South Carolina
We left Worcester at 2pm on Friday and headed to Buckland Massachusetts to pick up Gaelen and then it was 1200 miles in 16 hours to South Carolina. Fueled by a 16oz coffee with a shot of espresso I drove through Connecticut, NYC, NJ, Delaware, Maryland, DC, Virginia and into NC by 4am. We had Percy Jackson audio-book while the kids were awake, then I had the Red Sox for company as they beat Detroit and when that was over cycled between 3 audio-books, The Earth is Weeping, Telex from Cuba, and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. I kept seeing the same cars and people at the rest stops which were crowded even at 2am, 3am and 4am. Colleen took over in NC and I slept til sunrise and then took the wheel again for the last few hours to Charleston.
Susanna and her 3 month old daughter Oona Love along with my mom were already in Charleston, staying at Patti’s and we rang them up once we hit the city limits at 10am. They were on there way to the beach and agreed to meet us at the James Island County Park Campground where we would be camping for a couple of nights until the beach house became available on Monday. We were setting up our tents when Patti, Grandma and Susanna arrived and we got our first look at Oona who is the chillest baby we have ever seen.
Much hugging ensued and once that was done and the tents were up we headed out to Folly Beach where we spent the afternoon in the surf and on the sand before returning to Patti’s house for a quesadilla dinner. We returned to the campground around 10pm and found it full of life but we were asleep upon entering our tents.
When we awoke in the morning everyone had packed up and left and we had the camping area to ourselves. We spent the day at the water park floating in the lazy river, slipping down the slides and soaking in the pools.
Dinner was spaghetti carbonara again at Patti’s and after another night in the campground we returned on Monday morning to await the text from the rental agency that we could enter the beach house. We were shopping for supplies when it came at 4pm and when we arrived Patti, Susanna, Grandma and Oona were already there as well as Katie, Bob and Maya who had arrived in Charleston on Saturday and spent a couple of nights in an Air BnB exploring Charleston on their own.
The house was right on the beach with a back porch facing the sea and a small boardwalk heading out to the sand.
Four bedrooms, 2 baths and a large kitchen and living room. Katie’s’ family and Grandma/Sus-Oona took the bedrooms on the first floor and we took one upstairs as did Chuck and his family who arrived next. Ben and his family were the last to arrive and for some reason shacked up with Chuck even though both families each had a child under 2 years old.
Our room had 2 sets of bunk beds and Ambiana, Jakobi and Gaelen had hopes of a kids room but Maya opted to sleep with her parents so they reluctantly allowed Colleen and me to sleep in the room.
Each family was in charge making dinner one night and Patti/Susanna were on it Monday and ordered $200 worth a pizza and made a salad for our initial meal. The first night was full of cousins meeting cousins and aunts and uncles meeting nieces and nephews.
We hadn’t seen Senan since 2012 and had never met Saiorse and Aveah. Eva Luna and Senan became fast friends and were together the whole week even sharing a nightime bed.
What followed was 6 days of beach time fun. Mornings found Bob on the beach doing Tai Chi and Colleen out for an early run before the day swelled with heat.
Each day I set up 2 shade shelters on the high tide line in front of the house and brought down chairs and beach toys. Ben and Bob rented surfboards and Gaelen and Jakobi spent a lot of time on them as did Katie and Maya.
Temps in the high 80’s and 110% humidity kept most people in the house and people wandered back and forth between the house and the beach over the course of a day.
Ambiana & Jakobi discovered Netflix and over the course of the week watched 15 episodes of an Australian drama called Dance Academy Gaelen found a local park that once had a skate park but still had a surface upon which to skate.
Chuck read, Grandma watched CNN waiting to see Trump impeached, I watched the Red Sox who are playing their best baseball since 1946, Katie and Maya made pilgrimages to the Donuts of Dunkin, Patti was quiet, Ben broke out his Kite and tore across the sea, the neighbors got married and an uninvited guest provoked a screaming match in the street out front, Susanna mothered and was mothered by frequent swims in the sea.
Senan and Eva Luna made mischief and chased each other on the sand, everyone oood over Oona Love, Aveah and Saiorse checked each other out, Jakobi and Maya surfed.
By day the Ocean was warm and turbulent with a slop of waves banging together and a strong rip along the shore, fun to play in but tricky to surf.
At night the thunderstorms came with lightening over the water and a moon waxing towards full painting a silver path upon the sea. Senan had never heard thunder before and was enchanted by it. He and Eva Luna would wait excitedly on the porch for a lightening strike and then run screaming into the house when the thunder roared.
Family joy was rampant, catching up with siblings, a group walk to the pier, playing catch on the beach and in the waves, the joy of watching surf attempts that resulted in a stand up ride if only for a few seconds, the nightly dinner a highlight.
On Tuesday Katie and Bob made tacos, Chuck impressed us all with meatloaf on Wednesday, on Thursday Ben and Carolina grilled chicken and we made burritos on Saturday which was also Jakobi’s 9th birthday.
Gaelen and Grandma’s birthday was on Wednesday the 25th. At 11:32am Gaelen turned 17 though the birthday song was sung many times to him before that a memorable rendition coming at 7am while we were in bed still on the cusp of sleep.
We celebrated Grandma’s 80th birthday on Friday with a catered shrimp boil. Our neighbors from Webster, NY in the 70’s, Joe and Carol Osborne who live now in Durham SC joined us. I hadn’t seen them since 1979, the last time I saw them they were 10 years younger than Ben is now and the last time they saw us Susanna & Ben were 5 and 6 years old.
Family dramas were few; Screaming kids, doors left open while the air conditioning was on, unexplained unhappiness and absences.
Saturday was a group walk to the pier about a mile and a half away at sunset, The highlight was when Eaodin and Sairose appeared at the Pier, having had a late start and wanting to join us! On Sunday Carolina and Aveah explored a nearby nature reserve, Katie Bob and Maya went out for seafood and those around made dinner from the left overs.
We had to be out of the house by 10am Monday and made it with 5 minutes to spare. Katie, Bob and May off with Grandma in an Uber heading to the airport to fly back to Montana. Chuck and family were headed by car to Florida for another weeks vacation, Susanna was off the Patti’s with Patti for 2 more day before jetting back to Cali with Oona, Ben and his family were off to an Air Bnb for 2 nights before Ben heads back to AK to wrap up for their move to Maui and Carolina and the girls go home to Austria for a month. And us? We got into our truck and headed north 908 miles to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.
SC: The Movie
FRFF ’18
