Vacation Part 1

So our journey begins at Edisto Island.  After a LONG car die to the island, we were there and happy to be!  I love Edisto Island!!  It’s nice and quiet.  The only commercial stores there are a gas station, a Piggly Wiggly, and a Subway.  That’s it.  There is a beach and a sound.  The resort where we stay has a few pools and some small activities.  But people come to Edisto to not do anything.  The joke is, that it’s called Edi-slow.  We love the calmness.
My folks were there too.  We stayed on the inner resort area and had a nice view of the lake outside our back deck. 

Before we left, we went to the free comic book day and the kids each scored fishing poles.  So we brought them along for the kids to try out.  Grace wanted to do it because Elijah was doing it, but Elijah can cast with the best of them.  heh.

We went to the beach the first day.  The erosion is so bad, so the drop off is steep and the waves were fairly rough.  HOWEVER, down the beach is the sound… and that was perfect!  Both day and evening.

 

We found all sorts of treasure.  Teeny tiny hermit crabs, shells, and minnows.

One evening we packed a picnic dinner and went to a beach named Botany Bay.  This is a beach that has been untouched forever.  There are trees on the beach.  Also there are AMAZING shells.  You are not allowed to remove them from the beach, but you can explore and touch and move the shells.  There are several conch trees there.

Back on the main part of the island we got around mostly by bike.  You can, of course, drive, but we decided to bike as much as possible.  I brought my and Elijah’s bikes from home, which meant that Grace had a seat as well.  So Jerry, mom and dad rented bikes.  Mom decided that We should get a bike trailer as well.  The man renting the bikes (who mom ended up knowing… he was from SC after all) told Grace that the trailer was a princess seat.  Well, that was the end of that.  Grace rode in the trailer the whole time.  Jerry ended up riding my bike.  But Elijah rode his bike almost everywhere.  There were two exceptions.  One, was the evening ride out to the beach.

The second time was to go kayaking.  Mom and I took the kids out on a tour of one of the rivers that came into the ACE Basin.  This one (appropriately) was the Edisto.  We were hoping to see dolphin, but just saw some birds and crabs..  It was a perfect overcast day.  Elijah was not thrilled with the rocking boat, but warmed up…. 5 minutes before the end.  Alas.

While on the island, we took the kids to pick out souvenirs.  Grace chose a dress.  I thought Elijah might choose a t-shirt.  BUT he choose a skim board.  We had been thinking about getting him one, but they scare me a bit.  Alas.  He, of course, did awesome.   And Grace didn’t want to be left out. so she tried on her boogie board… heh.

Of course there is the pool.  Both kids have been playing at the pool at home.  But here they really got to move around and play.  Grace dunked herself underwater and could swim a little.  Elijah braved the deep end and would jump to me and then swim to the side or the ladder.  I’m so proud of them both.  Both will be taking swim lessons in part 3 of our vacation, and they are READY!

On the grounds was a mini golf.  The day we decided to try it, NO ONE was there!  This turned out to be a good thing, as the scores would have been EJ: 8709837 GJ: 796876928376498761928769873.  Grace gave up after about three or four holes, but she had fun.  Elijah actually got a hole in one on one hole!

Jerry and I got to take a day to ourselves in Charleston.  We won’t discuss the lack of road signs and the frustration of getting there, but suffice to say it was an, um, adventure.  We took a tour and unlike the ladies in front of us that video taped a few seconds and then turned the camera off, rinse and repeat, I only took a couple pics.  It was a really nice day.  We did the tour, walked around the market, ate, took the free trolley to the sound and hung out.  Came back home.

Most nights after dinner, we hung out on the back deck.

And that’s it.  While it doesn’t seem like a lot, it was.  The kids had fun.  But it wasn’t GOGOGOGOGO!  It was mosey to the beach, ride to the pool, just be.