Beach Vacation

Lately I've been writing newsletters for my children since they all live away from home. It's easier to just copy and paste here in my blog so here you go:

Get ready for a lot of pictures; I had an awesome vacation this past week with my mom, sisters, and Jessica and Abby. I would share more pictures but these are ladies I love and I wouldn’t throw them under the bus by over sharing swim pics…they’d better have the same respect!

Kelly found this rental house right on the beach in SC, check it out: https://beachfrontmyrtle.lodgify.com/

This was our view from the master bedroom, the bottom level porch where they had a water spigot to rinse off sand, the top level screened in back porch, and back porch that led to the beach:

It was a ton of stairs for the week but oh, so worth it! The kitchen was stocked with new knives that Dad would have been proud of because they were so sharp, beach chairs, wave boards, and a beach umbrella. We used them all.

One afternoon Grandma, Aunt Kelly, and I were sitting under the umbrella on the beach while Jessica and Aunt Theresa were out in the water. I noticed a lot of people getting out of the water and congregating about 50 yards to our side where a couple was fishing from the shore. He was holding up what looked like a shark! Kelly and I grabbed our phones and went running over just as he threw it back into the water. Yep, his wife had caught a hammerhead from the shore! (I guess I never realized they had tongues that would stick out.)

 Aunt Theresa noticed us running (I think we must have looked like sexy babes auditioning for Baywatch as we ran but Theresa was cracking up and said No, we definitely did not). She also noticed what the guy was holding so she and Jessica hurried out of the water. No big deal, the shark was little and this was his natural home. Of course he was going to come investigate when the woman was using chum for bait. We were back in the water within 15 minutes. (Side note: The guy lying under the umbrella next to us not only knew where Goshen, VA was but he’s driven through it many times! What are the odds of that!?! He and his wife were super sweet and helped us get our umbrella back up after it blew away. What can I say; I’m from the mountains so beach stuff is foreign to me.)

 We never saw any more sharks but we did see dolphins jumping not too far away from us and twice Kelly was surrounded by schools of fish.

 One day the waves were intense, here’s Aunt Theresa about to be bowled over. We all swallowed a lot of sea water that day and had our sinuses cleaned out but it was oh so fun imo. And here are my sunburned legs I got day one.

We found fun shells to collect, I had plenty of hair to braid and play with (isn’t Grandma’s hair amazing?!?), we played lots of card games and read books, and even had a spa day with manicures and massages.

Of course we had to try out the local seafood buffet, Crabby Mike’s. It was delicious and so much fun to get out of our comfort zone and try new foods.

This was for sure one of my favorite vacations! Now I’m home and having the typical crash but I’m happy to admit that it’s not nearly as bad as what I’m used to after traveling. This is great news because I’m actually feeling up to a Costco run later this week. Y’all know how much I love me a Costco run.

  Love you all,

Mom

PS: You should ask Amanda about her teaching career; she’s got some wild stories to tell!