Our last days in Edisto

Finally some pictures of the kids at the beach!  They had such a great time this week playing at the beach and splashing in the pool!  I am so grateful for our relaxing time together as a family.  We are already looking forward to our next beach trip in August with our larger family of Jan, Leon, Brian and Sandi.  Until then...sometimes you just need to suck your thumb even when it is covered with sand...

 

 

Eric and I have decided that Edisto Beach is to Seabrook Island like NASCAR is to the Indy 500; like Hoosier Park is to the Kentucky Derby; like Miller Lite is to Red Hook; and, as much as it breaks my heart, like this year's Indiana Hoosiers basketball is to Butler University. Although there is love and general appeal for the former, the quality is in the latter.

Now for some pictures...

Kai can't figure out how to get his sunglasses on by himself, so he will approach with, "How work?" Then, after they are on, he says, "Awesome!"

Maddie getting her swagger back in the pool after 8 months off. Emmy, you will notice the crooked smile (everyone else: she dons this smile when she's attempted something difficult and she's successful, i.e. swimming)

Daddy and Kai in the pirate ship

I am definitely taking the camera to the beach tomorrow! However, in the meantime, here are some pictures of the kids at the pool and at the Charleston Children's Museum. Today was our only rainy day of the week so we seized the opportunity go to this fun, interactive Children's Museum full of art, water play, physics lessons and a pirate ship.

Of note:

-Mad learned to blow bubbles with bubble gum yesterday.

-Mad has gained the confidence to be right beside her sister in the ocean jumping waves.
-Rylie learned to dive INTO the waves.

-We learned that the jellyfish we are encountering on the beach aren't dangerous. This is good because the kids have been dodging them as they head back and forth from the sand projects to the ocean.

-We also learned that it is prime horseshoe crab mating season as we saw hundreds, maybe thousands, washed up on shore yesterday. They find a mate, then congregate into clusters right along the shoreline. Been dodging those too!

-Therefore, Eric and I may have inadvertently been the instigators of 2 baby horseshoe crab abortions on Wed. when we moved two couples back out to sea. We reseached later and learned that after mating the female remains on shore and buries up to 20,000 eggs. We are very sorry, crab mama.
-I have decided that when we go home we are using plastic cups, eating off styrofoam plates and eating out once a day! Although this is terrible for the environment and our budget, it is really great for my sanity!  I wish!

Continued...

-Sorry no pictures this post because the point-and-shoot is dead and I forgot my DSLR's memory card in the computer today.
-Tuesday: playground, putt-putt, early naps as the two youngest were a mess, lunch out, then beach all afternoon, ice cream for dinner.
-I am thrilled that, at least for the week, I have gained prominence in Kai's eyes as the favorite parent. I believe I captured favor because, for the last three days at the beach, we have dug with our Kai-assigned shovels (mine is green, his is blue) and pushed his famed dump truck around moving "dirt and mulch" as he calls it. As I was putting him to bed, he said sleepily, "you and Kai dig in the dirt."
-On Tuesday night, we stopped for ice-cream-for-dinner. Just to confirm, we WILL receive the Best Parents Award 2011, as long a kids do the voting! Rylie read the menu stating CONES $3 and concluded, "The cones are $3, so the ice cream is free!"
-Another Rylie funny: Eric and I were talking about a Disney cartoon that has pirate kids and Captain Hook. I asked where Peter Pan was and Eric said this cartoon was after Peter Pan had grown up. Rylie interrupted the conversation and said, "You mean this is real life?" This innocence coming from a child who says she doesn't like to play in her room or the playroom anymore because there's too much baby stuff and not enough teenager stuff! Still my sweet 7 year old at heart.
-Wednesday: We started at the Nature Center at Edisto Beach State Park where we learned about the importance of oyster reefs and also learned the names of many of the shells we have been collecting. Then local park, lunch beach side, naps and a lovely chat with Shelley (i am embarrassed to say how long it has been since we have talked so it was wonderful), then took rented bikes to the beach. We immediately found two mating horseshoe crabs on the shore. Eric's and my romantic side took over and we decided to move them out to sea using a beach towel. Later we found another set and I think he just scooted them out to sea! Seriously crabs, it is difficult to explain this behavior to my children! My highlight was watching Madelyn and Kai play Ring Around the Rosy along the water's edge. Dinner at home and American Idol and pandora (Adele station) before bed.
-Inside my heart: As a working mom, I am truly ashamed to admit that I spend about 3 hours/workday with my kids. Therefore, I am loving this focused quality time with them! Reveling in it, really. Thank you, Lord, for this gift.

R&R in Edisto Island, SC

We are spending a week on Edisto Island for Spring Break in honor of Eric's 40th birthday and our 10 year anniversary. I am SO excited to spend an entire week with my family in this little laid back beach town--the R&R is so necessary and well deserved! I will try this week to blog a couple of times and add pics along the way...

We arrived yesterday in time to get settled in our condo and head down to the beach for a late afternoon walk. As we stood along the shore and tried to escape the incoming foamy waves, Kai would say "Mommy, the soap is comin'." We have been here 24 hours and already it is a week of firsts for Kai...in a 2 bedroom condo, we decided to let him spend his first night ever in a sleeping bag in the girls' room. He spent most of the night getting up and approaching Mad's bed with "Huggie, huggie" and trying to get into bed with her. He was a tired boy this morning. Then, the bathtub stopper lever broke which required him to take his first shower. He was a natural!

In other things new, I introduced Eric to pandora radio last night. Wonderful invention!

Today, we had a fun-filled day playing at the playground and putt-putt, swimming a short stent in the freezing pool and going to the beach. The girls built a sand pond and house for crabs (according to Madelyn) and Kai spent almost the whole time shoveling sand into his dump truck and moving it from place to place (calling it dirt and mulch--he has been spending way to much time helping Eric in the backyard!). These pictures are of the kids at Whaley's restaurant--that's Wally's Lunch and Dinner to you, Eric.