Virginia Beach

The girls in the hotel pool

Matt and the girls in the ocean

Sophie and Abbie are so excited to be at the beach!

Sophie's covered in sand! She and Abbie had a great time building sand castles with Paw-paw Tom and Aunt Leia

Sophie and Abbie with the big beach balls.

We rented this big surry bike one afternoon and got a workout. No fair that the girls can't help pedal!

We had a great time spending a couple of days at Virginia Beach with Matt's family while we were up there visiting them. Our hotel was right on the beach. The girls loved every minute of it. We applied plenty of sunscreen and spent a couple of mornings on the beach. When we arrived at the beach on Monday afternoon, it was actually kind of cool outside. It warmed up on Tuesday and Wednesday. Abbie would just scream and squeal whenever she waded into the ocean. She fell down several times when a wave came in but she would just get right back up and play some more. One night, we headed to one of the pavilions on the beach for a little miniature circus show. All of us enjoyed it, especially since it was free entertainment.

Fall Vacation--Clearwater Beach

Sophie and Abbie on our hotel balcony at the Clearwater Beach Hilton Hotel.

Sophie on the beach.

Abbie loved playing in the sand and chasing sandpipers

Sophie and Matt built Cinderella's Sand Castle.

Sunset on the pier.

The whole family posed for one last photo before checking out.

Fall Vacation--Dolphin Cruise

Here we are about to embark on a three hour cruise on the SS Minnow--I mean the Little Toot.

 We picked Sophie up from School on Friday afternoon before her Fall Break, and we flew to Tampa.  Paula's brother, Phil, decided to go on vacation with us at the last minute.  So Phil drove down to Florida and picked us up from the Tampa airport.  We drove to Clearwater Beach and checked into our hotel.  The next morning, we decided to walk down to the Clearwater Marina and go on a dolphin sight seeing cruise.  We decided to go on the Little Toot cruise, which is a small boat (at least compared to some of the other ships at the marina) that resembles a tugboat.  Abbie kept saying we were going on a "baby" boat ride. 

Skipper Phil, Sophie, and Abbie

We cruised by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and mansions owned by John Travolta, Hulk Hogan, and Tom Cruise on Clearwater Harbor.  We then set sail for the Gulf of Mexico, and we looked for dolphins In the gulf along Clearwater Beach.

Yeah, we just saw Hulk Hogan's house!

Sophie and the beach

The nice crew gave us this photograph taken on another cruise.

The Little Toot makes a big wake, and dolphins love to jump and play in the boat's wake.  We saw several dolphins jump out of the water, but they are difficult to photograph since they are out of water for about a second at a time.  The nice crew of the Little Toot gave Sophie and Abbie some pictures they took on different cruises.  Overall we had a great time on the cruise.

Fun Times in Charleston

Sophie at Folly Beach

Sophie's happy-Abbie not so much!

the girls playing in the fountains

Sophie digs in to some chocolate ice cream

On Saturday, we made it to Charleston. It's a LONG road trip and Abbie hardly slept at all. Then, that afternoon, we settled in to stay with some of our friends and Abbie wouldn't settle down and take a nap there either. We decided to head to Folly Beach and she was so tired. She HATED the beach. (It was Abbie's first time at the beach.) Sophie loved it and I kept having to try to console Abbie. It was sunny but a little windy. She didn't appreciate the cold ocean water but didn't mind the sand too much. I think if she hadn't been so tired and could have gotten used to the cold water, she would have been OK. Every few minutes, she would start crying again. Then, after about 45 minutes, I was trying to get Abbie a snack when a big wave came in so that all of our stuff was WET. I told Matt it was time to go. Sophie really enjoyed the beach but NOT Abbie. Maybe her next experience will be better.

Two days later, we took the girls to one of our favorite places-Splash Zone, the water park that we used to visit frequently when we were in Charleston. I wish that we had something comparable to it here. Well, Abbie HATED it too for the first 45 minutes. Then, Matt helped her get used to the water and she was fine with it. It's a great place for little kids with all of the spray play areas, fountains, lazy river, big pools, shallow wading areas, slides, etc. Overall, it was a lot of fun and it didn't rain on us that day.

