Happy Place

We have a happy place. A place that always makes us smile and a place that we are always sad when we have to leave. And we got to go back to that place in August for another fun time. That place is of course Seabrook Island, SC. Unfortunately Hurricane Irene shortened the trip by a day but we took advantage of the days we were there.
We made some major improvements since our last beach trip in June and DeeDee even got Ella to love the ocean and splash splash splash.

And you know who else loves the beach, our puppy dog. She is never more happy then when she is running on the beach or chasing sticks in the ocean.

And we continued to make big strides with Uncle Court, especially when Ella put on her nightly "show" for us on the deck every night. The show involved lots of dancing and singing and really anything that would get her more laughs and attentions.

And the vacation included evening walks along the beach and squinting for pictures through the bright sunsetting sky.

As soon as we arrived, Ella couldn't wait to get down to the beach right away. But as she got closer to the ocean, she grew a little more hesitant of the water.

She found it safer to walk and run along the sand with Papa.

And one of her favorite things to do at the beach was stand on the deck and spot the dolphins swimming by. We are lucky that tons and tons of dolphins swim by all day long and Ella loved standing on the ottoman on the deck and pointing to them.

And of course she was hamming it up for the camera as usual!

The next morning, we headed down to the beach to enjoy the glorious sunshine and warm water. Ella was tentative at getting in at first but DeeDee had the magic touch and was able to lure her in. Once Ella realized how fun it was, she stayed in for awhile, jumping, walking back and forth between me and DeeDee and splashing.

But all that swimming is exhausting, so after the water, she did some exploring along the beach. Another thing we love about Seabrook is that we had to beach to ourselves. No crowds of people, just wide open sand and water to play in.

Thanks Amy, Jason and Baby Abby for the most adorable smocked frogs bikini! We love it!

After naptime (which we won't get into sleeping because as much fun as we had playing, you would think Ella would take long naps and sleep in late but her naps were super short and she woke up early. I think she has just about out grown the pack n play and doesn't love sleeping in there. Or maybe, she was having too much fun to sleep!) and a bath to rinse off the pounds of sand and water in her diaper and bathing suit, we went back down to the beach for sunset.

Looking for dolphins and seagulls with Daddy.

Dipping toes in the water never gets old.

After running around on the beach, we retreated to the deck to watch the sun go down. Ella got some great bonding time with Papa and she was so excited when she would see him every morning or after he returned from playing golf.

Life doesn't get much better than sitting in a rocking chair, watching the sunset and eating and ice pop!

By far, Ella's favorite time of the day is nighttime, right before bed. She is definitely a night owl and likes to perform and put on a show. After she got a bath and her pjs on, she came back down for sing and dance for everyone. She knew the spotlight was on her and she loved every minute of it!

Another sunny day at the beach and Ella wanted to learn this crazy game that Daddy and Uncle Court always play. I think she added another level of difficulty for them, having to throw the ball around her!

She wasn't as into the water as she had been the day before but she was a little sand crab instead. Papa showed her to how to make a sand castle and her favorite part was stepping on it and breaking it apart after it was built.

She even went for a little walk with Uncle Court and Dakota, see major steps people!

While at the beach, we had a very special birthday celebration for Papa who turned 60 last week. We each wore shorts with different one liners that my Dad is famous for, wrote funny eulogies, put on a mock funeral and made a video for him. I had been working on the video for a little bit before the beach and Ella had seen it many times and it became her favorite thing to watch. So, we all gathered together to watch the video or as Ella calls, "pictures of papa."

Yes, we even got a shirt for Ella to wear so she could participate in the evening!

And no birthday celebration is complete without a cupcake and Ella thought these were pretty tasty. Only the frosting obviously.

We were sad that Irene rolled in and with the weather forecast of pouring rain all day, we decided to leave a day early and come back to Charlotte. But not without great memories of playing in the sand, happy hours on the decks looking for dolphins and celebrating a fantastic birthday. We can't wait for our next trip back to our happy place.