The beach bums are back!

Ahh . . . a week at the beach. There's nothing like it. For five years now, the Morrison family (including our six, Scott's parents and sister, Shanda) have been taking a week out of the summer to go to the beach. We go to Folly Beach in South Carolina. It is a gorgeous beach right by Charleston. Jerry and Jan pay for all of us to have a vacation. It is such an amazing gift to us.

We had a wonderful time. With five adults and four children, there is enough hands to go around and everyone gets a break now and then. We enjoyed the beach and the pool each day. We'd lather up the children every couple of hours and spend as much time outside as possible. Jerry was great for staying in during Brayden's naps. This allowed me plenty of play time out on the beach, cooking time and a couple of kid-free afternoons in the sun.

Jerry, Jan, Shanda, and our crew get along so well. We all work as a team to get things organized and done. Someone would cook, while others clean or play with the kids. Spirits were high all week long. I am thankful for happy hearts and committed caregivers. I love, love, love the family that I married into. I can not possibly express my love for my in-laws.

Our family ate every meal but one in the condo. I made the menu and put all the necessary items on a list for Mr. Shopper (Jerry). We fixed all our favorite vegan meals. Of course, we were spoiled all week by Shanda's baked treats. She is a fabulous baker. Our meal out was at Mellow Mushroom in downtown Charleston. That was a lot of fun. We are very content eating in all our other meals at the condo. Mealtimes included lots of food, family and laughter.

Our children made some progress in the pool. They all stepped out this past week and did something new and courageous. They crack me up putting on their goggles. I don't really remember wearing goggles that much, as a kid, but Scott's family did because the kids were on the swim team in Clemmons. You'll see some photos of the kids in their cool goggles (courtesy of Nana).

We did make it to the pier. We were thrilled to witness a fisherman catch a nice size shark. Don't ask me what kind, but it was truly exciting. The kids were able to touch it. Our family was glad to see that the shark was safely returned to the ocean.

Just before the children were taken to their room at night, they had a special reading time with Grandpa and Nana. Grandpa would read a Bible story and then a library book that we had brought from Durham. Then, someone would pray and we'd all give hugs and kisses to the kiddos. It was sweet, a memory I believe my older children will hold close to them.

Every night after 9pm or so, the adults would play games and eat snacks. This was and always is a highlight for me. I love playing games. We played Boggle, Scrabble, Yahtzee, Cranium, and Scategories. We laughed so hard. I love that kind of quality time!

We have tons more stories I could share but I will save those. As we were loading up the van to come home, I received a sad bit of news about my grandma. She fell during the night on Friday. I am very close to my grandma, so the news made for an even sadder departure. She has had several tests and she does indeed have some serious things wrong. However, thankfully her doctor says that she will recover. She has a small tumor in her ear, heart irregularities, and some cracked ribs from the fall. The doctors are hopeful and will guide the family into decisions that will be made for surgery and such. I will go visit her tomorrow.

I am sure I will be posting more about our beach adventure. I missed posting. Stay tuned . . .