RAINY WEEKEND IN CHARLESTON

the view near the soccer fields

We took #3 out of school early on Friday to get a head start to Charleston. Her soccer team was playing in a tournament over the long weekend. I love Charleston. It is one of my favorite places to visit and with it being only about a five hour drive from Raleigh it is a great place to visit on a long weekend.

During soccer tournaments, we usually have an itinerary to follow with meeting times, curfews and team dinners. That is why we wanted to get to Charleston early on Friday so that we could visit the downtown area and have dinner at one of the fabulous restaurants, before needing to meet the team at the hotel Friday evening.

We went to Hanks

and it did not disappoint!

I am so thankful that we have children that love food and trying new things as much as we do. I am not sure how we did it, but all three of our girls are great dining partners. #3 had the grouper served over a five spice powder flavored risotto. She wasn't too crazy about the licorice flavor, but she ate around that without complaining and carried on conversation with us the entire meal, never complaining about the wait or the crowd. I guess I am mentioning this and getting off track here because at the team dinner on Saturday we went to an Italian place downtown and a lot of the girls turned their nose up at all of the fresh seafood and pasta dishes and ordered cheese pizza. Some of them ended up even not liking their pizzas because there was a different kind of cheese on it than they were used to. On top of that, half way through dinner, the majority of the kids were out of their chairs and running around, dancing and squealing in the restaurant. They did give us a room to ourselves upstairs, but I don't know what disturbed me the most..... that (some) the parents were grateful there was room for them to run around or that the 12/13 year old girls were not capable of sitting through a dinner and socializing in their seats and didn't think twice about their behavior.

Don't get me wrong, I love these families and really enjoy their company.

Maybe my girls have just spoiled me.

Anyhow, it rained almost the entire time we were in Charleston. The girls played (soccer) in the rain and we all huddled on the sideline with our raincoats and umbrellas. It tried to fool us and occasionally the sun would come out and warm us up, but as soon as we were dry, it would start up again.

The girls ended up winning the tournament.

That is a great way to start off the season.

Of course, as soon as the tournament was over, the rain stopped, the sun came out and it was so bright and beautiful the girls couldn't keep their eyes open for the pictures.

headed home

The view as we drove over the bridge...

... was beautiful!