Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina

Our summer adventures continued on fourth of July weekend trying out yet another beach in the area.  This one is the favorite beach of some of our friends, former blogger Valerie, so we decided to meet them there.  They really know how to do the beach right and have a whole set up for a day at the beach that makes it feel almost like home.  I suspect we may have to start upping our beach game in the coming years as we need a bigger tent and ways to haul all our stuff.  Hunting Island is a state park so there is an admittance fee.  It had actually been closed last year after Hurricane Matthew and had just reopened for the 4th of July holiday.  There is a pretty lighthouse and lots of areas to explore.  It is a heavily forested park that suffered a lot of tree damage from the hurricane, and most of that damage was still visible.  We wanted to climb the lighthouse, but we decided that it wasn't worth the physical exertion in the intense southern summer heat.  We did enjoy the unique beach with fallen trees and driftwood similar to the more "famous" Driftwood Beach of Jekyll Island.  It also had some unique seawalls built to help with beach erosion.  Of course, I spent over half of my time at the beach hanging out and talking with our friends while the kids played so that was the best part.

Hunting Island Lighthouse

Mattox spent a lot of time trying to bring water up to us in his little pail.  Oh if he could talk (and cuss) I know he would have.  He was getting so frustrated when he would make it all the way up to us and his pail would be empty.  Haha!

The big boys attempted some boogey boarding. 

I finally encouraged Mattox to take his bigger bucket down to the water and fill it up with his pail.  He was much happier with the result.  Grayson finds his big brother quite amusing. 

When oh when did my first baby get to be so grown?  He looks so much like a teenager these days. 

The always entertaining Mattox. 

He got Mommy to help him. 

Big brother Brody helped too. 

Watching my guys. 

And my littlest boys. 

Grayson loves his Daddy. 

Mommy loves all of her babies in this little bucket hat at the beach. 

So happy!

My gorgeous little baby. 

And the cutest toddler

And the cutest and silliest first grader. 

Yes, he does have eyes for daddy now.  

This little man has dreams of playing professional soccer. 

Just hanging out with my babies on the beach. 

We met up with our friends to play.  The kids loved climbing on these fallen trees. 

A sweet picture of the biggest kids together.  Caroline is the youngest here, but she is taller than Brody and Oliver. 

Sisters playing together. 

Oliver and Brody are getting to be besties. 

But Brody and Caroline really play well together.  Little Veronica is just a few months older than Mattox, but she is way too fast for him yet.  Haha! 

This little guy stole my chair while I was gone. 

One last picture of the lighthouse and then we spotted a pretty rainbow and some cloud shapes on the way home.