Folly Beach, SC

What an amazing weekend! I have a feeling I will be blogging about this vacation for a while. We all had such a good time. The drive from home to Folly Beach really only took about five hours. We left Friday morning and after stopping for breakfast, gas, the restrooms to change Ellie, and lunch, we finally arrived about 3:00pm. Trips are always longer with a little one, but it really wasn't a bad drive at all.

So when we arrived, we checked in to our condo and unpacked the car. Packing for Ellie is like moving the whole nursery, so unpacking the car took some time. Then we headed to the beach! Ellie was so precious. She was in awe of the beach and the ocean. She loved every minute of it. Josh and I were going crazy snapping pictures and taking video of her. I am sure the locals were probably thinking we had never seen the ocean before. Needless to say, I will be posting pictures from this trip for a while too!

Then we headed for the water. She was a bit frightened by the waves at first, but it did not take her long before she was giggling with excitement. Josh and I took turns holding her and jumping through the waves while the other took pictures. She was such a sight. She did not mess with the sand at first. When it got on her hands she would hold them out towards you like, "Here, get it off!" She would waddle her way down to the water with me to wash her hands. The longer we were out there the curlier her hair would get. I will post more pictures of her at the beach a little later. This post is just an overview of what the weekend agenda consisted of. ;)

So after an afternoon of playing on the beach, we headed inside to shower and prepare for dinner. We went to the Folly Beach Crab Shack the first night. We ate more than enough and then headed out to the pier for a nice evening walk. We were already wishing we could stay longer and it was only the first night.

On Saturday, we got up early to watch the sunrise and chitchat on the balcony. It was a beautiful sunrise...as usual at the beach. Then, Josh and I went for a walk on the beach before Ellie got up. Those early morning walks are always wonderful, but to add to the beauty there were several occasions we stood along the shore and watched the dolphins play just beyond the surf. It was perfect!

Once we finished our walk, Ellie was up and ready for breakfast. We headed to one of the restaurants in town to eat. That was another thing I found so enjoyable about Folly Beach, everything was within walking distance. The town was small enough that it took no time at all to walk from one side to the other. It was just a great vacation spot (or spot to live if the opportunity was there). So anyway, after breakfast we walked around town for a few minutes before heading back to get all of our beach gear ready for the day.

After the day out by the ocean, Josh and I managed to decide we were going to rent a surfboard. Surfing has always been something we both have wanted to try, so I guess once we saw that we could rent a board for $25 (for 24 hours) there wasn't anything stopping us. We rented the board late that evening with plans to try it early Sunday morning. Why early Sunday morning you ask? Well you see, less people=less audience for our first attempts. You will hear all about that later...that is a post all by itself!

To conclude our Saturday evening, we all got ready and headed for dinner at the Locklear's Pier restaurant. Dinner was delicious and the dessert was even better! A perfect end to another perfect day!
Sunday morning Josh and I got up early and tested our surfing skills or should I say the lack of skills. We had a blast! Then we spent the remainder of the day by the beach and in the water with Ellie. We ended up leaving Folly Beach about 5:00pm...tan and tired. It was a wonderful trip and weekend.