Goodbye Summer

And that's a wrap on summer 2017! I've never been so sad to see a summer come to an end. Partly because we made so many wonderful memories, and traveled to so many fantastic places. But also because there were so many things we still didn't have time for. Simple trips to the library, days at the surf club, making smores at a campfire. Bu honestly, I think the hardest part of the summer ending is that when school starts I will no longer be a stay-at-home mom with any kids at home. We will have out last first day of kindergarten. She is ready, but I am not.

In the meantime, we are enjoying the time that we do have. We got to spend a day back to school shopping with Gigi in Champaign. We hit the jackpot for kids clothes at TJ Maxx. We even went to the Music Shoppe and Leah got her violin. This kid is so ready to start Orchestra in 4th grade. And of course we got one more trip to the Little Theater in. We saw Curious George and the Golden Meatball. I hope we have many more years of Little Theater fun in front of us.

The Smokey's

This may very well have been the best part of the trip for daddy. He loves sharing the outdoors with these ladies. It was good and chilly when we arrived at Clingmans Dome, but the girls didn't mind. And once we started moving we warmed up quickly. The girls couldn't wait to get up to the top. There was a part at the top where you could be standing in both North Carolina and South Carolina... the girls thought that was pretty cool. When we headed back down the trail we detoured for a bit on to the Appalachian Trail. Mitch had a great time explaining the significance to the girls. After a few hours and a few more stamps in the girls Junior National Parks Passports we hit the road for home, with lots more precious memories to hold on to!

Heading West

We checked out of our condo on Thursday morning and headed West. Mitch wanted to take the girls on a few hikes on the way home. We started with Caesars Head State Park in SC, and then kept on trucking to North Carolina where we took a detour and saw Looking Glass Falls. The girls played in the water a bit, and it was perfect to get out of the car and stretch our legs a bit. We stayed in Cherokee for the night. This was in the area where the Trail of Tears originated. They had all sorts of history for us to take in, but it was too late. We walked around and saw what we could and the next day we headed towards the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

Beachin

Wednesday was our last chance to hit up the beach. But first, more activities at the resort. The girls enjoyed learning about the state animal of South Carolina, the Loggerhead Turtle and then created a craft. We had lunch and then went back to Surfside Beach. The tide was really low and we found amazing shells, and even a few sharks teeth. We brought home 4 full quart size bags of shells.

When we wrapped up our time at the beach we decided to get some seafood. The girls were excited and gave a few new things a try. We had steamed clams for an appetizer. Mitch and I got a Steam pot so they tried shrimp, crawfish and lobster too. The shared some jumbo lump crab cakes and loved them. After dinner we headed back to the Boardwalk. The girls got to meet Wonder Woman and got to go on a few carnival rides. And we finished the night with some more Meyers Ice Cream. It was a great way to wrap up the vacation.