End of Vacation

Well, we are home now (by almost a week), and I am just finishing up the last post from vacation.  On our last day, we went over to Patriot's Point again to visit a park that we heard was really cool.  It also was the most likely place to see big ships coming in and out of harbor (although we didn't see any actually moving).  The park was awesome, so Dave had a blast, and we took turns walking down the pier to see the views.

Flowers near the park-photo taken by Tony.

After the park, Tony, Josh, and I went to HUSK and mom and the kids hung out while we ate.  We then went back out to Wadmalaw to see my aunt and uncle one more time and visit the tea plantation.  Here's a video of Ike laughing in the car on the way over.  We stopped to see the Angel Oak tree, which is said to be more than 500 years old.  This was one of my favorite parts of the trip since I am a sucker for a good photo opportunity.

Dave wanted to do a selfie.  He wants to take them all the time right now.

Beautiful!

Hard to see in the pictures, but the tree is propped up by wood where it almost touches the ground.

Reasonably decent family picture...I will take what I can get at this point!










The tea plantation was cool and the short factory tour was free, which is always a bonus.  It was neat to see how tea is processed and grown (it is the only tea plantation in the U.S.).  You also get unlimited iced tea samples...awesome.

Laura and Ike hanging on the front porch of the gift shop.











So to recap the vacation, it was fantastic.  I highly recommend visiting Charleston, and it has a lot of different activities to offer.  I loved taking the kids along, but would also really enjoy going by ourselves and hitting up some more restaurants and staying downtown. 

The trip home was pretty uneventful, minus the detour we took into Virginia...oops.  All ended well and it only added a little time to the drive (what's one more hour? haha).  After we made it home (around 10:30 pm), the kids still had a ton of energy.  Dave decided to put on an impromptu theater involving dinosaurs and monster trucks.  It was hilarious because he was soooo tired.  Here's the video.

The Citadel and Fancy Food

On Thursday, Mom and Tony went to play a round of golf, so Josh and I took the kids around downtown looking for cool stuff to do.  We landed at the Citadel, which turned out to be perfect and was a nice setting to walk around (even if we look out of place!).

The boys walking around.

Dave operating a sweet cannon.
















Pumped about whatever that thing is.










We then headed over to a park we saw on our way in that was right on the water...the views were great and Dave and Ike had a blast. 

Right before sending Ike down the slide.









Josh and I had really wanted to try out Slightly North of Broad, so we decided to give it a shot with the kids.  Dave and Ike both did really well and it was super delicious.  Josh finally tried beef carpaccio and it was fantastic.   And Dave kept telling me that my pork was "so beasty!".  We are really proud that we are raising him (and hopefully Ike) to be a foodie  :)







Ike chilling in the booth at S.N.O.B.












That evening, we met back up with Mom and Tony, along with Denny and Laura, to go to the newly established Taste of the Market.  It is a place where restaurants get together once a month to offer tastings of their menu and give discounts.  Since it was the first one, there weren't a ton of vendors yet, but the restaurants there were great (best chicken and waffles ever) and we had a blast.







Dave watching a cooking demonstration.

Ike was getting a little sleepy by the end.













For our last great meal, Tony, Josh and I went to HUSK.  We managed to get in without a reservation (the place was pretty packed) and the food was (again) delicious.  I may not be a great critic (you know, what with living in Wabash where we don't get much gourmet food), but all the places we ate at were sooo yummy.  Favorite dish at HUSK:  pimento cheese appetizer.  I will be dreaming about that for some time.

Tony and Josh posing on the porch.  It was located in an old (huge) house.

This was me trying to take artsy photographs of their sign/pink building across the street.

Fort Moultrie and Patriot's Point

On Wednesday we went over to Mt. Pleasant/Sullivan's Island to visit Fort Moultrie and Patriot's Point.  First up was the fort, which is older than Fort Sumter and on the mainland instead of out on the harbor.






Tony and Dave up in some kind of lookout.

Dave was really proud of this cannon.