While in Charleston, we also briefly took the girls downtown, saw some of our old friends and got together, went to one of the parks, took the girls by the Angel Oak Tree, and checked on our house. Overall, we had a good trip. We'll have to go back when the girls are older. There's so much fun stuff to do in Charleston that you just can't fit it all in. On this trip, Abbie visited 2 new states-South Carolina and Georgia. =)

By the way, we are going to put our house in Charleston up for sale. Please pray that it sells.

More Beach Fun

Paula, Sophie & Matt on our balcony

view of the sunrise from our balcony

Sophie driving a boat

Sophie driving a car

One morning, Sophie & Paula got up early enough to go and watch the sunset. It was really pretty that day. At least we didn't have to get up too early to see it. A couple of the nights while we were staying at Myrtle Beach, we went over to the outdoor mall, Broadway at the Beach, where they have shopping, restaurants and lots of other things to do. They had little carnival rides there and Sophie got to ride a couple of the rides. She had a wonderful time and thought she was big stuff! The thing is, it was kind of neat for me to see because I've seen pictures of me (Paula) when I was little riding the same exact rides. I think Sophie would have ridden these rides over and over again if she could have. Both nights we were at the mall (one of the nights Matt's parents actually took her) Sophie rode the car and the boat.

On the night that Matt's parents and sister, Leia, babysat Matt & I played a game called MagiQuest. It's kind of hard to explain but you have this wand and you get to go on these different adventures, quests, etc to find things throughout the building. It kind of reminds you of Harry Potter or something but it's a game for all ages. They have all these computers that tell you what to do and you earn points, etc. Anyways, it was something different to do and it was fun.

Recent Happenings

I haven't been doing very well at taking pictures lately so forgive me for that. It has just been hot, hot, hot here. We've been to play at our neighborhood pool a few times. One day Sophie & I met Cooper, a little boy from church, and his mom, Alison. Everyone had a good!

Last Friday was Matt's 30th birthday. We invited a few couples over to have dinner with us and celebrate. One of our friends took pictures so I'll have to get him to e-mail them to me. They made Matt wear a hilarious looking hat with a big birthday cake and candles on it that said, "Over the hill."

We should definitely have some pictures to share soon because Sophie and I are flying to Raleigh tonight to meet Matt (he's been there doing training this week). Then, the 3 of us will drive to Myrtle Beach, SC on Friday to meet Matt's family for a much needed vacation. We are really excited about spending time at the beach relaxing and having fun with Matt's family.

Trip to Hilton Head Island

Sophie at Shelter Cove marina

Well, it's been a little while since we've given an update on our lives. We've been staying busy with one thing or another. This past weekend, we got away to Hilton Head for a much needed relaxing trip. None of us had ever been and we really enjoyed it. We got to go for a nice long bike ride, spent some time on the beach, walked around, etc. Sophie loved playing in the sand and getting very messy! When we were at the beach, we saw dolphins swimming just a little bit out in the water. Sophie also enjoyed seeing an alligator, turtles and some interesting birds right outside the hotel where we were staying. I hope we can go back to Hilton Head sometime. Tomorrow, we are headed to Richmond, VA to spend Memorial Day weekend with Matt's parents, sister, and one of his aunt and uncles.

our family at Harbortown

Sophie playing on the beach

Splash Time!

The end of summer is here and we made several trips to Splash Zone at James Island County Park, about 3 miles from our house. These were some of our best times this summer. Sophie loved to go down the waterslide with one of us in the children's pool. After sliding she would immediately get up and wade through the water, climb steps, and get in line to go down the slide again. She did this repeatedly.
We also visited the Folly Beach County Park recently. Sophie loves every part of the beach-the water, the sand, everything. It's scary at times because she has no fear! Once she became a better walker, she got to where she would just walk all over the beach chasing seagulls with no real destination in mind it seems. She calls the seagulls "ducks".

Other news with us is that Sophie has a cold right now but hopefully, she'll feel better soon. She's going to Mother's Morning Out again one morning a week. Poor Sophie has had a lot of falls lately so her knees are skinned up!