Folly Island Beach Trip

We took our first vacation as a family this past week to Folly Island outside of Charleston, SC. Chris and I have gone for the past two years with our friends Jamie and Amanda. Amanda's aunt owns the house and has let us rent it from her. This year it was Chris, Ethan and I and Jamie, Amanda and Peyton, their 10 month old little girl. The past two years have been all couples and no babies, so this year was quite different. No laying out on the beach all day long, sleeping in, and doing whatever we wanted! It was more like get up at 7 am for a bottle feeding, play for a little, go back to sleep for a nap, get up and feed the babies again, go to the beach or play in the baby pool, come back and shower and feed the babies again, play with the babies, feed the babies again, maybe an evening stroll on the beach, bathtime and bedtime - then it was time for us adults to play! :) It was a great trip and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! Here is what we did all week:

DAY ONE

Chris and I got up early and went out on the beach for Ethan's first experience! The first wave scared him a little and every wave after that he just kept staring at the rush of the tides in amazement. Then Chris took him and sat a little closer to the ocean. We were not paying attention because the next wave was bigger and just pelted Ethan in the face. He just screamed and was not a happy camper after that! He got a little piece of sand in his eye that we could not get out and we just felt awful! We decided to call it a day and head back to the house. We spent the morning hanging out on the deck while the babies played in the pool. We did try some beach time that afternoon, but it did not work out so well. We took so much stuff out there and spent all of 15 minutes on the beach. I don't know if he was hot or he had flashbacks of earlier that morning, but Ethan was again, not a happy camper. Playing in the baby pool with Peyton made things all better! That night, we took the babies out on a walk on the beach in the Radio Flyer wagon. That was hit for both of them and they had a blast!

Looking cute in the swim trunks Aunt Liv gave him

Pool playing with Pey Pey

Our evening walk on the beach, despite a little sand in Ethan's eye :(

The Stewarts

Peyton and Ethan sittin' in a wagon, K-I-S-S-I-N-G

DAY TWO

We let the babies hang out in the pool in the afternoon while we laid out on the deck again. This was pretty much the agenda for each day since the babies couldn't be in the sun for a long time and they LOVED the pool! We did the beach again in the afternoon and later that night went to Charleston for some seafood at Hymans! YUM! We got a lot of great pictures out on the deck that evening.

Looking cute again in the swim trunks Aunt Liv gave him!

Night on the town (yeah right)

Already buddies

DAY THREE

Pretty much the same thing as the day before - pool playing and beach time. As boring as it may sound, we had a great time doing both! When you have babies, it's amazing how much fun you have just watching them play and interact! For dinner we also had a mini-luau since we were not able to have it this year. We had our traditional chicken and beef skewers with rice and pasta salad and of course Blue Hawaii's!

Beachtime makes me sleeeepppyyy

Sweet

My little munchkin

Dressed in our Luau attire

Happy Early Birthday Chris!

DAY FOUR

Today was Chris' 29th birthday! I let him sleep in while Ethan and I got up to play in the living room. When the birthday boy arose from his slumber, we went to the beach to get some pictures of Ethan. Amanda and I made breakfast for Chris for his birthday! We again, had beach time and pool playing, then went out to dinner for Chris' birthday to Charleston Crab House. I don't know what was going on with Ethan, but he was a knot on a log the entire dinner. He may have been drugged up from the Tylenol I've been giving him around the clock because of his teeth!

Admiring the pretty seashell

Clinging to me for dear life!

He loved the sand!

Watching those waves

Little Albino family enjoying the beach

Happy Birthday Dada!

DAY FIVE

We had another walk on the beach in the evening with the babies in the Radio Flyer wagon. Amanda had bought these beach towels with Peyton and Ethan's name embroirded on them so we wanted to get a picture of them on it. We had such a hard time getting them set up on the towels because Ethan, being the squirmy wiggle worm that he is, kept trying to pull up the towel or grab the sand. On the other hand, Peyton kept dancing and making us laugh! It was hilarious! FYI - Ethan turned 7 months today!

Reading time in their PJ's

We didn't see his bottom lip all week (because of his teeth)!

I LOVE THIS!

Ethan loves being thrown in air!

Finally! They sat still so we could take a picture of them!

Our Little Family

DAY SIX

Today was our last day - sniff! The day started off kinda cloudy and dreary, but soon the sun came out. We headed out to the beach in the afternoon and spent a good amount of time out there. It seemed like the more the week went on, the longer we were able to stay out on the beach. I guess we became pros at what was important to bring and when to go out there! Ethan had a good time playing in the sand and even though he still clung to me for dear life, he seemed to have a good time in the waves. He was absolutely covered in sand by the end of the beach time! That afternoon, while the babies were playing, Ethan was being extra playful. He practically lunged at Peyton with a big hug and kiss and she was not having it! It was quite funny to us - it was our entertainment for the day! We were so tired at the end of the day with all the activities and packing that we ordered a pizza and decided to call it a day! We were sad to have to leave the beach and each other, but we made memories we will never forget!

Our friends - Amanda, Peyton and Jamie

Peacefully playing

Come here and give me a hug!

Before

After - she didn't like that too much!

She got him back by making him look like an idiot!