Charleston

We're back! Mom drove down on Wednesday for our annual girls trip but this year it included a little boy! We decided to go to Charleston, our second visit to the city, because we both loved it so much the first time and really wanted to go back.

Let me back up for a sec and just say that Ella Ann decided to house some lice on her head last week, specifically the day before my mom arrived. Figures. Spencer was sitting beside her and saw something crawling in her hair and pulled out a bug....then another.....then another...then another, etc. We looked up pictures of lice on the Internet and, bingo, she had 'em. I have always had a fear of getting lice as a kid and now a fear of one of my kids getting them. Well even though the fear is conquered I will never be the same. I cannot get the picture of bugs (big and small) and nits (nests) in my daughter's hair out of my head. So gross. I immediately went to CVS and bought Rid, the lice shampoo. The pediatrician said the most important thing I could do was COMB and when I thought I had combed enough I should comb some more. So comb I did. For two solid hours. Ella Ann ate her dinner while I combed her hair one inch at a time with the fine-tooth comb that came in the shampoo box. I was so exhausted. Many suggested I should have just chopped her hair but I would have never, ever done that no matter how long it took! I swore, though, when I was done that there wouldn't be a single nit or bug on that head of hers. After that I had to clean, clean, clean her room, bedding and the house. I must have done a great job because I have yet to see another bug! I had to make sure she was bug-free because Rane, Mom and I were sharing a hotel room with her for the next 3 days! So that was that.

So we arrived in Charleston mid-afternoon on Thursday and hit the ground running. King Street, where all the restaurants and stores were located, was where we wanted to spend our time. The kids did great and I cannot complain. We had a heated pool at our hotel so Ella Ann spend Rane's nap time with Mimi at the pool. She loved every minute spent in the water. Rane slept okay while we were there. Sunday morning he was up at 4:30 a.m. screaming so I gave him pain reliever for his teeth and he went back to sleep, after screaming for an hour. He hated being in the stroller most of the time so that wasn't very fun. We let him out to walk often but he wouldn't hold our hands and would go the opposite direction we wanted to walk. He loved being at the park on King so he could run like crazy, as could Ella Ann. Ella Ann was quite the trooper with walking most of the time and did well while Mom and I browsed the stores. She ate her weight in cupcakes and ice cream, as did I! We love a cupcake bakery they have on King Street called "Cupcakes" and I ate the most delicious red velvet cupcake I've ever had in my life. It was bliss!

Mom and I enjoyed seafood at each meal except for breakfast. Our hotel had a wonderful breakfast buffet so Rane had a ball eating his way through the buffet. He loves grits....a true southern man! I have to applaud Ella Ann for eating whatever we ordered off the menu at every single restaurant, a first for her.

So all in all we had a wonderful trip and I miss the city already, however, I do not miss sharing a hotel room with a 4 year old and a 15 month old! Thanks again, Mom, for everything! I took over 60 pictures so click HERE to view them all.

Watching the people go by at dinner one evening.

Yummmmm! Need I say more?

"It's SO good Mommy!"

This was what it was like to walk down the street with Rane....stop and go, stop and go.

"Jimmy!" (Inside joke: My dad's best friend, Jimmy, hates it when we throw coins in fountains because he says we are wasting money so each time we see a fountain we always throw a coin and say, "Jimmy!")