Part 2--South Carolina

Friday July 3
As I stated earlier, we arrived at the Grandparent's house around dinner time. Vickie (Nana) had some wonderful Mexican food waiting for us. She had made the kind of Rice Rob's grandma used to make bringing back tons of memories for Rob. Cole and Zane ran crazily around the house as if they were wild animals who had just escaped from their cages. On second thought, that's probably true. After dinner we all relaxed and got reacquainted with each other. Any shyness on the kids part quickly dissipated. We unloaded the van, and then got all the kids ready for bed. We were all exhausted from our 4 days of being on the road.

Saturday July 4
Rob got up with the kids and let me sleep in. After breakfast Grandpa taught Avery how to play cards. Nana had bought Avery a deck of cards that are shaped like bunnies. She had so much fun playing go fish. We didn't have any plans for the day, the kids were happy to play and were enjoying their freedom from the car. Nana got out some of Uncle J's toys she had saved from when he was little. She had a huge tub of dinosaurs and a duffel bag of legos that kept the kids entertained while we were there. In the afternoon, Eva (Rob's sister) came down from Columbia. The kids instantly became attached to both Aunt Eva and Uncle J. That night J grilled some burgers and hot dogs. Once it got dark, we were going to go out into the county and watch fireworks. By the time it got dark, Cole was pretty tired and ready to go to bed. I stayed at the house and got Cole to bed (and then watched Nascar) while everyone else went to watch fireworks. Rob said Avery was whining the whole time that she was tired and the fireworks were too loud. Everyone else had fun I think.

Sunday July 5
We had a relaxed morning. We ate breakfast and then all took turns showering and getting ready for the day. Vickie wanted to take the girls out shopping. In South Carolina it is illegal for stores to sell anything besides food and gas before 1:30 on Sundays. So Walmart for example is open, but they can not sell anything except for food before 1:30. So at 1:30 Nana, Eva, Shalyn, Avery and I headed to the mall and all the boys stayed home. We did a lot of browsing and not much buying. At the Hallmark store, I found a shirt for Rob on clearance that I thought was perfect, it says, "Dad Rules until Mom gets home." Their mall also has a dollar store in it. We bought some buckets, sand toys and water squirters for our trip to the beach we had planned for the next day. After a few hours we went home to relieve the men of kid duty. We had a low key evening and all went to bed fairly early as we were going to get up early and head for the beach.

Monday July 6
We woke up a little after 7am and checked the weather. Bad news, the coast had 70% chance of rain so we decided to postpone our beach trip until Tuesday. Rob's dad had a doctors appointment in the morning. When he and Nana got home we decided to spend the morning at the park. The kids had so much fun playing on the playground. There was a large day-care at the park and Avery wasted no time making friends. She has evolved so much over the past two years, she went from a shy, socially awkward little girl, to a friendly, outgoing, spunky girl. After the park, J picked up chicken for lunch. After lunch and nap time, we headed to the pool for a swim. The kids had so much fun with their water shooters we bought them at the dollar store. We did a great job of wearing the kids out this day. Before going to bed we checked the weather forecast for the beach, it looked favorable.

Tuesday July 7
We got up early and our family along with Eva and J headed for Charleston. We went to the old slave market which has been turned into an outdoor market with tons and tons of vendors. We didn't do any buying, but it was fun to look at all the different things for sale. We went to a fudge shop and got the kids a treat before leaving. After Charleston, we headed about 20-30 minutes away to Folly beach (also known as James Island). We stopped for lunch at a pizza joint before hitting the beach. We found decent parking in a residential area near the beach. It was overcast, but the weather was really warm. It was a far cry from the cold, overcast beaches we're used to on the West Coast. The water was really warm and the sand was great too. The girls loved the water and had a ball playing in the waves. The boys didn't want anything to do with the water and were content to play in the sand. The only problem came when Zane had to go to the bathroom. We were about a 1/2 mile from the pier where the restrooms were. We tried to convince Zane to go pee in the ocean but he flatly refused. Eva, being the nice Aunt that she is, volunteered to walk him to the pier. Eva learned a hard lesson, never carry a toddler that has to go to the bathroom. They hadn't even made it half way to the pier when Zane couldn't hold it anymore and peed all over Eva. Eva was a really good sport about it and just washed herself off in the ocean. Towards the end of the day, Cole sat with Rob right on the shore line and splashed in a little puddle of water that was there. Shalyn spent most of her time looking for shells in the shallow water. Right before we left her day was made when she found a pretty big shell. In the early evening, right as a rain storm was coming, we packed up the cars and headed back to Rob's parents house. Before going to bed, the kids said goodbye to Aunt Eva who was going to be returning to Columbia early the next morning.

Wednesday July 8
Today was our last real day in South Carolina. We were going to be leaving early the next morning. We had laundry to do, errands to run, and a van to clean out. I took the boys to a gas station near the house and got the van washed. The boys were both hysterical as we were in the 'rain tunnel.' After the van got washed, I attempted to vacuum out the millions of cracker crumbs that had accumulated during the first half of the trip. Once the van was cleaner, the boys and I went to Walmart to stock up on water and treats for our return trip home. Then we went back to the house and picked up Rob and Avery. We were wanting Dunkin' Donunts (they don't have them here in Utah, but we do have Krispy Kremes) so we drove there and got a dozen donuts. After we returned to the house we all went swimming one last time at Nana's pool in her neighborhood. We went out to dinner at a Chinese Buffet in town. The food there was pretty good. When we got back to the house we finished up the laundry and packed up the van. We said goodbye to Uncle J who was going to sleep at a friend's house. All four of our kids became really attached to the Aunt and Uncle. We put the kids to bed and followed suit shortly after.