Weekend Recap – Charleston, SC

Happy Monday! We’re back home after a three day weekend full of traveling and family time – we drove to Charleston, SC to watch Blake’s sister, Ali, graduate from College of Charleston! This morning was a bit of a struggle to get the day going, but after a cup of coffee and a hot shower, I’m excited to take on the week.

Friday

Friday morning we woke up and started our day as we normally would, and packed up the car in between feeding Luke and grabbing his last minute essentials. We hit the road right before his first nap and it worked perfectly – as soon as we pulled out of the driveway, he was out like a light and slept for a solid hour and a half which gave us a good head start out of the city while he was sleeping. It was our first long trip with him, so I was a little nervous about how the drive would go, but he really did so great on the way down! We stopped a few times for a quick walk around/diaper change, but made really good time and got into Charleston around 3:30pm. We met up with Blake’s dad and sister at the hotel and headed out for dinner on Sullivan’s Island. We ended up at Mex 1 Coastal Cantina and it was amazing – really yummy food with simple, fresh ingredients. After dinner, we walked over to the beach and took Luke on his first walk along the sand. He LOVED the beach and kept dipping his hand into the water/sand. He also tried to scoop a huge handful of wet sand into his mouth but we caught him just in time 🙂

We’re hoping to take a family beach trip this fall and can’t wait to see his reaction then!

After our beach adventure, we went back to the hotel to put Luke to bed and called it an early night ourselves. It was the first time Luke slept in a pack n play so I wasn’t sure how he would do, but he actually slept pretty well for the most part!

Saturday

We woke up bright and early Saturday for Ali’s graduation downtown. College of Charleston’s graduation ceremonies are so unique – the graduates don’t wear caps and gowns but instead are required to wear all white (the girls typically wear a white dress and the guys wear white tuxes) and the female graduates carry red roses. The ceremony is in The Cistern which is a huge lawn covered by gorgeous oak trees in the middle of campus.

They were live streaming the ceremony from a few buildings on campus, so Luke and I headed to a building right across from the lawn while the rest of the family sat outside. It ended up being around 91 degrees on Saturday, so I was grateful they had these satellite viewing locations with access to a bathroom!

Luke did great all day and we walked around campus for a little during his naptime which put him right to sleep. This was my first time on the campus and it is so beautiful – I couldn’t get over all the old trees and the stunning buildings on every corner.

After the ceremony, we walked around Campus for a bit before heading to The Battery to walk around by the water. The breeze off the water felt so nice and we enjoyed the views and looking at the aircraft carriers across the water. We went back to the hotel for a quick break before heading out to dinner at a restaurant called Waters Edge on Shem Creek in Mt Pleasant. It’s right on the water and we had a window view and saw a few dolphins swimming up and down and watched the fishermen come in after a day of fishing. It was so nice to catch up with Blake’s family and it was just a really great evening.

Sunday

Sunday was actually my birthday and first Mother’s Day! Blake got up and grabbed Luke when he woke up and they woke me up with my Mother’s Day gifts to open in bed. Blake put together a really thoughtful gift which of course made me cry. I’m just so grateful for my little family and love being a mom. Some days it’s so trying and I go to bed exhausted, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I love that little boy so much I feel like my heart is going to burst and Blake and I talk all the time about how we can’t believe he’s ours.

After getting ready and packing up (man…traveling with a baby is crazy. I feel like we literally brought everything from his nursery with us. It took us so many trips to bring everything down to the car!), we drove downtown to meet the family for brunch at High Cotton. I’d been there a few times before, and once again it did not disappoint! They had a prix fixe menu for Mother’s Day so I started off with a mimosa, followed by an amazing bibb salad and ended my meal with the most delicious french toast. It. was. so. good!

Luke started getting fussy at the end of the meal since he was a little overdue for a nap, so I took him on a quick stroll around Charleston and he fell asleep almost as soon as we left the restaurant.

After we ate, we hopped back in the car to head home. Luke was pretty over being in the car at this time, so our trip home wasn’t quite as smooth as our trip down, but overall we made great time and made it home around 6:00pm.

We played with Luke for a bit and then went through his bedtime routine and put him down for the night before settling onto the couch to celebrate my birthday. Blake offered to make or pick me up whatever I wanted for dinner…and for some reason the only thing I really wanted were Publix chicken wings and a slice of cookie cake 🙂 He ran out and picked that up along with some flowers and when he got back I opened my presents and lounged around for the rest of the night. It was a simple celebration but it was perfect – I felt so loved all day and am glad we were able to spend the day together as a family! I wasn’t able to see my own Mom on Mother’s Day this year, but wish her the happiest of days and hope she felt loved all day as well 🙂

And that’s about it! If you’ve read this far…I’m impressed. Thanks for following along and I hope everyone has a great week!

xoxo,

Lauren