south carolina...

 This past week, we were lucky enough to be able to tag along with edward to south carolina.  He had some training for 3 days for BP and we decided to make a trip out of it, since i've never been east, and he's never been there... and we have family in GA that came up to play for a few days.. so it worked out and it was fun... once we finally got there.

My trip started out HORRIBLY.   First off, ed and i were not on the same flight.. and since he was flying  on the governments dime, he couldn't take a kid {and he go there 4 hours before us and had to check in  blah blah...} so i had both kids.  That's fine. i've flown alone before with them.. but never cross country!

i picked the shortest & cheapest flight i could find.. on such short notice.  sadly, my options weren't good.. but best option was to go from tucson to chicago {midway, not o'hare} then charleston.  not too bad. first flight.. not so good. both kids got restless and would not sleep.. it was a full flight. i kept mack in underwear.. thankfully she didn't pee her pants but the poor guy next to me had to keep getting up so i could take her.  not the best.  the second flight, much better cause it wasn't full and i had room to spread out. mack slept and e played nice.

i got to the airport and went to go rent a car {mind you i KNOW i should have reserved one but i really didn't think there would be a problem} ALL. SOLD. OUT.  seriously.  EVERY car in the charleston area was gone.  apparently it was spring break. and apparently everyone wanted to got to SC.  i started bawling. seriously, i was panicking. the hotel ed was at was too far for a shuttle. i didn't wanna cram my crap in a taxi {nor have i ever been in one before or how to get anywhere in SC or how to work a taxi when traveling with kids}.  there was a nice gentleman who offered to let me use his computer to try to look up cars online.  no luck.  then another man offered to take me to ed. now, i know that is kinda creepy but i had an OK feeling about him. he was a grandpa-y type.   he just had to wait another 30 minutes for his buisness partner to arrive then he could take us.  seriously, i had exhausted all my other options and was so tired from the long day of travel.. i just went with my gut and let these guys take me.  they were super super nice and got me to ed.  i bawled almost the whole time:)

Anyway, tuesday i was just fine staying in the hotel all day to rest from my hectic monday and wait for ed to get off work and family to arrive from GA.  {they brought us a rental car on their drive out, it was a life saver!}  Anyway, on to pictures!...{all collages cause out of 200+ pictures, i a. don't want to load single ones and b. can't narrow down:)}.. enjoy!

we played in the hotel.. ate at lots of fun restaurants.. went to a local park that lead to a pier.. and yes.. i made my family drive to the north carolina border so that i could get the SC and NC state signs:) {i tried to take ed into going to GA too but it was a no go.. next time!1}

we went to the local children's museum with my friend, nichole,{she is from charleston.. i worked with her at LDS hospital when she was a traveling nurse... she showed us this place.. it was fun to see her!}

some of the great views SC has to offer... 

we went to the aquarium. mack had a blast.. her favorite part was seeing nemo and dory:)

we went on a boat ride out to take a tour of Ft. Sumter {start of the civil war}

went to two beaches.. the first.. was not a success and the kids hated it {granted, the atlantic is FREEZING}  the 2nd was a planned day at isle of palms and they loved it.. e loved to eat the sand and mack found a mini pool in the sand to play in.

we had a great trip, but are glad to be home.  traveling alone with little ones is hard.. so i may not be doing that distance again for awhile:) {the way home they were much better.. the 2nd flight was just an hour late and delays and slow traveling so that was hard, but we made it!}