Isle of Palms, Day 2

Okay, so on the first full day of our trip, Mom, Karen and I got up to see the sunrise. We made it just in time to see the sun slip up above the horizon. I had determined that I didn't want to miss anything, so I told Karen, "Get me up to see the sunrise with you!". Forgot the camera that morning, but I can tell you it was gorgeous. It is amazing to see that huge more-than-molten ball appear just as God ordained it to all those years ago when He breathed it in to existence. Never has it failed to rise, and it is only a created thing. If the created thing has never failed to do what it was created to do, how much more can we depend on the Creator to keep His promises to us?!

Then we decided what we would do that day over breakfast. We all knew we wanted to go down to the beach that morning.

Karen and Natalie playing ball...

The gorgeous neighborhood, "BeachSide", where we have the privilege to stay...

The fantastically convenient wagon the belongs to the house...

Straight down to the water, with a supervisor close at hand...

Such a good big brother...

Found a cute little friend, we kept it for a few minutes, but returned it to the water...

She was exhausted...I think the beach has that effect on most everyone...

So there was that.

Then Karen mentioned a *free* place we could go that was historical (for me) and educational. It was the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site.

http://www.nps.gov/chpi/index.htm It wasn't only historical and educational, but it was beautiful and a good way to spend the hottest hours of the day.

Going up to the entrance...

Natalie didn't find the movie about Charles Pinckney very interesting...

The beautiful Plantation house at Snee Farm...

I love this picture because you can see the remnants of a tree house ladder up towards the top of the tree. I wonder who put those there? Pinckney's children? Pinckney himself? Slave children?

One of the things I do miss after moving to the mountains...Huge, sprawling oak trees covered with Spanish moss...

This circle is to show where the well used to be. Archeologists have been working on this site and when they locate an outbuilding or whatever, they outline it with bricks, to help us visualize the Homestead.

Sisters getting in some good bonding time...

Nate and I found this memorial to a Pinckney...

Nate trying his hand at climbing a giant oak...

Lovely flower. It's a Camellia, I believe.

My crazy, oh so lovable aunt, Karen, got some moss terribly tangled around her ankle. She is struggling to remove it...; ) (she really just needed some moss for her planter at home)

I love these white azaleas! Do you see the slightest blush at the top of the blossom?

We found Lantern Waste! The wardrobe is just beyond those evergreens in the background!

...and to finish this blogging session, I'll leave you with a cutie-pie picture...

She has to pick a flower or two wherever she goes!

Our annual Isle of Palms trip

Yay! It's time for our spring trip to the beach! What a blessing to have an aunt and uncle with friends who let us use their beach house...

We had an extra challenge this year, since mom and her sisters were not having their "sisters retreat" and since we have a new dog. Usually, the three sisters go down for the first half of the week, then the rest of their families join them for the last half. Well, this year things were different. Peggy couldn't make it for the sisters retreat, so we were all going at once. Well, this left our animals alone for too many days. So, we had to find the perfect person that would be willing to stay at our house and take care of our pets.

Peggy had suggested a good friend of hers and we had met her and thought she would do very well, if she was available and willing. Thank you Lord, she was! She came out the day before we left and made friends with Adrian, our skittish 1 year old terrier mix, and Misty, my grumpy, unfriendly 8 year old chihuahua. (You can just imagine) The chickens and cockatiel couldn't have cared less who it was feeding them, but I'm sure they even liked her too.

It felt so good when we left Monday morning to know she was going to be taking good care of our animals. Made the vacation that much more enjoyable, because I didn't feel worried or guilty. : )

So we left Monday, April 26th, around 10:30. We thought we would wait to have lunch when we got to Columbia, but we were all hungry before we got out of Asheville, so we stopped at Chik-fil-a.

The drive seemed to go on forever! I guess I am used to being able to sleep or tune out, but miss Natalie-Rose likes interaction. She didn't sleep one wink! But finally, we started seeing the signs, then we started seeing marshes, and bridges and then the ocean! Down went the windows, and, ah, smell the wonderfully salty sea air. We were giddy with excitement!

Stopped in at the store to get things for our dinner. And then, to the beach house!

We put some things on the grill, unpacked, had dinner, and then took Natalie-Rose down to the beach for the first time! I was concerned she might be afraid of the big waves coming at her, but she went, a little hesitatingly, towards the water.

Ever after that, she stayed in the waves.

We saw the moon coming up as the sun was going down.

Nathan really loved it too!

There were jellyfish, but we avoided being stung.

So, once the sun went down we headed back to the house to get the puzzle started, Natalie played with Karen and Tony, and we just soaked in the sea air.

Day 2, next post...

Bringing you up to date...

Now that winter has left finally, and that we have thawed out, I will attempt to catch up a bit.

January 16th was my 25th Birthday. A quarter of a century...oh my. It was lovely. Mom made a Gooney Bird Pie for my cake. It was the same thing mom always asked for on her birthday.

February, of course, we celebrated Valentines day. I made this special cookie for mom and daddy.

It was also Christiana's 3rd Birthday and I had the honor of making her cake. Strawberry cake with Swiss Meringue buttercream!

March is when we went to Florida to visit Ema. We rented a mini-van, packed up everything but the kitchen sink (including the dogs) and drove down for a few days.

It was nice weather, we had a great time being with Ema, and we also got to visit with some old friends that we haven't seen in a very long time.

Jamie!

One friend, Jayne, had a cheesecake in the oven for mom when we went to visit!

We were able to visit the Plaths on Silver Rain farm, dear, dear friends. We had a lovely time!

When we got back, it was Gabriella and Moms birthday. I was asked to do a princess cake for Gabby and mom did a raw cheesecake for herself.

Delish!

Natalie-Rose likes to help with the clean-up... Boy, she looks wired!

Spring has sprung and welcome!

Natalie showing us the Kale.

We had our Spring performance of the Blue Ridge Homeschool choir. We missed so many rehearsals due to snow and we had a shorter semester due to the director's baby being due that we were all very pleased with how well everything went!

It's finally warm enough to enjoy the sand box!

April 4th was Resurrection Sunday! Natalie wore a fancy new dress and I made a coconut cake. Praise God for the gift He gave us on that day!

Dads watching the sweet little girls!

April 5th was Mom and Daddy's 30th wedding anniversary. I made a mini-replica of their wedding cake to celebrate. I was pleased at how it came out.

So, this, very briefly, brings us up to April and our trip to Isle of Palms. That will be covered in the next post.