The Town of Charles. {aka} Charleston

 From the fun days at Disney, we headed back to the Carolinas, and after driving a few hours, made it to our next stop in Folly Beach. I'm learning that one of the kids very favorite things about traveling has to be the luggage cart! Ha! Ryder caught a ride to our hotel room.

 Suited up and unpacked, we made our way down to the beach to enjoy a few hours in the sun. I don't know what we would do without this ole' blue dumptruck that I found at Target a few years ago, but it has quickly become a favorite of Ryder's, and now Brynley's. I'm thinking I will have to start a search for a pink one for next year. We made plenty of sand castles, and it was a great time to be at the beach because we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. The water was a bit too cold for my taste, but we weren't really there for the ocean as much as just relaxing as a family of four.

Ryder is getting so confident in the water now, and by the end of our trip, after being in the pool pretty much everyday, he was happiest when in the water! I'm so proud of him and hope that this continues through next Spring and he will retain this new confidence.

For dinner, Scot and I had been craving really good seafood (this never gets old saying this because we were both anti-seafood when we first met which was a joke in our families). Conveniently located in our hotel, was this amazing restaurant, Blu.

I think with two kids we are learning to embrace their free spirits and rather than having them contained during meals, we try to sit outside if possible. I usually try distracting Brynley for the most part, by offering her everything from sugar packets to menus, and Ryder has gotten much better at sitting during meals when we go out. This makes for a much better dining experience!

 And besides, after a little goofing off and sharing laughs, we are all ready to eat! Once the food comes out we are golden. No meltdowns, no temper tantrums (usually).

I love the beach, no matter which one I'm at. This view is always amazing. And catching a sunset is an added bonus! We like to think that our paths will one day lead us to living at the coast, but for now we are pretty content where we're at and will continue to get our beach fix when we go on vacations. 

 

Oh my word. The food. I'm still dreaming of all the glorious food we ate while we were in Charleston! As I mentioned in most of my other posts. In fact, I think I said fried green tomatoes and grits about ten times ha!

 

 And what better way to walk off all of that food than to go on a walk along the pier. A big thanks to my friend Alyssa who donated these glow sticks to us at Brynley's party! They worked wonders and we had the best time with the kids on our stroll along the beach. They both loved having their own "flashlight" and even though it got pretty chilly by this point, after the sun went down, it was a refreshing change to the heat we'd had back home. Hello FALL!

The next morning, I made it a mission to get some great photos at the beach. I knew this was pretty much our last chance if we wanted to do a family picture in white. Yes, I'm that girl who goes up to strangers to take a photo. As for the waves under the pier, I love how it turned out! Ryder loved a similar photo that was in our hotel room, so I tried to recreate the look. We even found a bunch of starfish! I didn't know if they were still alive or not so I didn't want to take them home and have a smelly ride back!

 The kind man who was interrupted while doing his pushups, we want to thank YOU for capturing these! It was quite cold here, which explains the stiff shoulder look, but I love these!

From Folly Beach, we went into Charleston for a day of eating and shopping. The intercoastal views are so cool.

Once into Charleston, we were greeted by many horses and mules. But first we wanted a hearty breakfast to start out our morning! After a few pats on their heads, we told the carriage owners that we would be back after breakfast.

I'm happy to report that both of my chillllrun LOVE them some grits!

 After our big breakfast we walked over to some of the shops. First up was this very cool hot sauce store, where Scot may have announced he was in hot sauce heaven. Then it was to get some homemade bearclaws and sample homemade toffee. Ryder even picked out a few candies.

 We took the carriage ride around town and it was so cool to see some of the homes in Charleston. I didn't realize, but it was similar to the lottery, as to what district the tours were allowed to go on, based on a drawing. I guess these are the cities rules in regards to not having an overflow of tourists clogging the streets of downtown Charleston. We still got a very awesome tour and knowledge of the town.

 Who knew there was a major earthquake right in the heart of the city? And rather than rebuild the homes that were damaged, they were told they had to use the homes and pull them back together, using these large bolts to hold the foundation in place. Scary to think these bolts are the only thing keeping the houses back! As it turns out, there could actually be another earthquake!

 And we were given the story on why the town may be so haunted. See the blue ceilings? It's called haint blue. Apparantly as the city got more crowded, the land became more scarce, so they built over a cemetary and so the gullah culture (African American) believed that to ward off the spirits, they would actually paint the outsides this color blue. And to this day, you can go into a local paint store and ask for "haint blue" and they will have the exact color to replicate the days of long ago.

 I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, in regards to loving some good ole' American history, like my Dad. Hope I didn't bore you too much! We had a fun carriage ride through the rest of our tour, and Brynley actually fell asleep at one point because of the slow stroll through the city and the soft breeze. I was so proud of Ryder because I knew he was bored and ready to get out and run, but he stayed quiet for most of the tour, and was very sweet!

 For lunch, we went to a favorite of Scot's, the Fleet Landing restaurant. I loved the views, and the fact that it was an old Naval storage was pretty cool to think it was used so long ago.

 Crabcakes and fried green tomatoes, and oysters and grits. OH MY! The food was so good!

 

 A big lunch and a great day with my family, bellies full and spirits high, we walked to the bridge to see more of the waterway and Ryder just loved the big fountain! I couldn't believe he wanted to jump in, but he was having the best time, so I let him be a kid and have fun in the moment.

 After this trip, we came home with so many great memories, and if anything we realized that we would love to do another trip to Charleston!