Last Day

I can't believe this is the last day.  We have had such a great time.  Today we will go down to the beach with  the Brays who are here to take Ethan Bray back to Greenville.  There have been some shenanigans, though. Someone cruelly replaced the Waffle Crisp in the Ethans' villa with Corn Chex.  They discovered this around midnight last night and raided our villa to rectify things.  It seems that nothing is safe anymore.

You are probably wondering about the facial hair competition,  Seth challenged his brothers not to shave for the week of vacation.  Seth has the best beard/mustache combo going on, but the Ethans have declared that Matthew's mustache makes him look "friendly."  You will just have to judge for yourselves.

Family Picture Day

Yesterday was yet another fun day on Kiawah Island. After eating breakfast, everyone (except for the Ethans) hopped on their bikes and went on a bike ride to one of the marsh lookout towers. It was a good ride, but a hot one! Wilson enjoyed riding in his bike trailer. So much in fact, that he fell asleep on the way back. After our bike ride Thomas, Julie, and Wilson headed over to Georgetown to have lunch with Julie's Aunts, Margaret and Roberta. 

   It was a little bit stormy yesterday, so we spent the late morning and early afternoon in the villa. It didn't rain at all, but there was a lot of thunder. Later in the afternoon we headed down to the beach and played some bocce. 

After some fun beach time we ate mom's delicious chicken casserole for dinner, then took some family pictures out on the deck. It was pretty fun trying to get Wilson to smile and sit still for the pictures. 

Over and out,

Faith

Craft Time

Yesterday after lunch we made placemats.  Here is Julie's.  Her design really captures some of the important aspects of our vacation.  Do you see the mouse in the corner?  That's right.  We have a mouse in the house.  He ate a tomatoe, a nibbled a hole in the sealed bag of coffee, and he broke into Wilson's penquin crackers.  That's OK.  It is the stuff vacation lore is made of.  Last night we hid all of the food in the cooler, the oven, and the microwave.  It seemed to work.

Do you see what appears to be a colorful ladder?  It is Matthew's redneck golf game.  It is great fun.  The brothers, Walt, and Faith like to play it.  There are pairs of balls connected with a string.  You toss the balls at the ladder in hopes of wrapping them around the rungs for varying amounts of points.  Wilson quickly figured this game out.  He walked over, picked up a pair of balls, and hung them on the rungs.  Many points!

There is also a gator.  There is a gator living beneath our dock.  He comes out when we come out.  The Ethans have named him Steve.

The wagon has also been a huge feature of this vacation.  Wilson loves his red wagon.  It is a serious business when he gets buckled in.  He holds on tightly with both hands.

Today we will laminate these keepsake placemats so that Wilson can use them at home in Nashville.

Everyone is here!

It is so good to have everyone here.  Thomas and Julie and Wilson appeared at our door at lunchtime.  Here you see Wilson modeling his new hat and eating a banana.  When we got down to the beach, we discovered our cabana was kaput.  But that's OK.  We got to watch Wilson discover the ocean and beach for the first time, and that was priceless. He loved the sandcastle that Papa and Seth had built earlier in the day. It had lots of sticks protruding from it, and Wilson felt it was his duty to remove each and every one. At one point he fell into a hole in the middle of the castle complex.  Pretty funny.  Last night we enjoyed a supper of flank steak and baby potatoes.  Later we had drumsticks, of course. We were too tired to play a board game which Ethan really wanted to do, but there is always today.  It would take a whole other blog post or two to describe the escapades of the Ethans.

Bass Pond Sunday Night Sunset

This is the sunset that Walter, Seth and Faith saw Sunday night on the Bass Pond on an evening bike ride. There were a few people fishing on the dock. Seth got some better pictures than this one when the sun was a little higher, so maybe we will get to view them sometime. We also saw a young gator who seemed to like hanging out at the dock. It was the second evening to spot the big gator in our lagoon. He swam up to the deck next door, then made his way to ours. Faith was the only one on the deck at the time. As the gator swam directly at her, she actually started backing up as if the big guy was going to come out of the water and join her on the deck!  -Walter

We Have Arrived

We arrived at Kiawah around 4:00 PM. The trip was uneventful in spite of heavy traffic.  Everyone helped unpack, and I put the Buckey's BBQ in the oven to heat.  It turns out that the guys are having a facial hair contest.  I don't think the Ethans  will win.  Seth texted Thomas during dinner to let him in on the contest.  After eating we discussed the gist of the whole Bible 'cause we could.  Just before riding bikes to the beach, we spotted a gator in the lagoon - mark that of the beach pail list!  It was great to see the ocean and walk in the surf.  Seth and I even discussed some poetry - 'cause we could.  That's what vacations are for.  The Ethans rode over to check out the basketball court at Night Heron Park.  I am thankful for so many things - my family, this beautiful island, a safe journey, and the clip-on headlight that Walter bought for my bike.

And We're Off!

Vacation, here we come.