Stager Stuff: Love our Family Beach Vacation

So we headed to Sunset Beach for a week in September where the breezes are just right, the sky was very blue and the water was warm. Our first day, we had fun at the beach, playing in the water, jumping the waves and building castles in the sand. Since we have been to Sunset Beach multiple times, we let the boys pick what we would do each day. Nathan wanted to go mini golfing at the volcano course the next day. Last year was mini golfing at the pirate golf course and the year before that at the airplane / helicopter course. The next day, Seth wanted to ride the ferry across to Fort Fischer and go through the aquarium. Both boys got a lot out of the exhibits this year because they were able to relate to what we were reading. We did a Maritime Unit and read "A House for Hermit Crab" by Eric Carle, "The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge by Hildegarde H. Swift and all sorts of books about maritime life--including a couple of books about the Hunley, the Monitor and the Virginia. Really fun day!
Both boys really wanted to go mini-golfing the next morning again and then we headed to the beach in the afternoon for some more sun. We got in some souvenier and shopping time at our favorite store in Calabash, where Jeff always buys me a Christmas ornament in the huge Christmas shop there. Also loved visiting our favorite icecream shop, the Calabash Creamery, where we learned that Abbey goes wild when she sees cows! She can almost say cow. She loved to touch all the cows in the creamery and Jeff discovered that she can suck out of a straw because she kept reaching for his shake. When he gave her a little taste off the end of the straw, she took the whole straw and sucked everything she could out of it! Soooooo cute!
So much fun and lots of great memories for our family!