Family vaca: Isle of Palms, Charleston, SC

Sunday night we got back from Charleston, SC after a week of pool, ocean, and family time. We stayed in a gorgeous spacious home on the ocean in Isle of Palms. It was a very relaxing week, where our biggest problems of the day were whether to go swim in the pool or in the ocean, or what we were going to choose to eat for dinner, or whether we wanted to dress up at all and get out of the house... We did get out of the house a couple of times, twice to go to downtown Charleston to just walk or have dinner (just young couples of the family), and once to the children's museum. The children's museum was obviously intended for the two little cousins, Mae and Annika, but the older crowd managed to make it fun for themselves too: they placed bets and raced little kid boats. I hear someone won a buck. 

These types of vacations aren't that good for your skin, but how amazing are they for your soul! You wake up early to the sound of the ocean waves and can already taste salt on your lips. You creep downstairs to greet the sleepy crowd and you all quietly sleepily fuss around the kitchen making breakfast and then sit and eat and lazily sip coffee on the balcony. No one is moving much except the two little always energetic two-year-olds. Already you feel so accomplished that putting on your swim suit and sunscreen seems like a lot of work. But then you do and the pool/ocean time is so worth it, although it does exhaust you even more:) Then you put babies (and some adults) down for a nap and the only sounds in the house are of more coffee brewing and fans running and muffled voices and again those glorious ocean waves. The evening is filled with play time, talk time, more pool or ocean, and then prepping things for yet another delicious dinner... Speaking of delicious dinners... My favorites were probably the Chinese dinner that my brother-in-law's girlfriend Weishan made and the low-country shrimp boil. I'm not sure I will attempt the Chinese dumplings, but the shrimp boil will definitely be offered at our next friends dinner (instead of the usual taco night or grilled brats or grilled chicken marinated in Winn Teriyaki sauce:)).

On Monday, my year as a stay at home mom began and it's been amazing so far. More on that later. 

And here are some random photos from the vacation, in no particular order.