Weekend at the beach

Our dear friends, Dave and Sarah, invited us to spend a long weekend at the beach in the beach house they rented for their family vacation. As much as I wanted to go (beach + good friends = good times) I was hesitant because I am so busy with work and I knew that taking a weekend away would lead to a ton of work upon my return. But then Sarah sent an email that closed with the words "you only live once"....and that instantly changed my mind. So we took advantage of the amazingly short 4 1/2 hour drive to the coast of South Carolina, and enjoyed a beautiful weekend at the beach with the Eshans (Sarah, Dave, Willow and Zoe) and the Stottlemeyers (Shelley, Karl, Nadia, and Santi). The 7 kids got along amazingly well (I was stunned!) making the adults experience even sweeter. We feasted on oysters, shrimp, scallops, grouper, and tuna.....with a side of margarita and mojito. And we I was able to pick up a wireless internet signal ~ a blessing and a curse. I was able to stay on top of my email but that meant changing gears from vacation beach mama to conference coordinator, which was a bit dizzying. When we returned, I somehow managed to erase all of the beach pics I had on my camera (and I had some great ones!) but luckily David's made their way onto the computer.

The kids within a tradition David sand-art installment.

Zoe and Nim

Noah sporting a starfish

Dave, Sarah, Shelley, (and me) out for our nightly beach walk