The love affair continues between Nicolas and Lyla.
Dina came home in the middle of our shoot and thought it was inappropriate that Lyla was the only one who was "topless". She pooped through her clothes TWICE that day and we ran out of a change of clothes.
This weekend we finally had beach weather! I couldn't wait to get Lyla down to the beach for her first beach day. It took awhile to load up all our stuff and drag it down to the beach but it was totally worth it! Lyla LOVED the beach. She was all smiles all day and enjoyed relaxing under the umbrella. Our little Irish girl with porcelain skin wore layers of sunscreen (SPF 50) and a big floppy hat (SPF 50) while sitting under a sunshade (SPF 90) and a giant umbrella (SPF 100). She was well protected. Unfortunately, our beach day ended earlier when the storms rolled in. It suddenly started to rain and lightning filled the sky so we rushed her off the beach -- it was great to have the beach apartment so close. By the time we got back to the apartment, the rain had stopped and the sun was back out. We all took naps and then headed to Dina's house for a barbecue. Summer is finally here!
Me and my Lyla Bell relaxing on the beach.
Lyla and her daddy.
Relaxing under many layers of sun protection. Look at those thighs!
I love her little parasol bathing suit.
We spent the weekend in bed. Mark hurt his back and little Lyla has croup :( It's the saddest little cough I have ever heard. We've been doing lots of steam and sitting in front of the freezer. Mark and Lyla promised to take care of ME next weekend.
We spent our last night in South Carolina at Phil and Holly's wedding. The ceremony was in the oldest Baptist church in Charleston. We were running a little bit late as a result of driving into a massive thunderstorm that came out of nowhere (see previous post about crazy weather...). When we walked into the church the ceremony was already well underway. In typical fashion, I began clicking away, taking pictures of the beautiful bride and groom. Mark leaned over and whispered to me "I don't think you're supposed to be taking pictures." We then realized that no one -- not even the photographers -- were taking pictures. In fact, the photographers were not even in the church, they were waiting outside. Oops. Oh well, I got some cute pictures of the bride and groom.
The reception was at Boone Hall Plantation, one of the oldest working plantations in the country. You drive into the plantation on a road flanked by these amazing, huge oak trees and can see the mansion at the end of the road. We saw the house and thought, wow, this is going to be a beautiful reception. So we parked the car and started to walk towards the reception. We were waved right past the main house, past the slave quarters, to a wooden boat house in the back of the plantation. A little different than we expected, especially when we walked into the house and realized there was NO AIR CONDITIONING and, surprise, surprise, the house was right on a swamp.
At the cocktail hour, there was a female African band (I'm not sure that is the right way to describe them...but they were great). They sang our wedding song, "Let's Stay Together".
The featured drink was an iced tea mojito. It was delicious and dangerous.
As seating cards, they used paint chips. They wrote your name on a color and you had to find the table with your color. We were at "celestial blue."
Once the seating cards were removed, the board was used for guests to write down their well wishes to Phil and Holly.
The reception was a lot of fun. We were very hot and very sweaty, but it did not stop us from dancing.
Mark was upset that he did not get the memo that flip flops were appropriate attire.
Phil's younger brother convinced the "older" guys to shotgun beers. The picture came out great but the shotgunning didn't go so well.
It was a great long weekend away but we were thrilled to see little Lyla Bell!
We had back-to-back out of town weddings this month. First was Brennan and Ashley's wedding in Pennsylvania. The following weekend was Phil and Holly's wedding in Charleston, South Carolina. We heard Charleston was a great city so we decided to make it a mini-vacation. Four nights! Without Lyla. This time, Mark's parents Donna and Jack came to New York to watch Lyla Grace. They stayed in our apartment in Long Beach and took Lyla on the boardwalk and the beach.
We decided to split our trip into two nights in historic Charleston and two nights on Kiawah Island, a barrier island about 40 minutes outside of Charleston. We arrived in Charleston early in the morning and checked into Charleston Place. Mark had a few conference calls to take so I ventured out on my own to explore the area. This was a dangerous idea. I soon learned that our hotel was right in the middle of the best shopping district in Charleston...I came home with a few shopping bags :) I also scoped out some local lunch spots and a great coffee place, City Lights Coffee, which we ended up going to about half a dozen times in three days.
At City Lights
Once Mark was done with his calls, we went out to lunch and to walk around the city. The people in Charleston are really friendly and we got a ton of recommendations of places to eat and explore. We settled on Fleet Landing for lunch, with good intentions to dine al fresco. We nixed this idea right away because, one, it was really, really, really hot and humid and, two, the restaurant sits on a swamp. That was a deadly combination that would have made Mark sweat like crazy and would have made me lunch for many happy mosquitos. We enjoyed our table in the well air-conditioned indoor dining room.
The view from Fleet Landing. Can you say mosquito bite?
Exploring the city was awesome. The old houses are beautiful and there are so many waterfront parks. We spent some time in the Battery and White Point Gardens. We also tried to find Fort Sumter but it was pretty far away.
These are houses on "Rainbow Row"... because they are colorful...
Mansion Mile has a ton of old mansions that are open to the public for tours.
At the end of our walk, we stopped at a local restaurant for a couple of drinks. We have a tradition whenever we go on vacation to try a local beer. This time, we tried Palmetto Beer, which is named after the South Carolina state tree.
It's also on the South Carolina flag.
The next day, we planned to go back to Museum Mile to tour some of the more famous mansions, but it was really hot and humid. Instead, we opted to sit by the pool and go shopping for seersucker pants :)
We met up with everyone who was in town for the wedding at the Rooftop Bar at the Vendue Inn. It was great to meet Phil's family as well as the bride, Holly. Phil's family is legendary for always having a good time and they definitely lived up to their reputation that night.
Phil's dad decided that shots of Jagermeister were a great idea. The men also decided that wearing their sunglasses at night was a great idea.
The next couple of nights we spent on Kiawah at The Sanctuary. It was so relaxing and exactly what we needed. We sat on the beach, got massages, and did absolutely nothing but relax. It was perfect.
I missed little Lyla Bell but I loved getting 9 straight hours of sleep each night. I really missed her when I saw other families, like this daddy with his little girl.
Mojitos were the drinks of the weekend.
The weather there was pretty wild. It was beautiful every day, but every night like clockwork a huge storm came in, lasted about an hour, and then cleared out for a beautiful night.
It ruined someone's plans for an outdoor wedding ceremony.
Our last night in South Carolina was for the wedding. More on that later.
