Our Trip to South Carolina

This summer we spent a delightful week in South Carolina, visiting friends and family and enjoying the beach.

Our house is a block from the beach, and we are quite a parade with wagons, coolers, boogie boards, floats, etc.

The weather was nice for August, hot enough to make a swim in the ocean pleasant, though the water was warm.  Joshua, with his new swimming skills, spent a good bit of time out in the water with the older children, trying to ride the waves into the beach.

One tradition we all look forward to while we are on the island is a walk a few blocks down to the local ice cream "hut" at the pier.

 While we are in the neighborhood, we like to stop in the souvenir shop and visit the friendly parrot, "Bubba".

Susannah was fascinated by the very realistic pet puppies in the store.  Their chests moved up and down like they were really breathing, and she spent most of her time in the shop watching them and petting them.

Heading home....sticky, but satisfied!

One of our pit stops on the way to the beach is an outlet mall.  We bought this new bathing suit for Susannah while we were there.  She seems to like it!

We had many delightful visits with family and old friends.  One day we paid a visit to Cousin Beau's office downtown.  

He showed us around his office and talked to us about what it is like to be an architect.  

After we left the office, we enjoyed a walk through Battery Park.

Cannons that defended Charleston from the British during the Revolutionary War.  We learned a good bit about the city's defense during the war during our tour of Fort Moultrie earlier in the week.   Michael, Luke and Joshua strike a pose!

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Another much anticipated tradition is our meal at The Wreck of the Richard & Charlene.  This year Annie, Uncle John and Aunt Elle joined us, making for a delightful time. 

Caroline, Aunt Elle, and Annie

Catherine and Liza

Joshua!

Annie and Maddie

Susannah loved the fried shrimp and hush puppies.  Splendid!

After the meal, we went out on the dock to look at the creek.  The shrimp trawler in this photo belongs to Captain Tommy, who caught some shrimp for us earlier in the week.  We ate some that night, then froze a bunch to bring back home.

Aunt Elle and Joshua

Luke

The new bridge.

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On the way back home at the end of the week, we paid a stop at a family landmark, The Grey Goose.

Built by Uncle Bill and Aunt Jule early in their 60+ year marriage, this wonderful old house was the scene of many happy childhood memories for many of our clan.

Now Cousin Melody lives here with her husband, Bobby, and their wonderful dogs.  

Melody and Aunt Mary provided a delicious lunch, then we got a tour of the house and yard.

Susannah and Joshua loved the ice cream!

Uncle Bill's boathouse

I spent many hours as a child fishing off this dock......

watching Uncle Bill clean fish at this table.....

then gathering here with the family for a fish fry....

Thanks for a lovely time!  Until next year......