Savannah, Georgia

On Saturday we did a day-trip down to Savannah, Georgia where we met up with Brad's sister and parents to then head their way for a few days.  Savannah was the perfect spot to rendezvous - it was amazing!

 The dads with the little ones on just one of the thousands of gorgeous streets in the city.

 Our first stop was Forsyth park where Libby was so excited to get to run around with her cousins, Lily and Kade!

 This fountain is pretty famous and has a twin fountain in Paris (which we're pretty sure we remember seeing), and another similar one in Peru - so that's the next spot we've got to go!

 Lexi loves her Grandpa!

 What a group!  And this was before Callie's gang joined up with us!  Imagine the sight we were to behold!

 Cute cousins!

 One of the 22 gorgeous squares they have throughout the city - just little parks in a square block that make the entire city so charming - I fell in love!

 When the Condie clan met up with us, we hit up a cathedral.  Great meeting spot for a group of 9 kids and 8 adults, huh?! ;)  They all managed to keep it under control pretty well, though.

 Then we hopped on a city trolley tour with the whole group.

 Libby really took it all in!

 Lexi squirmed around the whole time, but it was great.

 This was a cool WWII memorial down at the river walk area.

 We liked how the gold dome of the city hall building really stood out.

 On our tour we passed by this cemetery where it's said that some of the bored enlisted men during the Civil War (AKA "the war of Northern aggression" according to the Southerners) would sneak out at night and change things on the headstones. So, supposedly some people lived 400 years, while others died before they were born.  We gave it a quick go-over to see if we could find any of the tampered with headstones, but no such luck. Bummer!  What a weird thing to do when you're bored, huh?

 For dinner, we decided to go to the Pirate's House.  It was a really fun restaurant that everyone loved, until the bill came, of course! ;)  Are we scary pirates, or what?!

 The kids' menu turned into this awesome pirate paraphernalia.

 Lily looked pretty darn adorable in hers!

 One of the local pirates parading around the restaurant.

 The coolest part of the restaurant was that the whole thing was built around the oldest house in all of Georgia (which is what the sign we're standing next to says).

 Libby found the perfect house and is ready to move in!

 Before commencing the 3 hour trek home, we headed across the river to catch a glimpse of the city from the other side.  The sun was setting and it was gorgeous!

 Our Southern belles sure are pretty in pink!

 And Brad thought the Savannah skyline was the perfect backdrop for some high-flying fun...

times two! ;)

Savannah might win as my new favorite city in the world - it was quaint, but so picturesque and just made you want to spend all your time strolling the streets.  What a perfect day-trip!

Crabbing with the Condies

On Friday night we got to have the ultimate "locals" experience - we got to go crabbing.

 Ellie, Libby, Kailey, and Shaun getting the traps set.

 Lexi and Decker enjoyed stuffing their faces in the stroller for a good part of the time.

 Brad and Libby doing some prep-work on the beach.

The kids all had tons of fun combing the beach for all kinds of hermit crabs and other fun creatures.

 We caught some!  Hard to see, but there are some little ones in the net.  Unfortunately, you're not allowed to keep them if they are less than five inches across, which most of ours were.  So, by the end we only got two that qualified - and even then, it was a generous 5 inches!

 Shaun taught Brad how to throw out the shrimping net, too.  As with most things, Brad was ridiculously good after just one try.  Sometimes it's so annoying being married to him! ;)

 Once out of the stroller, Lexi made it her sole purpose to try to fling herself over the side of the pier.  She was a climbing fool and was a complete handful!

 Shaun with one of our two qualifiers.

 Evidence of a great time - the dirtier, the better, right?!

 Just across the way we found a cool fountain/pool area that the kids loved.  There were signs that said "no swimming", but honestly, if that doesn't call out, "swim in me", I don't know what does!

 Ellie was the first of the half-naked kids...

 joined shortly thereafter by Lexi...

who then one-upped the deal by going buck naked after the completely saturated diaper was no longer viable.  And kids aren't supposed to play in this?!  Are you kidding me?

We loved crabbing and once we finished, we headed home for an authentic home-cooked meal of shrimp (caught by Shaun previously) and grits, and a few morsels of crab that we managed to scrape off our not-quite-5-inch crabs!  It was delicious and so much fun! Thanks, Condies!

Harbor Tour

On Friday morning we decided to go on a harbor tour of Charleston.

 We almost missed the boat and had to race to get on, but then ended up with perfect seats right on the bow.  We got very lucky!

 It was a bit windy, but Lexi enjoyed the hair-whipping!

 Here we are in front of Fort Sumter. 

 After the tour we were all starving and super hot, so we decided to take the girls back to the pineapple fountain to cool off and eat our picnic lunch.  They loved it!

Libby even got to cruise around in the upper levels.  What a great family outing!

Date Night in Charleston

 While Libby napped after our plantation tour, Brad and I took the youngest three for a walk through Callie's neighborhood before we left on our date night. Yep, we left one babysitter with all 7 kids!  Crazy!

  That is Callie's house in the background.  How cool to have this awesome pond right in their backyard!

 Their nature trails were amazing!

 We loved this bridge over the swamp land.  How cool!

 Once the sitter arrived, Callie and Shaun took us on our own personal tour of Charleston.  This fountain is right on the water and part of a cool park.

 How romantic!  I loved that there were swings just hanging there on the pier...what a great way to relax and enjoy the sights.

 Callie and I with the straw-grass flowers we got for the girls.

 We walked through Battery Park, and what type of tourists would we be if we didn't get a picture sitting on a cannon?!

 So fun getting to hang out with my best friends! ;)

 Just one of the many amazing houses in the city.  It was gorgeous!

And no trip to Charleston would be complete without some good ol' fashioned fried chicken!  We waited forever to get into this restaurant, but it was worth it!  Jestine's was delicious!

We had such a fun date night, and best of all, all 7 children were alive when we got home!