Kiawah Island 2012
Monday, July 2nd, 2012Amazing. Beautiful. Super fun. The usual. It would have been better if E had been able to take off of work and come with me, but I managed the trip down to South Carolina and back on my own pretty well despite TWO car puke incidents and some really hectic bathroom stops.
This year all THREE of my BFF’s – Erin and Sara from high school and Erin from college – came to the beach so it was extra special. College Erin, the one with the toddler who takes amazing photos, brought her camera and took amazing photos so I’ll have those to share later (and probably add to my header and my headshot and my Facebook profile and my Twitter avatar…) but for now, here’s what four days in the low country looks like.

The last known picture of Original Ugly Dolly before Caroline left her in Charleston the next day (I bought her an exact replacement on Ebay and she hasn’t even noticed!)
Alligator story: Erin and I decided we needed to make up for eating all the things by going for a run/jog/walk/trudge around 8 am. We had just started running when a guy jogging towards us started shouting “STOP! STOP! STOP!!” and pointing frantically at the path in front of us. It took us a full 20 seconds to see the GIANT ALLIGATOR lying right across the sidewalk we were running towards. We would have almost hit him with our strollers. We hopped off the path and crossed the road and THEN took pictures from a nice, safe distance with zoom lenses. After posing for a minute the alligator stood up and lumbered off into the marsh on the other side. Despite the signs everywhere that say “DANGER ALLIGATORS” and actually seeing an alligator last year I was totally unprepared to actively avoid them while walking on a sidewalk. We watched MUCH more carefully on the way home.
And now, a brief interlude of nature/macro photography:

On Monday there was a tropical storm heading in so the waves were huge and the birds were going crazy. Monday night it POURED all night.
And a few more (I KNOW) from my Panasonic water-proof camera:
I totally can’t believe my luck that we got to go on this vacation AGAIN – and that we’re currently looking at dates for next year’s trip too. Hopefully we can find a time when E and Erin’s husband can both come too, but also when no one is so pregnant they’re in danger of having an unintentional home birth. Plus if the husband’s come we can abandon them with the children for dessert night in town. I’m already counting the days!!
Helpful links! So servicey!
Surprisingly inexpensive Sigma lens: Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 SLD DG Macro Lens We obviously bought the that fits our Nikon but they make them to fit other cameras too.
Adorable beach coverups: I bought them on MamaBargains but they’re from iPlay (also have matching towels!)
Water-proof camera: Mine is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1 but the newest model is the TS4, and the price on the new one is better. (Despite a bunch of people on Amazon complaining their cameras leaked, mine it still in awesome shape after 4 years, lots of pools, lakes, rivers and the cruise.)
Caroline’s tutus: Handmade by Chelsea’s Pretty Things (Facebook) and Etsy shop. She lives in my town!