Our 10th Anniversary Trip to Charleston!

Hi friends!! Happy Monday!!

I sure hope you had a great weekend!!

I took a little break from blogging last week because Aaron and I went on a trip and then we got home on Monday and then I just feel like the rest of the week was a BLUR! HA!

CAN SCHOOL BE OVER YET???

We have 3 1/2 days this week with Wednesday being the OFFICIAL last day of school.

Hallelujah!!!

Ok...so as long as you are okay with seeing a bunch of pictures of Aaron and me- I thought it would be fun to share about our anniversary trip to Charleston! This was our first time visiting Charleston and it was just absolutely INCREDIBLE!! We are obviously not Charleston experts by any means- but all the places we ate and visited were recommended by locals- so I will share them in the event you might want to check them out if you are ever headed to Charleston!!

So our actual 10th wedding anniversary was at the end March, but because of Aaron's work schedule, we had to plan our trip for over Memorial Day Weekend. We planned our trip back in January and with it being the first time we have been on a vacation, just the two of us, since our honeymoon, to say we have been anxiously awaiting taking this special trip to Charleston, SC to celebrate would be an UNDERSTATEMENT!

My brother, Garret and sister-in-law, Erica, who live in Raleigh, graciously offered to watch our FAB 5 for the weekend- so we headed up to their house Thursday evening. We all spent the night, then on Friday morning, we were up bright and early to give all the kids a bunch of hugs and kisses....and then we were OFF!!

We made a stop at Starbucks and then we were officially on "VACATION MODE!"

We arrived in Charleston right around lunch time. We parked our car and set out to find a yummy place to eat lunch. We heard about amazing things about the cafe, 5 Loaves Cafe, to eat at for lunch, so we put it in Google maps- which told us it would be about a 15 minute walk. We started walking....and walking...and walking. About 20 minutes into our walk- we looked at the map and it said we still had about 10 minutes to go. WHAT!?!?

Well...we looked a little closer at the time estimation and realized we had set the directions for DRIVING TIME. The cafe we were walking to was about a 50 minute walk. HA!

We ended up talking to a local- and he suggested we take a quick turn and head to a place that made great sandwiches. It was only 2 minutes away from where we were- and we were ALL OVER that decision!

We had lunch at a place called Persimmon Cafe- and imagine our surprise when we realized it was not only a cafe- but a laundry mat!

Our lunch was delicious and we had a good laugh about our little walking adventure :)

When we finished with our lunch, we decided to take a bike taxi back to the little loft apartment where we were staying. We had the BEST time talking to our bike driver and he gave us so many suggestions on places to check out!

We got all checked into our ADORABLE loft apartment (you can find it HERE on VRBO) and quickly headed back out to explore!

We were staying only about a block from an area in Historic Charleston called, "Rainbow Row." All the houses and buildings are bright colors and palm trees line the streets and it is just MAGICAL!

After we strolled through "Rainbow Row," we ended up at The Battery- which is a historical landmark and it stretches along the lower shores of the Charleston Peninsula. It was such a beautiful day and so much fun to walk along this gorgeous seawall!

Across from The Battery is Battery Park or also known as White Pointe Gardens. 

This was a gorgeous spot on the waterfront and it had the most beautiful southern mansions, cannons, cannon balls, oak trees, palmettos, statues, a gazebo, and incredible views of Fort Sumter, Castle Pinckney, and the Sullivan Island Lighthouse!

After we got done exploring The Battery and the area surrounding it, we headed back to our little apartment to get settled in for the weekend. We went to the grocery store (there was a Harris Teeter super close to where we were staying) to get a few things and then we got dressed and headed out for a fun night in Charleston!

TEN years married!!!
LOVE this man so, so much!

We ate at a super cool restaurant called, The Macintosh, that our bike taxi driver recommended and had the BEST meal. We both got 'The Mac CAB' burger and it was RIDICULOUSLY delicious. The service was AMAZING- we casually told the hostess we were celebrating our 10 year anniversary and then a couple minutes later our waiter brought us over champagne!

After our awesome dinner, we headed across the street to listen to live music at a super fun bar called The Republic Garden and Lounge. So- a disclaimer about this place. I think this might be a place where "the college kids hang out." HA! But we were outside in the lounge area and there was an awesome band playing  and it wasn't sketchy at all. I will say, as we were leaving the "crowd" was beginning to change and all the women seemed to be wearing much less clothing than I am used to. HA!! Regardless- we had a great time- mostly because of the super fun band that was playing and the fact that we got to enjoy the evening outside.

We were out WAY later than usual- and had the BEST time. We ended up talking to another couple who was visiting Charleston who was also celebrating a wedding anniversary! It was such a fun night! 

The next morning, despite all intentions of sleeping in, we were up bright and early and headed out to our outdoor porch to enjoy our coffee!

We had the best time just chatting and planning out our day!

After a couple cups of coffee on our porch, we poured ourselves a cup of coffee to go (what can I say- we like our coffee?!?) and headed out for a walk!
*Side note: since we were staying at our own little apartment- we made our coffee with the coffee pot that was in our little kitchen and I brought to-go coffee cups I picked up from Walmart. We never went out for coffee in the morning- which saved us a little money and allowed me to make my coffee just how I like it (since I use dairy free creamer- which most places don't ever have)!*

Just a block from our apartment was a long stretch of water front area and you could see Fort Sumter! 

