We just returned from our ten day trip to North and South Carolina last night. We flew out to the South to spend time with Ron's family and to see some sights and sounds in two Southern cities, Charleston and Myrtle Beach, that we had never visited before. We had a great time and were blessed with good weather almost the entire time and loved spending time with Ron's family. Overall, it was so wonderful to get these cousins together after three years and to give them a chance to make some memories together. We loved swimming in the warm Atlantic ocean, visiting incredible, historical places, and eating delicious Southern food. It was a fabulous family vacation and I am so grateful that we were able to bring these West and East coast cousins together before the older ones grow up and start living their adult lives!
July 10th:
After flying to Raleigh and renting our car, we drove the two hours to Jacksonville where Uncle Derek and Aunt Renee live. We stopped for dinner at Smithfields for some Carolina BBQ on the way to their house.
July 11th:
We started off this day with Jake taking the boys to the pond across the street from his house to go fishing. This was Emmett's first time fishing and the only one to catch a fish! This is the awesome picture that Jake took.
After a slow morning, we packed up and headed out to Renee's favorite beach on Topsail Island. We couldn't get over how blue and warm the water was there. We spent the afternoon boogie boarding and swimming in the wonderful water. Here is Emmett after riding a wave onto the beach.
Logan and Jake.
A cousin photo minus Regan and Addison who both had to work.
The Hartland fam.
Our two families met up with Lola and her friend, Madonna, for dinner at this really cool restaurant called Mike's Farm that we had eaten at five years ago after our trip to the Outer Banks. We had fun wandering around the grounds before our table was ready for dinner.
The group photo of all of thirteen of us enjoying dinner together.
The cute cousin photo we took under the covered bridge after dinner.
From left to right:
Regan, Addison, Ella, Lia, Emmett, Jake, and Logan
The entire group under the bridge.
Before heading to the beach earlier in the day, the kids were introduced to the UTV that Derek and Renee inherited from Renee's dad. Although all three of the older children enjoyed driving it around on the country road outside Derek's home, Ella fell in love with it the most and constantly asked if she could take someone for a ride whenever we were at their house that weekend. It was the cutest thing to see her driving this "buggie" with such confidence and I loved going on twilight runs with her both evenings in the beautiful countryside.
July 12th:
We had a second slow morning at Derek's house and the kids enjoyed driving the UTV around the neighborhood again.
Although Regan and Addison had to work again, the rest of us went to a fun center where the kids and dads rode go karts first.
We then headed into play some video games in the arcade. Here are Emmett, Lia, and Logan playing a game side by side.
Logan and Lia shooting basketballs in a different arcade game.
After leaving the fun center, Derek and Renee took Lia back to their house while the rest of us headed to a beach on Emerald Isle. We enjoyed playing in the Atlantic Ocean for a second afternoon in a row.
Ella posing for a picture after riding a wave onto the beach.
Emmett, Logan, Jake, and Ella waiting to catch a wave in the water.
After coming home from the beach, we enjoyed eating a delicious Filipino dinner made by Lola and Madonna. Here are Ella, Emmett, and Logan eating their food.
A group photo of the grandkids with Lola before she left to go home that evening.
July 13th:
We left Jacksonville on Monday morning and drove the 4.5 hours to Charleston, South Carolina. Since I loved quaint, historic towns, I had been told years ago that I would love visiting Charleston, so it has been on my must-see travel list for quite some time. And it did not disappoint! We spent two of the most magical days in this city, exploring so many different places! After arriving there in the afternoon and checking into our hotel, we headed out for the evening. We first walked down King Street which is known for its high-end shops and restaurants.
We then wandered down to the historic district and enjoyed a delicious meal at a cool seafood restaurant called the Charleston Crab House.
We then spent the most magical evening wandering through the historic district looking at all of the beautiful homes built in the 1700s that people are still living in today! We couldn't get over how many churches and graveyards are nestled in between these historical homes. Here are the children standing in front of one of the churches that we passed on our evening walk.
The kids standing in front of one of the many graveyards we passed.
