Vacay Bliss, Oprah's Favorite Things Theory, & Eel Love

I don't quite know how to blog about our ideal vacay spot (and please-Lord-future-home) any better than I did the one day we got to come down in May. There's just no way to include or describe all of the little sights, sounds, & smells that make my heart sparkle & make this place all that to us, so I'm not even going to try to be completely comprehensive. I'll offer tidbits w/o feeling guilty for leaving out stuff. :-)

First off, *HUGE thanks* to Grandma & Grandpa Blake for taking care of sweet Bonnie Blue beagle & everything back at our house!!! They went straight to our house after being there Saturday for both Will & Annelise's football/cheer games, so we could leave straight from the football field to get on the road. Priceless peace of mind!

We made the trip down to CLT in RECORD TIME: 9½ hours including 2 stops! We went a different way, and it shaved off well over an hour! We don't stop for anything but gas, (yes - we potty & get food then, too) and our kids are great travelers. They know that's what gets us there faster. (And we were only subjected to two kids' movies - Ratatouille & Nat Geo Swinging Safari along the way! ;-))

Second thanks to LaLa & Grandaddo for keeping the kids in CLT, letting JB & me come on down to IOP by ourselves yesterday for some time alone, and bringing them w/ this morning. Yesterday. Was. Wonderful. I took both a bath and a shower, b/c I could. We went over to our fave beach bar to watch all the NFL games, (you could have seen us here on the Club Cam!) and then we came back, got dressed up, and went out to our favorite special dinner spot, High Cotton. It's one of our most treasured traditions!

This morning, we woke up ON OUR OWN and went over to Coconut Joe's for breakfast on their open oceanfront porch. Very little can top breakfast literally on the beach, esp. when that breakfast includes grits cakes. Afterwards, we walked the beach until the storms rolled in (storms at the beach = gorgeous!!!) when we then decided to take our singular drive through one-of-our-hopefully-future-neighborhoods.

A few years ago we really spent a lot of time going over the different neighborhoods and real estate in Mt. Pleasant, SC. We looked at so many homes...and it ended up breaking my heart. JB & my mom are happy to dream, but I have a hard time focusing on amazing things I can't really have right now. I call it my "Oprah's Favorite Things Theory" - I don't watch Oprah, but I caught her annual fave things episode once, and I found myself obsessing over all this stuff that I had been completely content w/o an hour earlier. Suddenly I *needed* this & that and felt an actual void b/c I couldn't have them = ridiculous!!! Why would I do that to myself on purpose??? Soooo, I don't let myself "just check" on realtor.com for this area anymore; I'll save that for when God really sends us. :-) We did use the kid-free time to take a spin through a few of our fave neighborhoods really quickly this morning. (But no sales brochures! ;-))

Our family was reunited midday, the kids went swimming, and we went to dinner at one of our standards, Locklear's. They've had a big aquarium for as long as we've come, and the kids LOVELOVELOVE it! The zebra eel apparently only comes out for them, according to the hostess:

Comments

  1. So glad you guys are having fun! You deserve an awesome vacation! I totally understand how incredible just one night of vacation without kids can be. What a great mom you have :)

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  2. this is the perfect time of year to be in the charleston area! i'm so happy that you got to go! and i can't look at housing yet either - it is way to depressing! clay loves looking at floorplans and browses online with local realty companies and i get anxious and moody if i sit there with him. you and i are in the same boat! i hope you have a safe trip back! here's to great news coming your way - SOON!

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  3. Shelley - YES! Just one night was so awesome!!
    Amy - my fam has always gone to the beach the beginning of Oct, b/c it's still warm & rentals are cheaper...but we did just get SOAKED from a tropical depression half this time. :-P
    And you hit the nail on the head re: house hunting making me anxious & moody!!! Perfectly put.
    Here's to good news for BOTH of our fams ASAP!!! :-)

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  4. Oh, yes! We love IOP. It's the only place we go to the beach. I can never understand why people choose Myrtle instead. IOP is easy to get to, beautiful beaches, great places to stay and you can go into Charleston! Luckily we only live a few hours away. My husband went to college there. It's one of THE most beautiful places. Glad you got a vacation!

    Susanne
    www.huckleberryfarmsc.com

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  5. Ewww! I've always wondered the SAME thing - Myrtle is another world.
    Hopefully one day, even if we don't get to move to the Charleston area, we'll get to move within a few hours drive, too, so we could slip down for a weekend here & there. Dreamy... :-)

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