Real Life: A MN Mom: Our Vacation Summary

July 26th - Aug 2nd

Destination: Atlanta Ga, Panama City Beach FL, Colubus GA, Charleston SC

Crew: Chuck and Jaime Chapman and their 2 kids Cheyenne and Cayden, Derrick myself and Evelyn. We met up with my mom, step dad and grandma in Columbus GA for Patrick's graduation ceremony.

We got on our first flight leaving MSP airport and flying into Omaha, it took about 45 minutes. The flight was a bit turbulant, being Derrick's first flight, he was quite nervous and was not happy about flying. Evelyn on the other hand, slept. Not through only that flight, but through the one going to Atlanta from Omaha, and the one from Atlanta to home... She had no trouble flying.

When we got to Atlanta, we drove 4 hours south to Panama City Beach Florida. Of course the first thing we wanted to do was see the beach! Evelyn wasn't sure about the waters, the waves were bigger than she was. But we weren't swimming right away anyways so it was ok.

The shore was beautiful!

The next day, after settling in, we went to St Andrew's State Park. It was a beautiful park where I was able to get many many pictures. There was a lake inside the park called Alligator Lake, and that's no joke, we saw 2 big alligators!

We did spend some time at the beach at St Andrew's State Park, the beach was secluded by a wall of rocks and was very calm and shallow for the kids. We were chased around by crabs and even saw a jelly fish that'd gotten stuck on the shore. The kids had fun playing in the sand and hunting for sea shells.

Then, we made our way to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in Panama City Beach. It was pretty neat seeing all the crazy things!

After Ripley's, we drove 3 hours north to Columbus GA. Evelyn wasn't really interested in the outdoor saline pool, she had more fun just hanging out watching everyone else swim.

On Friday, we went to Fort Benning - behind the National Infantry Museum - and watched my little brother graduate from Army Basic Training. What a show they put on! Patrick is in the third row of the picture below (wearing glasses).

The day after graduation, we drove to Charleston SC. My favorite place in the whole world to go, its just so beautiful.

When we got to Charleston we went to Folly Beach and then ended up swimming at Isle of Palms beach. Both were very nice beaches. The kids enjoyed playing in the warm waters.

Evelyn mostly had fun playing in the sand. She loved the beach!

That afternoon, we took a horse and carraige ride through downtown historic Charleston. Although it was insanely hot, it was beautiful to see all the gardens and architecture around the town.

Isle of Palms Beach, SC

We were able to take a boat tour through the harbor on "Charleston Belle". The kids weren't to impressed, but the views on the boat were pretty.

When we went down inside the boat the kids had more fun, down there, they were able to run and play. Luckily the boat wasn't very crowded at all so we weren't disturbing a bunch of people.

That night, we took a Ghost and Graveyard tour. It was interesting to see some of the "haunted" places in Charleston. Charleston, being one of the most haunted places around, has many interesting ghost stories and hundreds of different tours a person can take. The kids did very well considering it was a late night tour.

I took a total of 750 pictures on our 8 day trip. I was so glad we were able to do as much as we did while we were there. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip: