Kiawah Island - South Carolina

We packed our bags and headed South for the Fourth of July this year!  We have never been to South Carolina, so it was a treat to visit another state that we have never experienced.  The weather in Iowa was so rainy in June, so we were all looking forward to some much desired sunshine!  As the vacation approached the weather throughout the US was stormy and they were predicting a hurricane to hit off the coast of South Carolina and North Carolina around the same time we were there...really?!?!  Didn't I just say that the weather here was rainy enough?!  Either way...we were going!

Luggage?!  Check!

These girls are seasoned travelers!

A little in-flight reading!

The clouds above Hurricane Arthur

Our home for the week

We arrived in Charleston and loaded up the family roadsters and headed towards Kiawah Island.  Arriving at the island about an hour later, the scenery was beautiful!  I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was blown away.  The island was beautiful and the homes were magnificent -- talk about some amazing real estate!  As you can tell by the home we rented, these homes weren't your every day house!

The island is decent sized, so you see quite a bit of traffic, but it is also very bike friendly.  So, we did a fair amount of our getting around by the rental bikes that we had for the week!  Lila enjoyed being pulled in the trailer!

The princess in her chariot!

We didn't waste any time getting ourselves acquainted and, most importantly, found the beach!  What a beautiful beach...it was equal parts clean, white sand, and then as you got closer to the tide the sand became packed down and hard enough that you could ride your bike right on the beach!

Hello sand, sun, & fun!

Happy to be on vacation together!

The real estate is incredible!

Posing at the end of the boardwalk

The day of the 4th we went to one of the resorts on the island to enjoy lunch and some of the activities they had going on for the kids.  One of those activities was hair braiding!  Each of the girls got their hair braided and were pretty excited to show off their new do's!

Braided beauty

Little Firecrackers!

At the resort we had the vantage point to be able to watch two firework shows, which was a huge treat!  I am a sucker for the Fourth and for the fireworks -- it is the one time a year that I really reflect on how lucky we are to live here and for the freedoms we have.  It wasn't too shabby to watch from the beautiful displays from the beach!

Happy Birthday, America!

For the next few days we took the vacation word seriously!  We spent a majority of the time at the water, spending time as a family, and enjoying the warm weather that South Carolina was experiencing!

Breakfast at the market

I love this picture -- she's looking out watching the world unfold in front of her...

Dads & Daughters

My everything!

Hand in hand

Dinner at the Atlantic Room

Kiawah sunset

Family

Clam diggers

Buddies

Boogie board!

Catching some sun

During our final full day we decided to go back to Charleston to spend some time.  Charleston is famous for many things, one being the plantation homes that are in the area.  Another thing they are famous for is the Angel Oak tree.  The Angel Oak tree is one of the longest living trees of its kind, believed to be 1500 years old.  The tree is 65 feet tall, but what is most impressive is the branches that sprawl well over 100 ft and wind down to the ground . 

The Angel Oak

Angle after angle

The tree goes in so many directions

Snapping a picture

Branches

After visiting the Angel Oak we stopped at the Magnolia Plantation.  The plantation was founded in 1676 and was home to the Drayton family.  It was pretty amazing to take a step back in time and listen to the tour guide explain what it was like to live on the plantation back in those times.  The plantation was in the business of rice and employed many slaves & house staff to keep the business running.  

Slave cabins

The plantation is the most visited plantation in Charleston because of it's history and the vast amount of gardens that are maintained on the property!  The home has been passed down through the Drayton family for generations leading to today.

The Magnolia house

The kids favorite part of the whole tour was the stop at the zoo that is on the property.  They loved seeing animals that are generally wild be so domesticated!  You don't see kids hugging on a deer in Iowa!

Why, hello!

Oh, Deer!

Not impressed!

The next day we were headed home.  We all really enjoyed South Carolina and Kiawah Island -- all of us saying we would go back.  We can all scratch another state off of our list and put all the fun times in our memory banks!

My {funny} Valentine!

I should preface this blog post with the fact that Lila has been looking forward to Valentine's Day for a month.  So, here the time had come and our Valentine's week started off a bit rough when illness struck the Eddins household.  Sunday found Lila having a quiet day while nursing a fever and with a fever we knew she wasn't going to be able to go to daycare the next day, so we began rearranging schedules to accomodate our sick little girl.  

 

Enjoying a movie on her DVD player -- feeling kind of punky!

