Edisto Island Vacation-part 1

We just got back from one of the loveliest vacations we've ever enjoyed. (Although it STILL feels weird not to have Kaley along.) I'll admit in the last 18 years most of our "vacations" have been to visit family. We were blessed this year to acquire a camper, or as the children named it, "Dutchy". Or as Max calls it, our Little Home. I like that. I've dreamed and dreamed of having a camper. With a family this big, it's gotten hard to visit family and tent camp everywhere. So, for my 40th birthday, we bought one! 

I'm so thrilled with it. We've used it twice, once to visit family and now for vacation. It's in good shape so the only things to do are purely for my own sense of taste. So in time. I love love love it!!

We chose Edisto Island so we could camp near the ocean. The state park has two campgrounds there, one next to the beach and one 1/2 mile away in a woodsy area. We chose woodsy and I was so glad. Much more privacy and room for the kids. 

Here's our camp site all set up. With this big of a family, set up is a breeze!

The boys still tent it although we can all sleep in the camper if we needed to. 

Site #121. Very roomy! And there was a short cut path in the woods to the bathhouse. 

As soon as camp was all set, we took off for the beach. We found it very quiet, mostly families or older people and mostly empty. Lots of oyster and welk shells. Right away we found a live welk. 

We all felt like Max! 

Silas loved the shells. He was so excited to bring me his finds. 

Fern enjoyed it, too. She loved digging. 

Right before we headed back to camp, we found a hermit crab without a shell! He was not moving at all and very slow when we scooped him up. We weren't sure if he was a marine crab or a land hermit crab (they are different) so we covered him with a shell and left him. 

Back at camp, burgers and watermelon!

Edisto is purely residential. Nothing there but a small Bilo grocery and a few restaurants. It was nice. After dinner we actually all went to bed by 9 and slept very well. The lack of light pollution was wonderful!

Florida

We just returned from our winter visit to Florida. And it is SO cold! At noon today it was still only 18 out. Very unusual for NC. My laundry room is just an enclosed porch and the washer pipes are frozen. Annndddd one is cracked :/ So we are really missing that FL sun. 

We stopped on the way to my moms at my Uncle Tim and Aunt Judy's. We had a lovely visit. They have a wonderfully peaceful and welcoming home and we wished we could have stayed longer. The kids got better pictures of the marsh outside. But here we are at dinner. 

Fort DeSoto beach

And yes, I had three soaked little boys by days end. 

My sweet hubs. 

We had A LOT of nature finds. 

Very cool rock. Curtiss loved the layers. 

Hermit crab!

With a guest in his shell!!

Coolest find? A conch!

Winter Nature Walk

We had a warm winter day! Sunny and 60. The week previous set a record here, we got down to 3 degrees. We quickly decided to finish independent school work and skip our morning time in favor of a nature walk. 

I've been terrible about nature study this winter. Winter is very hard for me, I'm still a Floridian at heart. I love the change of seasons but after Christmas, I'm so done with winter. I know I know, at that point it's barely begun!

This lovely quote is spurring me on to better habits. 

". . . what we desire, who have the question of the right guiding and training of the young eager mind so much at heart, is, above all things, to make this power of wonder, this spirit of enquiry, a durable and life-long possession, so that whatever else may fail the children in the course of years, the love and healing of Nature may be a priceless treasure to them for ever."

Francis Blogg

Ms. Blogg became the wife of G. K. Chesterson. I love connections. I found this nugget in a Parents Review article about Natural History Clubs. Which I am soon to start with my CM boon companion Sara. I'm very excited about this but I digress. 

You may think nature doesn't have much to offer in January but we have learned there is always something to see, if we have Eyes. 

And of course there are rocks to climb. 

And sticks. 

What we found were the mosses and fungus and lichen were thriving. We had a lot of rain the day previous so they were bright and hydrated, just gorgeous!

I did find this fuzzy plant under some leaves. I've not identified it yet. I didn't realize I'd also captured a centipede as well until hubs pointed it out!

We found dinosaurs of one kind...

And another. 

I love moss!

Here we took a break to enter our finds in our nature journals. The littlest boys were throwing sand so my attempt at journaling moss was a disaster. I had to take them on a lizard hunt so the older children could paint and sketch in peace. 

Maura chose loblolly pine. 

Curtiss, holly. 

It was a good day. I'm grateful to live somewhere that I can enjoy a 60 degree winter day, although rare. But I do not doubt that even my friends in Minnesota have days where there is something creation offers, as long as we have eyes. 

Regardless, there are always kisses to steal. 

Our Day In Pictures

Drive on the beautiful blue ridge. 

Apple time!

Last of Summer

My knitting projects

Baby socks! I'm so thrilled I figured this out. Thanks to purlbee and my mom. 

Hootie pants! These are wool pants for the little boy who pees out of his diapers every night! Thank goodness for good old wool. 

My oldest and youngest boys. 

First steps!! Daddy got a video. 

We caught this cicada hatching!

A visit to Wilmington!

We celebrated our anniversary with a trip to the botanical garden. We took this cute nursling along but snuck out later to our first date without kids in over a year. 

Our sweet kids surprised us with this when we got home. It's truly been the best years of my life.