Charleston, SC

When we got to our RV park in Charleston, the noseeums were still in full effect, so we played inside. The kids made forts in the back. Judah likes to hang a blanket from the cupboards to make a tent around his bed and then pile pillows up around Sawyer's bed to make an igloo. And Sawyer goes along with just about anything.

Mark found, caught, and released a spider. He claims it was big, but I thought it was pretty wimpy.

The first night we took a driving tour of the downtown while the kids slept in the car, which has now kind of become our first night routine.

Then, the next day, we went to check out the beach. There was a big fishing pier on Folly Beach. We walked down that.

This was going to be our last coastal stop, so we all came to terms with that.

And bid adieu to the ocean.

Then we sat in and played with the sand.

Here is a picture of me, just to show that I still exist.

The kids have been spending a lot of time in the bathtub lately. Since we are inside a lot, it is just one more thing to do. This time they made a hella mess. They swiped my peppermint Dr. Bronners bar soap, dropped it in the bath water, and then splashed and kicked until it churned up a tub full of bubbles. Then they took buckets of the water and dumped it into the sink and toilet, making sure to get plenty on the floor in the process. If you look closely, you can see the water dripping off of the side of the tub, the cupboard covered in bubbles, and the counter top slick with water. But at least they got super clean.

Then they bundled up and chilled out.

In the morning, some neighbors stopped by for breakfast. I feel like when we settle again, we are going to have to adopt some ducks--they have become such a routine part of our days. But then they'd poop all over everything and bite us, so maybe not.

So I'm eight weeks pregnant now. As I've mentioned, I'm nauseous, and exhausted, and emotional. But what I didn't mention is that I'm also huge. I get really big with my babies. Really big. So my skin on my belly is all stretched out. And I carry may weight in my belly when I am not pregnant, so I always have a pooch. But by week 6 of this pregnancy, I was visibly showing and couldn't fit in my jeans. And now, at week 8, I literally have one outfit I can wear. I could wear dresses, too, but it's gotten a little chilly for that. So I wear my one outfit every day and hang out in lounge wear when we're just in the RV. It's awesome that we are never in the same place long enough for anyone to notice. Anyways, here's my belly at exactly eight weeks...  

Savannah, GA

We were excited about going to Savannah. The parks around the city were all really expensive, so we stayed in a state park about 20 minutes away. It was beautiful! Definitely my favorite site so far. We found one that was huge and woody and private. It was perfect!

There was a fire pit there, so the kids immediately started playing in that. I don't know what it is about fire pits that my kids love so much. 

Beans got filthy, per usual.

The first night we did a driving tour of downtown while the kids slept in the car. It was beautiful. Then we spent some time doing nothing. We are getting lazy. Every couple of days we are in a new place with new pressures to take it all in. It's awesome, but  it's also exhausting. Plus, I am seriously exhausted. And super nauseous. I spend most of my day thinking about what I can eat at that exact moment that won't make me gag. And sometimes, by the time I have prepared that magical food, I can't even look at it anymore, much less eat it. So we are getting lazy. We spend a lot more time sitting around the RV than we were a month ago. This place was so beautiful that, in theory, we could have just sat outside in the filtered sunshine--me grading papers and the boys riding bikes--but the noseeums made that impossible. Tiny bastards. 

So the next day I spent the morning working and then we hung out at the RV. Then we drove around and stopped to eat at a cheap pizza buffet.

Where Judah conquered the ultimate double decker--a brownie on top of a piece of dessert pizza.

Finally, the next evening, the kids napped during the day and when they woke up we got to visit the city. It was beautiful--mossy trees creating canopies over streets lines with old brick mansions; a downtown with streets that move out of the way for giant tree roots; little squares with fountains, statues, and azaleas in full bloom--it was beautiful.

Judah found a fountain to play in.

And then we walked down to the river. Beans saw a boat.

And Judah found some pirates.

Then we crossed some cool bridges and made our way back to downtown.

Judah found a strange gutter that he and Beans had a lot of questions about.

And then we visited some of the squares.

The next day was really warm--close to 90*! The kids played outside for a couple of minutes. Sawyer found a nice burned log to play with.

And then spent most of the rest of the time trying to get the bugs out of his hair.

His hands were filthy and then he kept itching his face, so his whole body was filthy. They came in and had a bath and then we just chilled for the rest of our time here.

Savannah was beautiful.I would definitely come back here. But for now, we were still trying to lose those bugs. What is the point of beautiful weather if you can't be outside? So we packed up and continued to head north to South Carolina.

Burnswick, GA

When we got to Brunswick, we were in for an exciting surprise. We had been without technological luxuries for so long, that it had kind of become the norm. Imagine our joy when we were able to hook up to cable and the tv's channel search turned out this...

And there was internet at our site that allowed me to do this...

Needless to say, we spent some time inside catching up on shows, the blog, and general internet tasks. And thank god for that indoor entertainment because we couldn't be outside. In Carrabelle we were introduced to noseeums. In Lamont we learned that they were small enough to get through our screens. In Brunswick we could literally not be outside for more that a minute or two without lots of itchy consequences. And, since they can get through the screens, we couldn't even open the windows. Even on drives in the car, we had to keep the windows up because when we stopped at lights, the effers would swarm the car.

In addition to the noseeums, we had also come across a lot of ticks. Holden got one in Lamont, Judah got one in Lake City, and Mark got one here. He woke up our second day to one burrowed in the skin under the waistband of his pants. I had to pry it out. It was super pleasant. I have some tick related post traumatic stress from my teen years, and seeing them at all, much less embedded and engorged is a real trigger for me, yet, somehow, I ended up being the one who removed and disposed of all three. Lucky me.  

So, anyways, we spent a lot of time inside. The kids ran around in their unders and begged for food like baby birds...it's their new thing. 

And then trashed the place repeatedly.

One of the days we were here was really hot--like 85*. Mark decided to brave the bugs and wash the RV. Judah helped him.

I made Beans stay inside. He is like candy to those tiny bastards.

Mark was only able to finish half of the RV before he had to give up and come in for some relief. So now our RVs super clean...on one side.

After two days of being cooped up, we needed to figure out something to do. Mark found an island with a driftwood beach, so we decided to check it out. The bugs were not nearly as bad here, and the beach was amazing! Not only was it covered with beautiful driftwood trees, 

...it was also home to a bunch of tide pools! We had finally found some! 

And living in them were real, live sea anemone! It was pretty exciting.

We played on the beach for awhile.

Judah followed a track way.

And then proceeded to drum on every visible surface.

We came across this. It looks like a jelly fish, but some other people on the beach said they didn't think it was because of that hard spiky stuff in the middle. They thought it was something's mouth. That seems pretty unlikely to me. Anybody have any ideas? Kate?

After awhile we left the beach and walked back to our car.

Then we went home and got ready to leave the next morning.