Alli's Trip to SC

My best friend from back home came to visit us in SC a couple of weeks ago.  It was so nice to be able to have a nice laid back visit that you can only really have when your best friend visits!  We hadn't seen her in about four months, so alot had changed in that time... she had gotten engaged, Jace had turned into a toddler, and I had gotten fatter.  :)

I picked up Alli from the airport on Thursday afternoon and since she was starving from her travels we swung by Chick-Fil-A on the way home.  It was her first time eating Chick-Fil-A and I think she was a fan.  She got settled in a bit after lunch and toured our new house (ok... let's be honest, our house "tour" takes about 30 seconds!).  Then we headed down to downtown Summerville to walk around a bit and enjoy the weather.  We stopped in at Single Smile Cafe for some dessert-like coffee first of course!  That night we grilled out at our place and hung out on the patio.  We had grilled veggies, chicken wings, shrimp skewers, and beer bread.  Afterwards Jace headed to bed and we hung out on the patio for a while.

The next day we headed downtown Charleston to walk around and see the sights.  We parked over near the Battery and walked all along the bay, looking at all the old homes and all the history.  Then we cut over to King Street and walked along window shopping and searching for some ice cream.  As we were almost to the old fashioned ice cream shop we saw two girls pass us with the most amazing bowls of frozen yogurt topped with all sorts of treasures.  Change of plans!  We checked out the frozen yogurt shop which was called 32 degrees.  It was awesome... paradise actually!  They had several flavors of frozen yogurt to sample, then you were given a big bowl and told to help yourself to the "bar".  It was all self serve, you could fill up your bowl with as many flavors and toppings as you wanted, and then you just paid based on the weight.  They had about 50 toppings ranging from candys, to fruits, to cookies, and syrups.  The price ended up being really reasonable too.  Jace was obsessed, and getting hyper from the bites I was sharing with him.

Walking along the bay

The Battery

Trying to get a mommy-Jace pic.  No good thanks to
Earle and Deloris in the background ;)

A+J walking along the Battery

Love this picture

Alli in front of some homes on the Battery

Frozen yogurt at 32 degrees

Obsessed :)

True happiness is only a frozen yogurt away for this guy.

That night we decided to have taco night at home, complete with fresh made pico de gallo, and strawberry short cake with home made whipped cream for dessert.  Mmmm.  After Jace was in bed Alli and I headed out to Margaritas, a local mexican restaurant and had pina coladas on the patio.  Unfortunately, mid-pina colada it started raining.  We decided to check out a local bar in downtown Summerville instead... but after being in a smoke filled meat market for about five minutes we both decided we were sort of "over it" and headed home.  :)

The next day it was a little overcast so instead of heading to the beach we decided to do a historical tour.  We decided to head down to Mount Pleasant and see Boone Hall Plantation.  Jace stayed home with Tate so that we could enjoy our day child-free!  Boone Hall Plantation is known for it's "Isle of Oaks" entrance to the home that you may recognize from several movies, mainly "Gone With the Wind".  The house was also used in several movies, most recently "The Notebook" (it was Allie's parents house if you've seen it).  Boone Hall Plantation is still a working farm and you can pick your own fresh produce there through out the year.

We toured the house (underwhelming honestly...), had some home-made ice cream, toured the old slave houses, and then took a tram around the entire property.  The tram was definitely my favorite part... we traveled through several strange looking forests and saw a lot of fun wild life as we learned about the history of Boone Hall Plantation.

Isle of Oaks

Taking dorky pictures of each other :)

Alli's turn!

The original slave cabins still line the property

The plantation house.

On the tram

Weirdness on our tram ride

More weird and super cool scenery.



The row of slave houses being toured


After we left Boone Hall we headed just down the road to the ocean.  We shared a small lunch at Coconut Joe's right on the ocean.  After that we headed home, stopping at the store on the way.  At the store we picked up all sorts of bad-for-us junk food and some red box movies.  For dinner that night we made a smorgesborg of junky appetizers... loaded nachos, potato chips and french onion dip, etc.  We watched "Blue Valentine" and "Love and Other Drugs".  It was nice to have a laid back evening at home and both movies were actually pretty good.

Lunch at Coconut Joe's

The next morning we were going to head to the ocean by ourselves but Tate and Jace decided they'd come along as well.  We went to Folly Beach and had plans to try Melvin's BBQ for lunch and Bowen's Island Restaurant for dinner while we were out there... but forgot we live in the "bible belt" and both were closed because it was Sunday.  Either way we still had fun laying out on the beach and then afterwards got some appetizers at the Crab Shack right off the beach.

Beach boy!

At the crab house on Folly Beach

After leaving Folly Beach we headed back to downtown Charleston and browsed the vendors and shops along Market Street.  We sampled praline candy, bought Charleston t-shirts, and did other touristy stuff.  We ended up eating dinner at the Noisy Oyster on Market Street before heading back to Summerville.  Unfortunately Alli didn't realize she was allergic to what she ordered for dinner and she spent the evening throwing up.... so needless to say we took it easy and called it an early night.

Tate's "super flattering" angle of us at Noisy Oyster on Market St

Stud muffin

Luckily the next morning Alli was feeling normal again so we spent the morning at our pool with Jace.  It was a little bit of a cooler day, but still warm enough to swim for a little while.  After swimming we headed downtown Charleston again to walk around and soak up the environment for a little longer before we had to drop Alli off at the airport.  That evening we said goodbye to Alli after her 4.5 day visit that flew by way too quickly.  I'm so glad she made the trip out and got to see where we live now and get a little vacation from work.  We'll be seeing her in just a few weeks again when we head home for a visit, so that made saying bye a little easier!

Let's go, let's go!

Ready to jump in our pool, with or without mommy's help!

Mr. floaty to the rescue

A + J in front of the American Theater on King St right
before we said our goodbyes.