Her fever broke rather quickly, but we had to keep her home with the 24 hour fever free rule in mind, so I was able to move my morning around to stay home while Mike went off to class.  Mike came home from class around noon and I was planning on heading back in, until he actually walked in the door and shared that he, too, wasn't feeling well.  ICK!  So, I put them both to bed and ended up working from home the rest of the day!

Loves from Baxter always make you feel better!

She wasn't close enough!

Lila seemed to be doing really well all day, we did a quick bath and got all snuggled in for bed.  As she was laying down she said to me, "Mommy, my tummy hurts."  Before I could even get a word out she had puked!!!  This is the first time we have had to deal with vomiting and I must say that both of us were a bit shocked, but she really handled it very well.  We were of course concerned that this was just the start of all of this, but she snuggled right in, got a good nights sleep and we didn't have another episode, but it meant staying home for one more day. 

We finally got everyone well enough that normalcy resumed on Wednesday!  I was so badly hoping that she wouldn't be sick on Thursday for her big V-Day celebration at school!  We had to make 60 Valentine's to take with us.  Yes, you read that right, 60!!!!!!  For those of you that know me well, you know I don't tend to do things the easy way very often, so why would that be any different for Lila's Valentine's?!  I found a cute idea on Pinterst and thought, what's the big deal?!  These are cute, has to be easy, let's do it!!!  Never once did it enter my mind that maybe it was a little much considering we had to do so many...it was full speed ahead!  It wasn't long, probably around the 10th flower cut-out that I realized this maybe wasn't the best idea!  Especially since the Valentine was even a bit too advanced for Lila to really help with.  Enter in the best husband/Daddy in the world...Mike helped and did it with a smile on his face!  Thank God, because after cutting out 60 flowers and 60 leaves, it was really nice to have someone there to help me assemble them all.



Even though they were a lot of work, they turned out super cute and Lila loved the fact that she had pink suckers and flowers to hand out to all of her friends at school!  (Next year I might not be so ambitious!)

 

The finished product!

It was finally the big day!  I said above that Lila had been waiting for this day for at least a month!  She had a special outfit all picked out and an extra skip in her step!!!

Pretty in Pink!

We tend to do holidays and birthdays big in our house!  When I was a kid my Mom and Dad always made holidays and birthdays big, so it has trickled down into our family, too!  So, not only do we do something for Lila, but Mike and I always make it a point to do something special for each other...after all, Valentine's Day really is about romance, right?!

My beautiful flowers that greeted me at work!

 

Even though Mike and I share gifts and they are generally wonderful, I was the most excited to have Lila give her gift to her Daddy.  A week before the big day we went over to Racquel's house for a girls night with the little girls and put together Valentine's for the Daddy's!  It turned out so darn cute and it is something that Mike will have forever!

 

A constant reminder of her little hands and feet!

 

So excited to open her gifts!

A very happy girl...she got a kite!!!

Loving on her elephant from Jason, Jen, Celia & Ruby!

 

The perfect ending to our Valentine's Day week was a very special Sunday!!!  It isn't a secret that Lila LOVES anything and everything princess!  So, when I saw that Beauty and the Beast was coming to the Paramount I knew she had to be there.  I thought that it would be something fun that her and her bestie Henley (along with my bestie Monica) could do together and they were equally excited to go, it was a date! 

 

We met a bit early to have lunch before the show.  The girls couldn't have looked more adorable all dressed up for the big performance, you will also notice that they each brought their Belle princess doll along! 

 



Darling girls!

Monica and I both knew we were pushing it as both of the girls nap during the time the show was scheduled, but we were willing to take the risk as the show was only playing this one day.  When we bought tickets we were hoping to get first row, first balcony so the girls could see everything going on and we were pleased when that is exactly what we got!  Our seats couldn't have been more perfect! 

Beyond excited to be at the Paramount!

A performance we will always remember!

The view from our seats

A beauty with her Beauty!

 

Belle & the Beast falling in love!

From the moment the curtain opened until the very last song the girls were loving the show!  Many times I would look over and Lila would either be singing along or completely in awe of what was happening on stage!  It was such a fun day for all of us, even the Mom's!  Going to the theater is something I did a lot growing up, so being able to make memories with Lila similar to the ones I have growing up is very special to me!  I look forward to creating those special memories and the many more performances that are ahead!!!