Adventures with the Nelson Family: Daddy Blog from The Low Country

Back on Rainbow Row! Farmers market in Marion Square! Fresh squeezed lemonade with shrimp and grits! We were finally on vacation in South Carolina y'all! It's Daddy's turn to blog, y'all. It was a full 10 hours straight of a crazy mommy singing songs and dancing in the backseat for the sake of entertainment of her 6 month old, while a calm, cool collected Rooney and I navigated us through 5 states to the east coast. Things we learned on the road: 1) I make a surprisingly excellent elephant noise 2) Shelley must be pretty hilarious when she reads the peek-a-boo book (per Lilah) 3) Eastern Kentucky fulfills all stereotypes about it 4) The Smoky mountains are NOT the Rocky mountains, but are beautiful in their own right 5) Baby Benadryl might be in order next time.

We started off our trip with a relaxing morning at the Charleston farmer market seeing all the fresh produce, home cooking and enjoying the fresh sea air breeze. Shelley's parents and my parents flew in later that day (ironically, just in time to watch the Huskers stomp down South Dakota State). The 8 of us (Rooney included) had such a fabulous time, we never wanted to go back home. Dinners out consisted of more adventurous low country eats such as Grouper Dafuskie (it took Shelley many times to pronounce this one), fresh oysters, the biggest fresh shrimp I've ever seen, fried green tomatoes, fried okra, she-crab soup, shrimp 'n grits, bread pudding, collard greens, chicken and waffles,and all the southern favorites. Shelley was thrilled to tour a plantation where the movie the Notebook was filmed and where Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds got married... not sure who they are, but it happened.

We then made our way down to Beaufort to see Heidi (Shelley's cousin) and Kyle (soon to be in the family). Kyle, being the true southern gentleman he is, decided he must take us Yanks out boating for porpoise (true name for what we call dolphins) spotting, beer drinking, and fun times. We had a great time cruising the intercoastal waterway and enjoying the laid-back, southern way of life. We could truly get used to that! Lilah loved the boat ride, and Rooney about pooped his pants he was so nervous. We then headed to Hilton Head Island for the beach and more relaxation.

We rented a large vacation home in HH with suffleboard, pool, hot tub and everything we need to live in the life of luxury. Lilah dug the hot tub and pool, and so did we. She was spoiled rotten with grandparent attention and love (we are so screwed when we get home). We took a trip down to Savannah, GA for a day. It was as beautiful as the movies portray. I don't think Lilah enjoyed as much since she blew out her diaper 5 min into an hour long trolley ride and then had to change her in front gawking tourists. Needless to say, us "Northerners" are not allowed back on that trolley again.

Overall great trip and Lilah did spectacular. She has now been in 10 states and only 6 months old. We have a haunting feeling that these 10 hour car rides are just going to get worse over time. We might have to teach Rooney to entertain her.