I want to go back to the island....

Madelyn and I just spent an amazing week with my family in South Carolina on Folly Beach, a small island outside of Charleston.

Folly was definitely not what we were expecting.

Family trips have always been a gamble... sometimes we stay in a hotel like the one in Cancun, and other times it's the rustic cabin at Fish Lake. Right when we pulled up to this house we knew it wasn't going to be rustic. As pretty as this house is, we never really saw the front that much....the view from the back was WAY better.

This was our room with a balcony and a view of the ocean. We slept with the door open every night so we could hear the waves. The concept of sleeping with the door opened baffled my parents, who kept our beach house at a balmy 58 degrees. My sister on the other hand lives in a house that has neither heat nor air conditioning. She should rent out her house to tourists who want to know what it was like to live in D.C. during the Revolutionary War...she was soaking up all the AC she could get! Long story short... we slept with the window open to hear waves and avoid getting hypothermia from the AC.

I caught this cool picture of the back of the house on one of the thunderstorm days. Each day it was thunderstorming in Charleston, but it was sunny and beautiful every day on Folly Beach! Each room in the house had a balcony that faced the ocean. It was beautiful!

When we weren't on the beach we were hanging out on the screened-in porch with a view of the beach! We ate all our meals, played games, talked, and hung out in the screened in porch. We loved this screened-in porch so much that we are going to build one at our house. We'll post pictures when we're done.

The beach! This is where we spent most of the day throughout the week. The temperature of the water was perfect! We had a boogie board, and skim board, and I rented a surfboard for a day. We had so much fun hanging out on the beach (obviously).

I don't like the sun. I wear shirt on the beach, I put on tons of sunscreen at the highest SPF legally available. There is no point in me trying to tan... because I burn. I sunburn and go back to pasty white. I don't even try. The first day I found this umbrella (or, as we all called it Umbrella-ella-ella-oh-oh) in the garage, bought an umbrella anchor and a chair, and sat in the shade! Everyone made fun of me. Well... a week in the sun went by, people got burned, people got tired of being hot and suddenly everyone was trying to get some of my shade! I came home the same color I left. Madelyn on the other hand could tan by standing under a florescent light bulb... I hope our children get her skin.

We rented some bikes so that we could get around the island. We rode them all the time... we went to lunch in the tiny town, we rode on the beach, we checked out all the pretty (expensive) houses. I even remembered how to ride with no hands... for small periods of time... on a flat surface.

Here's the fam at lunch! My sister's friend joined us for half the vacation. We brought her along because we needed someone to entertain my sister... she's exhausting.

After two solid days of doing nothing we were ready for some mildly scheduled fun. We went down and met Captain Matt... who, has never presented himself as a "captain" (despite us calling him this the entire time) and was not the swash buckling pirate type the women had pictured. There seemed to be consensus that "captain" Matt was "hot." So, poor "captain'' Matt became the topic of conversation... as in, "You didn't load the dishwasher?.... Captain Matt would have."

On the boat with Captain Matt (GQ Man of the Year) we caught all sorts of fish I forget the name of... you see, it's easy to forget the names of the other fish you caught when you catch a FREAKING SHARK!!!!

Of course when I say "caught" I mean that I reeled in the shark after Captain Matt (sigh) had baited the line, thrown it out, and placed the rod in the holder.... I just happened to be near it when it started to zip away. But who cares about those boring details? This was also Madelyn's first fishing experience! She had never even held a rod! I didn't go on her fishing trip (not enough room on the boat.. had to split in two groups) but I imagine a very nice and good looking Captain Matt showed her how the rod works.

My brother and dad enjoying the fishing trip....

After fishing we went into Charleston to see Fort Sumter.... where the Civil War started. Apparently, according to the gift shop and the museum it appears the South prevailed. The boat ride to the fort took forever, and after a quick tour of this fort, we were ready to go back to the beach.

Here we are in the hottest and longest line to get on the boat. None of us had concealed weapons.

Can't you tell from this picture we're on a boat headed to a Civil War landmark?

Here's Madelyn next to a cannon gettin' her history on...

... and we're back on the boat. We're done with history....get us back to the beach!

But first... let's look at this super old tree. No matter the date.... it's extremely old, like 1600 years. BACK TO THE BEACH!

The entire family on the beach means it's family picture time. My favorite won't be chosen as the Christmas card this year... but I can post it on my blog!

Christmas card time!

We also took a serious contemplative picture that was hopefully obviously a joke. It makes me laugh!

We did leave the beach again to take a trip into Charleston. We were told it was historic, and wonderful, and something we MUST see! Well... we walked around a little bit. I remember some cool houses, heat, and some really old buildings... but the rainbows and unicorns we were promised never showed up. Honestly, it was nothing worth leaving the beach for... sorry people who live in Charleston. We went to a cool shopping district where I bought some pants.... at some unique boutique called Banana Republic. We DID have some amazing food at a beautiful local restaurant. The food alone was worth making the trek into Charleston.

Here we are on the ride into Charleston in what could be the creepiest picture of my brother...

This is rainbow row... which is almost what I was promised, but I don't see a unicorn. These houses are super old and used to be on the water. The local painter guy we bought much needed water from was telling us some gibberish about them being fake or something. Honestly, if you built these last year I wouldn't know the difference without being inside. I mean, the people at Disney can make any type building from whatever time period. They just made Harry Potter's world and that isn't even real. So, who even knows if these are real or not? They're cool...

