I'm back!

Sounds scary, huh?  Kind of like ol' Jack in The Shining!

An even scarier Jack moment....

Well, I wasn't killing anyone in an abandoned hotel, or looking quite that porky in France, I was just hanging out in Charleston.  What a surprise, huh?  Gil's cousin Leigh was in town from Canada and we HAD to go and try to squeeze in some time with her.  And her adorable 6 year old daughter, Alex, who Ben and Nate truly love like a sister (as evidenced by the intense hugging and fighting, both).

We had such a nice time in Charleston, kicked off by a quick McDonald's visit out in the country with my great good friend Katrina.  Katrina and her hubby Marlon are friends from our Florida days and she happened to be passing through on 95 going from NC back to Florida.  She had her dad and her 3 adorable monsters with her-all clones of her!

Chloe, Katrina, and me

I know you shouldn't eat little kids, but really, could I just snack on her cheekies?  Please Katrina?  I saw Amelia and her twin Mitchell last in the NICU, my how they have grown!

Nate and Mitchell surely got along well.

Then we got to see Leigh-yeah!!!  She works in Whistler, and works way too hard.  We got to see her in February when we trekked up for the Olympics, but we miss her!

The three little sparklers

On Saturday morning, we went out to Folly for some beach time.  It was beautiful weather, but extremely windy.  The dry sand was blowing around like crazy.  It got in everything we took with us and almost buried Gil's shoes.  And the waves were semi-rough-which the surfers were enjoying.  We could not believe how brave Ben was.  He was getting out up to his chest and just getting beat up.  He would go down and pop right back up.  And the current was so strong, we would get in way down the beach and still have to hoof it back when we got out of the water.  No pictures from that outing.  It's so nice just to go and enjoy something and not be behind the camera the whole time.

That afternoon we went to a pool party at Gil's cousin Chip's house.  They live in the prettiest neighborhood and have such a nice house.  All of our fingers and toes were so very wrinkled because nobody wanted to get out of the pool.  I got a few pictures, but this is the best...

Alyce, another cousin of Gil's-had done a big fat cannonball earlier in the day and soaked Cheryl.  Well, Cheryl bided her time and used Gil and sweet baby Nate to get her back.  Alyce had changed into her clothes-including her shoes-and Gil lured her over to the pool and Cheryl pushed her right in!  It was pretty funny and Alyce was such a good sport-she immediately started laughing!  If I were Cheryl, I would watch my back for a little while.

Gil and his entourage.  (This was after Gil's HUGE basketball victory-way to go Gil!)

On Sunday, we had a little birthday party for the boys (yes, Nate's birthday is 6 weeks away-so what?). Later that day, we went down to Riverfront Park in North Charleston for some 4th of July festivities.  This was decided when we saw that one of our favorite bands, the Blue Dogs, would be out there.  It was great.  The park is so nice and the weather was amazing.  We got to hear great music and then see some great fireworks.  Now we know where to go in Charleston for the 4th.  (love the beaches, but it's so hard to get out afterwards).

Ben listening to music, and feeling his weekend catch up with him...

The next day we went to the water park at James Island, it was pretty great.  Again, no pictures, just fun.  Ben was finally, kind of, sort of, tall enough to ride the big slide.  He got measured 3 times and we were thankful he has long shaggy hippie hair, because that is the only way he was officially tall enough.  I bet we rode those 2 slides 20 times.  And Gil, the baby whisperer, got grumpy baby to sleep and the child slept for over an hour on a shady lounge chair.  I think Gil drugs him.

If you are still here, wow-you probably need a nap!  Hope you had a great holiday weekend, and could you please slow down summer?  The 4th always made me realize that school was right around the corner and summer would end before too long.  (and also, if you have any pull, please bring back the temperatures from this past weekend).