Amazing. 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.

Enjoying some of the 17 throw pillows (no exaggeration) from my bed

Making a run for the beach

Digging for treasure

Helping Aunt Sara squeeze oranges for sangria

Sunset on the beach

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!)

Moon, sunset, beach

Me taking a picture of Elliot taking a picture

What, isn’t your town full of Civil War cannons for kids to sit on?

Rainbow Row

Tristan – Where E and I got engaged

Best wings ever

Playing in the fountain at Waterfront Park

Maybe eating the fan ISN’T such a good idea Caroline

The Angel Oak tree – one of the oldest living things East of the Mississippi

Someone doesn’t WANT to post for pictures by the Angel Oak

As usually, someone else LOVES having her picture taken

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:

The house has two Nikon lenses I can borrow – both take photos like this.

And I took this with the Sigma lens I bought last year after seeing Elliot’s at the beach

Tiny (dead) crab Reid insisted I hold in my lap

Sand

Fancy clothes for a beach photo shoot

Sara and Evan explore the beach

And then I dressed my children up. Evan in a sailor suit…

WHAT THE HECK, MOM???

And Caroline in a tutu…

NO.

GIANT TREE small sara and evan

Caroline, Evan, Mommy footprints with the date – it was WAY cuter on Pinterest

Getting the kids to look at me after writing on the sand is an impossible task

Working together to pop the bubbles

future Gap model

Look at all these sticks on the beach! Unacceptable!!

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.

Am I ridiculously cute or am I ridiculously cute?

Ok Mom, YOU can pack up and go home. We’re staying here.

And a few more (I KNOW) from my Panasonic water-proof camera:

Pool/beach facing side of the house at night, from the hot tub (obviously)

Drinking Malibu and Diet Coke in the pool

Toes in the water

He was pretty good at boogie boarding! He’ll be doing it on his own next year.

Practically a private beach

It took some convincing but he decided the beach was OK

LOVES the pool

Too cool for school

Waterfront Park Fountain

Splashy splash!

Whoa, this water is AMAZING!

Chubby tutu legs

Imagine the Jaws theme song

Sharing a yogurt. Awwwwwww…

Attempting to part the sea?

This is his “What do you mean we have to leave?” face

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!