Morning walk along the water with coffee....life doesn't get much better!

On our way back to our apartment, we happened upon another beautiful row of buildings and I couldn't help but take a picture! The flower boxes were just STUNNING!

After our morning walk, we packed a cooler with sandwiches and drinks, so we could head out for a day at the beach!!! The owner of our apartment had beach chairs, beach umbrellas and a cooler for our use- which was SO nice!!

We were initially going to go to Kiawah Island- but per the recommendation of a local- we went to Sullivan's Island instead. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and it was so fun to have a picnic lunch at the beach! We took a couple walks on the beach, relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine and then headed back to Charleston!

To keep our day of adventure going, once we got back from the beach, we got out the bikes that our apartment had and headed out to ride up the HUGE bridge, named the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, that connects Charleston to Mount Pleasant!

What a FUN bike ride!! Our bikes were a little rickety so it was quite funny climbing up the massive hill...but we made it!!

At the top of the bridge!!!

We rode our bikes back into Charleston and headed over to a coffee shop that was on our "must-go-to" list. Bitty and Beau's is a coffee shop that employs individuals with disabilities and it was such a fun, special experience!

Aaron got the best frappe of his life and we had so much fun talking to all of the employees!

We got back to our apartment, chilled out for a little bit and then headed back out to walk to dinner!

We went to a super cool outdoor brewery, called Bay Street Biergarten, and totally indulged in some SUPER yummy food! We each got a delicious sandwich along with sweet potato fries, regular fries AND homemade tator tots. SO GOOD.

On our way out- we had to get a picture with the BIG bear statue- he was carved out of wood and just SO cool!

We continued to walk around Charleston after our dinner and happened upon the FIRST submarine in history to sink an enemy ship!

This submarine was INCREDIBLE and reading about the "spar-mounted" torpedo was just amazing!

We picked a vegan cupcake (YAY!) up for me at Cupcake Downsouth and finally headed home after logging about 17 total miles of walking. It was such an incredibly FUN day and we happily collapsed into bed!

On Sunday morning, we walked a couple blocks to the beautiful Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, where we attended mass and got a special anniversary blessing from the priest! We also sat in front of a person we know from our church in Greenville who happened to be in Charleston that weekend visiting friends! It was SO neat to run into her! She was kind enough to take a picture of Aaron and I in front of the stunning altar!

The Cathedral was so beautiful and it seemed like such a neat parish!

After church, we walked a couple blocks more to the Queen Street Grocery, which was a super cute little hole-in-the-wall place for brunch. Another recommendation from our bike cab driver and it did NOT disappoint! We shared a breakfast crepe AND each got our own breakfast. Everything was SO good!

After brunch, we headed back to our apartment, changed our clothes and walked down to the Custom House building- where a special patriotic concert was taking place in honor of Memorial Day!

Performing was a marching band from Atlanta and they were INCREDIBLE. Everyone in the band was dressed up in crazy, patriotic outfits and they put on the BEST show!

After the concert, we walked around a neat area of little shops, including the Charleston City Market and picked the kids up some souvenirs. Then it started to rain, so we headed back to our apartment and caught up on the last two episodes of Gray's Anatomy that we had missed on our little patio. It was lightly raining, but our patio was partially covered- so we stayed nice and dry- but got to enjoy the rainfall. I seriously CANNOT remember the last time the two of us sat down in the middle of the afternoon and just CHILLED. 
It was glorious!

For dinner, we drove out to Sullivan's Island again to eat dinner at Mex 1 Coastal Cantina.  We consumed WAY too many tortilla chips, enjoyed the YUMMIEST dinners and had such a fun time talking about all the fun things we had done on our trip! It was the BEST way to end the last night of our vacation!

The next morning, we were up super early to get our apartment in order and were on the road by 6 am, headed back to Raleigh! We had the most WONDERFUL time together- but we were more than ready to get back to our crazy kiddos!

One last picture in Charleston...this was right outside the door that led up to our fun little apartment!

We arrived at my brother's house right around noon on Monday and the kids were so enthralled with the show they were watching they barely even flinched when we walked through the door. HA!

My brother and sister-in-law reported the kids did a great job and their house wasn't destroyed...so I am calling that a major WIN. HA!

We were SO, SO thankful they watched the kids for us- it truly was a gift to get to spend a few days together, just as a couple!

We got all the kids' stuff packed up and headed home to Greenville!

We got unpacked and piled up in the playroom to hang out and play.

It was SO good to be together as a family of 7 again!!

So- as you can tell...we had a HORRIBLE time. HA!

Seriously- it just felt like a dream! It was the BEST weekend. I was SO worried the weather was going to be yucky- and it didn't start raining until Sunday afternoon. 

Totally not a big deal!

We did SO many fun things, had such a BLAST being together and truly fell in love with Charleston. It is just the most amazing place!

I am SO thankful for Aaron, our marriage and this vacation we were able to take together!!

And there you have it- my little long-winded recap of our trip to Charleston!

Hopefully you were sipping a strong cup of coffee while reading it! HA!

Hope you have the BEST day!!

Linking up with Johannah, Heather and Lindsay today!!