Off to Charleston....

On July 5, 2014, we woke up bright and early as usual. We were still at Uncle Adam and Aunt Adrienne's. We got our clothes packed and the car loaded.

 

While Daddy went over to see Grandma and Grandpa Jackson one last time, Uncle Adam played with the kids and I got the car loaded. There really is an art to loading it.... A week's worth of clothing, toys, beach items, gear, food.... no problem....

Cleary he had the kids handled...

His timing was perfect. He got back as I had just finished getting the car packed. We loaded up and headed to Isle of Palms (an island outside of Charleston). We made it. Our room wasn't ready so we got changed in the bathroom at the hotel. Our timing was so amazing. Alysia and Lee were in town visiting Lindsay. It was so so awesome to see some of my best friends. I hadn't seen the in over a year!!!

 

We hung out on the beach for awhile. Then it started raining. We were able to get into our room at about that time. As we were getting into our room, Uncle Adam and Aunt Adrienne got there as well! They came to Charleston to spend the night with us. We got a big enough room at our hotel that they were able to just hang with us. It was perfect! And, not to mention, we had an oceanfront balcony room.

 

We got ready for dinner. Josh and Diane and Callie and Jamie all met us for dinner. The kids hadn't been around Jaxson, Diane's little man in a year and a half. You'd never know it.

So cute.

You can tell these two are related in this picture :)

Jaxson Raymond....the most handsome little man.

I can't get over how old he looks.

FRIENDS forever.

Special moment with Uncle Adam...

 

When you're the best of friends.....

We went to Coconut Joe's which was right next to the hotel. There was a wait for the dining room so we headed to the upstairs bar. Everyone loves when you bring kids into a bar.....

During the wait for the table, Diane's sweet baby Hollis decided he was over the visit. We totally got it and weren't stressed that they needed to head out. It was so so good to see them...

Jamie and Callie met us as we were sitting down. We had a delicious meal and had so much fun just being together. After dinner we headed to the bar on the other side of our hotel. We could actually see it from our balcony. There was a singer man.

Clearly Charlotte was OBSESSED with his music.

She was a dancing queen.

My beauty. It was perfectly windy by the ocean.

This handsome boy danced off and on.

A quick family picture between drinks and dances.

This girl...

I'm obsessed with these two.

How perfect is his nose??

 

I could have just sat and taken pictures of everything.

 

I was so thankful that Jamie and Callie came out to hang with us. I've just missed them so much. They are literally one of the very best couples I have ever been around.

Alysia, Lindsay and Lee had gone out for a dinner that was arranged for Lindsay's birthday. Afterward they came to meet all of us. Here are my ladies and I. I love them all so much.

Once the kids were just too tired to function, I took them upstairs. Here was the view of our table we were sitting at from the front door of our room. It was a perfect room....

Since I was getting the kids to bed, these two beauties came up to hang out with me.

How beautiful are they???

This was the pregnancy announcement that I put on Lindsay's FB page. She didn't know how to tell the FB world so I said I would tell FB for her :)

We had the best day. So many best friends. So much fun. Such good food. After everyone left, Alex, Adam, Adrienne and I sat on our balcony and talked. Something that we do a lot when we are together. Something that we are good at :)

 

Awesome awesome day.

 

The day went way tooooo fast. It was one of the days that I wished time could have stood still.

Callie and Diane In Illinois!

We were so excited to have some Charleston visitors in the great state of Illinois!!!

Diane and Callie flew in from Charleston on Thursday May 1 in the afternoon. They flew from Myrtle Beach to Chicago. Diane's brother-in-law picked them up from the airport and we all met in Naperville (a Southwest suburb) for some delicious deep dish pizza....Chicago style. It was so good seeing them!!!! AHHHH!!! I was so excited I wanted to jump out of my skin!

 

We enjoyed pizza and the company of Diane's amazing sister and her beautiful family. We then loaded into the car and drove the two hours back home. By the time we got home that night it was 10 pm. We put the babes to bed, caught up with Alex and had some girl talk then we all went to sleep.

