Charleston!

We were excited to get last minute bonus time reservations at The Lodge Alley Inn. It is a gorgeous restored warehouse dating back to pre-revolutionary war times. Peter and Connor pretended Connor was blowing out the fire in our fireplace...not that we needed it..the weather was gorgeous and warm...
the kids LOVE Ellen. She is so much fun to be around...
It is becoming tradition for us to enjoy biscuits and hot chocolate from Dixie Supply Co. while in bed...
Peter was being lazy...but he told SB he was "practicing" for his recovery from surgery...
We were out and about by 10 am and the twins couldn't wait to share a Carriage tour of Charleston with peter and Ellen...as always, people thought I was Grandma and they were the parents...
The Horse that drove our carriage was a HUGE draft horse...but very sweet...
Connor took this picture of the Hat Man..he is made entirely of hats and a hundred years ago he signified that was a hat merchant...cute!After the carriage tour of the Battery and Rainbow Row, we had reservations at my fav lunch spot, Slightly North of Broad (S.N.O.B.)Charleston has world reknown chefs and I love the REAL food but here's a tip...don't waste money buying good food for kids and young adults..they'd rather have Taco Bell...notice I stuck to the plan with grilled chicken, eggplant and zucchini...delicious!!!And then it was off to Liberty Square and a Harbor Tour and a visit to Ft Sumter...where the very first shots of the unpleasantness between the states were fired...on April 12, 1861 to be exact (we won that battle...)

Connor and Sarah Beth loved the tour and completed aworksheet of facts to earn their Jr Ranger Badges
And this Park Ranger was fabulous and held a serious "badging ceremony"...We returned to Charleston in the busy harbour where we waved to a merchant ship bound for Panama, saw many sailing ships and tiny boats, laughed at dolphins playing around us and watched these sea gulls dive for fish...all in gorgeous 80* weather!!!!We had sunlight left so we went to the battery where Peter pretended to be a "tree hugger"and everyone posed like statues on the bandstand... and of course my boys have to climb on the beautiful old Live Oaks

and the girls were gymnasts!!! Ahhh..nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina...

We returned to the hotel and Sarah Beth and I took a nap because we were feeling yucky...eventually, Peter and Ellen took Connor to walk on the pier and swing in the swings and see the dolphins and then to supper at Wasabi...SB and I continued to sleep off our yuckiness...and now everyone else is sleeping and I've been awake since 2 am...typical!! I am so thankful for this slice of time in Charleston and wish Pete and the other kids could have been here...

Tomorrow we leave for Conway to take DT out for his b'day and then back home because Peter has ACL surgery on Friday...please say a prayer for him...