Wisconsin day trip!

This weekend my Mom's side of the family had a picnic to remember Aunt Pat who passed away in April.  She was Grandpa Dave's sister.   My Aunt Debbie and Grandpa North decided to drive to Wisconsin to be there.  I have not seen either of them in at least 5 years and I really wanted to be able to give them both a hug.  We checked flights and discovered we were only going to be able to be there for 3 hours so we flew into Madison WI in the morning, drove to Prairie du Chien and spent 3 hours at the park.  It was a fast trip, but I would do it all over again!  Their faces when we showed up to surprise them were priceless. 

 I was so excited to be able to spend time with my cousins Spencer, Caleb and Andrew.

 Avery and Alia with Papa and Bama and Great Grandpa Dave and Great Grandma Joyce North.

 Grandpa Dave with Mom, Aunt Debbie and his sisters Aunt Mary and Aunt Edi and nephew Larry

Cassie some how managed to escape being photographed.  This is the only one I got of her.

 
The kids had a lot of fun because they spent the day at the park.  I thought it was funny that they flew 1,800 miles to play in a park for the day! 

Alia riding a pedal bike!

Seabrook Island South Carolina

 We headed to Seabrook Island SC this year for our family vacation.  It's a private island 45 minutes south of Charleston.  It was a great island with both the river and the ocean on either side of it.  Having both allows for great diversity with the terrain and the animals on the island. 

 This was an amazing oak called the Angel Oak.  It is estimated to be between 300 to 400 years old.  It is 65 feet tall with a circumference of 25.  It was a truly amazing tree!   

 We did a lot of running on the beach.  Alia would constantly yell, "Let's all run together."  or "Let's all skip together."  As you can see from Avery's face here he wasn't thrilled to be doing any of that.  He just wanted to check out every living thing on the beach. 

 We took a day trip to Charleston to explore the city.  We visited Waterfront Park and watched the ships and people.  They had rows of swings to sit on.  We also took a carriage ride around the city to learn the history of the city and see as much of Charleston as we could.  It was a beautiful city with great architecture, lots of restaurants and a rich history. 


 On this trip Avery collected lots of crabs and caught fish.  He brought home a few crabs to take care of.  He would feed this one chicken and check on it several times a day. 

 It took a lot of effort for him to catch this fiddler crab.  He went into the marsh and slipped in the mud several times.  It was quite comical, and I wish I had pictures.

 

 This part of the Edisto river had lots of hermit crabs.  We also saw sharks and dolphins right along the shore here.

This is the first time since she was a baby that she has slept longer than us for us to be able to take a picture of her!  She slept until 9:30!!!!  I guess we wore her out with daily swimming, running, and nightly sunset walks.