What time is it? Summer Time! It's Our Vacation!

(If you don't know the reference in this post's title, then you haven't seen High School Musical 2, which is a shame...)

Our awesome vacation began when we left home on Thursday, July 3rd, and headed for some fun times down south! First we headed to Daniel and Allison's place in Charleston, SC. We were the last ones of the family to see Daniel and Allison's first house, although we had kept up with all of the renovation projects through their blog, modern.charleston, and, like everyone who came before us, we were blown away by the comfort and modern classiness of the whole place! They have put a lot of work into their home, inside and out, and it really shows. Win was also there for the July 4th weekend, and the five of us had a great time. We had a cook-out, saw some beautiful fireworks, and watched (per Dee's honorable tradition) The Patriot.

We then travelled to Saint Simon's Island, off the coast of Georgia, where Joan and David and Kobe (their adorable 3-year-old dog who they adopted from Emmy Lou Harris' Bonaparte's Retreat) were waiting for us. We had such a wonderful, cushy vacation! We spent a lot of time at the beach (both in and out of the water), had some great food, and just enjoyed being together. We played a three-night, very intense game of Phase 10 during which every player was, at one time or another, in the lead, but, in the end, Lauren was victorious! : )

We also had the joy of witnessing Kobe's first interactions with the ocean. The very first thing he did when he got to the water was take a big gulp of it and make an awful face as if to say, "Yuck! Nobody told me this was SALT water!!" He loved jumping around in the waves, and he even had a short-lived jaunt of freedom off his leash down at the end of the beach where it wasn't very crowded.

The seafood was delicious, as were the homemade pizzas and Coconut Chicken we served up for everyone. As most of you know, we love cooking together in the kitchen, and it was such a joy to create meals for lots of people instead of just the two of us. Win brought his guitars (both electric and acoustic) and graced us all with his impressive, self-taught skills.

Of the several movies we watched, the award for the best movie of the vacation would have to be a tie between the amazingly wonderful, WALL*E, which we had to see again and share with the fam, and the amazingly bad, yet wonderful, Teen Witch, to which words can really do no justice. Teen Witch must be seen to be appreciated, so here is a small taste of the 80's cheesy-goodness that is to be found in Teen Witch: Top That.

See why the best movie award must remain tied? How could we choose?

We had a blast at the beach, and it was so nice to have a relaxing vacation. The best part of the entire trip was being with our wonderful family who loves and supports us and is so fun to be with!
Thanks Mama Joan and David for treating us to a fantastic vacation!