The Pauls Family Trip ~ Day 10 (November 11)

We woke up early this morning and hurriedly got the kids fed and dressed.

I ran out there around 6 - 6:30 a.m. to catch a couple pictures of the sunrise...

We were out walking the shoreline before 7:30 a.m.

We could usually see a couple of ships out in the distance but this morning we watched them come close to land...

These sand dollars were our "special find". We found over 10 during our time at the ocean. 

And we also got some given to us by a sweet older couple that was camping "next door" to us.

We found a lot of these shells.... but only a few that were intact. This was the only one we found that was still occupied :)

 The couple beside us also offered for us to use their boogie boards, it was quite cold the morning of our last day... but Caleb and Zach decided that they needed to try it out anyway!

Eli and I build a shell sand castle :)

We said "goodbye" to the ocean and were pulling out of Edisto Campground at around 10:30 a.m.

Our next destination was Charleton, SC (about a 90 min drive) to visit the Young family.

We found them to be extremely sweet and hospitable. We really enjoyed our time spent at their beautiful home!

We were also privileged to meet the Ezzos, who are the authors of the parenting class that Mom and Dad frequently teach. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of our short and sweet (REALLY sweet) visit.

 (I know, I know.... hate me :)

We were able to go kayaking. I made the mistake of asking if there were sea creatures that came into their river from the ocean... the "we just don't talk about it" answer kinda freaked me out a little :) 

But I did go in the water anyway, once on the kayak and once on the boat.

And I'm still ALIVE!! :)

The Young's home was enchanting both inside and out. I almost risked being creepy and taking pictures of everything in their house (because it was ALL so amazing!) but I restrained myself :)

We learned a lot about South Caroline from our visit with the Youngs.

Things like, there is at least one alligator in every pond around their area.

And that there are two potentially deadly spiders that lurk in the dark corners.

And we learned the names of all the poisonous snakes that slither around.

(I think I'll take my blizzards and insanely cold weather... thank you!)

But we learned good/interesting things too.

Things like, they only get snow about once every century.

They can practically grow a garden year round. (we ate a fresh salad with most of the ingredients coming from their garden!)

Everyone (well... every house that we drove by anyway) had a ceiling fan on their veranda's.

They usually only get their first frost in December.

They get to see dolphins frequently... sometimes right close to their dock! 

Ya, almost 2000 miles away from home... things are different!

But we enjoyed it! And we were blessed by our visit with the Young family!