"We're not from around here..."

We're back from our visit waaaayy down south to South Carolina! Everyone had fun even though the trip required a lot of patience...ten and a half hours in the car with a 3 year old and a 6 month old is no easy task.
Keith had plenty of activities planned and just enough down time for the little ones to stay rested. As expected, away from home, naps were a little challenging and there was a meltdown or two but we really had fun! Abigail is still talking a lot about the ducks, balloons, football game, etc. We adults may forget that Keith has sort of a high profile job in Anderson. As a reminder to me, when you're 3 Uncle Keith might as well be a movie star. Abigail was very impressed that a couple of random people stopped us with a "Hey Keith, how's it goin?" Very impressed. We've been home four days now and she's still reenacting it.
On Thursday evening we arrived at the hotel to freshen up before a delicious dinner at Olive Garden, a favorite restaurant for Mom, Keith and I. Abigail was thrilled to have noodles with sauce, bread and salad, ALL in the same meal! (I promise, I have made spaghetti and garlic bread with salad before but you would have thought this was a really original menu) Anyway, after that we headed back to the hotel for bedtime. Friday was filled with a trip to the park to feed the ducks, a long walk in the stroller, a delicious salad (made by Keith!) and the big football game. The game was so much fun! You haven't experienced football until you've been to a big game in the south, there is just nothing else like it. Abby and Hannah had so much to see, they almost couldn't take it all in! Saturday we slept in a little, fed the ducks again, hung out at Keith's apartment, talked politics some and visited the Great Southeast Ballon Festival. Plus, dinner at Mama Penn's was a genuine southern supper, yummy! Sunday it was time to head back.
Although we stopped more on the way home, we made the trip in the same amount of time. Andy says he wants to come along next time and maybe we should look into getting a minivan! Well, not yet. I just can't possibly turn 30 and get a minivan in the same year!

Here are some photos:

Those famous ducks!
















Saying goodbye to Uncle Keith















We think Hannah was the best dressed Westside fan! For the uninitiated, the big game was a cross-town rivalry between T.L. Hanna High School and Westside High School. Westside is a lot like Central High School, where our mom taught for years, so we root for them. Isn't the t-shirt that Mom made funny? It was even mentioned in a column in the paper.... those people must know somebody important at the newspaper!