More Photos....

... and fewer words.  Since the thunderstorms in the ATL this evening have the baby busy (and me a little jumpy), I thought I'd post some more pictures from Kyle's and my recent trip to Charleston.  We are going no captions tonight since it is late....

Babymoon

Kyle and I love to travel.  I would say it's our favorite thing to do together, but it's really hard to pick one thing when I love everything we do together.  We selected Charleston as our babymoon destination so we could enjoy a little time on the beach, historical sightseeing, and (of course) excellent food.  Silly as it is, I also love staying in hotels where we are guaranteed to have cable (a luxury we don't indulge in at home to save pennies).  Where to start?  Let go with food...

Each place we ate had great seafood.  Kyle let me indulge in some serious fried seafood here at Sullivan's (on Sullivan's Island).  We split crab stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer and a plate full of fried shrimp, scallops, flounder, oysters, and devil crab for the entree.  Kyle loved a heaping side of hushpuppies.

Kyle's boss highly recommended Poe's Tavern for fish tacos.  We loved this place splitting an order of chips & queso, 2 mahi mahi tacos, and a burger.  Vacation eating is not for wimps; good thing Kyle brought a pregnant wife as his date.  We also learned that Edgar Allen Poe had lived briefly on Sullivan's Island; the restaurant website says, "Poe enlisted in the army under the pseudonym Edgar Allan Perry and was stationed at Fort Moultrie at the western end of Sullivan's Island for thirteen months beginning November 18,1827."

We went to Hank's in downtown Charleston on our last evening.  We both enjoyed she crab soup.  For entrees I ordered mussels (a girl really learns to miss moules frites leaving France and all...) while Kyle ordered "Seafood a la Wando".  This dish had 3 kinds of fish, shrimp, scallops, crab, and mushrooms served on a fried grit cake covered in a buttery cream sauce.  Woah it was rich.

 We learned a valuable hotel reservation lesson.  Kyle wanted to take the hassle out of staying somewhere far from the beach.  We stayed for two nights at a hotel right on the beach at the Isle of Palms.  It is beach-goers central.  Our first afternoon there, Kyle and I took a long walk up and down the beach~ a scene which can only be described as a real life Where's Waldo? illustration.  What we hoped would be convenient was kind of frightening.  The biggest motivation to find a calmer & less-populated beach?  Too many smokers along the Isle of Palms.  We happily spent the next two days on the beach at Sullivan's Island where we saw these things:

You may have to enlarge this one to get the full effect.  There was a man who had these huge kite sets and was doing all these impressive tricks with one set in each hand.  It was so fun and entertaining~ how does one get into rhythmic kite flying?

You can hardly see them, but we were visited by some dolphins in our cove one morning.

Bleh~ jellies were everywhere.  I thought I loved the beach, but these creepies have me thinking I only love the Gulf of Mexico...

A sand covered crab in its shell.  I managed to step on at least one crab and maybe two starfish that scared me out of my mind.  Ocean life is good to observe~ not to tread on.

Boldly going where perhaps no pregnant girl should go~ a swimsuit picture!  I unsuccessfully have been trying to tan over my running shorts tan lines for a while...  looks like I'll be rockin' paler thighs until summer '12.

My handsome hubby and all our new beach goods thanks to Target.  We got two beach chairs, two beach towels, and two Nalgene water bottles at great deals compared to the beach shops in the touristy areas.  Our little set up made spending time on the beach so comfortable and perfect for reading.

Happy Hams on our wide open sandscape

We weren't beach bums the whole trip~ we managed to get in a little culture.  We thought it'd be cool to visit Fort Sumter after having watched the Ken Burns Civil War documentary a couple of months ago, but we only ended up visiting Fort Moultrie.  The fort had an impressive victory against the British during the Revolutionary War, but since then had done little to preserve the safety of the homeland.  It has been decommissioned so now it's just a tourist sight where folks like we can pose with cannons.

Fort Moultrie

Kyle posing on the frontline of many a military conflict

We were trying to think of a way we could "Evel Knievel" that baby into this cannon.  We went for a cute pose instead.

We loved the large water mines and did the best explosion faces we could muster.  Kyle's working his explosion look all the way down to his calves~ what a stud!

With a helpful gust of wind that came right as I was posing, I think I look like I'm being blown away more than blown up... Kyle got a kick out of my expression.

