We just returned from our fifth traditional summer beach trip with our friends, David, Ashley, AJ, and Tessa. We arrived Wednesday evening in Isle of Palms, South Carolina (just a few minutes outside of Charleston), got unpacked, and hurried out to the beach to enjoy the last colors of sunset.
The skies, the water, and the full moon were a blissful start to the trip.
The next morning, we set out for a long day at the beach (after spending the required amount of hours sunscreening the little people and then distracting said little people with silly selfies so they didn’t lose patience with how long it took to sunscreen all the big people.)
We lugged our five tons (per child) of beach equipment with us, and staked our claim on the lovely and largely uninhabited beach.
I decided that before I got wet, I wanted to get some pictures of the kids. So I pulled out my camera, which immediately became covered in a fine mist from the thick humidity. And it proceeded to tell me in no uncertain terms that it would not be cameraing. At all.
I took it back to the house to put it in a dry time out, then headed back out to the beach – old-fashioned style, no camera.
I mean, I did have my phone, but something about not having my “real” camera made me just…let it go.
Not immediately, of course. I was pretty mad at the camera/worried about it/determined to fix it that evening, but that was not to be. It was cooked. But I somehow accepted the fact that this was not meant to be a properly photographed trip and settled into the most bizarre decade-old lifestyle where I simply enjoyed the vacation for myself – and shared the moments almost exclusively with the people I was with.
…I let my Twitter and Facebook feed go.
…I took very few pictures on my phone.
…I tweeted or Facebooked once a day or less.
…I didn’t take any notes for future blog posts.
And in five days of constant fun and beautiful scenery, I only put up six Instagram photos.
I just enjoyed the trip for what it was….a really, really great trip.
Bizarre, right?
And I really liked it that way.
But I captured a few moments…
The children, as always, had the most blissful five days of their year, paired with their best friends in their favorite spot.
And this year, we added a huge upgrade for everyone – we brought our babysitter, Sarah, with us.
(Yes, Noah WAS excited as well, especially since he’s insistent that he’s going to marry Sarah one day.)
The kids got an extra playmate, Sarah got to do what she wanted all day (which ended up sometimes including the kids – lucky them), and then she kept the kids at night so the parents could go out for a lovely dinner with no over-tired beach-burned children to whine throughout our entrees.
Right??
Right.
It was perfection.
On all of our previous trips with our friends, we have gone to our sandy white Alabama beaches, but Isle of Palms was a fun variety, as we had the super hard Atlantic sand to make the best sand castles,
(Even though it totally looks like mud when photographed),
And the added benefit of the fun sights and activities in Charleston.
Charleston is absolutely one of my favorite southern cities – the history and colors and beaches and atmosphere are all eloquently unique and fantastic.
….And all of it is surrounded by the most beautiful marsh waters, adding a sense of calm and elevated beauty to the entire area.
But other than the above ridiculously choppy narrative, I have no further tales or quotes or silliness to share with you – because I just completely vacated,
Almost as thoroughly as the children.
And it was fantastic.
Just as it should be.
Yay! I’m so glad you had such a good vacation! I love Charleston so I might have cried on your behalf if it had been less than wonderful. (Instead I sat here jealously mesmerized by your pictures!) And yay for the babysitter! Great addition!
that humidity combined with salt spray is hell on cameras. I usually only take my DSLR out to the bay side for sunset pictures, because if I take it to the gulf side it inevitably ends up covered in salt and sand.
We vacationed at Isle of Palms a few weeks ago with all of my husband’s family. It was so beautiful and relaxing! Did you find any whole sand dollars? We managed to find only a few.
No we didn’t! We looked thoroughly for them, though! The closest we found was a half sand dollar.
My sister in law and family live in Charleston and we visited several years ago. Isle of Palms is so pretty and Charleston is amazing. So glad for you to really disconnect and rest on vacation.
My husband and I went to Charleston in April and it was amazing! I’m so glad you enjoyed your time!
How fun! In our day of technology overload it is surprisingly hard to let go and be totally present in the moment. Glad you were able to have an unplugged vacation!
I had gallbladder surgery 2 Friday’s ago and I am JUST getting back into reality. So I’m behind. I just wanted to note that part of The Notebook was supposed to be based in Charleston. I just find it humorous Noah and Allie went for vacation. On another note, I have always wanted to visit the coast out there because of how well Nicholas Sparks romanticizes it. Not to mention how much character those towns seem to have!
I don’t have nearly as good of an excuse, but I’ve been out of town three weekends in a row so my email box has languished. However, I hope you’re recovered fully from your surgery! I had that done several years back. I remember being very sore and bloated for a few days!
As for the Notebook, we didn’t mean to name our kids after it, and didn’t know until after we picked Noah’s name. We didn’t know because…we’d never seen the movie. And didn’t watch it until Noah was two and a half. Here were my thoughts when we finally did:
http://www.graspingforobjectivity.com/2013/05/the-notebook.html