Down in the Low Country

What a beautiful boy!

Effects with the camera

Jeff on the beach

On our way! We got lucky and had an extra seat so

Jeff didn't have to be on our laps the whole time.

Playing in the pool

Our little courtyard at night

Mike tickling Nick's toes in the pool

Nick cuddling with Staci

Our kitchen and some hot pool boy I found
Boys tuckered out after being not so good at the restaurant :) Would it really be vacation without vacuuming with a baby on my hip?
Naaaah.

We took a nice vacation this past week to South Carolina and Georgia. I would never have thought to go to these places for a vacation, I'll have to say, but we had a great time and it was beautiful. The only reason we went is because Kirb was supposed to have a conference in Hilton Head and it would have only cost me the flight and a meal ticket for a pretty nice little vacation, but then HP decided that they wanted to save some money, and cancelled their employees going unless it was really extra pertinent for their specific job. I already had my ticket to go, and we didn't want to waste the ticket or try to change it for even more money, so we decided to just make a vacation out of it. Our friends Mike and Staci and their son Nick (the one who's two days older than Jeff) were going to do the same thing, so we went together and rented a house on Hilton Head Island. We took off on Saturday, May 31st, and Jeff did great on the plane. Our good friends Janelle and Austin who now live near Savannah, GA, and who aren't too far from Hilton Head met us at the airport with carseats, pack n plays, toys, and diapers which was awesome. It was nice not having to pay for more than one bag each since the airlines do that now. One of these days they'll probably charge you to use the toilet on the plane. I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, we then went to our rental. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was perfect for us. We were near some HUGE and beautiful places which were fun to see, and our place was really pretty too. We were on this little lagoon, we had a little courtyard with a pool, there were four bedrooms so the boys each had their own room, and the master bedrooms had doors right out to the pool. It was a nice one story house so Jeff could crawl anywhere he wanted, the only thing was that he was obsessed with eating leaves. It was almost funny how he could hunt out the tiniest piece of leaf, pick it up, and try to eat it. We utilized his understanding of the word, "NO!" about 1 trillion times. We caught him before he put most of them in his mouth, and the others we would notice he was trying to chew something, and we would always know what it was. :) We truly just relaxed and played the whole time. We mostly stayed at the house and spent time in the pool or feeding the turtles in the lagoon, or cooking and eating and drinking. The weather was awesome the whole time. Very hot and humid, but not too terribly hot. We had air conditioning, and we needed some sun and heat anyway, Oregon has had such a cool, cloudy spring, and everyone out here has forgotten what the sun looks like. So it felt good to sweat out in the heat a little. The guys played some golf at some awesome courses, Hilton Head is known for golf, so the guys were definitely in heaven in that department. We went down to Savannah and hung out one day. What a cool little city! Janelle and Austin came by a few times during the week to hang out, and it was great to see them. On Saturday, Mike, Staci and Nick left, and we left Hilton Head and went to stay with Austin and Janelle for that night before we headed back on Sunday. Their house was awesome, and we went in to Savannah again, and had some good food and fun. We tried to keep Jeff on west coast time, but it didn't work at all, so coming back was a bit hard when he woke up on Monday morning at 4:50. I decided to invent and introduce some Pacific time zone training yesterday, and this morning, he was back on track already. awesome. It is now finals week for me, I am grading papers, judging juries, giving a final Thursday, and then I am done! I can't believe we leave next Wednesday for South Dakota for our ten year high school reunion and seeing family. We are excited! Enjoy the pictures and we'll post more after the next trip!

East coast Atlantic salty little waves for the little boy









Jeff crawled right for the ocean every time we put him down

Getting cleaned up in the big tub

Looking out towards the pool

So many turtles in the lagoon behind our house fighting for cheerios or whatever else we decided to give them that day. :)

Jeff thought these toys were awesome. He would carry one in his mouth like a puppy constantly, which I thought was funny AND it made it so he didn't eat leaves! :)

(The eating of things is the reason his pacifier is in a lot of these pictures. He doesn't really need it, but at least then he doesn't put leaves, handfuls of sand, large beetles, etc in his mouth when the pacifier is in. )

Nick Monroe looking so cute!

Savannah, GA, looking out to a river boat from River St.

Big candy store. Oh so good but also bad bad bad. :)

The Mr. and Mrs.

Who needs dinner when I have a seat strap?

Park in Savannah

All the boys near a fountain in Savannah

Tourist group photo!

I don't know how this happened, but somehow we have no pictures of Janelle and Austin. I guess we were having such a good time hanging out with them that we weren't thinking of taking pictures of them and with them. We really did have a great time with Mike, Staci and Nick, and also Janelle and Austin. Janelle and Austin provided us with so much needed stuff, it was great! They even let us borrow their portable GPS navigation system thing which was sooooo helpful while we were there. They also played with, swam with, entertained, and fed Jeff. I am upset with myself that we didn't get out the camera when we were with them, especially at their house and the day we spent in Savannah. Dang it! We had such a good time and I can remember so many things we did and I wish I had pictures!!!! Anyway, we miss you guys already, and thanks thanks thanks for everything you did for us! Here are their cute pups anyway, Jeff loved them and I think if he could talk he would be begging for one right now. :)

Bo and Daisy at the Rabe residence

Changing of the guard

Daisy says, "Um, I think you have something on your face. I'll get it."