South Carolina

We stayed on Edisto Island.  It isn't an island except in the strictest sense of the word.  A low and long bridge connected us to the mainland and marsh, rather than ocean seamed to surround most of the island.  I didn't mean for the house to be by the beach.  Honestly, after Hawaii we were pretty both beach snobs and beach board.  But the only vacation rental near Charleston was a beach condo.  It wasn't warm while we were there.  But I loved being walking distance from the beach.  

I had grand plans of spending days driving into Charleston and getting our history on.  But we only made it in once.  Work and school ate up most of the day and we were left with only a few hours to do stuff.  

And that stuff we did was make a hugenormous sand castle town.  Sam made the forts and weapons and Eden decorated the houses with shells.  I instigated a new family requirement.  Outdoor Unsupervised Time (yes, OUT...oh I do love my acronyms).  The kids need to be outside without me around for two hours every day.  This has been a huge win for everyone.

I get a great deal of work done and the kids somehow become more inventive if I'm not around.  I'm not sure exactly how I was killing their muse but I clearly was.  At the end of most OUTs the kiddos have a host of things they want to show me they either made or discovered.  

Edisto had salty water--like salty drinking water.  We tried filtering it...no luck.  The taste was aweful even when we tried to make lemonade with it.  Jan, at the small BiLO grocery store in town, clued us in to the free drinking water you can get at town hall.  That's right, there was a watering hole.  So I, threw every container I could find into my car and headed over.  

It was a pain to do every two days.  But at the same time, I kind of liked it.  You know how cool it is to have a place where everyone goes?  You meet people, you read the announcements that are put up about lost dogs and found cats, you get a real sense of community.