A day in Charleston

We had initially talked about attending the local ward while we were on vacation, but the closest ward is over an hour away from where we were staying...so we opted to Zoom into our own ward instead. We spent Sunday morning reading, crocheting, resting (for those of us who were up all night with an upset toddler), and then holding primary and priesthood lessons. 

Here's Rachel working on a crochet project in the sun room:

 

And here we are getting comfortable on the couch for sacrament meeting:

Some of us were getting a little too comfortable:

And this picture is just to prove that Miriam was there as well:

After church we headed into Charleston to visit the French Quarter. We parked right by the (or, probably more accurately, one of the many) horse carriage depots downtown and the kids got to pet one of the horses. 

All the kids enjoyed this, but Phoebe found it the most thrilling of all.

She wants to pet every blessed creature she comes across.

We walked through the Charleston City Market and made our way to the Waterfront Pier.

The kids enjoyed using these binoculars:

I'm not sure what Phoebe saw here but it was something worth yelling about apparently:

Here she is happy to be seeing something in the sky. Perhaps a plane. Perhaps a pelican. I'm sure whatever it was was wonderful.

Here she is showing us how she can stick her head through the bars on the pier, which was a little scary! She could really just tumble right through those things!

We walked past one of the fountains at the Joe Riley Waterfront Park—twice!—that is open for wading. The kids didn't want to go in it because they thought they'd get too wet or, in Phoebe's case, felt there were far too many people around to have fun playing (which...I understand). 

Andrew was relieved because he didn't want to drag a bunch of wet and whiny kids around town for the rest of the day. 

Instead we walked on to the Pineapple Fountain.

The Pineapple Fountain was so inviting that even Andrew got in to wade! The kids also got "a little bit" wet.

Let's see...

Here's Alexander slipping and falling in up to his waist:

He was pretty worried about it, but it was really nothing to worry about. We had a long and hot walk ahead of us, so being wet wasn't so bad!

Phoebe was being so careful...

...but soon enough she, too, had slipped in up to her waist...

...and then right up to her shoulders!

At that point she was already so wet that Andrew decided to help her out with her ultimate goal, which was to stand under one of the little water spouts so she could get her hair wet. She just needed help keeping her balance so that she didn't plunge off that step into the neck-deep water on the step below again.

Here's a victoriously drenched Phoebe:

Here's Benjamin in front of building that looks like it belongs in the French Quarter, no?

And here's Phoebe walking down the street by herself:

There is a ton to see in the French Quarter, but we satisfied ourselves with a visit to Rainbow Row (on East Bay). Here's Phoebe completely zoned out in front of Col. Othneil Beale's former residence:

And here she is having snapped out of it, and looking much more animated:

Here's Rachel photobombing a little selfie I was attempting with my spectacular sunglasses:

And here's Miriam joining in on the photo:

These pink and blue(ish) houses next to each other made us notice how many of us were wearing either pink and blue. We took a few celebratory pictures (and probably could have taken more—I just noticed that I'm in a pink top and Rachel is in blue, for example).

Here's Darla and Grandpa:

And here's Miriam and Rachel (whose shoes match the house colours so well):

I had to stop and take some pictures with the cobblestone street (there were several around). 

I just love cobblestone!

So of course I needed a picture of everybody with the cobblestone street:

Here's Darla teaching Alexander that these flowers are agapanthus (maybe...I actually don't remember what she told him they were called because I wasn't quite close enough to be paying full attention, but I looked them up just now and they're som variety of agapanthus. These are sometimes featured in the landscaping of the Atlanta Temple):

Phoebe thought the blossoms were delightful.

She's really into experiencing her world with as much of her little self as she possibly can. A jump in the fountain is a full-body affair. A sniff of a flower requires burying her face in the blossom. And if she asks you if she can pet your puppy she really means that she would like to smother it with affection.

Here she is trying out a historic boot scraper after I explained to her what it was. 

"What is that?" is one of her most common questions, followed closely by, "What that do?" followed closely by a series of "Why?" questions. 

She is busy learning a lot about the world around her!

I'm actually unclear why we stopped using these en masse. Seems like they'd be more effective than a doormat, any day. Do I need one of these by my front door? Maybe.

It would go well with our dinner bell.

Anyway...

Here's a picture I snapped of everyone in front of a house that George Washington was entertained within one evening during his presidency. 

I was still on the other side of the street because Phoebe was exploring and going slow.

She actually gained a lot of confidence on this little walk. When she first came to a grate in the sidewalk she panicked and would not walk over it, but by the end of our walk she was taking a big breath, announcing "Me be-ning so bave!" and then bravely walking across the grates.

I do not have a picture of her walking across an actual grate (probably because she often needed to be holding my hand to give her that extra ounce of bravery necessary to carry out the task), but I do have a picture of this window box that I thought was interesting. And there's a grate underneath the window box.

We stopped by to admire the architecture of the churches. I had bravely emailed the music directors at each church to see if Miriam could sneak in a little session on their organs...but they all said no...or simply didn't respond to my emails...which I understand, I guess. The church also seemed very closed (which seemed odd for a Sunday afternoon, but when I also understand because our church buildings are also locked up when we're not using them).

Here's Phoebe stopping to smell the roses outside of one of the churches. 

I warned her that roses have thorns that can be awfully prickly, but she just told me, "If they hurt me, me will know," before burying her nose in the blossoms. 

To be fair, that's probably true. She would know if they hurt her...but it felt like the kind of thing that I should warn her about, anyway.

Strolling around Charleston was a perfectly pleasant way to spend the afternoon. And the kids were mostly dry by the time we got back to the car!