Isle of Palms

Last week we were vacationing in Isle of Palms (just outside of Charleston, SC). We did go into the city twice, but I forgot my camera both times. So, here's lots of pictures (it was so hard to narrow it down) of what we did most days. Play on the beach, swim in the heated pool and relax with family. Ahhhhh, good times.

On arriving we ordered pizza and then took a walk over to the beach for the sunset. Here's my dad with Erin.

Here's my Mom with Carol and Chris with Mae on his shoulders. Carol's expecting her fourth child this June. It's another girl! Yeah!

Here's Blayne showing Erin the water. It was a bit cold for her taste.

Bennett and Wilson played in the surf every day and had so much fun! Their uncle David would even take them out deeper some days (it's handy to have a 6 foot 6 uncle :0)

Here's Erin in the pool. It was heated and oh, so nice. Until you had to get out of it in the wind. She really liked it (except when uncle David was doing canon-balls)

Here we are taking a stroll on the beach. Erin's not walking yet,but she likes doing this.

Here's Erin "enjoying" her first taste of sand. mmmmmmmm

Aunt Red makes amazing cakes and she lives close to the other kiddos who get to benefit on their birthdays with her delicious confections. Since we were getting together so close to Erin's bday Red was glad to make a yummy belated birthday cake for Erin. It was soooo good.

Erin loves to chew on her MaMa's (say MawMaw) necklace, so she thought that MaMa might like to have a taste too.

Here's Wilson, Bennett, Mae and Erin from beach to outdoor shower to pool to bathtub. Erin doesn't like the water in her face! It's great to be a kid!

David, Blayne and Chris stayed up late one night watching you tube videos. Good times. It's so nice to have nothing to do but just be (and be silly).

Mae and Erin had lots of fun playing together. Here's Blayne reading to the girls.

Aunt Red is super cool and brought bubbles to play with. Here are the boys chasing the bubbles!

Here we all are on the main floor balcony. That's my Mom holding Erin, my brother David, Daddy, Blayne and me, Red (David's wife) holding Wilson, my sister Carol holding Bennett and her husband Chris holding Mae.

Watching NCAA bball right now---can you believe that WVU beat Duke! Crazy!! I love an underdog (unless they're playing a team I'm cheering for ;0) Ok, that was random, but it just happened. I love March Madness. It was a wonderful, relaxing trip and reality has been a bit rough on us coming back. Erin has a double ear infection and this morning she's covered in a rash from the anti-biotic. Good times. I'm tired, but I'm pretty sure I'll survive. I'll try to post again soon. I got to help brew beer for our St. Patrick's Day Party at a local micro-brewery! So fun! More to come on that. Erin's waking up. Love from CO!

Erin turns 1

It's hard for me to believe that Erin is actually a year old. Crazy how time flies. My folks were here to celebrate with us and before the "big day" we headed to the mountains. Here they are standing for the first time in their lives on a frozen lake. We went around and out on a lake up in Rocky Mtn. National Park. I've missed the mountains this winter.

Here's Erin admiring a tree and playing with the needles. I love to tell her all
about deciduous and evergreen trees, proud nerd that I am :0)

We had a fun get together with a few friends on Sunday afternoon to celebrate Erin's birthday. There were 3 other little girls who Erin plays with that came over too. Here's Audrey and her mom, Amy.

Here's Kathryn with her mom Christine, Jen, Libby and Mel on the couch and that's Alianna and her mom Jordan who's helping Erin "walk".

Here's Erin and I in front of her "cake".

Rather than make a big cake I decided to do cupcakes and just spell her name in them and make one just for her.

At first she just touched the cake and made faces because she couldn't get the stuff off of her hands...

Then she actually licked one of her fingers and and delightfully cried "OOOHHHHH!" Suddenly realizing this stuff was actually quite tasty, she dug in with great gusto.

Here she is before we cleaned her up. Happy with her first sugar high.

It was a fun day, though she had a stomach bug two days before it and again the next day (I have never seen anything more pitiful than a vomiting baby-so sad!). I'm mostly over the sleep deprivation caused by a sick baby. There's other exciting things going on around here, so hopefully I'll get to blog again soon. I had to get these up since its been two weeks. I was having trouble with my iphoto settings, but Blayne saved the day! Lots of love from CO!