Here are some other landmarks you may recognize from the area~

Ah, there's Fort Sumter off in the distance.

It was so sunny and hot at the Battery that we spent most of our time in White Point Gardens.

Pretty place

Every time I see a gazebo, I want to sing "Sixteen Going On Seventeen".

The yellow building is the old Exchange Building and Provost Dungeon.  We wondered if our friends in Metz would find this corner of architecture in Charleston similar to messin buildings.  The pinky-brown building definitely reminded us of Metz's post office.

Every port city has a custom house, but not all port cities have such a handsome fella to present their landmarks.

We meandered through the old City Market and thankfully made it out of there without buying something woven.

Lastly, I know this may sound weird, but we love hotel hopping on vacations.  Kyle found a deal on a very fancy hotel in town for our last night.  We say fancy because they had a wine & cheese hour, cookies and milk at bedtime, and an insane breakfast brought to our room whenever we wanted (I guess we think of food a lot).  It was a beautiful place to stay.  We couldn't afford to be there for the whole trip, but it's nice to go all out for one day.

Our room was the largest at the Harbour View Inn; it's exposed brick wall and tension rod date back to the 1830s.  I wanted to move in.

A basket full of pastries, a carafe of regular coffee for Kyle & decaf for me, cups of fruit, and a small glass of chocolate milk for my husband.  These were the best pastries we've had since we left France.

On the left side of this picture you can see our room's enormous window.  On the right side you can see the pier by the harbor.

We met a lovely man who took our picture on the rooftop terrace.

From the roof we could see the harbor as well as a fountain that children love to play in.  How fun!

It was a wonderful trip.  I loved celebrating two years of marriage with my sweet husband as well as getting in one last big freedom excursion before the baby arrives.  I was worried it wouldn't be very much fun for me because I feel so pregnant, but I definitely recommend traveling and babymooning (we were able to do it at 31 weeks or 7 months easily).  I loved all the quality time we had reading, doing Bible study together, exploring, swimming, walking, eating, watching Food Network and House Hunters for hours, and talking.  It was super restorative and such a blessing.  I have more pictures to share with you, but it'll have to be another post since this one is ridiculous.  A bientot!

2 KHams

Did you know Kyle is a twin?  I may have mentioned it before, but Kyle was a surprise baby.  His parents were expecting a baby girl back in January 1984.  After healthy baby girl Kelly was delivered, the doctors were shocked to discover that the "afterbirth was kicking" (as Kyle's father tells it).  Around 20 minutes later Kyle made his appearance in the world much to everyone's surprise.  During the whole pregnancy, no one suspected there were two babes on board.  Kyle always jokes that he wore girl's clothes for the first 3 to 5 years of his life because they weren't expecting him.

On Monday this week, we got a visit from Miss Kelly.  She was in town from Raleigh, and it was a real treat to get to see her.  We ate dinner at our apartment and then went for some frozen yogurt before taking her back to her hotel.  It was definitely great to see her; she'll be embarking on a huge trip in the end of June.  Kelly will move to Heidelberg, Germany for the next 2 years with work, and we couldn't be more excited for her.  Can you tell these Hamiltwins have a thing for travel and living abroad?  Once our little fella comes into the world, we are pumped about having an excuse to travel with him to Europe to meet his aunt Kelly.  If any more of our siblings want to move abroad, we totally support you!

4 Hams!

We are in week 26, and according to the books, baby boy weighs in around 2 pounds now!  Please enjoy another installment of my goofy mirror pictures to capture the magic of my expanding waist...

Bigger and bigger we grow.

There you have it...  Now to find something to do to beat the heat.  It is hot!

Les Désastreuses aventures de la famille Hamilton

We departed from Rome with no problems and arrived in sunny Sardinia.  From this point, our adventure felt more like a romantic comedy where everything goes wrong.  I'll recount our troubled tale, but hopefully I'll still be able to communicate how much fun we had and what a bonding experience this trip became. We rented a little Smart car for fun and headed to our B&B to check in.

Oh no!  We flew past our destination!

