Vacation: Part Two

After spending 4 wonderfully relaxing days in Surfside Beach, we packed up all our things and left Monday evening to head to Charleston, which is barely 3 hours from Tommy & Tracy's.  My parents have had their condo in Charleston for a few years, and while I've been a couple of times, Evan and the kids had not, and we thought this would be a perfect way to visit them and vacation together!

We arrived and couldn't tell who was more excited, Nana and Grandpaul or Jane and Luke!  They couldn't believe they were with Nana and GP, not at their house, but on vacation - something quite miraculous for these 2!  We stayed down in Charleston for nearly 5 days and had an amazing time - we ate great (naturally), went to the pool, the beach, site-seeing in downtown Charleston, visited a plantation, played games, and in general just enjoyed being together away from work and home!  As usual, my parents know how to host and the kids were excited every day to see what the agenda would bring.  In true grandparent form, my kids were spoiled with donuts for breakfast (a must!), ice cream treats, zucchini bread and many other things that make vacationing with grandparents extra special for a 3 and 2 year old!  

The time flew by and we packed things up on Friday night and awoke super early on Saturday to hit the road again.  Fearful that the drive home would be disasterous (it's never as fun leaving vacation as it is going), we were pleasantly surprised, again, that the kids did great in the car and we made it all the way back to Rochester by early evening!

An amazingly wonderful vacation for us and many memories made...we may need to consider this every year! :)

The night we arrived we walked up to a new fro-yo place right near my parent's condo.  Love this picture; 2 of Luke's favorite dudes!

A special moment with just Nana...and some yummy frozen yogurt!

An afternoon at the park

That also included some popsicles (Jane didn't hide her evidence very well)

Luke loved the water

The kids loved swimming at night...and so did we!

Evan and I were granted an entire day to ourselves, a real vacation treat!  We visited one of the oldest and still functioning plantations in the south.  It was amazing to see history preserved and learn something new while down there.  Here is the entrance to the plantation lined with dozens of oak trees

The plantation house, which is still being lived in today, although the bottom floor is used for hourly tours.  Completely and utterly fascinating for us history buffs.

Love my 3 1/2 year old!

Eating breakfast on the "veranda"

Kicking G-Paul's butt at Memory

Jammie time with Nana...

...and story time with GPaul

Chocolate donut for breakfast?  "YES!" says Luke

An amazing little trip we went on to this Angel Oak tree.  I believe the largest Oak Tree in the world - check it out!  Hard to capture in it's entirity, but you get the point.  Breathtaking!

The drive home after a jam-packed and highly memorable vacation!

My daughter who NEVER sleeps in the car bit the bullet about an hour away from home.