assemble his birthday Legos

It poured rain on Sunday, and we feared that the whole week would be a wash out.  Ever the ones to make lemonade out of lemons, the boys took to the street with the kayak.

testing out the (street)waters

watching her Daddy be silly

Our house had both a front and back porch, so we could eat lunch in or out.  I also gave Pete some popsiscle molds for his birthday, so we enjoyed those after lunch.

Sharing with her sister - yes, I'll have to get this one printed :-)

  The front porch was great for morning storytime.

Ellie reading to Kate

Pete reading to Kate and Ellie

I got to take a walk with this girl during Caroline's morning nap

It's not a Crawford vacation if we don't seek out a mini-golf course, so one sweltering morning we hit the green and grabbed hot dogs and root beer for lunch afterwards.  This was Ellie's first time to play.

Brief instruction

The best her form looked all morning!

obligatory family photo

Then, during one afternoon nap, I got to go to the beach ALONE!  It was amazing and surreal.  I got bored very quickly, though, and could not wait for my girls to wake up and join me.  This cutie was awake and available for entertainment, though.

Kate LOVED the water.

Pete wanted to run over the Cooper River Bridge at least once while we were there, and, luckily, there is a great pier and playground underneath the bridge.  So we all loaded up one morning and made the quick drive towards Charleston.

Ellie especially liked climbing on the dolphins. (and looking like a grown-up girl)

Reading Dragons Love Tacos before heading to Taco Boy for lunch.

We each had a solo date night and had a sitter come one night so the four of us could go to dinner.  (Of course we got no pictures, even though we were all dressed up and on a double date for -we think- the first time in four YEARS.) If we weren't on a date, we were playing board games.  That's what everyone does during a vacation, right?!?  In the course of the week we played Phase 10, Monopoly, Sequence, and Rummikub.  And had so much fun!!

I lost this and two other rounds of Rummikub - almost unheard of. Jen was dominating that night.

And then, as if all of a sudden, the week was over.  It was time for us to pack our things and gather our shells, and hit the road.  Just as we were loading into our cars, it occurred to us to take a picture of the house.  So glad we did.  Next time there will FOUR kids - can't wait!!

Our beach house at Station 29