The beach is by far one of my favorite places. For goodness sake I even married one. However, trips with my littles make me WAY anxious ahead of time, especially the packing. The whole time I have this inner conflict of keeping things super simple and not packing a lot versus feeling a need to be prepared for everything (this clearly doesn't work). Add to that some trauma of trips when they were babes and I'm a mess. However, I still so badly want to experience things with them, so we went for an overnight at the beach.
Headed to Kiawah Island, Angel Oak was on the way. None of us have ever been so it was a nice pit stop!
It truly is breathtaking and we all loved it!
Glad we made a point to stop by!
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10 minutes from the beach and there was a sign that said that the parking lot was full. My heart sunk, as I knew this could be a possibility. The Charleston Tea Plantation was near by so we decided to check it out and hope for the best later.
It was a beautiful spot and had picnic tables for us to enjoy our lunch.
I was surprised on how attentive the littles were on the factory tour!
We got to sample the tea varieties at the store, which were delicious!
It is pretty amazing that it is the only tea garden in the country.
We walked out to the fields briefly to get a closer look.
I don't recommend eating the leaves right from the plant, but we tried none the less.
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We headed back toward the beach and, seeing that the parking lot was still full, stopped by the hotel...
We couldn't quite check in yet there either...
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So we went to the actual beach where we found that they had a fantastic system of notifying you when they had a parking space available. So while we waited, we checked out a fishing area we saw on the way.
There were some interesting shells and crabs that the girls really enjoyed.
Ezra ended up cutting his thumb on one of them...so we were done with that area quickly after that.
And luckily our beach time was here!
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Although a lot later than anticipated, we still made the most of our time!
Sand castling it up.
It was hard to get an actual picture of Ezra, as he was often on the move quickly.
The completed work!
The waves were by far their favorite!
Trying to capture all the excitement and love was no small task.
I still got snuggles from my littles!
I love it when the tide creates tide pools that are great for the littles and makes everything more fun it seems!
These littles sure did LOVE the water. Beach was such a good sport to always go in with them.
Personality Plus!
Awkward picture of me in a chair...check!
Getting my hugs in!
Since we got to the beach later than anticipated, we stayed until 7, which was wonderful. We called the pizza place we were planning on grabbing pizza from on the short ride to the hotel and were surprised to find out that the wait was an hours and 15 minutes! With little other options, we agreed and made the most of our time with a late night pool swim.
This ended up being a great decision and one I am thankful we were forced to make. It was so beautiful and the kids couldn't get enough water play!
Ezra living his best life on the pool raft.
Such a beautiful way to end the night!
We watched the last of the sunset from our hotel window.
After gobbling up the pizza, the littles were excited to sleep in their beds!
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Since the littles LOVED the pool so much we decided to swim some more after breakfast (which was fantastic)! The kids all of a sudden got really cold and, thus, I just got several odd pictures from such!
Until I got them some coffee (decaf - don't worry).
We found the pool didn't open until 10, shockingly. So we hung out and kept eating as we watched the wildlife in the marsh (including the spotted alligators). I will admit, it was nice taking a slower pace.
We also joked around taking some silly pictures!
We enjoyed another couple of hours in the pool before heading to the beach again. I so do love salt water pools!
I just couldn't help but get more beach time in but agreed that we would leave by 4.
The kids spent almost the entire time in the water, which means I didn't take many pictures and got some reading on!
I did go on a walk with the littles where we searched for shells and enjoyed feeding the seagulls.
Such a special time for me, as it brought me back to being around that age and doing the same at my grammy's condo on the beach.
When it was time to go, the girls were very disappointed, and actually began running in the opposite direction.
It was a long couple of days without a nap and Ezra was beginning to show it! Not even wanting to walk back.
However, once we finally all made it back into the car, it wasn't long until they were all knocked out!
This trip was such a gift to this momma's heart. It revealed what a special stage we are in, now out of diapers, naps and nursing which results in a lot more freedom and ease. I'm so thankful that we got this time together and will treasure the memories (and hopefully hold on to that, in that next time things will not be so stressful for me leading up to it). Thank you Jesus for getting to see more of your creation and grace!
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