Charleston

We had a great mini vacation to Charleston, SC over this past weekend. We left Friday to head that way, after James single handedly made pizzas for a group at camp. We had been planning to go to Rick and Diana's wedding for sometime, but we didn't get the logistics figured out until the week before. We considered farming out the kids (except Elizabeth) and heading up there, though I really did want to bring them with us. In the course of talking to Curtis and Jenny Davidson about possibly leaving Amelia with them, they said they had been considering Charleston as a fall break possibility. So they came along too, and we found a great arrangement at a Residence Inn with two bedrooms. The kids thought it was awesome and were ready to move in. My parents also came for the wedding, and stayed in a room next door.

We caravanned to Charleston, and managed to cram a five hour trip into only seven hours, arriving at 10:00 PM. This was after 2 or 15 potty breaks, and one particularly un-quick stop at a Chick-Fil-A where a bus pulled in at the same time we did and let every person out at the door. Talk about a crowded place! We managed to get food for our families and then ate outside on the parking lot curb. I wondered with all the food orders being made if they might run out of chicken and doom us to a dinner of carrot and raisin salad.

I've yet to mention the rain. Well, it rained. And rained and rained and rained and rained. All weekend. Saturday morning after breakfast in the hotel (where more than one person commented on the fact that there were 8 kids, and how did that happen, and were we all related, were some adopted, etc.), we decided to go into downtown Charleston and look around. It was cloudy but just spitting a little rain when we left. By the time we made it to a parking spot, it was POURING. So instead we made a trip to the grocery store and then back to the hotel for lunch. The hotel had a great heated outdoor pool and hot tub, so we let them go swimming. When we asked for pool towels the lady at the front desk said, "You realize it's raining, right?" What the hey, you're already wet when you go swimming!

We left for the wedding mid-afternoon, leaving all but Elizabeth with Curtis and Jenny at the hotel. They made a party of it while we were gone. Earlier Rick had called to make sure we weren't planning to wear our favorite shoes, as the wedding was outside in Diana's back yard and the grass was squishy. They had wanted to get married on the beach but apparently there is a lot of hassle and expense that comes with that, so instead Rick built an arbor and they hauled in some sand so they could still get married "barefooted on the beach." They also ended up renting a giant tent to accomodate Mother Nature.

It was a happy occasion, and no one's spirits seemed dampened at all by the downpour. It was a nice celebration, and they were very happy.

Here's Rick, Diana, and Diana's daughter Danielle. Danielle is a student at the College of Charleston, and she will be staying in Charleston. Rick and Diana will be our new neighbors at camp, and they will be moving into the farm house next door since Rick just sold his house in Clevland.

Here are Danielle, Diana, Rick and Rick's sons Andrew and Tyler, who both live in Cleveland. Both of them have worked with us at camp as well.

Rick and Diana have a cool story. At the end of Andrew's senior year of high school, he was invited to go on a cruise with a friend from Cleveland. He met Danielle on the cruise, and kept in touch with her after returning home. One weekend Rick drove him up to Charleston to see her, he met her mother Diana, and three years later look where they are! We are very happy for Rick. He means a lot to us, and is irreplaceable at camp. He's the one who has made camp the beautiful place it is today.

Sunday morning my folks went back to McDonough, since my dad had a business trip to get ready for.

Sunday was our day for sight seeing. It was also Bennett's 8th birthday. We went to Patriot's Point to see this:


This is the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier commissioned during WWII. It was very cool to see,and makes me all the more appreciative of those who have and do sacrifice for our country. I don't think this could have been an enjoyable place to live and work. It was operational with 3000 men. Today's aircraft carriers have over 6000 people on board. Wow!

We darted in and out of the rain touring the Yorktown (it took us three tries to finally get to see the flight deck and the historical aircraft parked on it...and even then we got rained on). We also took a boat ride out to Fort Sumter. Just prior to that we had a picnic in a pavillion by the ship. A lady came up to us with over half of a leftover birthday cake and offered it to us since she couldn't take it two hours back home. What are the odds- we had a birthday boy, here was a cake!

This trip was the first time we've taken the kids to anything historical, and there were many opportunities to show them how things were "back then." Shannon kept commenting about "the smell" everytime we went to an enclosed part of the ship. I told him that's what old stuff smells like. History stinks, in other words. :)


Here's the boat ride out to the fort. It started raining so hard at one point that we all ducked down below to get out of it.


Here comes the weather. This was an amazing bridge. Way cool.


Fort Sumter


Here's Maggie getting shot out of a cannon.


Avery also tried to shoot Shannon out of a cannon. The boys thought the weapons were awesome, and wanted me to take them out of their display cases at the museum.


Heading back from the fort.


There are a couple of retired ships to see docked near the Yorktown. With all the dodge-the-rain-with-8-kids-in-tow fun we were having, we only got to see this one, the USS Clamagore, a sub. Talk about TIGHT! I think I would not enjoy serving on this thing very much.


And here's how Elizabeth spent the day.


Out of all the neat things we saw this day, my kids decided the best part was "the dolphin show." There were dolphins just off the deck of the ship, and they kept surfacing and eating fish. We saw them swimming upside down with the fish above them. It was really neat, and an unexpected treat for the day.

That evening, wet and bedraggled, we found a seafood restaurant and Bennett got his chosen birthday dinner, a plate full of fresh shrimp. Avery was actually asleep on the bench on the front porch of the restaurant while they got our table ready. He managed to perk up for food.

All were tired, but it was a good day. Monday morning dawned windy and sunny. We headed out to Folly Beach so the kids could see the ocean before heading home. The wind was whipping up miniature sand storms as the top layer of sand dried from all the rain. The water was chilly, but it didn't stop any of the kids. They thought it was great regardless. We played on the beach for about an hour and half, then hosed everyone off in the COLD water at the shower house, good enough for the long ride home.


Avery loves the water and it is hard to explain to a two year old why you can't just let him go in the ocean alone. He also liked chasing seagulls. He was getting frustrated about not being able to catch one.


Sand art.


To say Amelia loves the ocean is an understatement. She's been talking regularly about going back to the beach since we went to Gulf Shores last September.


Here's how Elizabeth spent most of her first trip to the beach, safely cocooned from the blowing sand.


And this is what a mama does on vacation, and is why she's rarely in family pictures. Go Jenny!

We got back home at about 9:00 Monday night. The kids travelled great, in spite of the Expedition being packed all around them and nearly to the ceiling. There just isn't a lot of cargo space with all the car seats and stuff that goes with kids. We're considering taking the truck to Texas when we go for Christmas.

Charleston was a memorable trip. James and I decided we need to go by ourselves sometime, and take all the time we want wandering through ships and historical things actually reading all of the information as we go. This will also be a great place to take the kids again when they get older and can start to appreciate history. In the meantime we all agreed that next time renting a house on the beach wouldn't be a bad way to go!