The SEWE weekend!

Last weekend Brad and I dropped sweet Anderson at BG and Big Daddy's house and headed to Charleston for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE)! This is one of Brad's favorite events and he sincerely enjoys every minute of it! This year we planned to go all out and stay downtown at the Charleston Place Hotel and be right in the thick of it! For Christmas, Brad got a Benefactor Package that got us into every single event of the Expo and access to just about anything. The events are set up across the peninsula at the Francis Marion Hotel, Embassy Suites, Mills House Hotel, Gaillard Auditorium, Marion Square, Charleston Place Hotel, and Brittlebank Park. We arrived at 11:30am on Friday and had plenty of time to run some errands, grab lunch, and catch the first Jack Hanna show and roam around the Gaillard exhibits. It was raining by the time the show was over so we headed back to the Charleston Place to see the exhibits there. We had plans to go to dinner at Magnolia's with our friends Rob and Ginny, but their babysitter called in sick and they were unable to get a replacement. That was probably for the better b/c the snow later that evening would have made it difficult to get back home to Mt. Pleasant. Since snow happens here once in a Blue Moon --- we are not sure so how to drive in it or deal with it in general! Lucky for us, our former neighbors in Park West were staying downtown (they both are big time SEWE volunteers) and joined us. I just adore them and it is always a treat to be able to see them and spend some time w/ them. Our friends Ginger and Andrew came up on Saturday w/ their daughter Mary Kate so we were able to hang out with them some as well!

The rest of the weekend we spent visiting the exhibits and I mainly followed Brad around where he wanted to go next! Saturday night we attended the SEWE Soiree which is a big oyster roast and wild game dinner at the Bus Shed. I know some of you are wondering how he was able to get me to agree to go to the SEWE---well, he did dangle a nice restaurant and hotel in front of my face :) In all honesty, he enjoys it so much and it was nice to see him relax and not think about work for a weekend. He works so hard for our family and deserves a break from it all.....the other stuff was just bonus.


This was one of Brad's treasures from the weekend. A official signed SEWE poster came w/ his package--when we got there they were offering an "upgrade" to a framed copy for an extra charge, of course! This won't make the wall in our house, I am afraid. Brad has taken it to his office at work. For those of you who know Brad...he dreams about deer with a rack like this (see I do know some hunting lingo)!

Forgive the fuzzy pictures. We did not remember to bring a camera so my Blackberry had to do. If you look close, you can see the snowflakes in my hair!

Parking Lot on Market Street w/ a blanket of snow!

World's smallest snowman on Market Street!

The weather stations were all calling for snow, but I feel it is always predicted and then nothing ever happens so I was just sure we would get zero snow. In true form, Anderson got his first taste of snow without us! Momma took him out and she said he liked it until he tripped and his hands went into the snow--after that the snow escapade was over and he wanted nothing to do with it! She tried to get him back out there and get more pictures, but he was over it. She did have his hood on him but he kept taking it off. We don't even own gloves for him--it just doesn't get that cold!

I love Charleston and loved living there and was sad to see the weekend come to an end, but I missed Anderson more that I thought possible. It is nice to be sans responsibility for a little while, but you just knew that something was missing. Brad and I always wonder what we did with all of our time before we had him--my parents would tell you that we were busy moving about the country (4 rimes to be exact!).