Heaven in South Carolina

Edisto Beach...This is truly one of our favorite places in the world. It is what the beach is to me - sand, waves and no commercialism. There are only a handful of restaurants there, but the majority of them are great. We welcomed the year 2000 at Edisto and have been going there ever since.

This year, the 4 of us were joined by Nan & Pop-Pop, Uncle John-John & Aunt Nell, Uncle Mark and our dear friend Cara. John-John, Aunt Nell & Cara stayed with us while Mom & Dad and Mark stayed at another condo. We shared cooking duties, had some big group time and had some smaller group times as well. I think it was a great week for all involved. We rented bikes this year, including one with a pull-along for the girls. They had great fun riding behind daddy in the trailer. Each day included some beach time and some pool time, which was great. One morning, John-John & Aunt Nell took the girls to the Serpentarium, which they loved. We hadn't been there yet and were glad to have other adults who were willing to go! Both girls touched the big snakes and Mason even held a boa around her neck - not something I would do! That night we all stuffed ourselves on boiled shrimp - it doesn't get much better than fresh shrimp right off the boat!

The highlight for Mason might have been her date night with John-John. She was very upset with me for "not packing (her) pretty dresses because she had NOTHING to wear!" Boy are we in trouble! They got dressed up and John took her to dinner at the Dockside. She used her good manners, as did John-John! He then took her to get ice cream for dessert. She told him that they couldn't go home after ice cream because they hadn't stayed out late enough since it was a date! It was a very special evening...and I wish I could have been a fly on the wall!

Too quickly came the end of our wonderful week at Edisto. I'm already looking forward to next year's week in SC heaven!

It's Worth a Shot...

Seems it might be time to join the blog world so friends and family can keep up with what's going on in our household. I'm not always as good at keeping in touch as I'd like to be.

We've had a great summer...it's my first summer as a full-time stay-at-home mom and I LOVE IT! It has been great being able to travel & play whenever we wanted. We've been to Pennsylvania to visit John-John and Aunt Nell (my brother & sister-in-law), had a bonus week at the beach in July thanks to my good friend Paige who invited us to join them at Fripp, and are heading to Edisto this Saturday for a week. It doesn't get much better than that!

The biggest upcoming event is the start of kindergarten for Mason. She will begin public school kindergarten in 2 weeks! It's hard to believe she is old enough for that. Where does the time go? We can't wait to find out who her teacher is and who is in her class. She has met several new friends at the neighborhood pool this summer who will also be starting kindergarten. We're also planning her 5th birthday party for the end of the month. She decided that she wanted to have a camping party, so we'll be heading to Paris Mountain State Park with a group of girls. It should be fun!

Kate will have a few weeks of "mommy time" before heading back to her school just before Labor Day. She is hopefully going to pony camp in a couple of weeks - she'll be in heaven! The latest thing with her is FINALLY getting the girl potty-trained. I thought for sure she was going to go to college in diapers. I know, I know...everyone says that they've never known anyone go to elementary school in diapers, much less college - but I was starting to wonder! She and I spent 2 FULL (and VERY LONG days) in the kitchen with only a potty chair. It was rough, but it worked! She hasn't had an accident in days. We are also working on a birthday party for this one! This will probably be either a horseback riding party or a gymnastics party - the jury is still out on this one. There's nothing like having all 4 of our birthdays within one month!

In between the girls birthdays falls the dad's birthday. He is getting to do something very cool for his birthday this year. He and 3 other guys are going on a canoeing trip in the Boundary Waters (Minnesota/Canada border). I am SOOO jealous because I would love to go on that trip - just not this time. I'll definitely have to post some photos when he returns! With all these fun birthdays, how am I going to wrap up the birthday season with mine? I'm sure it won't be able to live up to a camping party, a horsey or gymnastics party or a paddling trip in a beautiful part of our country!

It is definitely time for bed, so this is it for post #1 of our Blog! Hopefully, I can keep it updated...and hopefully, you won't be too bored reading about our lives!!