A quick trip to Folly Beach and Charleston.

 We had a really nice weekend in South Carolina.

We were on the road a little before 9:00 on Friday morning.  It was cloudy and rainy most of the way and when we arrived in Charleston many of the side streets were flooded.  We slowly and cautiously made our way into the historic district and parked our car.

We grabbed a late lunch at Ruru's Tacos and then headed to the City Market.  Sarah was excited because she got a ring there the last time we visited.  Since it had been raining all morning and had stopped while we were eating lunch, the vendors were slowly starting to come out. 

 

The shops inside (in the blessed air conditioning) were all open as normal but the ones on the outside were open but you could only access them from the side windows.  This was in an effort to keep crowds out of the center aisles.  Sarah found a great ring vendor and chose two rings which I am happy to say, she bought with her own money!

 

After visiting the market, we took a carriage ride.  I think this was our (mine and Dan's) 9th visit to Charleston and we ALWAYS take the carriage ride.

Here are some scenes from the ride:

 After the carriage ride we walked through the campus of the College of Charleston.  Sarah has decided she thinks it would be great to attend college near the ocean.  They are actually doing in-person tours but the tour started at 12:00 and we didn't get to Charleston until 1:00 so we just did our own little tour.

This was a nice way to get a quick view of the campus but we didn't really get to learn anything about it. Sarah saw enough that she decided she would like to go back for a formal tour and I saw enough to wish that I was 18 again and could go there myself!

It was such a neat campus.  As many times as we've been to Charleston, we've never set foot in this part of town.  It was very near the historic district and the whole campus (or at least the part we were in) felt like the middle of Charleston.  It was very cool.

Here are some pictures:

After our busy afternoon in Charleston we headed to Folly Beach and checked in to our hotel.

We relaxed for a little and then we

And then we took a walk on the pier. It was lightening and I managed to catch a couple of good shots!

Then the kids went back to the hotel room and Dan and I grabbed a drink and listened to some live music on the outside deck at The Wash Out.

 

 

The next morning we headed to The Cypress Gardens and visited the butterfly house and took a little boat ride through the swamp.

Then we headed back to Folly Beach for a little beach time.

Then we got ready for Mass because there just so happened to be the cutest little catholic church just a few minutes walk from our hotel.

When we got back from Mass we were able to watch a wedding on the beach right outside of our hotel:

It all seems very romantic until you realize that there's a beach volley ball game going on to the left, a bunch of random beach walkers all around and in general Saturday evening beach activites happening.

Then we went to dinner, watched the NC State football game on the hotel bar tv and that was the end of our Saturday.

Because we went to mass Saturday night, we slept in on Sunday.  I got up before everyone else and grabbed a cup of coffee and took a walk on the beach.

Then we packed up, grabbed breakfast and checked out right at 11:00 (check out time) on the nose.  No sense in leaving even one minute before we have to!

We had a great weekend and are already wishing we were back there!

 

 

 

Let me check my camera roll and see what we've been up to lately...

 Yikes.  Another 9 days have passed since my last post and here I am wondering what I do all day.  

So, what have we been up to since I last posted?  

The kids are still in school and so far so good with all of that. 

Peter had his second 7 on 7 game last Friday night and he said he is havinga lot of fun.  I think he likes it because it's fast paced and he gets a lot of playing time.  His regular football workouts started back this week and he is doing two a week now.  

Here's a very blurry photo  from last Friday night.  

Last Saturday night, Dan and I went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate our birthdays and anniversary.

The food was yummy and my date was really cute!

I continue to walk every morning when the kids leave for school and while I'm not really seeing any weight reduction, I do feel like I am finally going a little faster and at least I'm starting the day burning a few calories!

And this is how I know it's fall..

Every morning this week, the geese have been flying in a v formation overhead.  I guess they are all heading up north!  Good riddance because I do not like geese!

In the late spring, we planted moon flowers around our pergola in the hopes that they would grow up the posts of the pergola.  They never sprouted and we were very disappointed until about a month ago or so, one of them actually appeared and started growing.  The post it was growing around was too wide for it to latch on to so it just kind of bunched up around the base of the post.

Dan did some research on the moon flower and put in a smaller stake beside the post and it started to grow up that.  It also finally started to bloom around the base of the post.  The blooms are beautiful but they open at dusk and close up (and die) after the sun comes up in the morning.  I took this picture around 7:15 this morning while they were still open.

Wouldn't this be pretty if it was actually growing up the post?

It anyone has any suggestions for a blooming plant that grows up posts (and not just around thin stakes) and isn't invasive, please, let me know! 

The kids don't have school tomorrow (teacher work day) and Dan is off work (furlough day) so we are heading to Charleston/Folly Beach for a couple of nights.  We were supposed to go there during spring break but obviously, that didn't happen.  The weather isn't supposed to be that great, but it will be nice to be on a little trip, just the four of us.  As Dan likes to continually remind me, Peter will be gone in less than a year and Sarah right behind him.  

The days are long but the years are short.

Have a great weekend.