mid-vacation post

We're on Edisto Island beach on the coast of South Carolina right now. (We'll, right now, Mercer is napping / Todd's playing golf / I'm here at the condo.) We have worn the little guy out & we're not even half-way through our vacation! I don't know what it is about the sun, but it has zapped Mercer every day & he takes monumentally long naps.

Here, he's sporting his car pj's while laying on his car sheets. They almost look the same. We brought a twin-sized blow-up mattress for him to sleep on & brought his bed rail so he wouldn't roll off the 4" to the ground. The first few times he was to go to sleep on the mattress, he used it like a bouncy house while holding onto the rail -- but he eventually goes to sleep on it. (yes, he just drank... and is drooling milk)

Here are a few shots from yesterday's visit to the beach. The place we're staying is not on the beach, but they have a tram that takes you there... there's a cabana with bathrooms and (most importantly) a wash-off station. It's amazing how much sand a little swim diaper can hold!! After getting back to our condo, we ended up stripping Mercer & hosing him off before coming back inside -- but there was still a ton of sand that appeared mysteriously during his shower afterwards.

He enjoyed playing in the sand with his shovel, bucket, bulldozer, and dump truck. He made tracks. He buried his feet. He was very creative with the various toys around.

It seemed that his play area was a little too close to the water, however!
coming...
and in a flash...
it was gone!

We introduced him to "frisbee" although he didn't need much introduction to throwing / slinging things! (the frisbee would go behind his back much of the time) Today, we all flew kites (sort of).

We watched pelicans along the water, lots of butterflies along the dunes, and even a heron that would fly & perch... fly & perch... fly & perch. We haven't seen any alligators, although there are supposedly plenty of them (the island is surrounded mainly by a marsh... which moves to an inlet on either side... that encompass the shore line along the Atlantic). I am hoping that we can move a little inland later in the week and explore some of the nature areas on the island. We'll see.

Here, he's running from waves -- which we did for quite awhile. Eventually, he became more comfortable with the water and ventured close to the edge. (Today, he wanted to actually go further in - so his comfort level is growing still yet).
I will try to post again in the next week or so -- but I know that when I get back home, I have a heavy week lined up for work. Let me put this out of my mind, though, and get back to the beach for now!!