South Carolina

On July 8th, Lauren and I flew to S. Carolina to visit Nanny and Poppy (Travis' parents). We had so much fun and even thought we might just stay there because we loved it! Travis took us to Portland to catch our plane and we were able to have a wonderful dinner with Tyler and Katie at Olive Garden before we left. Our plane didn't leave until 10:30 p.m. so we had some time to kill. Lauren was an excellent passenger (considering she was in a confined space and was sitting on my lap)! She fell asleep at take-off (literally closed her eyes and went to sleep as we were going down the runway) and woke up when we landed 6 hours later in Charlotte, NC. Nanny and Poppy were there waiting for us and Lauren was so happy to see them.

I spent most of that first day sleeping since I was not only jet lagged but thrown off completely by the time change. Pam made a wonderful dinner for us, a pork roast and green beans and bacon in the crock pot (yummy) and we settled in for the evening.

Friday we spent the day shopping and enjoying the sunshine. The weather was crazy hot down there, but the humidity was so nice. I felt like I got facials every day.

Saturday we went to the zoo! It was hot dog day at the zoo and apparently ALL of Greenville wanted hot dogs that day because the zoo was packed! I've never seen so many people stand in line to get a hot dog in my life! Lauren was amazed by the animals and blew every single one of them kisses. She loved the elephants and the monkeys and the giraffes the most. She even got to feed a goat!
Nanny and Lauren checking out the elephants!

The next day, Nanny and Poppy took us to Falls Park. It was the most beautiful park I had ever seen. There was a waterfall right smack dab in the middle of it and people were playing in it and dogs were running around and it was just gorgeous! The other attraction at Falls Park is the pedestrian suspension bridge that you walk across to get from one side of the park to another. It was pretty cool but also a little creepy since you could feel it move slightly when you walked across it.

We walked across the bridge and around the other side of the park and then back across a different little bridge and we stumbled upon a kids water play area. There were so many little one's running around and there was water shooting up out of the ground...it was so cool. Nanny took Lauren by the hand and they went and explored and Lauren was in heaven.

After we left the water play area, we sat down at a restaurant and enjoyed a nice cold beer...well, Steve, Pam and I did. Lauren enjoyed a nice cold glass of water and watched the birds run around and beg for food. Then we walked down the hill and went to the Reedy River and Lauren and Poppy went and played in the middle of it.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we didn't do much other than shop and hang out by the pool (which was fine by me) and I loved it!

Lauren eating a banana for breakfast (she wanted one almost every morning)...
Lauren eating blueberries for a morning snack (which she also wanted most mornings)...


Lauren playing with bubbles that Nanny was blowing for her...

On Thursday evening we went to downtown Greenville to "Downtown Alive" and listened to an awesome band. We drank a few beers, danced, laughed at the little boys chasing Lauren around and even ate some Mexican food for dinner. It was so much fun and Lauren had a blast dancing with her Poppy!
Showing off her belly...


More to come tomorrow...