Last week Reese and I had the opportunity to skip town for a few days and join my in-laws for a mini getaway to South Carolina. Unfortunately this is a very busy time for Tom at work so he was unable to join. I was a bit nervous about taking a 13 month old on her first flight alone, but she did just great. I spent an embarrassing amount of time reading tips and tricks for traveling with a toddler to make sure I was as prepared as I could be and it was as easy on Reese as possible. Overall, aside from Delta continuing to be my least favorite airline, everything went as smoothly as I could have hoped for.
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| Ergo carrier and golfish...required for a successful jaunt through security. |
While the mini and I flew, my in-laws drove down separately (I drew the line at a 10 hour car ride with my car seat detesting child...no fun for anyone) and they were able to take the car seat and a few other items that were too big of a pain to travel with. This helped immensely!! Our condo was in Folly Beach, about 20 minutes outside of Charleston. I had never been to the area before and just loved it. Here are some pictures from our travels, if you'd like to see.
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| Early morning walk on the pier...perks to traveling with children is you're up for the sun rise! |
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| Our morning coffee stop...Black Magic |
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| If you're ever in Folly go to Taco Boy...and eat ALL the tacos! I heard their margs were worth writing home about too. |
One thing I have learned in my 13 months as a parent is that whatever expectations you have, just throw them out the window. I really thought Reese would go nuts over the beach considering how much she loves anything having to do with water. So as soon as she woke up on our first morning we made our way to a foggy and windy beach for a little picnic breakfast (Lara bar and banana...so fancy!). I carried Reese along the sand and stopped to lower her feet. No go. She practically hiked her little knees up to her ears. This shouldn't be too surprising considering her love/hate relationship with grass but it was entertaining at least. She had a similar sentiment toward the ocean....no thanks guys. But as long as she could admire it safely perched in her mama's arms she did just fine!
Not one to be deterred (all I wanted was ONE picture of my baby enjoying the beach), we headed back to the beach on our last morning, determined to get a few good pics on the beach. At least I can say I got a few and she seemed to tolerate it (maybe even enjoy it?) a bit more.
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| my sweet girl |
The rest of our brief trip was spent eating seafood, taking long walks, going for dips in the pool, and doing a little shopping and sightseeing in Charleston. I haven't been one to mess with our daily routine too much (hello....first time mom) but I was so proud of Reese and how she just rolled with it every day. She handled restaurants as well as could be expected and overall continued to be nothing but a joy. Although we only spent a day in Charleston I would absolutely love to go back with Tom and spend some time there. I feel like most of my time and attention was keeping my toddler entertained/safe/fed/happy/cool/contained, etc...so I didn't get to absorb too much of the city...not to mention it was crazy hot and crowded. Charleston is definitely on my list of cities to visit again after this.
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| collage images via |
One lesson learned on this trip was that a vacation with a toddler is not
actually a vacation...who knew?! All kidding aside, we missed Tom like crazy and although we enjoyed the new experience we were happy to be home.
Not happy to have brought a cold back with us, but what can you do.
One thing I will definitely do differently next time is take a buffer day off in between travel and going back to work. We got home Wednesday night just in time to hug Tom and put the munchkin to bed and the sitter came bright and early the next day so I could go to work. Not my best idea, but it was the only way I could fit it all in. Now where to go on our next adventure?
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