South Carolina Part 1

Two days after Christmas we decided to brave a 12 hour drive through an east coast winter storm to be with my sister and her kiddos in Columbia, South Carolina. The kids did great on the drive and Mike was a superstar after there was an accident on the main 2 lane freeway in the mountains of West Virginia way up ahead of us. The freeway was completely blocked off without a detour. He reversed on the shoulder of the road, cut through traffic and drove across the median to take us another way. The other cars sat on the freeway for hours and hours. So glad he was driving and not me and especially grateful for a DVD player! 

There was so much fun to be had. We loved exchanging gifts and admiring their darling little house and awesome yard. We also loved letting chaos reign since it was only our kids and no one else. It was just a great, stress-free, low key time. One of the highlights was the Columbia Childrens' Museum. Probably the coolest one I've ever been to.

 This is "Ed's" foot. They have a huge 3 story boy in the center of the museum and you can crawl through him and explore his body and how it works.

 The firetruck exhibit was a big hit.

 Parker being a "fire dog."

 They had "Snowville" where they created fake, soapy snow. I told them they could come to Michigan and see the real thing!

 Indoor hockey was the biggest hit of the day. The kids could have played for hours!

 They had a huge room full of Legos...pretty awesome for a group of boys.

 Parker creates some pretty awesome stuff.

 Ellie even liked it.

A few days later we spent an afternoon in Charlotte, North Carolina. Katie and I needed better shopping than Columbia could offer and the boys were great sports to come along and waste time in REI and Borders. After the shopping we went downtown and ate a yummy dinner and then had ice cream and explored the city a bit. Cool downtown, but I'm not overly impressed with Charlotte as a city.

 

 James refuses to smile for the camera. We sure did try though.

 Mike also refuses to smile for the camera. Must run in the family.

 We ate dinner at Cosmo Cafe. Really good and fun!

 Dessert at cold stone!

A few highlights you won't see in the pictures...cousins playing, playing, playing (and a little tattling too). Playroom wrecking, trampoline jumping, club house making, morning cartoon watching, Ellie loving, adult chatting, family night praying, Luke snuggling, good sleeping, parent night-owling, lots of eating, glorious treating, football watching, family bonding, church playing, basketball shooting, scooter riding, memory making...you get the picture.