wind in our hair...

This morning after breakfast we went out to the beach - around 930am. We bought Jesse some sand toys, a little wagon to pull them in, and a beach umbrella. All of which was pointless... except for the wagon. He loves the wagon. I spent 10.00 on all of it (CVS bucks rule) so I guess it's not a big deal. We couldn't get the umbrella to stay grounded, the wind was atrocious today - but it was nice since the heat index was projected to be 108. I got out the shovels, buckets, and sand toys - while he scoped out a nearby dump truck... at which time I was glad to meet Hayden and his parents. I never learned the parents names, but we sat and talked for 2 hours... Hayden is a spunky little boy who's 3 weeks older then Jesse. His parents are new locals, moved to Charleston from San Diego. Hayden brought a toy dump truck... Jesse loves them, and Hayden loved our wagon. So they traded off. After playing with each other's toys, it was a sad departure when we had to leave the beach to go for lunch. Jesse was not thrilled about leaving behind his friend and dump truck. We must find one of our own now... which is funny - because the same exact circumstances are how Hayden's parents bought his! HA! (now they're buying a wagon....hehe)

Above: Haydens dump truck - and Hayden is off w/ Jesse's wagon!

Below: Jonathon and big E spent the entire 2.5 hours in the water - so this is the only image I took photos of over and over of the two of them.

Below: this little bird hung out right beside me for a good while!

After lunch, Jesse and I napped. While we napped, Jonathon and Ezra went for a walk on the Folly Beach Pier, and to a few gift shops that are right on the little Folly strand (will take pics of that tomorrow). Jonathon took some pictures on his iPhone - I will post those once we upload them.

When naptime was over, we left for the SC Aquarium near Fort Sumter and Patriots Point at the Charleston Harbor. It's totally a tourist hangout - but we went anyway. The kids enjoyed it, Jesse got in free - so it wasn't too terrible. The majority of the pictures I took are trashed, because of the indoor aquarium tanks causing flash to bounce back in photos, I couldn't get the camera settings just right - so there are very few photos indoors. The otters were my favorite during the tour, the kids loved the fish and sharks. There was a sea turtle that was easily 4 feet long. The boys both bought a small souvenir in the gift shop before we left. On our way out of downtown Charleston, I took a few more photos of historic sites, as well as a picture of a container vessel on it's approach to the Port of Charleston.

Above: Cargo vessel approaching the Port of Charleston. We've been watching "America's Port" on National Geographic channel since the series began - and seeing this vessel, along w/ the port itself, made it so much more realistic for me to understand the enormous capacity these cargo vessels have. Also - to imagine what it must be like to guide one in to a port.

Below: St. Phillips Episcopal Church steeple. Another of Charleston's well known historical steeples... the church was established in 1680 and is the oldest Anglican congregation south of Virginia.

Below: The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon

Once we completed our Aquarium tour, we left, and I bought some handmade woven flowers from some kids on a park bench outside. I will have to take a picture of those - I forgot too! The kids looked to be young teens, and a few younger then that - each flower was 2.00. There are also basket weavers sitting on Meeting Street in Charleston, I plan to go pick up a basket or two for the house before we leave. We headed out to dinner at Charleston Crab House - it's a local favorite, so I was ready to try some more of the yummy eats. I had crab cakes and she-crab soup again. The crab cakes were light, fluffy and delicious (totally not our normal "diet" - so it was a super treat) the she crab soup was not as good as last nights in my opinion. Jonathon thinks I'm silly for wanting seafood 2 or 3 nights in a row - but this is literally the first time in 3 years that I've had anything but grilled salmon (we do that 2 times a week at home) when it comes to seafood - so if I'm going to stray from our Mediterranean diet, I think one vacation out of 3 years is not a big deal! Tomorrow night I want surf and turf!! Then it will be back to our normal routine of chicken, fish or turkey and lots of veggies.

Our day was relaxing, not rushed, and just right. It's around midnight, both boys went to bed around 10, and I'm getting tired now. I just finished the upload of photos from today to our smugmug photos site! Goodnight~