Our trip to Folly Beach, SC

DAY ONE
Friday, September 24th

After we had lunch, and packed up the car, we headed to Charlotte. We had decided we were only going to go half-way and stay in Charlotte with Chad and Christina. Natalie absolutely HATES riding in the car for any length of time, so we knew that in order to keep everyone sane, it would be better to just drive 3 hours, as opposed to 6. The first part of the ride was ok. We have a portable DVD player for the car, and that definitely keeps Abbey entertained, but Natalie doesn't really care about it so much. She was getting cranky, so I started feeding her some Goldfish crackers. A few minutes after that, she threw up. Oh joy. I assumed it was just car-sickness, wiped her off a bit (it was just a tiny bit of puke) and we just kept going. I think she might have napped. Then, we were about 15 minutes from Chad and Christina's and Natalie really starts puking. We had to pull over and everything. I felt bad for her, but after a few minutes, and throwing up about 3 times, she seemed to be doing alright enough for us to get back on the road. We got to Chad and Christina's, cleaned her up (and the car) and she was just about right as rain. We enjoyed a fairly chill evening at their house. Natalie made herself at home in Jaw's crate.

DAY TWO
Saturday, September 25th  

Saturday, we didn't head out of Charlotte until after lunch, since we couldn't check in at the beach house until 4. So we had Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then left. Natalie did ok. She was very fussy and cranky until I sat in the back with her. Probably kind of dangerous seeing as I wasn't really in a seat, but perched on top of luggage, but you know what? It made her happy. And it stopped the crying. And we all just wanted to get where we were going! Although I did have to get back in my assigned passenger seat for the last 20 minutes of the ride to help Matt figure out where we were going. In this 20 minutes, Natalie screamed the whole time and Abbey kept yelling that she had to go pee. So we did find a place for Abbey to go to the bathroom, and we FINALLY got to the beach house! Norman and Robin were already there, Chad and Christina had followed us, and Carly would be coming later (she works in Charleston so was coming afterwards).
After a quick look around the house, and figuring out what rooms everyone was going to get, we headed straight to the beach to check it out!

 

Abbey was hesitant at first, but after realizing how fun it was, she finally let the water touch her feet!

 Natalie had absolutely no fear (as always) and went straight for the water.

DAY THREE
Sunday, September 26th

This was a BEAUTIFUL day. We couldn't have asked for a better start to our beach vacation. The water was warm, the sun was shining, and everyone was in good spirits!

 Unkie (Chad) and Abbey building a sand castle. Abbey ADORES Chad.

 The beach

 Natalie playing in the sand.

 Back at the beach together after 6 years!

Carly and Natalie playing in the sand.

 Abbey loves her Daddy too (I love this picture SO much).

 I love looking at this one. Amazing to see the size of the ocean in comparison to Abbey!

  Three lovely ladies!

After dinner at the Charleston Crab Shack, Noni (Robin) and Abbey cuddled up and watched Brother Bear together.

DAY FOUR

Monday, September 27th

RAIN RAIN RAIN. A storm blew in Sunday night. And I mean, BLEW IN. The house was rocking and swaying all night. And it rained just about all day long. We used this day to go to the SC Aquarium. Abbey had a BLAST and Natalie liked looking at the fish for about 10 minutes and then wanted to go off on her own. Day 3 (third day in SC anyway) of vacation is ALWAYS rough for me. I don't know why, but I'm always a cranky butt on Day 3, but I tried to get over it and have a good time. The aquarium was interesting, but I found myself trying to contain Natalie most of the time we were there. But thank goodness for my wonderful family of in-laws. Without them, I might have lost my mind. :)

 Matt, me, the girls, Chad, and Christina went out to eat at Taco Boy for lunch.

 The otters were probably our favorite thing at the aquarium. I couldn't get a very good photo of them (those suckers are fast!) but here are Robin and Abbey taking a look.

 Chad in the shark cage.

 Abbey picked up and held a sea urchin (I didn't get a photo of that, there were too many people crowded around this area) but she would NOT touch a sting ray. Natalie on the other hand, was keen on diving right in there, and would have if I didn't have such a death grip on her. :)

 This is what the beach looked like that evening.

DAY FIVE

Tuesday, September 28th

This was our last day at the beach. :(

Luckily, it was another gorgeous day! Natalie took an early nap, and Matt, Abbey and I enjoyed some time down at the beach together. We even saw dolphins! I didn't get a photo of them, but they were SO close and there were about 10 of them, and they kept surfacing. It was so neat!

    An amazing double-rainbow! The colors playing off the water were so cool. What a nice end to our stay!

And, it would be wrong of me not to mention this lovely lady:

This is a fertily statue that I found in the room Matt and I were staying in. I found it within SECONDS of us deciding to stay in there, and IMMEDIATELY removed it. I hid it in Chad and Christina's room! It became a game between us and Matt and I would find it back in our room, and we would hide it in theirs again. I can't say much more (since Christina might be reading), but let's just say that this game isn't over yet! *insert evil laugh*

We drove the entire 6 hours back on Wednesday. It wasn't bad at all. Natalie stayed fairly content, and slept the last 2 hours. YAY! You could definitely tell she was happy to be back home though! I think we all were.

Overall, it was a WONDERFUL time. I love being at the beach. There's nothing like the ocean to remind you how small you really are, and how big the world really is.