Charleston/Kiawah Vacation Pt. 1

August 26, 2015

It's that time....time to share our vacation adventures from last week! If you follow me on Instagram, you caught some of our excursions around Charleston and Kiawah. But now we're diving in with a photo dump of those seven days. You've been warned, part one of this post is a whole lot of picutres! Part two will involve even more! So here goes...

One of my favorite parts of the south is the charm, the feel, the aesthetic. Southern homes are grandiose and stunning. For this vacation we stayed in a beautiful home on Kiawah Island. Are you swooning, because I know I was!

In some posts last week I mentioned our start to vacation was rocky. With only 45 minutes to go until we reached this house, we were at a stoplight (on a highway no less) when we were rear-ended by a truck. We were hit pretty hard, and fortunately everyone in the car was 100% okay, just completely shocked and jarred from the abrupt hit. The lap part of my safety belt pulled on my stomach harder than I would have liked, so after a few calls to my local OB doctor, we ended up in the emergency room in Charleston to check baby girl out at the request of my doctor. Ya'll my mama-heart was all over the place. This was certainly not the way we imagined kicking off a week of relaxation. 

After listening to our girl's heartbeat (at 148 BPM just where it should be) and some instruction on signs I should be aware of during the first 24 hours, we were sent on our way. I'm happy to report that all went well the remaining part of the week, and after a visit with my doctor on Monday, everything is checking out just fine. Here's to praying the rest of this pregnancy is smooth sailing! 

Once we were able to settle in and check out the house, we were all crazy about! It served as the perfect place to kick our feet up when we weren't on the beach or venturing around Charleston. 




Sunday night involved shish kabobs on the grill after several hours soaking up the sun by the ocean. And can we just talk about this kitchen?! I need it, I really do! The humidity in South Carolina is crazy compared to Virginia. It's like swimming through an invisible fog. Nonetheless, it didn't keep us from the outdoors or the grill. Husband loves to grill, people!



Monday at noon we had an appointment with a local body shop to have the trunk door of my mom's SUV latched securely/closed completely. When we were hit, it bent the bumper to pieces and messed the door up. So after the repairman was able to fix that so we could use the vehicle safely until returning home, we headed downtown into Charleston for lunch. The humidity might be crazy, but it's a beautiful place. Southern charm is in abundance, as are crepe myrtles. 




We lunched at Hominy Grill, which came highly recommend by friends. We all ordered shrimp and grits, because what else do you order in the south?! Fairly, it wasn't the best shrimp and grits I've had, but I loved the atmosphere! 



And apparently boiled peanuts is a thing in South Carolina. Instead of bread being brought to the table to munch on until the meals arrive, they bring boiled peanuts. Fun, right?




And at baby girl's insistence, I left with pecan pie to go. It was delicious! I don't think you can travel south and not get a slice of this classic southern dessert. Even more to my liking, the pecans were chopped up into small pieces instead of left bigger or whole (that I'm not a fan of).


Our stroll back to the car was beautiful, but what else would you expect? We returned to Charleston again on Thursday, and I'll share those adventures tomorrow for part two of this post.




It's not vacation unless there's some time to put your feet up. And what better way to do that than to tan while doing so. The beaches at Kiawah were practically empty, and that's my kind of beach-going environment. I'm not a fan (at all) of crowded beaches. So this was a pleasant surprise for me.



I know I've talked about the homes down south, but this one took the cake! I felt like I was in a storybook just looking at it. I fell hard for this home and all its gorgeous facade. Every time we walked past it I imagined what the inside must look like. I also thought it looked like a home that would belong to Ariel, the Little Mermaid. Who else sees it??





Some of the evenings we would come back out to the beach and just walk or sit around. I think those were some of my favorites. Husband and I always have the best conversations while we're meandering along the water or sitting in the sand. We also love finding little treasures, and on one of those nights we found plenty to be enthralled with. 



From the most extravagant to the simplest, doesn't the Lord make the most beautiful things? I love finding random sea plants washed up to shore. And this fierce yellow seaweed really caught my eye. I'll be sharing the rest of this vacation tomorrow! More Charleston to come!