We had such a fun time on our little family getaway to Charleston, South Carolina! It was a work reward trip for Dada, and luckily we got to tag along and celebrate Scarlett’s third birthday at the beach.

Day 1: Travel Day + Waterfront Park

Getting ready to board the plane (half the excitement of going on a vacation for Scarlett:)

We’ve arrived! The babes did great on both flights—each was a little over an hour with a short 30-min layover in Nashville in between.

Eating a late lunch at one of the hotel’s restaurants while Dada got us checked in at the Belmond Charleston Place.

After attempting a nap (August slept a bit, but Scarlett was too jazzed up:), we walked to Waterfront Park while keeping an eye out for somewhere to eat for dinner.

Across the water you can see Fort Sumpter, where I believe they do tours. No history lessons for these kiddos quite yet, but maybe someday;)

After walking the pier we stopped in Amen Street for dinner for some good southern food including shrimp and hush puppies.

Baby bathtime to wind down after a long day!

Day 2: Scarlett’s Birthday + Folly Beach

Happy 3rd Birthday, Scarlett Rose! (I only included a few of the birthday-related pictures here since they are in her birthday post posted previously.)

Breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Great start to her day as far as bunny’s concerned!

Scarlett opened a few birthday presents after breakfast and then we got ready to go to the beach!

August’s first time at the beach! He loved playing in the sand (also putting it in his mouth) and splashing around in the water! What is this bright thing in my eyes? We don’t have that back home..

Scarlett took a few minutes to warm up to going into the water, but once she did she had a blast!  

May the Fourth Be With You! We stopped at Pier 101 for lunch which was nice because we just walked along the pier while we waited for our food.   

View from our hotel room—the birthday girl all dressed up in her pretty cherry dress 🍒 

Photo opp outside the hotel before walking to dinner.

Spaghetti was the birthday girl’s request so we went to an Italian restaurant called Monza that turned out to be pretty good 🍕🍝 

And afterwards…birthday cupcakes! Happy 3rd Birthday, Scarlett Rose!

Day 3: Magnolia Plantation 

Breakfast at the hotel again while deciding what to do for the day.

Visiting one of the many Charleston plantations was on a lot of the things-to-do lists, so we chose Magnolia Plantation which seemed like the most kid-friendly, offering a petting zoo, boat tours, and beautiful gardens to walk through.

The petting zoo had a good variety of animals including deer, peacocks, an albino raccoon, donkeys, turkeys, chickens, ducks, geese, miniature horses, an owl, and more.  

We didn’t do a house or boat tour because of the limited available times, but we enjoyed walking through the beautiful gardens.

Someone woke up on the stinky side that day;)

Not sure what effect Dada was going for here with his photography.

After some (surprisingly good) pbj for lunch at the plantation, we stopped to see the horses and donkeys before calling it a day.

After another unsuccessful attempt at naptime, we went to dinner at Butcher & Bee. This was my favorite place we ate while here—minus the splinter dada got in the seat of his pants.

Goomy’s first taste of ice cream! I think he liked it.

Day 4: Isle of Palms Beach

In our last full day we decided to hit the beach again, and this time we went to Isle of Palms since I’d read that it was good for young families. This beach was definitely more quiet than Folly Beach, but that may be because we parked in the wrong area, with no showers or umbrellas to rent in sight🙈 Luckily it was a cloudier day so we didn’t really need an umbrella for our short stay anyway.

More fun in the sand!

 

Scarlett found the heart of Te Fiti!

Later that night we walked to Mellow Mushroom for dinner for more pizza.

Then back at the hotel the babies went for a pre-bedtime dip in the pool. It was August’s first time in a swimming pool and he loved it!

Day 5: Last Day

After such a fun long weekend we were sad to go home but excited to get back to a more normal sleep schedule.

Despite August’s tears in the above pic (he wasn’t crying he had just sneezed), we had a great trip! I love exploring new places with our little family and I can’t wait for our next adventure!