South Carolina: Part III

Our final photos from our South Carolina trip - miniature golf and beach/pool day.  Fun!

Just hanging out on the huge rocking chair, waiting for everyone to get ready to leave for a fun day. 

Showing off her very own golf club.  It is only slightly smaller than a hockey stick!

Teeing up with Daddy.

Getting a quick lesson from the pro.

Carving her own path to follow her ball.  Unfortunately the "grass" was wet!

Trying to make par on her own - stubborn kid!

 Calling in the reinforcements - help from Grandma.

Uh oh... getting impatient with the club and decides to take matters into her own hands - literally!

... taking it to the hole.

 She doesn't quite get it in the hole on the firs try.

 Collecting her ball again.

Success!

Waiting for the rest of the group to catch up.

Later, it was time to hit the beach (and, later, the pool)! 

Sooooooo excited to don her swimsuit for the first time.

Beach baby!

While she had some huge aversions to the sand at first, she did seem to enjoy shoveling sand into the pail, then emptying said pail and starting all over again.

Testing out the water - brrr! 

It was pretty cold, so after we played in the sand a while later, we headed over to the heated pool.  Michal adored it - I have a feeling our neighborhood pool will be a big part of our summer!

South Carolina: Part II

Day two in Charleston - Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began.  We've taken the trek out to the fort in the past, but it was Michal's first trip, and she had lots of fun running around, climbing on canons, and trying to jump off of high platforms - Josh and I did plenty of running around to keep up with her antics.

On the boat ride out

A cruise ship was in harbor - very big and fun looking!

A view looking back at the Battery and the Painted Ladies, some beautiful homes that line the battery area of Charleston.

Getting her sea legs

Whoa!

Love this face - not sure what she's thinking but boy is she cute!

And she's down!

Pretty sure she was doing her "sleepy" thing and didn't fall over from the rocking

Ft Sumter

Checking out the lower level from the upper level

Checking out a grassy flat area

.... aaaaaaand she decided to scale this incline

 Gave up and decided to lean against it instead.

 Decided to go for a walk with Daddy instead

It was a very windy day, but it made it easier to see each of the flags.

The blue background is the current flag of the state of South Carolina.

The white flag with the red square with blue diagonal stripes was the second flag of the confederacy - the first official flag of the Confederacy is the one in between the white and blue flags - the one with two red stripes with a white strip in between, a blue square in the left corner with stars - THIS is the flag known as Stars and Bars.

The others were flags of the United States.

Checking out a canon

 I think she's trying to maneuver the artillery all on her own. Strong baby.

Later, once we got back to land, we took a walk down to the battery, one of my favorite parts of Charleston.  Love these twisty, gnarled trees with the gazebo.

 A few of the Painted Ladies.  We've decided that when we strike it rich with the lottery, we're going to invest in one of these.  Lovely.

Walking near the Charleston City Market - one of the many women weaving beautiful works of art - sweetgrass baskets.

Another favorite part of Charleston - the pineapple fountain.

Taking a dip with Grandma - she wasn't so keen at first, but she was quickly persuaded to get her feet wet.

 Silly, pensive goose.

Goofball

Such a ham!

South Carolina: Part I

It's been a crazy couple of weeks (with many photos that were intended for this blog but didn't quite make it), but we finally made it to April and Spring Break.  This year we were able to continue our annual tradition of heading down to our time share in Myrtle Beach, SC.  During every trip down south, we usually spend a day in Charleston, and this time we were able to secure an overnight stay there with Josh's mother.  We spent the first two full days of our trip in Charleston, an amazingly beautiful city.  I took a million pictures, so I'll break up the photos over several posts - it just means more pictures of an adorable girl and her adventures!

During our requisite stop to South of the Border - anyone who has traveled a good distance on I-95 has seen signs of Pedro enticing travelers to stop at South of the Border, a tourist trap in South Carolina, just south of the line between SC and NC.  We stopped just long enough for a diaper change but made sure to document the visit just the same.

On Sunday we drove down to Charleston, a beautiful coastal city, known for its beauty and historical significance - more on that later.  Our first day there, we found a cute restaurant near our hotel - Amen Street.  

Hi, readers! 

 

First course - hushpuppies (with a side of honey)! One of the benefits of traveling south.

Michal's first hushpuppy - let's see how it goes! 

Taking a tentative bite 

This is harder than I thought, Mommy!  

I took pity on her and helped get her started, breaking away part of the crunchy fried exterior. 

Yum! 

Practiced her photography skills with Grandma's camera while we waited for our lunches to arrive. 

I don't normally take photos of my food, but this dish was so pretty (and delicious!) - coconut-coriander crusted tuna on a bed of julienne vegetables and coconut rice.  It was sooooooooo good.

After lunch, we took a bit of a walk.  We headed to another regional favorite: Moon Pies.  While the bakery behind this treat was started in Chattanooga, they have a storefront in Charleston. 

I think her eyes might be bigger than her stomach. 

Hanging outside the Moon Pie store with her favorite new acquisition - a harmonica.  She was SO excited to figure out what this thing was all about. 

It didn't take long for her to start making tunes. 

Checking out the fountain at our hotel/time share.  It took everything to keep her from climbing up and getting to the water.  The hotel had such a lovely little courtyard - a wonderful place to sit, relax, and watch a crazy kid run around. 

And run around she did - barefoot and playing music.

If you are my Facebook friend (which I assume you must be if you are reading this blog), I've shared a video of her playing her harmonica and walking around.  Check it out.

Posing cutie.