Charleston Day 3: Fort Sumter

 Back in my AmeriCorps days, we did some service at Fort Sumter and I fell in love with it. You have to take a boat out to it, and just being where so much history happened, it was amazing. I was glad to show it to my dad, too, because he loves Civil War history.

We had some Publix Subs- which The Disney Crush (one of my Disney podcasts) raves about. And, they were really good. I'm glad I finally got to try one.

Here you can see the fingerprints on the bricks. This brick was made by enslaved children at Boone Plantation.

Claire's A Teenager!

 In the midst of our travels, Claire celebrated a Birthday. She wasn't thrilled that she wouldn't be home for her Birthday, so we really tried to make it special. She wanted to do an Escape Room. I researched on-line and found one that is based on actual Charleston history, which is pretty cool. This one involved an apothecary who kidnapped a mermaid. A hurricane came and the rains wouldn't stop for 4 days. The people blamed the apothecary and demanded he release the mermaid, saying that his kidnapping was causing the hurricane. Our job was to rescue the mermaid while the apothecary was out. We did it! With 34 seconds to spare!

It was a lot of fun, and everyone helped with the clues. Even Camille got some which was really fun.

We did have a cake, but I didn't get a good picture of it.

I hope Claire felt loved and special- because she is. And hopefully she will remember this Charleston Birthday forever.

Here's Claire at 13:

-She loves to make biscuits and gravy for us, and they are delicious!

-She's really funny, and whip-smart

-She should be a lawyer. Her brain sees the world in such a different and smart way

-She is very nervous to start middle school. I think she will be brilliant, but she is nervous

-She worries very much about people watching her and about being embarrassed in front of people. That is her greatest fear in life

-She has BIG ideas, and when she's motivated she is willing to put in the work to make it happen

-She LOVES to read. She is very much into The Hunger Games and The Divergent Series right now, but pretty much she has her nose in her Ereader all the time regardless of the book. But dystopia is her genre right now.

-She loves playing soccer and volleyball

-She gets bloody noses constantly. That's a problem we need to figure out, poor thing.

-She wears tie-die shirts almost every day. She loves them.

-She is the secretary of her YW class and has made a positive impact on the YW she serves.

-She is still sassy, and I know she will use that energy to change the world someday.

-She is very, very loved. We love her sense of humor, her excitement at life, her ability to problem solve, and her sweet testimony.

Charleston Day 2: Boone Plantation

I knew we had to go see a plantation while we were there. I researched and purposely chose one that honors the history of the enslaved people and didn't just gloss over it. This plantation did a great job of being honest with the past.

The Notebook was filmed quite a bit here- the oak tree groves were stunning. 

We took a little trolley ride around the grounds.

We got to tour the house. It wasn't built until 1936, but it was still fun to see. The tour guide said most of the big antebellum mansions were burned down during the Civil War, but there was never one on this plantation anyway.

They had a small butterfly garden.

We toured the slave quarters. It was quite depressing. The bricks were made by slave children on site. You can even see some of the small fingerprints in some of the bricks. It's simply horrifying.

A woman gave a beautiful gullah presentation, discussing the history of the enslaved people.

Audra could stand inside this tree- do you see her legs? She said there were lots of spider webs.

This is the grave of the Boone who had the enslaved people plant the oak trees that eventually turned into the beautiful drive. 

 It was a very hot, humid, sobering day. 

Charleston, Day 1

 I love Charleston! Since we were going to Myrtle Beach to celebrate my parent's 50th, I knew we had to stop in Chucktown to see my old stomping ground for a few days. I have great memories of Charleston and my time in AmeriCorps. I couldn't wait to show Ben and the girls this beloved city.

We invited my parents to join us, and I'm glad we did- we had a great time. Albeit a HOT and HUMID time as well. July is probably not the best time of year to visit. Oh, well.

The first day we didn't do too much except stop and get dinner at a delicious bbq place- they had incredible cheddar cheese biscuits (more like a muffin) and check into our airbnb and enjoy the pool. It was more like a hot tub than a pool, though. Oh, well.

4th of July

 The girls, specifically Camille, decided to be in the HR Parade float with the 4H group this year. They had a great time, though it was HOT.

Since we would be in Charleston for Claire's Birthday, we also met at Civic Green with the cousins and grandma and grandpa to celebrate before we left.

Then, for the first time in all the years we have lived here, we decided to go to the city fireworks. I'm glad we did! Although, lesson learned: Don't sit so close to the front! We were right underneath the fireworks, which meant there was a ton of smoke and it was very loud. Next time we will sit further back. Regardless, I'm glad we went.