4th of July

We took a road trip to my mom's in Bluffton, SC to spend the 4th of July holiday weekend. We arrived Thursday night in time for dinner at Nana's house. Jaye, Jamie, Allie and Drew arrived later that night, so we were able to catch up a little bit before heading to bed. They hadn't seen Keira since she was 6 months old, and had never met Liam, so it was great to see them again. And I hadn't seen Allie and Drew for a few years, so I can't believe how much they've grown up as well! Friday morning we went over to Russell's for a boat ride before it got too hot. Chris and I, the kids and Allie went out on the first ride. Allie got a chance to drive the boat (photo right), and we saw a lot of dolphins! Liam fell asleep shortly after the boat ride started, so he got a great nap in. After we got back to the dock, Russell took the next group out, and the rest of us had a picnic on the dock. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing and hanging out. Russell caught some shrimp and Keira loved to touch them (Liam was a little freaked out by them). A few of the shrimp were used as bait to catch fish, but most of them went safely back in to the river (as did the fish).










Dini shows Keira and Liam a shrimp out of the bucket (left); Keira touches a fish that Russell caught of the dock (right)

After dinner Friday night we went on a sunset boat ride. Keira got a chance to "drive" the boat, and it was beautiful to watch the sunset over the river!











Saturday was the 4th of July, and we started out the morning by going to the beach and swimming in the river and playing in the sand. Later that day we went to a BBQ, played on Russell's dock, caught fiddler crabs on the beach and rested before the fireworks. This was the first year the kids had seen fireworks, and Russell's dock on the river was the perfect place for it! We saw numerous firework displays along the river and the dock next to us shot off fireworks as well. The kids liked the ones farther away since they weren't loud. The kids/grandkids next door joined us on the dock for fireworks, and all of the kids had fun playing with glow in the dark bracelets.

Hope everyone else had a safe and wonderful 4th!