Catching Up and Vacation Part Two!

So many things have happened since my last post.  I had every intention of posting earlier than this, but we were without internet for a week.  Then, I was in the middle of this year's school planning, which by the way, we are now six days into!  And the latest, Julia got sick last Thursday and now all five children have a pretty stubborn chest cold.  So far, Julia has had it the worst, battling her asthma at night, so needless to say, Mommy hasn't gotten much sleep either.  Last night, she sounded as though we might be turning the corner on this so we are very happy about that.  God is so good!

I promised I would post more pictures of the wonderful vacation from the Lord.  After we had the strong bonds event in Myrtle Beach, SC, we headed to Hilton Head South Carolina for five nights!  The landlord we are renting from now has a beach house there in Shipyard Plantation and he allowed us to go there and pay only the cleaning fee!  What a blessing!  Those homes during this time rent for about a thousand dollars a week!  I told you this was the Lord's blessing!!! The picture above is from the lighthouse.  Jonathan and the children climbed up while Mom was able to visit some shops at Harbourtown waiting for them.

We saw a whole lot of these critters!  It was amazing seeing so many alligators lying around sunning themselves...especially on the golf course.  I wonder how golfer's feel about looking at these guys nearby!

We took a family walk on the beach and the children came back with a ton of shells.

We took a trip on a ship called the Vagabond there at Harbourtown.  We were able to actually see some dolphins swimming near the boat.  We didn't get a picture up close, but it was thrilling to be that close to them.  It was an extremely windy day there on the water.

Here's my oldest daughter standing on the upper deck of the Vagabond before we took off.

We positioned ourselves at the back of the boat...which was fine as our large family had plenty of room.  But, when the boat turned around on the water, the fumes were a little bothersome (as you can tell from the boys holding their noses)!  We ended up making a quick move to the sides of the ship.  That worked out better anyway as a few of the children were getting seasick because of the choppy waves!

My middle daughter enjoyed watching the birds more than the dolphins.  We saw cormorants, sea gulls, pelicans and others.  She is quite the orinthologist!

 

Harbourtown was full of beautiful boats like these.

Daddy taking a moment with his son on the top of the lighthouse.

We walked around Harbourtown and looked at the lovely houses.  The landscaping was just gorgeous.

I will try to post the last leg of our trip soon, Lord willing!  Although the first two stops were wonderful...the children enjoyed the last stop the best of all. I am looking forward to sharing more of God's goodness with you!  Until next time!