South Carolina Vacation

My family, the Maxwell Family, and Ryan, Justus, and I all took a trip to South Carolina to the ocean as there were a few in each family who had never had the blessing of seeing the ocean.

 Mom and Dad had just recently purchased a used 15 passenger van to hold everyone, due to the rising numbers in our family. :)

There was just enough seating for everyone to ride together making this a vacation we soon wouldn't forget.  It is such fun to go on trips with my family!

We don't (and didn't) ever bring along any movies, ipods, or other such media.  And hardly ever did we listen to any music.  According to the world today, no one could understand how we traveled on such long trips without any of that "stuff."  Well, we made our own fun, sang our own music, played our own games, and just enjoyed each other's company.  We enjoyed being a real family!

And so it was on this trip.  (Trey even brought along his Ukulele.) Although this trip would be one that would refine us and test our true character.  :)

We decided that we had enough able drivers that we would just drive straight through and arrive at the ocean the next afternoon.  It wasn't too long after we started that we stopped in Carmi to fill up with gas.  It was then that we realized that our main gas tank had a hole in it that spilled many dollars worth of gas out onto the ground. Ughh!  And gas being so expensive as of late!

We had almost made it to Nashville, Tennessee, when the van began to overheat.  We ended up having to spend the night in the Walmart parking lot, half of us walking in Walmart and the other half sleeping until we would trade off.  The only person who slept the whole night was Justus. :)

The next morning the auto store opened and we purchased the parts that we hoped would fix the van.  Soon we were back on the road, but alas, the van still overheated.  From that point on, it seemed to go downhill.  There is a whole list of things that I won't even go into.

Needless to say, God's hand was in the whole thing regardless of how many difficulties we had.  Despite the many things that happened to us, we were still a big happy family and enjoyed every moment of our trip.  When crazy things would happen, we would smile and laugh!  At times it was rather comical!

Viewing the Tennessee Agricultural Museum

Salesmen would use this real working model of the reaper to demonstrate the real one

A Pea Huller

Viewing the artifacts while Dad and Chris went van shopping

Springboard wagon full of cotton

Observation Bee Hive

A Picnic in the woods

Napping on the museum floor (we didn't get much sleep the night before in the Walmart parking lot)

Visiting the Tennessee Walking Horses

Mansion on the grounds

The next day we went to Bass Pro while we waited on the paper work for the van

Bear in Bass Pro

The New and Old Van

Well, to make a long story short, we finally made it to the ocean and had a whole day to spend there and boy did we enjoyed ourselves!

Our Family

Justus' first ocean trip!

Feel the waves!

He liked laying in the sand

Mermaids?

We ate at a local seafood restaurant called Gilligan's

The Light House on Hunting Island

Trey's Guitar-castle

Our family after a fun day

Trey builds a sand castle

We built sand castles and mermaids and even guitars in the sand!

Justus with a Johnson's sticker on his nose. :)

We even were able to stop by Uncle Ben's house and visit with my Great Mamaw Skaggs (5 generations- Mamaw Skaggs, my Mamaw, My Dad, Me, and Justus)

Our family and Mamaw Skaggs

Justus meets his Great-Great Mamaw

Justus enjoys a peach at Taco Bell

It was a fun trip, and regardless of the circumstances we had a great time!