During our walk, we visited Rainbow Row which is a famous area of the historic district where 13 Georgian homes in a row are all painted in pastel colors.
We then stumbled across Waterfront Park located on the Charleston Harbor. I had wanted to visit this park while we were in Charleston so that we could see the beautiful pineapple fountain that is located there.
A picture of the fountain without us in front of it. After exploring the historic district for a few hours, we walked back to our hotel. The three younger children and I then spent a fun hour swimming in the outdoor pool in the dark while a lightening storm lit up the sky above us. It was a very cool, Southern experience.
July 14th:
We sadly woke up to the one heaven rain storm of our trip this morning that slowed us down from leaving our hotel as early as I wanted. After eating breakfast in our hotel lobby and waiting it out in our room for another hour or so, we left with our rain jackets on around 10:30. After waiting about 30 minutes to take a city bus to the historic district, the rain started to slow down and then eventually stopped. We were then blessed with a sunny afternoon which was wonderful! We first spent an hour or so shopping in the famous Charleston City Market which consists of four blocks of vendors selling their local goods. We found some fun souvenirs to buy here.
We then went on a one-hour horse and carriage tour through the historic district which was one of my favorite activities of the entire trip. It was so interesting and fun to wander these beautiful streets again while riding in a carriage and learning about the history of this city from our driver.
A photo that our driver took of us while sitting in the horse carriage.
After our tour was over, we were able to take a picture in the barn with our horses, Yogi and Boo Boo.
After grabbing a quick lunch at a grocery store, we walked from the horse barn to the dock where we caught the ferry to Fort Sumter which is located on a small island in Charleston Harbor. This fort is famous because it is where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861.
Since we were on the last ferry boat of the day, Ella and Emmett and several other children were able to help the park ranger take down the flag for the night.
A picture of the four kids standing on top of the battery with the original brick walls of the fort in the background.
Emmett sitting on a cannon at the top of the fort.
After spending an hour at Fort Sumter, we took the ferry back to Charleston and enjoyed eating dinner at another cool restaurant in the historic district called Poogan's Smokehouse where we enjoyed some Southern BBQ.
After dinner, we decided that it was time to head back to the hotel to enjoy the pool one more time. We enjoyed walking home through a different area of the historic district and even stumbled across some cobblestone streets. Here is a picture of the kids standing on one of these streets with another beautiful Southern home in the background. While Ron and the three younger children went to the hotel pool, I decided to go on an impromptu walk in the historic neighborhood by hotel and spent the most wonderful 30 minutes wandering these streets at twilight. I then joined Ron and the kids for another night time dip in the pool before heading to bed after our long day.
July 15th:
Since people still live in the majority of the historic homes in Charleston, there are only a few homes that have been converted into house museums that visitors can tour. While on my walk the night before, I stumbled across the Aiken-Rhett house that I immediately recognized from some YouTube videos that I had watched while researching our trip before we left. I decided right then that we needed to come back and tour this house the next morning before we left Charleston. We were able to walk to this home after checking out of our hotel and enjoyed 1.5 hours exploring this incredible house built in the 1830s while listening to an audio tour. It was so fascinating!
All four children standing on the massive porch outside the parlor during our tour.
Ella and Emmett standing in the Drawing Room where ladies would "withdraw" during a party after eating dinner. The last owner who lived in this home until 1968 actually converted this room to her bedroom.
A family picture inside the entry way of the home.
After finishing our tour of the home, we visited the largest church in Charleston called the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on our way out of town. Here are all four children standing in front of it.
We were able to go inside the church for several minutes to marvel at the beautiful architecture and to show the kids what a Catholic church looks like inside. Emmett was so sweet and wanted to say a prayer while we were sitting on a pew. Here is the picture that Lia snuck of him while he was praying.
After visiting the cathedral, got in our car to make the two hour drive to Myrtle Beach. I was so sad to leave this charming town that I loved visiting so much! On our way out of the historic district, I noticed that the name of the street that we were driving on was called Logan Street, so I asked Ron to pull over so that I could take a picture of Logan under the street sign.