 

They came dressed for chilly Charleston but not dressed for Spring Illinois :) It was still a bit too cold for them :) No worries, I had plenty of fleeces and sweatshirts to go around. On Friday morning, I gave them a riding tour of town and the area. We had lunch down by the river. Naturally, the babies were in tow with us. We did a bit of shopping and headed back home.

We had big plans to go out Friday night. We were going to hit the townie bars but all three of us were just wanting to veg out, watch a movie, and have girl talk. So we popped a chick flick in and just relaxed. It was perfect!

 

On Saturday morning, we headed uptown to hang out and let the kids run around outside. I showed them the beauty of the Metamora square. They went and looked at antiques for a bit and we froze our booties off watching the kids burn some energy off.

Naturally we had to get a picture with Abe Lincoln while we were up there....

Then, we had some fabulous girl time. Mary came over to watch the kids so that we could go shopping and go get lunch. We ate some pub food and browsed the stores at Grand Prairie. No matter how much I LOVE my kids, it is sometimes nice to get to hang out with friends without have kids around.

 

We then headed home to get ready for a get together Alex had planned. He was having friends over from his work and I had invited Jodi and her family over as well. He had spent the past few nights getting the food ready for it. Such a good host.

 

Alex got home early from work and got the grill started. Us girls helped out as much as we could but Alex pretty much had everything under control :)

 

Even Papa came over to visit after he had gone to a different party first.

We got a bunch of the toys out for the kids that had come. We looked so fancy with a bus in the front yard...

The big man in charge of the grill.

This is serious stuff.

Callie and Emily became best friends :)

That's one thing about Em, she attracts lovers from everywhere :)

One of Alex's masterpieces...

Jodi loved it.

Clearly.

We. Are. Cool.

We all stayed inside with the babes while mostly everyone else was outside. Regardless, it was a blast of a night.

 

Sawyer finally got close to someone besides me :)

And I am pretty sure I am going to frame this and give it to Derrick. This is the only time Sawyer has ever gone to him :)

Love these two ladies so much.

Such a fun weekend and fun night.

This was in between finding our favorite bootie shake songs and while we creeped on the internet.

On Sunday morning, we got up BRIGHT and early. We loaded up the Avengar and headed to the Windy City. We took a pit stop at Panera for bagels and kept on going. We went to the Tory Burch outlet first. Callie is so hilarious. She had two requirements on this trip....to see me and to go to the Tory Burch outlet in Chicago. Done and Done. So we did the outlets first. So many great deals. So many great stores. AND they were all inside.... nice and warm.

 

Then we headed to Uncle Julio's for lunch in the city on our way to Michigan Avenue. The food was delicious.

 

We then headed to Navy Pier to park.

Here was our view as we got out from the parking garage!

HELLO CHICAGO!

In the city....

 

 

We browsed lots of stores. We ended up at Water Tower Place where were did a bunch of browsing.

 

Legos. Duh.

 

I mean, that's cool. He's in the Windy City. See his scarf flying???

The million dollar store. :)

I feel like I could climb this....

We had dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummmm

No idea. I mean, why wouldn't I make that face?

After lots and lots of shopping and lots and lots of calories, we headed back to the car.

 

The girls had a very early flight out in the morning so they had booked a hotel to stay in that night near Ohare. I ended up bringing clothes and just sleeping at the hotel. We had lots of girl talk and Diane's fabulous sister was able to join us for a few hours of girl talk. We all slept like logs and were on the road to the airport by 5:45 in the morning.

 

It was such an awesome weekend. I loved every minute of having them here. When I lived in Charleston and didn't have family there, these girls were my family (still are.) They (along with some others) were the ones that were always there....whether to talk, go shopping, go out, lay around in jammies....whatever.

 

D and Callie, thank you so much for taking the time and money to come visit us. Illinois at the beginning of May is NOT exciting but seeing you WAS! Love you and I am so thankful for you.