A Day Filled with Delightful Sounds and Surprises!

Last September Mark was nominated for an award at one of the hospitals where he works. He was not given the "award," yet something better was brought home at the end of the evening. Along with a beautiful plaque he won the door prize. It was a two day, one night stay at a very nice hotel in Charleston. Due to our youngest beauty we kept postponing this trip, thinking she would be ready for us to be away for an extended time . Well the door prize was to expire in September and the hotel was fully booked for the weekends our schedule would allow us to take advantage of this sweet prize. So, we made some calls (one of which was to the hotel where they booked us for two nights instead of one- I told the lady repeatedly the certificate was for one night she was happy to book two :) We packed our bags and off we went for a mix of couple time and family fun with the help of Meeps and Gran (Mark's parents are always happy to open their home to us and they are just a spit from Charleston.)

Friday we headed to the beach. We hadn't really thought through the fact that this would be the first time Mackenzie has been old enough to realize she is at the beach instead of just sleeping in her stroller as the waves crash near by. She was a BLAST! At first she was so happy to build sandcastles and discover shells to decorate her creations.

Then she discovered nothing is better than the waves hitting your feet. Each time a new wave would break around her ankles she would absolutely squeal with delight!!

Haleigh was true to form. She never slowed for a minute. Most of her time was spent on the "boogie board" or chasing crabs.
Sophie loves to go as far out as she is allowed. That is why I have so few pictures of her, to be with her meant the camera was in danger so it had a break in the bag while I chased the waves with Sophie.What a great day on the beach! Fun was had by all!

As a storm blew in we made a quick turn around in the dash for dinner.

After our bellies were filled Mark and I went back to help get the girls ready for bed, tucked Mackenzie in with love and kisses, left the big girls cuddling up for a movie, and we were off.

(To our surprise when we checked in the hotel folks bumped us up a level to the "concierge floor" where we enjoyed many added benefits of complimentary desserts, breakfast, high tea and appetizers- this type of thing happens often to my sister so we just say we pulled a "Becky.")