Our place was out in the middle of nowhere.  The roads were lonely and wide; there was sandy orange stone and  tufts of dry grass for miles. The owner of the B&B, Graziano, was thoroughly delightful.... but we had no common language.  Thankfully all my studies of Latin-based tongue paid off; somehow we deduced how much we owed him and that there is no breakfast in September with mixed French, Spanish, and Italian.  So I guess you can say we stayed in a B&.  He also helped us find a restaurant nearby for dinner.  Since we were hungry, we tossed our bags in the room and went straight to the local pizza place.  We ordered a delicious plate of local cheeses and charcuterie (heavily influenced by the boars on the island~they make a delicious sausage).   We sampled some island brews (beer, not coffee), and ate a ridiculous amount of pizza.  We did all of this in the dark.  For some reason, the power kept going out at the restaurant.  Thank goodness we were in Italy where all good pizza is perfectly baked in wood burning ovens.

ichnusa is ichtasty

Not exactly a candlelit dinner... those are the flood lights that prevented us from depending solely on the moon.

We had some good plans for day 2 in Sardinia.  We got up to take a jog and discovered that we were stationed in the midst of a large neighborhood of vineyards.  It seems the harvest had already begun as many of the workers in the fields seemed puzzled by the two English speakers running by their rural workplace.  I could jog that little area everyday and be quite content.  We then set out to do a little exploration by car and try to take a peak at Neptune's Grotto.

Glorious grapes!

We (read: I) didn't wear appropriate shoes to explore Neptune's Grotto. 

There is not a bad picture taken on this island.  Not possible.

Our trusty tiny car~ I look like a giant!

Don't you want to go for a dip?

For the afternoon we were set to take a ferry from a nearby port to Corsica.  When we arrived at the dock for our ferry, we found it was not meant to be.  You'd have to have been living under a rock to have missed the incredible number of strikes which have occurred throughout France the last couple of months.  On this particular day, all French transportation workers were all for la greve.  This even included French ferry navigators who work between the Italian & French islands.  I was distraught, but Kyle had the presence of mind to get a refund on our tickets and patronize an Italian company who had not abandoned their boat posts.  This meant a later ferry from another port farther north on the coast.  Thus we had to mix up our hotel arrangements as we'd be arriving in the evening 3 hours away from our hotel.  Kyle took care of it all; he is so patient.  We drove to port #2 for the day and had enough time for a cappuccino before our departure.  Kyle's phone rang with an unknown number.  The new hotel he booked for the night didn't actually have any rooms available.  *sigh*  We hunted down an internet cafe and found another hotel to book so that we wouldn't have to sleep in the Smart car on our European honeymoon.  Thankfully for the rest of this day, everything went smoothly.

A floating parking lot!  Seriously, "ferry" doesn't seem to adequately describe what this machine can do.

Corsica~we've arrived.

We were back in France!  Something about traveling to exotic places yet still being able to communicate is a great comfort.  Corsica looks very similar to Sardinia, but it felt great to be back among the French.  Sadly, we woke up to a cool, rainy gray day.  Just when we thought we could enjoy a day at the beach...  Alas, that doesn't spoil our fun.  We went out and got coffee and ice cream for lunch then went for a good walk at the beach where we found such delightful treasures.

Out of the rain with a lovely view

...and who needs sunshine?

This little number is supposed to be a Corsican specialty.  They are made with chestnut flour but aren't the most delish.

We explored rocky paths and took crooked self-timed photos....

...saw wind surfers....

...and kite surfers....

... and found a cat!

Kyle even liked her.  He named her Suity (pronounced sweetie) because it's like the French word to follow.  That's what she did; she followed us.

Sometimes we followed her.

We also enjoyed a Corsican beer.  This is Kyle's artsy picture.  A good day was had by all.

The rain couldn't be the only thing to thwart us this day~that would have been too simple.  We got a call from America; my dad called to let us know we needed to change our flight plans because our day was filling up quick.  We were set to return back to the U.S. in less than a week so it meant rearranging our plans for moving out of our dorm and saying farewell to friends in Metz.  Again, Kyle masterfully filled all the gaps, and we went back to enjoying our honeymoon trip.

We had been staying in Bonifacio which has so much to see.  There are beaches, the beautiful port, tons of great restaurants, and plenty of shopping.  All of this exists in what feels like two cities~the upper and the lower.  We had only spent time in the lower part because it was easy to walk to from our hotel.  We spent our second day in town exploring the upper level.  

It was chilly but totally worth an uphill hike.

What a place for Christians to worship.  I'm struggling with coveting...

