Charleston!

Would you believe me if I told you that it has been two years since we were last to the beach?  One of the draws to Southeast for us was the proximity to the coast, yet we've been so busy with moving, settling into the house and buying a business that getting to the beach has just slipped through the cracks.  The beach is our happy place -- both Jeremy & I agree that we would rather go to the beach for a vacation than just about anywhere else.  This weekend we decided to make a quick trip to Charleston to finally scratch our beach itch!

We ended up staying in a hotel in Charleston and driving out to the beach.  On Saturday we hit Kiawah Island and on Sunday we hit Folly Beach.  Both were really nice, but Kiawah was by far my favorite.  The beach there is the nicest I've seen since we were in Grand Cayman.  It was wide, flat, shallow (the kids could walk out forever without getting into deep water), clean (not a lot of shells, seaweed or other ocean debris to get stuck in your flip flops) and the sand was glittery and gorgeous!  Plus, the beach wasn't too busy (Folly was CRAZY busy).

I took a TON of pictures when we first got there only to discover I had left the memory card in the computer at home (idiot!).  Luckily, I found a spare card in the bottom of the camera bag (good thing I don't clean that sucker out very often).  I also had an awful time with condensation on the lens from being in the cool air conditioned van and hitting the extremely humid air of the beach.  I was so frustrated by the time I solved my camera problems, so I didn't get very many good beach photos!

Ross did something while we were at Kiawah that made me want to dig a big old hole to bury myself in.  Our beach blanket was pretty far up the beach from the water and he started squirming & yelling about having to go to the bathroom.  I told him to go get his dad, who was at the water's edge.  I watched (in horror) and he ran towards Jeremy, but stopped at the pond that Reid had dug, pulled out his, um, business parts and peed in the pond.  I sat on the blanket trying not to laugh hysterically while I (futilely) yelled at him to cease and desist.  Want to know what Jeremy did?  He turned around, saw what was going on and then walked out into the water with a look that clearly said, "that's not my child".

We hit the historic area of Charleston on Sunday afternoon.  It was beautiful, but the kids didn't do very well with it.  They were exhausted from all the beach play, so we didn't really get to see much.  Ross was in such a foul and grumpy mood that we didn't try to do any of the houses or museums, but stuck to the outdoor parks, took a trolley ride and ate plenty of junk food.

I was excited to find macarons in a bakery there, but disgusted to find that, after paying $2 a piece for those suckers, that they were gross -- "not worth the calories gross".  I was pleased on Monday morning to find a second bakery that specialised in macarons, which were very good.  I had wanted to try the macarons in the first place so that I could see what the texture should be like.  I was pleased to discover my macarons held up fairly well texture wise and the flavor of mine is actually better than what I had at even the good bakery.

Ross wowed me with another one of his Rossisms on the way out of Charleston.  We got about half way back to the van, when Jeremy decided to deposit the kids & I on a park bench while he went and retrieved it.  The kids were totally done at this point, so I sat down with them and enjoyed the Jelly Belly's we had picked up.  As we were sitting there talking, this is the conversation I had with him:

Me:  You know, it is really nice of your daddy to go get the van for us.  He is hot, tired and his feet hurt,too.
Ross:  I'm doing him a favor, too.
Me:  Really, Ross, what is that?
Ross:  He's getting to walk to van without listening to our whining, so we did a favor for each other.

Hmmm...really?  REALLY?  Only you, Ross, could be so darn aggravating and cute at the same time!

(The kids enjoying their jelly beans while Ross gives Dad a helping hand.)

(I'm not sure what brought it on, but Jeremy snapped a picture of me, which rarely happens.  I like it because my hair looks good even though it was windblown and humidified beyond belief.)

On a whole, it was a good weekend...hopefully y'all had an enjoyable holiday as well!