To celebrate the 235th birthday of our fair nation, we took a little vacation and headed to the jewel of the colonies Charleston, SC.
Big G welcomed us by reading a book and feeding us the gooiest of gooey butter bars.
Poppops was so happy to see Ira he gave him a giant squeeze.
Ira and I went for a float down the lazy river with Big G at the Splash Zone at James Island County Park.
Ira is convinced he met a pirate in Charleston named Alfred. This shipwreck across the creek from Alfred's house didn't help dissuade him.
Alfred took us on a great tour of the creeks and rivers around Folly Beach.
We saw dolphins! That's a dorsal fin up there!
Shrimp boats on the Folly River.
The Morris Island lighthouse.
Ira got to touch and smell a sweetgrass basket being made.
There's a nice pier on the Cooper River in Mt. Pleasant. Ira's new obsession is battleships, and he was very excited to see the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier.
The 4th of July was very hot and exhausting.
This might be the first time Ira has ever fished. He didn't do very well, but he sure looks cute. I don't know what he would've done if he actually caught something.
We went for a quick stroll through the Battery.
Ira was very excited by the cannons at the Battery. He spent a long, long time making explosion sounds after this.
The family that blows things up together . . .
Obviously, Poppops lost this battle.
Vacation is hard for little boys.
We got most of the Bloodworth crew together for dinner and a photo on the Wapoo Creek.
Big G and Ira shared a goodbye kiss on the creek.
After we left Charleston we stopped in the Pisgah Forest in Asheville, NC and camped over night.
The water on top of the mountain was a little bit chilly.
We roasted special vegetarian marshmallows.
And we made s'mores.
And we prevented forest fires.
