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!