Girls Weekend!

Just after the 4th of July a few of us girls had a weekend getaway!  Girl time is always fun and a whole weekend away makes it even more fun.  We left on Friday and made our way to Beaufort, SC. We had spent some time in Beaufort in May on vacation so I was excited to be back.  On Friday we found our house and got settled in.  The house was super cute and the street it was on made it even cuter.  I love beach towns and to me that is what this place screamed.  The trees lining the street were so pretty and the house had 2 big porches that were so relaxing to sit on.  Dawn and I got lucky and got the bedroom that led out to the upstairs porch so we would sit out on it at night and listen to the frogs and crickets!  Another summer love!  On Friday afternoon we all headed to downtown Beaufort to walk around the shops and eat.   Our eating experience wasn't the best but we had fun laughing and talking so that always helps.

Saturday we did a morning kayak tour.  This was so much fun!  We went through the marshes and saw several old houses that sit right on the water.  Our guide would point out the ones where movies had been filmed.  Several movies have been filmed in Beaufort and in the close areas surrounding.  The big one being Forrest Gump.

This is the bridge that Forrest ran across in Forrest Gump

We drove to get a closer look at some of these beautiful old homes in town.  One is known as "the Castle".  It is said to be haunted!  Now a jeweler from NYC owns the home.  It is beautiful!

After lunch we headed to Hunting Island State park for some beach time.  When we had been here earlier in May the park was still closed due to damage and flooding from Hurricane Matthew.  It was supposed to open while we were there but didn't.  We were a little disappointed so I was glad that the park was open on this trip.  There is a lighthouse on the island and then a beach area.  All of us moms didn't know what to do with ourselves without children to watch!

That night we ordered in and relaxed!  We played games and laughed and just enjoyed some fun girl time! Sunday morning we were up getting ready to leave.  We went back into Beaufort for brunch.  I mean shrimp and grits is good any time of the day!  After brunch we did a little exploring at some old ruins and at Fort Fremont.

Our first stop was the Chapel of Ease at Saint Helena.  We were also told that history books are now being re-written because Saint Helena is now being considered the very first settlement instead of Jamestown.  These ruins are just beautiful.  The graves we saw were a lot of small children which is sad to see.  Something about these grave sites though are so intriguing because they are so old and it makes you wonder about how life was like so many years ago.

I didn't have any good pictures from Fort Fremont. We did make the comment that our kids would have loved playing there and running in and out of the fort.   Our second ruins site was Sheldon Church.  These were so pretty!  You can see I kept taking pictures from all different angles.  Weddings are now held here.  I know it was probably devastating at the time that this church burned but the ruins that are left are even more beautiful to me.  We saw several graves at this site too.

It was such a fun weekend and we really enjoyed our little getaway.  A quick trip but just enough for us all to reenergize and get back to our babies!

4th of July!

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays!  It is smack dab in the middle of summer (my favorite), and it is filled with fun, food, family and friends (all of my other favorites)!  I love everything that comes along with this holiday and this year did not disappoint.  Even though the 4th didn't fall on the weekend, we started our fun on Saturday.  We had a family hike planned with Sug, Pop, and everyone.  We all went up to Lake Rabun and hiked to Angel Falls.  Hiking to waterfalls is something we love to do.  Right now we have to find some fairly easy hikes since Bryce is doing the hiking too.  This was not a bad hike at all and was only about 1/2 mile to the falls.  We were warned by the ranger to watch for snakes and he said a 7 ft. water moccasin had been spotted on the trail just that morning.  Now that will cause you to really watch your step for sure.  Cohen has really been into taking pictures since her fun art camp so I had found one of my cameras that I don't use anymore and I decided to let her play with it.  She had the camera around her neck and a pad and clipboard to write down everything she saw.  It was so cute watching her and it really kept her interest the entire hike up and back.  There were definitely some beautiful flowers and ferns, along with taking pictures of people.  When we got to the waterfall it was a great little spot for the kids to play.  We actually even climbed up on some of the rocks and helped the kids get up there too.  It was so pretty.  We got a kick out of Bryce and how friendly he was to the people we met there.  He never meets a stranger for sure.  On our way back down the trail Bryce got tired and no longer wanted to walk on his own.  HE wanted Mama to carry him...of course.  At one point Pop was going to get him from me and as I was about to pass him off and climb around a tree I spotted a snake!  We had been on the lookout the whole hike, and everyone but me and Larry had passed by the snake and didn't see him.  It didn't look like a poisonous one and we had some fun taking pictures of him, but we definitely kept a safe distance too.  Sug is not a fan of snakes at all so she opted not to come back a take a look at the snake!  Once we got back to our car we had a picnic lunch.  It wasn't so hot so it was very nice.  A great way to kickstart our 4th for sure!

posing for Savannah

On the 4th we started our celebration with our neighbors.  We have a tradition of getting together for breakfast/brunch and hanging out.  The kids swim and the adults talk and eat.  Perfect way to start a day if you ask me!  I love our neighbors and I'm so thankful for good ones! 

A few of our Gillespie Estates kiddos!  They are growing so fast!

Handstand competition

Just before the 4th we had a huge problem with flies!  It sounds nasty and is but there had been chicken litter spread on the pastures behind our neighborhood.  It was AWFUL!  It was funny to see Bryce with this fly swat though because it sums up how all of us have been feeling!

Kate stopped swimming so she could make a lion out of the rocks

We spent the rest of our day at the Burton's, our other 4th of July tradition.  We had so much fun being with all of our friends.  The kids had a lot of pool time and the dad's did too...even when the lightening started!  We love getting to relax all day and just hang out and enjoy everyone's company.  Just a few of the reasons why I love the 4th of July.  Did I mention this is when the Hubs and I started dating?!

Rain didn't stop anyone from swimming.  I love that Dawn & Erin are under that tiny board

Jen & I were huddled under the umbrella trying to stay dry.

rain volleyball

I got a kick out of watching Cohen, Helena, and Carolina jump these floats.  It was like they were making a big ice cream sundae out of floats so they could see if they could jump over it.

Kate became a fan of the slide 

We ended our night with another fantastic fireworks show!  These guys know how to do it!  Both of my girls were all about watching the fireworks and then there was Bryce.  HE would not come out to watch and wanted to stay inside the house.  I let him stay in thinking he would be fine with his cars but when everything was over and I went in to get him he had been in the dining room saying "somebody help me."  That broke my heart even though he wasn't crying, he just wanted someone to help make the fireworks stop.  He is a mess and reminds me of his older sister when it comes to fireworks.  Cohen always needed headphones and anything else you might have to not listen to them. Now she likes them so I know there is hope!  

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