Charleston in Charge

Last weekend we flew our whole crew down to Charleston, South Carolina for the wedding of Chris's cousin, Kristen.  It was Danny's first time on a plane and let's just say he didn't exactly appreciate having to sit still during the flight.  In fact, he simply refused.  Instead, we spent a lot of time hanging out with the stewardesses in the back of the plane and walking up and down the aisles.

Also, this happened.

The older kids were a lot easier to entertain.  How did anyone ever travel with kids before iPads???

Unfortunately, our arrival in South Carolina also brought in an uncharacteristic cold front.  But we still found plenty of ways to have fun.  The kids really enjoyed exploring the nearby beach, which was wide, shallow, and covered with seashells.  Suffice to say that we toted home a pretty impressive shell collection in our carry-on luggage.

Testing out the waters

Despite my pedicure, his toes are still way cuter

Beach buddies

Three seconds later, Aaron and Jill both let go of Danny's hands and he fell on his butt in the wet sand and soaked his pants.  And then about 5 minutes after that, both Aaron and Jill tripped and fell in the water too so everyone had to go home to change out of their wet clothes.  Sigh.

On another trip the beach, Aaron found a real live starfish!

Digging for buried treasure

Chasing the sunset

The cold weather (generally in the low 60s, but quite windy) also could not keep the kids away from the pool (which was heated, thankfully):

Somebody was so excited to go swimming she started practicing on the bathroom floor and couldn't be bothered to put her suit on

When are we leaving for the pool already?!

In their happy place

Some swimmers were happier than others

It's c-c-c-cold!!!

The wedding itself was a lovely affair.  I must admit that most of my attention was focused on keeping the kids quiet during the ceremony, and I actually took them home early from the reception to prevent an impending meltdown.  Then again, that's probably why the wedding was such a lovely affair!

Family pose before the wedding started

This was the only picture I took at the wedding.  Not as glamorous as the bride perhaps, but pretty darn cute.

For the rest of the weekend, we were primarily confined to the resort because we didn't have a rental car or carseats for all the kids.  But we were creative and found various ways to entertain ourselves:

Danny and Jill discovered the classic Midwestern game of "bags" (also known as cornhole or bean bag toss).  They didn't quite understand the rules, but they had fun throwing the bean bags around.  And Jill liked sitting on the hole and pretending she was going potty, much to my embarrassment.

Danny cataloged (and tasted) the local flora

We hung out with Nana and Papa, who shared the beach house we stayed in

The kids got to meet some new "cousins" (i.e., kids of Chris's cousins)

And we did a lot of relaxing.  Don't they look relaxed?

Thanks to Kristen and Donald for providing us with an excuse for a family getaway!  I think my favorite memory from the weekend was when Aaron asked me if one of the girls in the wedding party was a "bratwurst."  Took me a second or two to realize he had just misheard the word "bridesmaid."  Kids really do say the darndest things!