Myrtle Beach (September)

Our favorite time to go to the beach is September. We had an especially fun time this year, getting to share our timeshare with our friends from Germany as well as having our best friends from NC staying just down the beach. We were there during the possibility of several hurricanes, but were fortunate to miss them all. The benefit of some stirred up oceans, was wonderful seashell finds.



One of our favorite places to visit at the beach is the Ripley's Aquarium. Here are some pictures of us enjoying the sites.



They have two areas where you can interact with sealife, both a huge hit. Here is Lauren holding a horseshoe crab. She is such a huge animal lover, that it was hard to get her away from the crabs.



They also have an opportunity to pet some rays, following an underwater show they do with a scuba diver in the ray and shark tank. Aaron was thrilled with this.








We love going for a walk on the beach at night. Part of our beach tradition is to look for little crabs that come out at night. So we take flashlights and keep our eyes open. It's fun so see how many we can spy and how many different kinds. This was something completely new to our across the ocean friends, so it was fun to share with them.





The kids played lots of UNO, a game that has no language barriers. Here everyone is playing in our condo.

A little Caleb hanging out with our friend Roger, just liked the picture of our little man with our good friend.

We had our NC friends over for dinner and this is a picture of them watching the pool and beach activities below. I love pictures from the back so this was great.

We had a great time on the beach - shell collecting, kite flying, playing in the waves, boogie boarding, sand castle building, lounging. Caleb had fun exploring his first time on the beach, last year he basically slept alot on the beach. Aaron just loves the beach, the sand, the waves all seem to speak to him. it is so much fun to watch him take such pleasure and joy in it.

The place we stay has several really nice pools, one is just for kids, with a slide and water spouts. It is also next to a really nice treehouse playground. This was also a really big hit.

This was Caleb's first pool experience and he, like his siblings, just loves the water.

Caleb loved the pool so much, that he fell asleep and took his nap in his float.

Aaron with his favorit big buddy, Christopher (our NC friends oldest). He has always really enjoyed Christopher and distance hasn't diminished his affections.

We really enjoy our week at the beach each year. It's something we all look forward too. Great weather, wonderful friends, what more could you hope for on vacation.

Natural Bridge (from September)

Natural Bridge was a beautiful place, full of history and nature. The park sits on land that Thomas Jefferson purchased from King George III in 1774. It was a place that he once had a log cabin on and went to for solitude. The land was surveyed for Thomas Jefferson, by George Washington and there are places where his initials and a surveyors cross are chiseled and can be seen today. That was really neat to see something that was carved into stone by one of our Founding Fathers!


The Bridge is about 90 feet long and 150ft to 50 feet wide. It is between 200ft and 300ft tall. The Cedar Creek runs under it. We walked a nice trail around the park, that followed the creek.

During the Revolutionary War, the Bridge was used to make lead bullets for the colonist to use against the British. They would drop molten lead from the top of the Bridge. Gravity and the distance traveled would shape the drops into spheres which would harden once they hit the cold water of the creek below.

The Creek is bordered by large clumping of wildflowers at the waters edge.

It was a really warm day, but fortuanately the trail is well shaded by many trees. Caleb was lucky enough to get to ride the whole way. He loved the higher view and his sisters hat.


Along the trail is a recreated Monocan indian village. There were historical actors in the village to answer questions and share information about the villiage. It was very interesting, one of the woman was a descendant of the Monocan tribes from this area. It was neat to hear her tell stories that had been passed down through her family about life long ago.

Playing a child's game with corn cobs, similar to darts.

Items they used to make and trade. The baskets are woven of pinestraw and reeds from the creek.

The flint maker. He showed how they made, tools, arrows, and cooking utensils from the wide variety of rocks and limestone in the area.

Traditional house, that would sleep 12-15 people around the fire pit.

My big girl taking a seat in the meeting house.

Our friends and Lauren and Hannah walking along. The girls had fun walking on the stone wall along the creek.

We saw quite a few critters, mostly of the insect kind - beautiful butterflies, this walking stick and also lizards, crayfish, frogs........

A blue tailed skink

a Walking stick and this guy hanging out in a tree. Can you see him? We saw this twice as well as seeing them in the water near the end of the trail.

Did you see the snake......wrapped around the branches.

This is the opening to the Lost River. It goes to an underground river, whose source is unknown. It was amazing because you could hear the water rushing from somewhere else, before arriving at this opening. And it smelled crisp and fresh, the water was quite cold and clear, which felt great on this hot day.

This is the opening to a saltpeter cave. The saltpeter from this cave was used during the War of 1812 and also during the Civil War to make gun powder.

The kids just had to dip their toes in the creek, the water was just too temptin.

I love this picture. Not sure what was so funny. But a testament that sometimes friendship can overcome the barriers of language.

The end of the trail. Behind us are the Lace Waterfalls, which drop 50 feet. Hard to get a complete picture because of all the lush trees.