Spring Break- Charleston

Let's be honest here. I will probably never get "caught up" posting about the events in our family from the past two years. Let's just say we've done lots of fun stuff and taken lots of cool pictures.

In a renewed effort to document family activities and use this blog as a form of family journal/scrapbook, I present our weekend trip to Charleston, SC.

We packed up the van on Friday afternoon after Noel got home from work. After loading everything in the pouring rain, almost forgetting Noel's camera (he said that would have been a good excuse for him to buy a new camera...keep dreaming, buddy.), and the kids asking for treats before we had completely backed out of the driveway, we were off. There was a bunch of road construction, which added about 1 1/2 hours to the drive. The kids were great, despite the traffic. We didn't get checked into the hotel until 11:30.

On Saturday, we went to the Birds of Prey Aviary. It was sooooo cool! I'm not sure who liked it more, the boys or me. They did a flight demonstration, which was the high light. Greg had a fun time taking pictures with my camera; the boy takes after his dad . His favorite bird was the kestrel who did this amazing dive to catch his "prey." My favorite was the Harris hawks who hunt as a family group. The males get the prey out in the open and the females do the snatching.

Brighton was more interested in riding in the stroller than Evan was.

Posing in front of the bald eagles

Noel's favorite was this Ural owl.

Ural owl babies. There was a wild eagle flying overhead, and it was interesting to see how protective the trainers became.

After everyone took a nice long nap, we packed up a picnic and headed to the beach. The park at the beach closed two minutes before we got there (oops), so we just went to the public access entrance to the beach and ate in the back of the van instead. Every time we go to the beach, the boys say they don't want to go, but then they have a heyday once we get there.

Sunday morning, we went to church. After some lunch at the hotel, we went to historic downtown Charleston. What a beautiful city! The weather was nice and sunny, perfect for walking around and exploring.

 I'm the luckiest!

I really am!

If it had been warmer, I can guarantee our boys would have been wading in the fountains!

Monday morning, we went to the USS Yorktown, a decommissioned aircraft carrier. That was so cool. There was this really nice veteran at the entrance that asked us if the boys were our body guards. The boys loved that Noel could tell them all about the different rooms and aircrafts on the flight deck. After the USS Yorktown, we headed home. It was a great trip!