It was a cool place to walk around, but not a ton to do with the kids.  It was also not stroller friendly, so Josh and Tony were really tired of carrying the stroller up and down stairs.  We stayed for maybe 30 minutes because the guys were playing golf later and wanted to get through as much of Patriot's Point as they could.  

Patriot's Point is awesome!  Definitely worth it if you like history or have a kid who is obsessed with boats/planes.  They have the USS Yorktown (aircraft carrier), a submarine called the Clamagore, and the USS Laffey (destroyer).  When I asked Josh what his favorite activity was on our trip he said Patriot's Point without hesitation.  It was so neat to see first-hand some of the equipment used by the military.

Forced family picture with the USS Yorktown in the background.  

Dave was bummed he couldn't get in this helicopter.

Tony and Dave watching a video of this plane taking off.

I can't remember if this is the front or the back of the Yorktown, but it looks cool either way.

Dave seeing what it's like to live aboard a submarine.

Mom and Ike in the hallway of the destroyer.

Up on shoulders! 

Tony and I posing for mom.  We have a picture of us in this same spot when we were little.

Beach Bums

We spent pretty much some of every day at the beach, so I basically took hundreds of pictures of the kids playing in the sand. 

I think Dave was getting tired of being harassed by the paparazzi.  

Ike making a ridiculous face.

 Sitting in the sink hole that Gamma made for him.

Jumping over the waves.  Dave totally overcame his dislike of the ocean this week.

Ike was trying to be an ostrich.

Maybe the view was better upside down?












Finally, since I am not getting up to see the sunrise, I will include my mom's picture of the beach as the sun came up.

Beautiful!

Folly Beach Pier and Wadmalaw Island

The house where we are staying in is about a 10 minute walk to Folly Beach pier.  It's super long and an excellent fishing spot apparently.  We just walked up and down it then let the kids play underneath.

Ike and I posing at the end.

Gamma and the boys.

Under the pier.  I thought it looked really cool.

Ike loved playing in the pools left from the tide.

Digging some holes.

Did I mention that it was really long?









My aunt and uncle live out on Wadmalaw Island, which is kind of a suburb to Charleston (an extremely rural suburb that is about 30 minutes from downtown).  It is mostly residences with some random businesses thrown in.  We went out to see their house and do some fishing on Tuesday.

Ike staring down their dogs.

Tree next to their dock.

Dave Superman doing some fishing.

Mom and Laura playing with Ike.












While we were out on Wadmalaw, my mom, Laura, and I went to Irvin House Winery for a wine tasting.  It was really fun, and we learned all kinds of stuff about muscadine wine.  We also checked out Firefly Distillery (which is made by the same people as the wine). The boys stayed and did some fishing and general piddling around while we were gone, and I think they had a pretty good time.  Dave and Josh both caught crabs and I caught a fish!

Civil War Walk and Charles Towne Landing

On our first full day in Charleston, we went to do a Civil War walking tour downtown.  It was really fun, and we learned a lot about the city during that time.  The guide was a little hokey (he kept making us say "boo, hiss" every time he mentioned Sherman), but he was pretty funny otherwise.






Mom and Ike before the walk.









The kids didn't make it very long staying with the group, so mom took them and did lots of extra laps and chilled in a city park for a while. 

My artsy shot of rainbow row.  I know, everyone's jealous of my sweet photography skills  :)

Tony and Dave checking out the cannons at the Battery.

Tour guide forced picture at a random house.













After we got back from that we spent the rest hanging out with my Uncle Denny and Aunt Laura and going to the beach.

Monday, we went with Denny and Laura to Charles Towne Landing, which is where the first colonists in South Carolina landed in 1670.  The place was really cool and had a ton of stuff to do, including:  a really awesome museum explaining all of the history, a zoo of indigenous animals, and a walking trail that took you around to the major sites and led to a replica boat.

 There were giant banana spiders all over the place.

Walking around the loop...it was a tad bit toasty that day.

Tony and Ike on the boat.

Dave steering the boat.














After we got home, Josh and I turned around and went into downtown again to have dinner at FIG.  Two words...ricotta gnocchi.  Basically the best thing ever invented.  And that was just the appetizer!

Pumped about dinner.