Progress

It's been about a week since school started, and I'm happy to report that today is the first day Sophie didn't cry.  At least not to my face.  What she does after I leave is between her and her teacher.  I'm also happy to say that I'm adjusting to this whole home alone thing as well...a little too well, probably, considering that I'm desperately trying to get back into the workforce.  I've been spending a ridiculous amount of time planning a front yard cemetery for Halloween.  Yep- definitely time to go back to work.

Sidenote: Have you seen this guy lately?  Hugs not drug, Mac.

Pictures

Holy hell, Batman!  What happened to August?  September is next week, which is totally surreal.  I need to play catch up and post pictures of things that we've done over the past few weeks, so if you're easily bored, skip this post.  You can always read about the mental breakdown I had yesterday.  I'm better today, thank you.

First up, the beach:

She's chasing that seagull.

I'm guessing by the girls' reactions, this is not the most comfortable tree when you're in a nightgown.  I love this tree.  It's at my Mom's beach house, and I remember climbing it and swinging from it constantly.  It also reminds me of Poltergeist, which is not so awesome.

Trevor and Victoria with their cousin Caylin.  Sophie was done by this point.

SC State Flag in real life.  Very cool, except I looked it up, and on the flag, the moon is on the left.  Whatevs.

Beach before sunrise.

The sun was hidden behind clouds, so it wasn't as glorious as usual.  Still beautiful, though.

My second attempt at capturing the sunrise.  I was obsessed with this shrimp boat.  It was so close- much closer than normal, and it was so gorgeous against the early morning sky.

Another shot.

Yet, another shot.  I have about a billion more, because I'm challenged when it comes to my digital camera, and it was hard to capture exactly what it looked like without it being to blurry, to light, or too dark.  I guess I should read the manual at some point.

Clouds again, but still gorgeous.  And the hubs was with me, which was nice (for the most part).

This is Botany Bay, which is a more secluded little beach on Edisto Island.  I love it, and I had never been until a couple of years ago, even though I've gone to Edisto practically every year I've been alive.

My MIL is going to kill me, but I just love this picture.  Sophie was so attached to her the entire time they were there.

Another one they're going to kill me for, but it was sooo sweet!

Sophie took this one, in case you can't tell.

Sophie at the Market in Charleston eating ice cream.

Vic at the Market after some lady put these cool plastic rainbow swirly things in her hair.

Probably one of my favorite pictures from the trip.  This is my son and my MIL tearing out of the ocean because a little girl a few feet away was screaming bloody murder from being stung by a jellyfish.  Trev had already gotten a small sting, and Marilyn feels the same as I do about ocean water.  We only go in for the kids.  Notice my FIL chillin' in the background just daring a jellyfish to sting him.

Next, the photo from my family reunion.  Why only one you ask?  Because the photographer (not me) made some interesting choices and took some creative chances that I wasn't a fan of.  That's a nice way of saying this is the only one I liked:

That's me on the left, my cousin Stephanie in the middle, and my sister on the right.  I posted the other horrible ones of me here, if you're interested. 

Finally, here are the ones from my last day with the kids before school started (tear):

He seriously drives like an old man.

Pissed that her car wouldn't go faster.  Also side swiped the parked go karts on one of her laps around.

Trev took this one while Sophie and I were on the go karts.  Pretty girl.

Doing their Regular Show impression.

Telling me not to take a picture.  You can be sure she's not smiling.

Laser tag.  The baby loved the glow in the dark aspect but refused to wear the vest.  She just ran around in front of me, telling me where to shoot.

Me being strapped into the Drop Zone (aka instrument of death).  Can you see my white knuckles?  Trev was the photog for this one.

The death trap from far away, so you can see how high it goes.  Vic insisted that we do it.  I made the baby stay with Trev the first time, so she cried the entire time Vic and I were on the ride.  She insisted on riding the second time, and she giggled throughout the ride.  Not one scream.  Not one tear.  Looks like I have 2 daredevils on my hands.

My racing buddy.  This was the adult track, so it went pretty fast.  Her little legs were flipping and flopping around, and she just laughed and laughed.

This machine was total bullshit.  It had full-sized candy bars, and Sophie actually got the claw to pick up a Reese's Cup. Well after it does that, it drops it onto a platform, and then this other thing has to push the candy into the dispenser, but that only happens if that part is full of candy, too, which is wasn't so she didn't get shit for her efforts.  I know it probably doesn't make sense the way I'm explaining it, so all you need to know is that my baby was cheated out of a Reese's Cup, and I was pissed on her behalf.

Old man Trevor driving on the adult track and being lapped by every other kid out there.

Vic trying to do DDR.

Lunch at Five Guys.  

Guilt, sadness, and nostalgia led us here.

 It was a fitting end to an awesome summer.  We really did a lot over the past few months, and I couldn't have had a better time with the kids.  I already miss them terribly.