A Visit From Mom and Jesse

Last Thursday, Mom and Jesse arrived from Georgia. It was so wonderful to see them! After showing them around our unpacked apartment, we headed out to see Darren at the newly opened Dick's Sporting Goods. Jesse looked so excited to get to see him, as she ran and gave him a giant hug. We then headed to my new favorite restaurant, McAllister's, so that I could show my mom their giant potatos. She loved them!


After Darren arrived home from work, we took Mom and Jesse to Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place. Jesse caught the lizard pictured above. We spent the evening hanging around the house. I cooked ranch chicken for dinner. Darren went to bed early because he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. I stayed up and played games with mom and Jesse.


Friday morning, we all got up when Darren went to work and headed to Folly Beach. First, we went to the north end of the island, which I've never been to before. From here, you get spectacular views of the Morris Island Lighthouse. Also, on the 1/4 mile walk to the beach from the parking area, we saw some absolutley beautiful flowers. Here's a few pictures of them:







These flowers were everywhere! I loved them! As we continued along the path, it turned to sand and then very quickly opened up into on of the most beautiful views.


Between the high sand and sea grass, you could see the Morris Island lighthouse. I took many other pictures of the lighthouse this day, but this one is by far my favorite. We walked around for a bit on this end of the island. Shelling is not as good here because there is a sand bar about halfway between the beach and the lighthouse. Around 9am, when Folly Beach Park opened, we gathered our things together and headed there. This is a wonderful place to shell. Jesse also met a little girl named Nicole, whom she played with for a little while.


Around noon, Mom went to plant Buttercup's letterbox. Jesse and I hung out on our beach towels. We both and gotten a lot of sun and were hungry. So, when Mom got back, we headed home. We did KFC for dinner and Darren and Jesse rented Dreamgirls. Jesse wound up making some friends in our apartment complex and went to play with them. So, we watched the movie without her.


Saturday morning, I woke up not feeling well at all. So, Darren took Mom and Jesse to a local park for a few hours while I rested at home. Around noon, they returned home. I felt a little better, so I went with then to the USS Yorktown. Not only can you tour the Yorktown, you can also go on a submarine, a coast guard boat, and a destroyer. We started on the submarine, then went to the destroyer and coast guard boat.


The deck of all of the boats offered a great view of the Charleston Harbor. From the flight deck of the USS Yorktown, you can even see the Sullivan's Island Lighthouse. After touring the three smaller vessels, we ate a quick snack at the Yorktown snack bar. Then, we started our tour of the aircraft carrier. There are 6 walking tours you can go on. We did not do them all. My favorite was the flight deck. There were around 10 planes out on the deck for yout to see. You couldn't get in any of them. However, there was a plane down near the snack bar that was avilable for you to sit in the cockpit. That was pretty neat. I do not recommend going to the USS Yorktown when it is hot. We were sweltering. Go in fall or winter. Here are a few more pictures from our visit to the USS Yorktown:







Saturday evening, I cooked chicken tacos. We watched Smokin' Aces while Jesse played with her friends again. We woke up on Mother's Day and had breakfast out. We hung around the house until 11am, at which time Mom and Jesse headed for home. It was so great to see them. I can't wait until they come back and we can show them more wonderful parts of our new city.