a break from the beach

i'm getting close to wrapping up the pictures from our beach vacation with kristi. it probably seems like our family is continuously out of town, but really, it's that it just takes me forever to write about our trips. :)


one day during our visit, we took a little break from the beach and ventured downtown to the farmer's market. it was the most beautiful day... we enjoyed sampling chutneys, jellies, and oh wow, THE best grits i've ever put in my mouth. (they tasted more like mashed potatoes! :) can you say doctored up? i'm sure paula deen would have been proud of these grits!) we also feasted on pretzel dogs and homemade donuts. besides food, we enjoyed letting the kids run all over the beautiful lawn. they played with dogs, jumped on the inflatable bouncy thing, and ethan even invaded a random family's bubble extravaganza. fun was had by all. :)



"thank you, mr. eric!"
ethan smelled these donuts the minute we walked up to the farmer's market! donuts are a few-and-far-between treat at our house, so i was surprised that he recognized the smell! but oh, it was an irresistible smell! this picture was obviously taken AFTER ethan enjoyed a donut... or two.

ok, enough about the food... here are some more scenes from the lawn and the farmer's market...









after the farmer's market, kristie and i took our kids on a carriage ride around downtown charleston. this particular tour was focused more on the old homes of the area than the main historical sites of the city that i wanted her to see, so i was a little disappointed. but kristie loved it, and we did see some beautiful homes. the kids did pretty well for it being their naptime, but caroline was pretty squirmy on the back of this carriage with a very open-backed seat. it was stressful trying to keep her still and quiet... i'm seriously thankful that she didn't fall out! (though we did lose a toy, and a sweet lady chased us down the road to give it back!) as we clopped through the cobblestone streets, i couldn't help but think that the last carriage ride i took through charleston was as a newlywed, cuddled up with my sweet new husband! that was surely more relaxing! :)

kristie and i also meandered through the downtown market, and we found the cutest little knitted animal finger puppets! we got the biggest thrill choosing one for each of the kids. we even found peacocks, which of course my kids LOVED... we think they actually might be turkeys, but hey, they are peacocks to us! after our carriage ride, i took kristie on the free-honda-odyssey-air-conditioned tour of the downtown that our carriage ride didn't cover while our kids fell fast asleep. it was fun to show her all the places that i love about this city, and it made me miss my hubby!

the motley crew after our carriage ride...
caroline finally got to stand up!
kristie looks through the big basket of finger puppets at the market.
we had such a hard time deciding which ones to buy! they were all so cute!

i never tire of visiting downtown charleston... if you've been there, what is your favorite part?