Traveling the Eastern Seaboard

Today Lillie Foulé is two months old. Oh my! It's been a whirlwind since she came and at the same time one of the most relaxing times of my life. Today is the first day I've been alone with my girl since I had her - pretty incredible! Up until now I've either been with family on a trip or had family or a friend staying with me. Of course, Abdoulaye is always here and it's been marvelous seeing him in the role of dad (or Baba as he'll be called). For LF's two-month birthday present we opened her Maryland 529 college savings plan. It's never too early!

 Speaking of early - LF is my new alarm clock, of course, and she didn't fail in her mission during her first road trip from Virginia Beach to St. Augustine, Florida. My sister, Lindsay, was moving down to join her husband in the Sunshine State and so LF and I tagged along for the ride. Including Virginia we visited five states and ate our way through all of them. Our first stop was Fayetteville, NC where we just rested our heads. Then it was on to Charleston, South Carolina where we stayed at the stately Embassy Suites Charleston. What a treat! The hotel was right downtown and as you can see from the photo above, gorgeous.

 Our first happy hour in Charleston was at Social Wine Bar. We noshed on pizza, blue cheese chips, roasted cauliflower and mussels and loved every bite! We landed here around 5pm on a Friday night and enjoyed people watching and marveling at my sleeping baby while the crowd slowly picked up and the people came in.

 Then, it was on to Pearlz for their oyster happy hour. Just down the street from Social, we cozied up to strangers at a long bar peninsula and Lindsay and Sheri dug into a few rounds of oysters (I don't care for the bivalves). Lillie Foulé continued to sleep and when she did want to nurse, we just cozied up on a bench in front of the restaurant before heading back inside.

 On Saturday we wandered the streets of Charleston one more time before packing up and heading south. I loved these swinging benches on the boardwalk and soaking up the sunshine and stretching my legs before the next part of our journey. Thankfully all of our driving was around 3 hours per stretch so we weren't cooped up in the car too long - and perfectly spaced for my baby girl's feedings and naps!

 Posing here before a wedding party took portraits in front of this fountain. The bride and bridesmaids were wearing platform stiletto glitter heels! Oh my!

Next we headed to Savannah, Georgia to see our dear family friend, Marty. Marty owns Savannah Smiles Dueling Piano Bar and played Lillie Foulé's first dueling piano bar song - A New York State of Mind. The lyrics seem appropriate for our trip (even though we were headed in the opposite direction of NY). We were, after all, on a holiday from the neighborhood :)

 Then it was on to St. Augustine where we headed straight for A1A, recommended by a friend of Sheri's. She didn't lead us astray as the food was delicious and the view beautiful (if only it hadn't been raining it would have been even better!). Lillie Foulé slept on the seat next to me while I dug into a delicious salmon and rice dish.

 On our last day of the trip, Lindsay and Sheri dropped Lillie Foulé and I off at the Jacksonville airport for a (direct!) flight home. It was her first flight at just six weeks and so I was of course nervous as to how she would do. Thankfully, the lift off and descent were fine - she slept the whole time and nursed just a little as we lifted off but didn't seem to be bothered by the change in pressure. Lucky me!

Unrelated to our trip but I just love the bracelet my friend Margaret from Bay and Bee's made for LF. What a unique and precious gift that we'll treasure for always! I can't wait until her little wrist chunks up enough for her to wear it!