back in action

We're back from our glorious week at the beach house. It's rented for the next 5 weeks so we won't be back until probably mid-August. Assuming it's open then. It was rented the 2 weeks before we were there which is great, that's 7 weeks rented this year. That's better than last year which we'd hoped. But it's VERY hard doing it and knowing that you have no control over who is in there and what they're doing! You just see what it's like after it's been cleaned (thank goodness). Which is usually fine.

We were joined by Courtney and Cameron Tuesday night until Friday and Nancy, Chase, Mom and Dad Wednesday until Saturday. Travis was going to come down Thursday evening, but he got sick and didn't make it. We had a lot of fun hanging out. Chase LOVED the water! And Phil and I and Courtney and Cam had a really fun time hanging on the back deck in our new Target clearance rockers Tuesday night, haha. We looked up and it was 12:30! Nancy, Courtney, Sydney and I trecked out to Wally one day during nap time and Cam took babysitting duty because Mom fell asleep also. And Nancy and Sydney and I escaped to the outlets Friday afternoon during Chase and Mollie's nap. We're training Sydney to be a good shopper. She did well. Mom supplemented the experience with ice cream money and babysitting:) OH, and one day Sydney and Cam played Wii for hours. It was cute.

Anyway, we ate all the food we wanted to eat at our favorite places and by our favorite people. I am going to have to eat nothing but salad until we leave for the lake on Thursday and I have no self control again:) We had a hot dog and brat cook out with Mary Jo and Bobby and Phil's friend Andrew and his daughter the first night. THey were all in town finishing up their own vacations. We ate at Calico Jacks and had the best bbq chicken nachos that I keep dreaming about. Had Basil's pizza, our favorite mexican, Steven's Oyster Roast, Mom brought a chicken pie with her that we munched on for lunches and such, Uncle Cam made Low Country boil, Phil and Dad made yummy kabobs with shrimp/pineapple and steak/onions/peppers/mushrooms. Then we hit Five Guys on the way out of town.

Our good friends LeAnne, Eliza, and Lydia stayed with us Monday night and we went to Broadway at the beach on Tuesday morning while Phil got some real work done and front porch painting done. Then we also got to hang out with them for some beach playing which was great! They moved on to her grandmother's place in CG after our Broadway adventures on Tuesday. We took all the girls to the Friends 2 Be Made store which is actually part of the Build a Bear Workshop, but you make dolls instead of bears. Super cute! I'm not sure if we got a picture with Sydney, Mollie, and Eliza with their dolls, but they were cute. I did get a few with our little digital of them making them so I'll have to post those.

That same little digital camera that took a trip in Phil's shorts pocket through the washing machine and didn't make it. RIP little camera. Now I only have the big honkin' one to take around with me. But luckily the SD card make it with the few pics we took with is like Build a Bear and his golf outing (none of which made any sense)

I actually followed up Phil's camera blunder yesterday when we were killing time while the sheets were drying. We went for a really freakin' hot walk at a nature preserve which is really neat, but would be better in cooler weather! Anyway, we had our nice camera with us and I was taking a picture on one of the docks and dropped the lens cap in the water, haha. It has always bothered me that it doesn't have anything to hold it onto the camera or anything. I knew I would lose it! Oh well. It did float, but there was no way we could get it. I convinced Phil that it really wasn't worth flagging down the many fishermen to get away from their spots to rescue a lens cap! I found one on ebay with a wrist string on the lens cap for $3.99 and free shipping. Not quite the $250 mistake golf boy made!