Good Times at Kiawah

I've finally finished putting together all the pictures from our trip to Kiawah Island last week. What a great time we had! Our friends the Grahams were our hosts. They bought a house on the island a couple years ago and this was the first time we'd had a chance to visit.

After a LONG 8 hour drive we arrived around 9pm. The ride wasn't HORRIBLE but I will say it was the first time since buying my Volvo station wagon that I intermittently wished I'd had a bigger car. The kids just could not leave each other alone! It was partially my fault...I forgot to charge the batteries to the DVD players and my 12 Volt plug in is on the fritz. We had to resort to counting license plates and buying up every possible form of entertainment at Cracker Barrel. Let the vacation spending begin!

The Graham's home is lovely. Our first full day was spent at the neighborhood pool. We went to the pool and then ventured over to the beach. It was a great day but I'm embarrassed to say that we all got sunburned. Damn spray on sunscreen! Why did I think it would work to use it with the WIND BLOWING? Duh. Here are some pictures from the beach...



On Monday we decided to drive to Charleston, which is a 30 minute drive. Scratch that...it SHOULD be a 30 minute drive. Unfortunately, my girlfriend's husband didn't accompany us for the trip (I'm still trying to figure out how he got himself out of that one). My girlfriend didn't really know how to get around but wasn't exactly willing to admit it. SOOOO, we drove around a bit trying to find a place to eat. Dr. Daddy was following us in my car and we were in her Range Rover. By the time we parked and got to a little deli I thought the kids were going to have a mutiny. Not to mention Dr. Daddy, who really had to pee and was none to happy that I was enjoying my ride in the Rover while he slummed it up in the station wagon.

We ate, the kids enjoyed some ice cream, and then we set off to walk to the Children's Museum. My girlfriend assured us it was about four blocks away. Hah! Try 15 blocks in the miserable heat carrying the kids who didn't want to walk. To make matters worse, we got there and they were CLOSED. The girls all grabbed some rickshaws and rode back to the parking garage. Dr. Daddy and BabyBoy decided to walk. Of course, they got lost. 45 minutes later, they finally found us. BabyBoy had been riding on Dr. Daddy's shoulders the whole time and had apparently exprienced some sciatic nerve compression. When Dr. Daddy put him down, he crumpled to the sidewalk. "I can't feel my legs", he screamed in absolute panic. He was totally freaked out and of course we were laughing hysterically at his theatrics.
At that point we could have just packed it in and driven back to Kiawah. But, being the resilient crew that we are (let's just put it this way: I INSISTED that if we had gone through ALL OF THAT then we had damn well better have some FUN) we headed off to Patriot's Point to visit the aircraft carrier there.



As it turns out, the kids had a fantastic time. Dr. Daddy has a ridiculous fund of knowledge regarding ships, carriers and planes. His Dad was a Navy pilot and as a youngster he was obsessed with all of that stuff. He had a great time explaining all the planes and details to the kids. As we were walking through the carrier I noticed a man who I swore I recognized. I then realized it was the Dad of my twin friends Anna and Liz who I graduated from high school with. We only went to school together for a year because they came our senior year so I wasn't really sure if he would remember me. I introduced myself and (thank goodness) he seemed to remember me. Funny enough, he is the executive director of Patriot's Point. Even funnier...it was his first day on the job!

I must say, I don't think we'll be able to go back to Kiawah without the Grahams. We were so spoiled! They have a membership at the (to die for) Kiawah Island Club. The Cassique Club House (pictured below) is a beautiful structure. We ate dinner there one night. Tom Colicchio (of Craftsteak and Top Chef fame) is the head consulting chef. I had the tasting menu and it was fantastic. Who knew fern shoots could taste so good?





We played tennis at the Cassique tennis courts. They were beautiful...but not at all practical. The fence surrounding the courts wasn't tall enough, so we kept losing balls.



We had super fun one night at the oyster roast at Mingo Point. If you're ever in Kiawah you have to do this. The kids LOVED it. They had oysters, barbeque, dancing and all sorts of activities for the kids.

Our last day was spent at the beach club. WOW! The fried oyster ceasar salad was divine, as were the rum runners. The kids had tons of fun in the pool and we even saw Andie McDowell.





Our last night at Kiawah was spent at Freshfields Village. They have tons of great shopping and every Wednesday night they have an outdoor movie playing. The kids had a great time eating ice cream and playing in the grass waiting for the movie.






I think my favorite part about Kiawah is the fact that it is so family oriented. All over the place you see people bike riding, jogging, playing and spending time together. The beaches are huge and the water was surprisingly warm. There's always the kid's club at The Sanctuary if you want to unload the kids and have some grown up time. We also met some great young people working at the bike rental shop who were happy to babysit if needed.

It was also nice to be on vacation with such great friends. Our kids have literally grown up together since birth and love playing together. It was the first vacation that we haven't taken a sitter with us and we've still been totally relaxed and laid back.

If you want to see individual pictures...you can view them here.