Keeping Up with the Kaczorowski's: October 2013

Columbia Zoo

After we left Charleston, we met my dad, brothers and Oliver at the Columbia Zoo. I hate to admit it, but we have never taken Oliver to the zoo. He enjoyed some of it, not so much other parts. It was a beautiful day, though, and a nice way to wrap up our time with family.

He definitely enjoyed these animal statues!

He's a big fan of anything he can climb on!

My goofball brothers

Still climbing...

He definitely takes after his mama...he was fascinated by the underwater exhibits!

He liked the elephants!

This female lion just stood and stared at us for the longest time.

This guy didn't care so much about us!

Oliver really wanted to ride the carousel...and hated every single minute of it. He cried the ENTIRE time.

Lots of giraffes

Charleston, SC - October 2013 - Part III

We spent the next couple of days just roaming around downtown Charleston. We did a little shopping and a lot of eating! We also headed over to Isle of Palms on our last day. I definitely need to go back there and spend more time! It was so nice to just spend a few days together, without the constant interruptions of a certain two year old. :-) Sleeping in past 6 am was pretty amazing, too!

A pink fountain, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month

I loved, loved, loved looking at the beautiful houses in downtown Charleston! Such amazing architecture!

Pinckney Island

More houses, right along the harbor

Battery Park

There are some unbelievable churches in downtown Charleston!

This was definitely my favorite!

Relaxing with my hubby!

Isle of Palms

I'll definitely be coming back here...beautiful!

Charleston, SC - October 2013 - Part II

After we checked things out around our resort, we headed over to the USS Yorktown, a WWII aircraft carrier. We spent the rest of the day walking around, checking out the amazing history of this aircraft carrier, as well as the USS Laffey, a battleship, and the USS Clamagore, a submarine. We were lucky that this is all state-owned since we were visiting during the government shutdown...ha!

Walking across the harbor to board the aircraft carrier

The USS Laffey

We sent this picture to Oliver, and he was very excited that Daddy was "driving an airplane."

There were lots of aircrafts to check out on the deck.

Don was loving all this...

The USS Clamagore

Just call him Captain Don

Honestly, Oliver would have loved this as much as Don did. We will have to take him back in the future.

The thing is gigantic!

In the submarine

A piece of the original flag that flew on the USS Laffey

The marina

It was pretty amazing to see the history that has been preserved inside these ships and to think of the battles the men onboard fought through. You can't help but be proud to be an American.

Charleston, SC - October 2013 - Part I

Last week, we packed up the van and headed to Georgia to visit my family. After visiting for a day or so, we left Oliver with his Pawpaw and Nini, and Don and I headed to Charleston, SC for a much-needed vacation on our own! We don't often get time away from him so this was like being in heaven!

When we arrived at our hotel, we just bummed around the resort grounds for awhile. Our hotel was absolutely beautiful and in an amazing location! Since it is mid-October, it was pretty quiet too. The hotel was located right on the harbor, next to the marina. There were two long docks you could walk out on. As soon as we arrived, we headed out onto one of them. Within a few minutes, we spotted several dolphins swimming in the harbor! They came right over by us. It was awesome! I am totally fascinated by whales and dolphins so I could have sat all day on that dock and watched them. Pretty much every time we were near the water, we would spot them. Very cool!