A weekend in Charleston

This past Saturday (April 5) was the 31st annual Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, SC. And since Chris is an avid runner, whenever he can, we head down to Charleston so he can participate in it. We decided since it's a 7 1/2 hour car ride (without Elijah!!) to leave on Thursday so we could enjoy the city. We didn't do to bad. We got there around 7:00 Thursday night after leaving at 11:00 and stopping about 3 times. Elijah did so good...until we got on I-26 to get to Charleston. He was done with the carseat! Not that I can blame him. We were able to stay at the Charleston Air Force base in their lodging and only paid $36.00 for a suite! It was great! Full kitchen and all!

Friday was a beautiful 80 degrees, with a little humidity worked in! So that made it nice and hot, but a welcome change from the 50 degree weather we've been having. Our first stop was downtown so Chris could pick up his race packet. After that we showed Elijah the College of Charleston where I went to school. Of course, we took some pictures of the Cistern! He loved it. I think it was his favorite stop on the trip, but Chris will probably say otherwise! Anyway, after that, we grabbed a quick bite for lunch and headed over to the Citadel to catch the parade and show Elijah around campus. Of course we took a picture of Elijah and Chris in front of the bulldog (actually a very cute picture!). After parade we ran into some old friends, including my friend Kenny! Since the race was the next day, we decided to spend a quite evening in the room. Since we had a full kitchen, we stopped at the store and picked up some spaghetti and rented a movie. We laugh that we can't experience the 'real' Charleston since we have to put Elijah to bed so early!

Since we were staying up in North Charleston, Chris got up early and ran the race and came back to pick up me and Elijah. He did so good (and I even saw him on TV a few times!!!) His official time was 37 minutes and 54 seconds! I think his overall placement was 124th place. Not to bad when there were over 15,000 people either running or walking! After the race, we showed Elijah the Battery, Waterfront Park and even took him on a carriage ride. He did such a good job and even fell asleep. Afterwards we ate lunch and walked around some more and then went to visit some more friends out in West Ashley. Sarah and Nate have a 1 1/2 year old named Ella. Elijah likes older women, that's all I can say! Once we got there, the sky opened up!!! I told Chris I had forgotten how bad Thunderstorms can get in Charleston! It was crazy! I was just glad we weren't walking around downtown when it happened.

Sadly, our trip came to an end on Sunday morning when we had to go home. We made decent time getting home, so that's always good. Elijah slept most of the way and slept really good last night, so I know he's happy to be back in his bed and not in the pack 'n play!