Looking at the old houses was more interesting and you could tell they were old....

Here we are at the most delicious lunch ever.

My sister is apparently Snow White... she can summon the forest creatures to do things for her. (notice the bird on her shoulder)

my sister has the same skin as me... burned. Madelyn has some crazy sun resistant skin... tan

We owe my parents a HUGE thank you for providing such a wonderful trip. It was easily the best vacation Madelyn and I have ever had. We were SO sad to leave... on the verge of just staying there forever. I hope we get to go back... we're already looking forward to it!

Glam Rock, 4Square, and BBQ.

So... I've failed at blogging. This blog has become like the book on my nightstand. I have every intention on reading it. I know I'll enjoy it... but I just never get to it. Then I spill water on it in the middle of the night. I really shouldn't keep open cups of water and books on the same surface in the dark.

Anyway... I don't want this blog to be thrown away, all wet and soggy, in the middle of the night in a half asleep daze. So... I'm here with a mission. Not only post pictures, but try and keep it somewhat entertaining with my terrible grammar and speling.

We've been busy with stuff (so descriptive!). Obviously you've seen the kitchen while looking for an update, but we've been up to all sorts of other things (things!... and Stuff!).

I'm going to try and get it all in one blog. Ready.... go!

We still have two large animals we keep in our house. At this point we've started dressing them up.... So, we've officially gone off the deep end. Just wait for the Christmas card with us and the dogs and we're all wearing matching holiday sweaters. This was for a little doggie festival downtown.

We were invited to a Glam-Rock party with free face painting. If you know us, you know we can't say no to the word "free".... so we danced the night away with our faces painted! Madelyn and Lorena stopped for a picture.

If I ever run for office this picture will be deleted form the Internet.

Pre-painted faced with the birthday girl Tolly. She's much better at updating her blog... and it's awesome!

I guess our lives have turned into going to weird parties and getting our pictures taken.... here's another one. This one may be my favorite because we're all so serious. Our good friend Justin (top hat) moved to Chicago this month. He got himself a good job and left the heat for the cold. Looks like we'll be visiting Chicago at some point.

I stood in line for 30 minutes to meet Dan Aykroyd. Why? Because I'm a huge nerd. I had him sign my Ghostbusters poster (wow, what's wrong with me?). The best part of the Dan Aykroyd story is that the reason he was there was that he was signing his vodka. Apparently he sells vodka on the side. Not only vodka... but vodka in a glass skull. All I wanted was my Ghostbusters poster signed, but I realized as I walked out that the exit to the line went straight to the registers. So, now I have a glass skull of vodka signed by Dan Aykroyd in my house. I don't drink Vodka... so I'll just hold on to it and put it on ebay in hopes that someone one day thinks, "I want vodka... in a skull... signed by an obscure celebrity." Currently it's on display in our home because the story of the glass skull of vodka signed by Dan Aykroyd is a funny conversation piece.

Madelyn's sister Lacy, nephew Miles, mom, and dad came for an Austin visit. The star of the trip was Miles. I don't think there was a moment where he wasn't being held. I love this picture...

Luckily they came before it was too warm, although, if you asked them they would have all said it was unbearably hot. We ate... and ate... and ate... and the girls shopped. We took Lacy to a lot of our favorite places in Austin, but I think her favorite was a small cafe in a strip mall between a Karate studio and a place that sells truck hitches. A Romanian place called Drakula. The language and food were both unidentifiable. But I was glad that our awesome city had this to offer! If I had thought about it I would have taken pictures but I was too concerned about what I ordered. Here's a nice picture of Madelyn and her mom....

We actually had a nice spring here in Texas so we absorbed as many outdoor activities as possible. Madelyn, Kelly and I went to Ski Shores for dinner. It's one of our favorite places. It's right on the water... you can drive there or pull up your boat. You come to Austin... we'll take you there.

At the last minute a ticket became available for Conan, only 1, and my wonderful wife told me to go ahead. So, since I'm a big fan, I went to Conan by myself. I laughed a lot. Here is Conan O'Brien in a Texas jersey.

Lockhart is the self proclaimed BBQ capital of Texas.... so we took the 30 minute drive and ate a lot. The BBQ was amazing. Standing next to a huge open flame while putting in our order was awful. As you can tell from all of these photos when we eat we bring Kelly.

Lockhart is also the location is the amazing film "Waiting for Guffman" where Madelyn and I got our picture taken on the stairs leading to Corky's apartment. Obscure movie location FTW!

Madelyn had her GOLDEN birthday. 27 on 27. Since it only happens once Madelyn was ready to go all out! She wanted to play 4 square... and she wanted a big sandwich.

"What my baby wants my baby gets."

4ft of Turkey goodness. I had to pick it up in our big car and fold down the seats. Madelyn was very specific, she wanted a big sandwich, but NOT a row of a bunch of large sandwich's... the bread needed to be continuous. So, I found a place that makes the large bread. She was so happy.

Hardcore 4square in the driveway. It was amazing.

Madelyn got everything she wanted. I felt good about that, but on the other hand... how am I going to top this next year? By the time Madelyn is turning 30 the parties will be INSANE!

More blogs coming! Our trip to Folly Beach!