Mike's Wedding/Charleston Trip

I am so far behind on updating my blog, but I'm not giving up! We had the wonderful opportunity to attend Greg's brother's wedding in South Carolina in May. It was such a fun trip and this post is going to be a long one with lots of pictures, so prepare yourself!

The kids were so excited to go to the airport and ride on a real airplane. They loved being on the plane and were great little flyers.  

Greg's entire family flew in and we rented an awesome house in Charleston for a few days before heading north to Fountain Inn for the wedding. Garrett and Abby were so excited to see their cousins again. Garrett took Annabelle and Abby to the top bunk and was having "Scout Camp" in this picture. Funny kids!

***These next pictures uploaded randomly and it would take too long to put them in the right order, so this is going to be all over the place for a bit. Sorry!

The house we rented had a pool and it was so much fun! It wasn't heated and the water was cold, but the kids still loved it.

We all really loved Matt's euro-style swimming suit. He is so hot right now!

Random picture/story: We took the red-eye flight to South Carolina and Garrett was so excited to be on the plane with his own TV (Go Jetblue!) that he didn't sleep at all. We arrived in Charleston Sunday morning and Garrett was so excited to see everybody he didn't sleep at all that day. The rest of the family had arrived at various times the day before and were so sweet to keep an eye on him while Greg, Abby, and I crashed. We had a lovely nap and woke up to find Garrett still going strong. We enjoyed the day with the family and Garrett was eating dinner when he literally fell asleep mid-bite. We carried him into bed and he slept for a solid 12+ hours and woke up the next morning ready for fun.

Back to the pool pictures...I told you they uploaded randomly.

The beach was right across the street and it was awesome. We would spend the mornings hanging by the pool and then walk over to the beach in the afternoon. Neither Garrett or Abby had ever seen the ocean before and it was so fun to experience it with them.

Some of our best friends, Lea and Lisa Holliday, were in Charleston at the same time and we had so much fun having them join us. Lea grew up in Charleston and they were visiting his parents. We've talked about going on a vacation with them and have never been able to pull anything off, so it was fun to at least have them there with us for part of this trip.

Mal is famous for her manicures/pedicures and busted out her polish multiple times throughout the trip to ensure we were all looking our best for the wedding and the beach.

Day 2 was spent much like Day 1--pool and beach! It's pretty hard to beat that combo (especially when little kids are involved).

We all got a good chuckle when Eric's chair tipped over. Thankfully he's a good sport and laughed right along with us.

Eric figured he shouldn't be the only one being laughed at and threw Mal in the pool.

Brian came along and pushed Eric in right behind Mal. It was great and I was very relieved when it was declared that pregnant ladies were exempt from being thrown in the pool. Phew!

We headed back to the beach for the afternoon...

We were back from the beach and had just bathed the kids when somebody suggested we go see an aircraft carrier at some port nearby. The kids were in their jammies and I was still in my beach clothes, but we hopped in and went along for the ride. I'm so glad we did, because Garrett and Abby absolutely loved all the cannons and other military equipment they were able to play on.

We headed into downtown Charleston the next day for a walking tour of the city. We spent most of it chasing the kids around and missed most of the history being presented, but the city is beautiful and it was fun just to walk around see it all.

I did hear our tour guide point out the Calhoun Mansion which she said appeared in "The Notebook." Much of the movie was filmed in the Charleston area and I've been dying to watch it since we got home, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. One of these days!

We were leaving for Fountain Inn the next morning and went back to the beach for one last time.

Random upload order again, but I would like to introduce you to our new pet hermit crabs: Hermie and Princess Aurora. Garrett was so excited to look for crabs on the beach and was disappointed when we never found any. Lea (our awesome friend) went to the pet store and showed up with these hermit crabs for us to take home. Garrett and Abby LOVE them and they have actually been really fun little souvenirs from our trip...much cooler than a t-shirt, right?

Back to the beach...

It had been a busy and fun couple of days and everybody was so exhausted by our last night in Charleston. 

We were so sad to leave Charleston and all the fun we had, but we also couldn't wait to get to Fountain Inn for all the wedding festivities. The kids were thrilled to discover the hotel had a pool AND an elevator...both of which provided some great entertainment for us during our stay there.

Willy's old Marine buddy and close family friend, Jack Adams, met up with us in Fountain Inn. It was so fun to see him and his darling wife, Peg, again. They live in Ohio and drove down just for the wedding.

Irina's family invited all of us over for a BBQ our first night in Fountain Inn. They are wonderful people and so kind. We loved meeting all of them and enjoyed spending time in their beautiful home and yard. They had fixed up Irina and her sister's old playhouse and the kids absolutely loved it!

All of the girls went to a bridal luncheon the next day at a beautiful and charming little restaurant. Irina and her sister had ordered these darling crowns for the little girls to wear and they were so excited.

These 3 all got dressed in separate rooms and just happened to show up in matching outfits. Aren't they cute?

That evening, we went to the rehearsal dinner at yet another beautiful and charming little restaurant in downtown Fountain Inn. (You gotta love the South!)

The kids were so excited to have their own little table. We were a little nervous about how that would all go down, but they actually did pretty well and were cute just hanging out there together.

The bride and groom...such a cute couple!

Mike's best friend, Nate Soelberg and his wife, Jessica, also flew in from Utah for the wedding. Greg, Mike, and Nate were all college roommates when Greg and I were dating, so it was so fun to hang out with them and share some good laughs from our college days.

When we got back to the hotel, Abby needed a pedicure from Mal to ensure she was looking her very best for the big wedding day tomorrow.

Killer boots, man. Enough said.

We spent the next morning just hanging out at the hotel and swimming until it was time to get ready for the wedding.

Greg told Garrett he would give him a dollar if he jumped in the pool. It took a little convincing, but he finally did it!

Grandpa and Grandma upped the ante and gave him an entire Costco-sized bag full of mini candy bars. Wow, huh?

Finally, it was time for the big event! It was a beautiful ceremony at Irina's parents' house. It had been raining all day, but the skies cleared and the sun shone down just in time for her to walk down the aisle.

Abby was quite pleased with herself and felt like a real princess. She loved her pretty dress, curly hair, all the flowers, and the music and dancing. A perfect combination for a 3-year-old little girl!

Not the best picture, but here is the whole Phillips family. 

And the wedding party...

More family pics...

They had pictures of Mike and Irina along with their parents and grandparents displayed. I loved it and thought it was such a cute idea!

The kids couldn't wait to get back to the playhouse!

They had an awesome band and we spent the rest of the night dancing, eating, and visiting. It was a perfect day and so fun to experience a real Southern wedding!

And then it was all over and we had to load up the luggage cart and head for home and back to reality.

The trip home turned into a bit of a nightmare with bad weather and cancelled flights. We spent some quality time in the airport, but the kids were awesome and handled it so well. We finally got on a flight and made it home late the next night. Minus the airport fiasco, it was a perfect trip and we had such a wonderful time with the family. We have missed everybody so much since then, but we are so excited we get to do this all again when Mal gets married in September!