Continued from Charleston Day 1.

After operating at 11 all day yesterday, PL fell asleep pretty quickly. CL, after being calm all day, decided that she didn’t want to sleep easily so cried and cried in her crib. She had to be fed again after 30 minutes of crying before she would finally fall asleep. Listening to your little baby cry continuously is stressful. So, damn, tired. I think by 9pm(8pm Austin time) RL and I were both in bed snoring away. ZZZZzzzzzz.

The kids slept well most of the night, and they woke up at their usual time as they do in Austin. Cool, still got them more or less on their schedule. Free breakfast downstairs in the lobby, sweet.

My breakfast. The in-laws had already eaten most of their breakfast since they came down earlier with PL so that RL and I could finish getting ready this morning.

PL points, like father like daughter. Breakfast went by semi uneventfully, other than the fact that PL kept on sneezing and has irritated skin all over her body. We think she’s suffering from some sort of airborne allergies. The people who sat on the table next to us told BH and DH that pollen has been super high in Charleston and all the cars are covered in yellow pollen. PL has been sneezing up a storm, so we gave her some benedryl to try to alleviate her symptoms…they kind of help a little. Unfortunately, she’s immune to the sleepy effects of benedryl so she stays super hyper still.

Eagerly waiting for the automatic sliding doors to open.

The door is open, come on grandpa, let’s go!! Super eager little animal.

Fair skin problems, must slather in sunblock. PL and her entourage, who are responsible for her entertainment, skin care, and comfort; as well as wiping her nose as soon as she needs it, which is frequent.

RL points.

Enjoying the architecture in this city. I think looking at the architecture in Charleston is the main reason why I wanted to visit here.

Sweet house.

I told you there were a lot of bars here. This is apparently a hard partying city that they offer IV hangover cures.

At Walgreens resupplying. This is an entire wall of foods that will put my kid into the ER…sigh.

Our $25 across the street neighbor garage sale Maclaren stroller is handling this trip like a champ. Best purchase ever. Just small enough to travel well, and just enough features to be useful.

Calhoun.

Tito’s vodka from Austin. Surprised to see that ad here.

This pedicab had a flat tire on the other side. Must suck.

This is the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where the hate crime shooting happened in 2015. 🙁

At least she seems to be happy in her stroller…as long as we are moving and going somewhere.

Walking towards the docks to board a cruise to Fort Sumter.

Cruise ship terminals over there.

She thinks its funny to try to balance the bottle on her head.

Fort Sumter cruise terminal on the right side.

And SC Aquarium on the left side. We’ll be visiting the aquarium tomorrow.

Got my will call tickets, no line baby.

Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge

Crazy super hyper active child.

Here comes our boat.

Hold my hand grandpa.

Now I am going to take you to where I want to go, stairs. PL is currently obsessed with climbing up and down stairs. I guess when you don’t have stairs at home, finding stairs is fascinating.

Inside the ferry terminal, there’s a small museum about Fort Sumter. This is what it used to look like pre-Civil War.

“Slavery is our King – Slavery is our Truth – Slavery is our Divine Right”. Wow…

Star calm child just ate and had her diaper changed, time to go back to sleep. She’s such an easy travel baby.

OK, time to head down and board the boat.

Meanwhile, PL is still obsessed with stairs and ramps. Endless fun over here.

The line snakes all the way around.

Taken away from her beloved stairs and ramps. Now must throw fit about it.

Getting closer.

Lucky for us, everyone else elected to sit on the upper levels, which left us much room to spread ourselves out on the first level.

Apparently there’s a bar here that will be open on the way back from Fort Sumter, nice.

Snack time.

PL takes multiple people entertaining her every waking hour. Every single one of us takes turns keeping an eye on her and following her around everywhere. She’s so active that just a few minutes of following her around is exhausting.

Typical, upset about something. Being one and a half is a tough time in life. She can’t be feeling too well either, her nose has been running and she’s been sneezing nonstop. Damn allergies!

Found stairs, now happy as a clam.

Cool, a dolphin. Barely make out the fin in the distance.

Fins, but not a dolphin.

RL was showing PL to look through a porthole when all of a sudden, a giant wave splashed up and got her good.

Haha.

The porthole in question.

Wants to go back to watching the waves.

Daddy, can I go do something that I am not supposed to do? Plllleeeaasssseeee.

The often photographed row of mansions in Charleston facing the waterfront

Why the serious face grandpa?

Getting closer.

And closer…

And closer still…

Charleston in the distance.

Stairs are amazing, but so are empty cups.

We’ve arrived!

Cookie, nom nom nom.

When I saw this, I almost blurted out, “look at all of us slaving over PL right now.” But I had to catch myself and hold my words since there was a whole high school field trip of predominately black kids on this boat right now. Probably not the most sensitive thing to say on the way to the monument that marked the start of the Civil War. You may be asking why we left her in her stroller while trying to get off the boat. Its to avoid having to try to get her back in it once on land…there would be a huge fit about it.

To be continued at Charleston Day 2 Part 2.