Thursday, October 30, 2014

Charleston, SC

 How has it been over a week since I blogged?  We have been quit busy around here.  This past weekend we traveled to Charleston, SC for a family wedding.  Matt's first cousin Ray was getting married.  

We loaded up the kiddos and headed out of town Thursday night.  We drove halfway and stopped just East of Atlanta.  The boys did great.  Ryan even fell asleep the last hour and a half or so.  We all crashed once we got to the hotel.  

Friday morning we loaded back up to finish our drive to Charleston.  

We got to Charleston around 2:00 and checked into our hotel.  The boys were wired so we decided to hit the pavement and walk around the city and grab an early dinner.  

We found this amazing wooden block toy store.  It had these amazing creations made out of hundreds of pieces of wood blocks.  Think Lincoln Logs - it was really neat.  Ryan's favorite was the train going over the bridge. 

They have a carpeted area in the middle for anyone to create and just build.  The boys immediately sat down and started building.  So neat!

I kept calling Colton our T-Rex because he was walking and moving around without any concern for the fragile buildings around him.  I just knew he was going to knock over Ryan's creation, then Ryan would totally lose it.  Thankfully that didn't happen but he came pretty close.  

Ryan wanted me to take a picture of his building.  

We continued on our way and found a fun little place to eat dinner.  

We decided to check out the pier and waterfront after dinner.  The boys loved walking along the pier and seeing the Cooper Bridge and all the sailboats in the water.  

After a little walking and sight seeing we had to stop and get some ice cream.  Yum yum!  

We headed back to the hotel and called it a night pretty early.  The boys were both sound asleep by 7:00.  It had been a long day of traveling and no naps.  

Saturday morning we all awoke being refreshed and ready for the day.  We decided to take the boys to the USS Yorktown (the retired air craft carrier in Charleston).  We weren't too sure how the boys would do and if they would be interested at all.   

The highlight of the morning was riding the trolley and the water taxi over to the Yorktown. 

Waiting on the water taxi. 

On the dock of the USS Yorktown.  The boys did well.  They weren't all that interested in the planes or the aircraft carrier accommodations but I would say as a whole they did well.  

My boys!

Family picture 

We were so excited Papau and Yaya joined us on this trip.  They got to Charleston around 3:00.  The boys were over the moon about seeing their grandparents.  

Saturday was my FIL's birthday so we went to a nice dinner then grabbed some gelato on the way back to the hotel.  

The wedding was on late Sunday afternoon so we went out exploring on Sunday morning.  

Across from our hotel was this train museum, which was basically this old restored train from the early 1900's.  The boys loved it and really enjoyed seeing it.  

We strolled down to the market and decided to take carriage ride around Charleston.  The boys enjoyed it and we all loved learning some cool history about Charleston.  After the carriage ride we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the hotel for a nap before the wedding.  

The wedding took place at Magnolia Plantation.  This was the first wedding for both boys.  I wasn't sure how they would do but they did great.  They colored pictures the whole time during the ceremony. 

The ceremony wasn't long and the boys did great coloring and being quiet.  

The happy couple - Ray and Jestine Deepe

Papau and Yaya with the boys. 

We enjoyed cocktail hour(s) visiting with family and catching up with people Matt hasn't seen in years and some I had never met.  

On the far left is Uncle Robert (Papau's brother).  His son Ray was the groom.  

He enjoyed seeing the boys and Ryan loved telling him knock knock jokes.  

We had a wonderful time at the wedding and the boys had fun too.  They had a ball dancing with Papau and Yaya.  They were tearing up the dance floor.  Everyone was commenting on how cute they were and how they were having a such a fun time.  

Monday morning we said good-bye to Papau and Yaya and started on the long drive back to Nashville.  It took us almost nine hours but the boys did great.  No one napped but they handled the long drive really well.  

It was a great trip seeing family and we loved Charleston!  We would love to go back.  

No comments: