Kiawah Weekend

Our weekend in Kiawah for Joel's half marathon was a lot of fun! We got stuck in some rush hour traffic for the last 45 minutes of the trip on Friday evening, but despite that the kids traveled well over all. Since we got in later than expected we went straight to dinner where we were meeting friends Javier & Crisi and their kids who were also in town for the race. We were all tired after the drive and somehow Joel didn't protest when Ben ordered the most expensive thing on the menu (a $36 steak dinner). Caroline got some gluten free pasta with butter and cheese, and dug in with both hands and ate almost all of it. 

After dinner we found the 3 bedroom villa we had rented for the weekend, and Ben walked in the door and said, "wow this is kind of tight." But he was right, it WAS kind of tight, and wasn't helped by the fact that there was way too much furniture / things for me to worry about my kids breaking in the place. Fortunately no one broke anything and I managed to get Caroline to bed in her pack n play in a strange place with NO CRYING! She was really tired, and I sat with her until she fell asleep.

Saturday morning Joel got up early and headed to the race , which was about a half mile away from our villa. After the kids got dressed/ate breakfast we headed over there as well, arriving just in time to see the first half-marathon finishers, who were doing something like a 5 minute mile. Joel was doing something like a 10 minute mile, and apparently was so busy chatting with other runners that he didn't bother listening to music until mile 11. He did a great job -- way to go Joel!!! 

After the race we went out to lunch and then Caroline and Joel took a nap while I walked with Ben and Becca to the beach. It was getting windy and starting to rain when we set out.  By the time we got to the beach and the kids ran around and chased sea gulls and dared each other to run into the water and decided to head back, it had started POURING. And the beach was a 15 minute walk from the villa. And I got a little lost and my cell phone battery died. But the kids had a lot of fun despite (or probably because of) this adventure.

Saturday night we had dinner and birthday cake with friends Kim and Hal and their kids (also in town for the race). Caroline's birthday cake, despite being 48 hours old and having been dropped in the parking lot once, held up remarkably well. It was certainly edible, if not "delicious", but the kids all seemed to enjoy it.

And Sunday we packed up early and headed to Charleston where we took the kids to the aquarium and then out to lunch where we found a deli that happily had gluten free bread so Caroline could enjoy a sandwich just like the rest of us! Then we headed home, and ended a long/tiring weekend with unpacking, grocery shopping, starting laundry, etc. Ben and Rebecca were a little off-the-walls when we got home probably because of having been cooped in the car, and Caroline held up decently for a while despite having not napped in the car on the way home like we assumed she would. We were all certainly ready for bedtime! I think I was asleep by 9:30 last night.

Below are a few pictures! I will try to post a video of Caroline not blowing out her birthday candle later ;)