After driving to Myrtle Beach, we arrived at our darling beach house (the light green one on the right side) around 4:30 p.m. Since we got there about an hour before Lola and Derek's and Renee's families, we were able to unpack and enjoy some time in our private pool before they arrived.
After Ron's family joined us at the beach house, we decided to drive into town to eat dinner at a cool shopping area on the water called Barefoot Landing. After a delicious pizza dinner, we enjoyed wandering in and out of several shops together.
July 16th:
Since our beach house was only a half a block walk from the beach, we enjoyed spending several hours there together on Thursday. Here are all of the cousins hanging out together on the sand.
Although the waves weren't as good to boogie board on like the beaches we visited in North Carolina, we still enjoyed spending a lot of time swimming in the warm water. Here is a cool picture that I was able to take of the three boy walking down the beach together.
After a few hours at the beach, we headed back to our house for a late lunch. Here are all four kids standing on the boardwalk that went from the road to the beach.
After lunch, we spent some time in our private pool in the backyard.
Logan, Ella, and Jake then walked about 20 minutes in the crazy heat to buy ice cream from a local shop near our neighborhood. Here they are heading out on their adventure!
We then ate an early dinner before heading out for the evening for the family photo shoot that I had arranged months ago as a Mother's Day gift for Lola. Sadly, since Robbie and Austin did not end up joining us for this trip, it was not a complete family photo like I had planned, but we still were able to get lots of pictures together to give to Lola.
July 17th:
We headed out this morning to go on a 1.5 hour long river tour on the Waccamaw River which was the activity that I wanted to do the most while we were staying in Myrtle Beach. It turned out to be such a cool activity as we got to explore the beautiful Waccamaw River and Intracoastal Waterway. Here is a picture that I took of all of the cousins before boarding the boat.
The Hartland Fam on the boat.
We saw many birds on this tour including ospreys, egrets, and herons. We were also able to see several large osprey nests at the top of the Cypress trees that lined the river. Here is a picture of one of these nests in the middle tree of this picture.
The most exciting wildlife sighting was of several alligators. We even had one swim right up next to our boat.
After the boat tour, our two families separated because Lia and I wanted to go find the Socastee turn bridge that our river tour guide had told us about where a scene from Season 5 of Outer Banks was filmed. Here are Ella and Emmett standing on the bridge.
We then stopped for a delicious lunch at the Dockside Dawgs restaurant located right next to the turn bridge.
After lunch, we returned back to the beach house for some more pool time...
and beach time.
After our water time, we all cleaned up and headed out to another fun shopping area in town called Broadway at the Beach. Here are all of the grandkids with Lola before heading out the door.
While at this shopping area, we stumbled across a live juggling show going on in one of the courtyards in between the shops. Emmett was chosen with a few other boys to participate in the show.
July 18th:
The kids started out the morning with another dip in the pool.
We then headed to the beach one last time. Here is cute Emmett walking with a beach ball.
And Ella was the one to pull the wagon.
Emmett and Lia playing in the surf.
Ella relaxing on the beach chair.
The Hartland Fam and the Atlantic Ocean.
We were then going to spend the evening at the Water Park, but discovered last minute that it is only open in the evenings on Friday nights. So we had to come up with a Plan B and headed back into town to drive go karts on a multilevel track. Here is Lia cruising by me on the track!
We then headed over to the outlet mall for some more Lola shopping before finishing off the evening by eating our final dinner together at a cool restaurant located inside an actual old fire station.
One last cousin photo before leaving the firehouse.
July 19th:
We packed up and headed out on Sunday morning. As we were driving away from our beach house, I had the kids get out of the car for one last picture on the boardwalk leading to our beach. We had such a fun time staying there and being so close to the beach!
Before making the three hour drive to the Raleigh airport, we stopped at Duck Donuts in Myrtle Beach to grab some of these famous donuts (that we discovered in the Outer Banks five years ago) for the road. Here are the kids waiting for our donuts to be made.
A shot of the kids outside the donut shop before we hit the road for our long travel day home. We arrived at our house that night about 10:30 pm Seattle time. We were so glad to be back home again, but also so grateful for the wonderful memories we made in the south with Ron's family.
