Apple day!

Carolina On My Mind?

Once we unpacked from Duxbury and finished the laundry, it was time to head out again.  This time to South Carolina, to spend a week with Myla and Bryan and Rowen and little Greta. We stayed with Myla's dad and stepmom at their beautiful house that's halfway between Hilton Head Island and Savannah, Georgia.  We spent a full day in each place and in between, we lounged in the pool on the lanai (a new vocabulary word for me) and cooked great dinners and played.

Here are the girls in downtown Savannah, trying out a new role model.  Lillian needs to work on her hip action.

We visited a candy shop on the river street as soon as we got off the ferry.  Here they are hypnotized by a 99 year old taffy machine. They got to taste some hot off the press. 

A reflection of our carriage tour through the squares of Savannah.  It was a highlight of the day, seeing the beautiful architecture and gorgeous live oak trees.  Naomi and Lillian were especially excited when one of the horses peed at a stop sign. It was splashy.

Savannah really is gorgeous and I could totally spend more time there.

We did a dolphin tour out of Hilton Head, and, while I found it underwhelming, the girls were super excited about the one dolphin we spotted.  If you are Lillian, you saw five dolphins.  I don't suppose we have any scientific proof that the far off fin we saw breach the water five times in a row was definitely the same dolphin. I had visions of pods of dolphins leaping alongside the boat, chattering and flipping and possibly signing autographs. Here is the closest we got.

A day at the beach on HHI was a treasure. Lillian pretty much headed straight for the water while Naomi spent about 45 minutes burying her feet I this pile of sand. 

The girls were great in the water all week. They got very brave in the pool at home, as long as they were wearing the chest wing floatations thing we pilfered from baby Greta. They got to the point were they were willing to leap into the water and deal with the splashing. Lillian was a little fish at the beach, begging William to take her out into the waves, gamely taking saltwater to the face and going back for more.

A trip to Fort Pulaski and Bonaventure Cemetery capped our time with the Goldcraigs.  While it was grossly hot and sticky, the sights were still marvelous.  

Bonaventure is the cemetery that figures prominently in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and has some  amazing statuary.

Also, nifty trees.

And spare bits of Spanish moss.

But, so soon, it was time to say goodbye.

After the wonderful week, we broke up the drive home with a stop in North Carolina to visit Mark and Jennifer.  They have a pinball game in their living room which is tied for coolness with a pool in the lanai, I think. Naomi wasn't half bad.

We explored the great children's museum in town.  Even the bike racks were cool. 

Naomi tried her hand at driving a tractor.

All in all, an amazing trip. The girls checked three new states of their list and we all got to visit with wonderful friends.  Maybe best of all? It only took three and a half showings of The Little Mermaid to get us home.