Homes on the hill

Crazy curvy port

Kyle went all out on our next stop~a breathtaking B&B (with breakfast in September) in Porto Vecchio.  I wish we had stayed there from the day we departed from Rome.  In addition to staying in the most gorgeous place ever, the sun finally came out and we could finally go to the beach!  We soaked in a lot of sun, read a lot, and enjoyed a Corsican beer.  I do have to note that it was a bit windy~  or maybe it was terribly windy.  Not a bad thing on a warm day, but it is definitely unpleasant to be pelted by stinging sand at the beach.  We found sanctuary from the grainy assault behind some large beach rocks.  No problems.  For dinner we went to a really cool restaurant where the menu changed each day based on what the chef was interested in cooking and what was available at the market.  The menu was written on a large chalkboard that the waitress carried from table to table for patrons to make their selection.  Kyle and I opted to get an appetizer and entree to split.  It wasn't until we were about to enjoy our kirs when we noticed some small print on the chalkboard~ non CB (meaning no credit/debit cards).  Yet again we were in a pickle as we had a very small amount of cash on us.  We were about to pay for our drinks and depart when the waitress insisted that we could eat today and pay tomorrow.   I felt like Wimpy from Popeye~ "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for delicious shrimp pasta dish today."  Crisis averted (though we went to an ATM after dinner to pay for the lovely meal~ not a quick task when the closest ATM was a 30 minute drive away... crazy island life).

My bud + books + beer + beach = best day ever

Since you can't photograph the wind, you can at least show it's violent wake.  Exhibit A: restaurant sign knocked over covered in sand.

Ah, who cares about the wind?

This B&B was my favorite.  Can you believe that's our view?

Breakfast~the word alone inspires happiness.  French breakfasts are usually yogurt, baguette, fresh butter and jam, orange juice, and plenty of coffee.  Simple bliss!  We got a little something extra with our breakfast~ bad news.  We have ventured into the absurd with vacation obstacles at this point.  That wind I mentioned yesterday was none other than the legendary and terrifying Mistral.  I had learned about it in my French culture class and how it wreaks havoc all over Provence.  Never in a million years would I expect it to interrupt our trip to an island in the sun.  The lady who owned the B&B informed us no ferries would be braving the waters for a few days because it's too dangerous with the winds.  No kidding~these natural ports are surrounded by imposing rocky cliffs.  For Kyle and me, we knew we were trapped.  Here we had an Italian Smart car which had to be returned to the airport in Sardinia as well as a serious deadline to be back to Metz for moving out and then Paris to fly back to the U.S.  Like, this was Sunday and we were going to fly back to the states on Wednesday.  Cutting it a little close, I'd say.  Just to make sure we knew how seriously impossible it'd be to leave the island, the wind decided to kick it up a notch.  We stayed in our beautiful room all day long and read in bed.  I've never seen or heard anything like it, but now I truly know the fear the 3 little pigs must have felt.

After many prayers and not the most restful night of sleep, we drove to the port in the hopes that the ferry would arrive and carry us and our tiny Smart car back to Italian soil.  We waited~ no one at the port knew definitively whether or not it would make the crossing.  The clock kept ticking; our departure time came and went.  Then. We. Heard. The. Fateful. Sound. Of. A. FOGHORN!!  A large ferry came into the port, unloaded it's cargo and passengers, and it was our turn to board!  They couldn't have dragged us off that boat if it were on fire~we were going back to Italy.  We had a long ride back and met some lovely Canadians who were retired teachers (all French speakers).  Back in Santa Teresa, we drove the car back onto solid Italian ground and happily set out to Castelsardo where we would stay one more night before returning home.

Let me on that boat!

We're all aboard and headed back to Sardinia.

Adieu Corsica.

Kyle again chose a beautiful place for us to stay, and the only hiccup we faced in this town was that many restaurants weren't open on Monday for dinner.  No biggie.  We loved our last day on the island~a great breakfast, beautiful weather, great conversations, lots of thank you prayers to God, and the best way to bid farewell to Europe.  It was just the best to get a week of time with just Kyle without any obligations to just be together and reflect on the incredible year we shared in France.

No complaints here.

A little poolside sunbathing before our flight.  Farewell, paradise.

Best moment of the trip?  You see a small house in the middle of nowhere with the word "formaggi" painted on the side.  You say to yourself, "Self, it says cheese, but does it mean there is cheese within?"  Well, I have a bold husband who has a weakness for pecorino romano....

Would you be tempted to enter?

This is how much cheese you can get for 7 euros.  No knives, just spoons.