Harbor Island

There were other photographers in our group, so I only snapped a few shots with my phone. The kids played on the porch with this little lizard for ages. 

Our little island community had weekly 'Turtle Talks' and 'Alligator/Snake Talks.'  The boys and I (and a few friends) attended both and learned a lot. 

At least enough to recognize the marks from 'turtle crawls' where loggerhead sea turtles crawled onto the beach to lay their eggs in the night. 

One morning Chris and I went on a sunrise bike ride and spotted at least 5 turtle crawls. So the next two night we went out at midnight with red cellophane covering our lights to try to find turtles in action laying eggs, but no such luck. 

Eleonora and her cousins enjoyed modeling their sailor suits. 

The view from our deck in the evening. 

I almost forgot to mention that, while the sea turtles remained elusive, we did spot a large gator up close and personal. 

My dad was taking Jennifer, the kids, and me for a golf cart ride and Chris was biking alongside us. We got to the most woodsy street of the neighborhood, and there was an alligator, maybe 4-5 feet long, basking on the side of the road. Jenn immediately started screaming and gathering all the children to her to stand on the seat of the golf cart. Chris pedaled quickly past, and of course my dad went and waved his hat in the gator's face. It just laid there. 

We went back almost every day to try to see him again, but that was it. We had many more adventures which were documented by my mom and Jennifer, but it remains to be seen if I will share those pictures or not. Another highlight of the trip was a visit to the lighthouse.  And a 4th of July golf cart parade. And some friendly family swimming and diving competitions.

The Beach

We headed off on our traditional Honeycutt Family Vacation for our July 4th week off of camp. We often head to one of the closest beaches we can find, and this year that beach was on Harbor Island, near Beaufort, South Carolina. 

At the end of our 6-7 hour journey, we discovered that our house was not quite ready for us, so the owner of the house sent us to a restaurant called The Foolish Frog - her treat. These fellers tried the frog legs. 

We ate outdoors, right on a marsh, and we loved watching dozens of hermit crabs, and maybe even an alligator, and listening to live music, as we waited for our food. The manager even caught a hermit crab for the kids to examine close-up. 

This girl did amazing on the long ride there without a break from her toasty car seat. 

Do you think she could be related to this guy?  This was taken 7 years ago - the year of the beach with the wild horses, I believe. 

We woke up the next morning happy to have made it to our beach house. 

And some of us were ready to head straight to the ocean!