Enrique and Diggy's Vacation

Enrique and I decided that we were going to celebrate our Anniversary a bit early. Our initial plan was to go for 2 weeks and be out over our 12th Anniversary, but we found out that on our Anni was Sister's last school performance, so we wanted to come home to see her. Anyway...

After my sister-in-law (and brother-in-law) generously offered constantly for almost a year that she would watch the kids for us, we decided to take her up on her offer. We then asked my other sister-in-law (and brother-in-law) if she minded watching them over the first weekend to give the others a break, and another family friend and her hubby for the second weekend. Without all of them, this trip would not have been possible! And we are SOOO grateful (words can never express it)! After much discussion we settled on going to Kiawah Island in South Carolina. I had been there MANY years ago, and knew it was spectacular, plus more private than any other place we could go.

This will be a super long post! haha But, enjoy! :)

The day arrived, and we were so excited!!! Here are some pictures and videos of our trip...
I was SOOO tired. I only got maybe 4 hours of sleep!

Up and down the street...


Us in front of the cottage we rented.

The place we would call home for a couple weeks.

Part of the walkway to the beach...

The boardwalk to the beach! ALMOST THERE!!!

Fun at the beach


My toenails after being in the sand... they repelled everything! haha

At the Freshfields Village.

They have concerts, movies, farmers markets, and different things all throughout the week there. This night was a concert.

Our first catch of Blue Crabs... What a rush!

And heres one of cooking these suckers up!! It was a riot!


On our way home from church (yes we went to church while we were there! haha) we knew of a place that we had read about called the Angel Oak Tree. It was on our way back out to the island, so we stopped to go take a look! It was amazing!

This tree is HUGE! I gathered it was since it was the oldest Living Oak Tree that side of the Mississippi, but wow! Just WOW!

This one has people around it, so you can see how massive this beast really is!


The tree has to be supported, and the limbs dig into the ground.







Getting ready for the beach again! I think I could get used to this!!


Crabs galore!! This was one of the funnest things to do. This is our crab trap (which we left with some friends there, until we go back next time) and it came in handy. EVERYday there were crabs. Sometimes as little as 5, sometimes as many as 12. There are two different types of crabs you can catch at Kiawah. One is the blue crab, and one is a stone crab. We did not even catch one stone crab the whole time we were there!



This one was feisty! haha

Pinchy, pinchy!

There are regulations with how many crabs you can catch for free per person, and how big they have to be, and a few other reasons why. This was one that didnt make the cut. Back to the water you go! ;)

Here is our catch of the day!

And here is how you shell a crab! ;)


While out driving around, we found the place I stayed with the Breinin's when we went to Kiawah so many years ago.

And, there are LOTS of alligators everywhere! haha


While at the beach we found tons of starfish, shells, and sand dollars! It was so fun just to stroll the beach and see everything. I found this teensy tiny starfish too! It was the size of the tip of my pinky finger. It was crazy!



This is part of the drive from Charleston to Kiawah... it is gorgeous, and this picture gives it no justice!

They have signs out there that we got a real kick from.


We went on a boat tour of Charleston, and it was so fun. The breeze was so calming and relaxing when the boat was moving.


This is part of Charleston. I find the homes on the water so beautiful.

We got to see Fort Sumter on our way around.

And, this is the lighthouse that used to be above ground when Fort Sumter was in use. Amazing how things can change so much!

We also got to see USS Independence on our way around.
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This was a bridge that was built recently. It was just really cool to look at.

Then we went on our horse and carriage tour. This was Jen and our horse, Bandit.

The houses are just beautiful! I learned a lot about the architectural work. Every home here has to have approval for anything done to it. It has to stay looking a certain way, and if it is a new home being built, it cant look like it is newer than any of the others.

With the alligators being everywhere here, you have to be really careful. Enrique went out one day to get the crabs, and called me on the phone. He told me that he got out there, and pulled out the crabpot, and started to release the crabs that we werent going to keep, and he heard this chomping sound. So, he looked over toward the water, and there was an alligator! I told him to be really careful... he didnt know how fast the alligators could move, and I warned him of it, and ran out there as fast as I could!

He would eat a crab, go out into the water, and then come back in waiting for another.




We went to a couple beautiful plantations. The Middleton Plantation was the first. Everything was just beautiful!






















We went on a dolphin excursion, and this was a blast! Three full hours of boating, and then private island shelling.
This is our boat excursion tour guide, George.





We were asked by George to make sure if we saw any horseshoe crabs on their backside, to help them turn back over so they can make it out to the water. This guy was massive!

This jellyfish was pretty big too! haha






I love this picture...

Another plantation we visited was the Magnolia Plantation. We rode on a tram first.








This little alligator was soooo cute!

He even gave us a yawn, and right after he cozied up into the mud and closed his eyes... he must have had a very exhausting day!

Then we walked through the garden paths at Magnolia. It was so romantic!









This was at the Audubon Swamp Garden... another free Sunday activity!





These are a couple of pictures from the Ocean Course Golf Course... just gorgeous!




These are a few other pictures of other courses... we hit aeration time, unfortunately!






This was not as big of a bowl as it looked... and this was after shelling 3 crabs. Lots of work, but YUMMY!

And, the sunsets and sunrises were serenity at its best!










While we went to church we met a couple there. We actually scheduled a time to get together and have some fun! They had just moved there, and so we got to teach them how to use a crabpot to catch crab, then cook and shell a crab! It was a crab feast, as Melissa called it! Here is a picture of crab that they took.

It was so much fun! And, then we introduced them to Bang! ;) They came out another night as well, and we played Bang again, went to the dock to see the sunset, and had dinner. We miss them so much, and cant wait to get back out there to see them soon!


We also met another girl, Alina, at church. She came out to hang with us and we went to the Sanctuary Hotel, and we went to the beach and body surfed. It was so much fun!
This is inside of The Sanctuary Hotel.





This is seriously how empty the beach was most of the time we were there! There were maybe only 3 days of being there that it had more than 20 people visible in all directions!


Then we went back to our place to have some food. It was so nice to meet great people there!
Here are a few more pictures of the beach.



It was a great trip! We had a mishap and missed our original flight home, but blessed enough to make it home only 2 hours late (much to the relief of my sister-in-law and brother-in-law). There are also many more things I wanted to put up, but I cant get it done now, but maybe later? hehe This isnt a trip that will be forgotten anytime soon, and we cant wait to make it there again soon!