Vacation, Vacation

Coming back from vacation is soooooooo hard! Especially a wonderful, relaxing week at Isle of Palms with the "fam." I love my family and I love spending time with them. This was one of the best vacations even though Billy had to come back to Greenville for a few days of work. We had Uncle Billy with us for several days. I think he loves the beach as much as the rest of us. We even got him down to the beach in his bathing suit to spend a couple of hours each day. I have come to the conclusion that it is not a bad thing not to eat out every night at the beach. When Melanie and Colby were younger and we vacationed at the beach I thought we had to eat out every night. If you go out every night you have to come in from the ocean in enough time to shower and dress to get to a restaurant before the crowd and long waits. So, you miss the beautiful late afternoon - early evening of the beach. Last week low tide was around 6 in the evening. It was absolutely beautiful! Our God sure knows how to make an awesome late afternoon at the beach! As a matter of fact He made five just for us! You also miss out on sitting around the table and talking with the family after eating a delicious meal prepared by Thomas and Hilde. Thomas cooks a mean beef tenderloin. Due to the tropical depression from June 2 some beautiful shells washed up on shore. We came home with a bucket full. The younger Thomas got such a kick out of taking pictures with my camera. He took pictures of everything he could find....even seashells. He would tell everything to say, "cheese!" Kirsten wanted to stay in the ocean and ride the waves. Matthew is just Matthew.....he hasn't changed a bit. We helped Matthew celebrate his 10th birthday...double digits....hope he is looking into a retirement plan (hehe)! He still has a great sense of humor. He is fun to have around. I was so glad to see so much of Samantha and Mandy. It has been a long time since we have had them for several days. We really missed those of our family who couldn't be with us....Joe, Christina and others.