Last night we returned from Savannah, Georgia, where we spent a couple of days on a family trip in honor of Mother's Day. What better way to celebrate being a mom than by having to mother three children away from home. No, really, we did have a lot of fun.
Savannah's just a 2.5 hour drive from Columbia. The feel of Savannah, however, is much different from Columbia, more akin to Charleston, South Carolina, or Georgetown in Washington, DC. There is much history to the place and the architecture is wonderful. The downtown area is vibrant with many artful and eclectic shops, and there are lovely squares with fountains, statues, monuments, and glorious old trees.
Upon arriving in Savannah, we had a family-style lunch at The Wilkes House, which really was a low-country feast. Afterwards we sampled some ice cream at Leopold's and then walked around town. After walking around a bit, Calder decided we should take a horse-drawn carriage ride around town: "I want to ride a horsey Mommy!" Despite our tour guide's relentless need to share bad jokes with us, the tour was lovely--only I of the five of us stayed awake to learn about the city.
After our carriage ride we walked down to the river front area. The boys loved the river front area. We did not love the skimpy guard-rail separating our boys from the water and rocks below the docks, nor the Vietnam vet/local rescue gentleman who let us know how worried he was about us taking pictures of our children as they leaned over the flimsy guard-rail. Oh well. We wisely chose to split up dinner, the boys eating early at a local burger joint, and Justin and I eating Thai take-out later that evening in our hotel room. The boys, as always, love hotel rooms. What could be more fun than remote controls (they aren't allowed to touch them at home), clock radios, and tall beds with fluffy pillows upon which to jump about?
On Saturday we started our day at the Gordon Low House (birthplace of the founder of the Girl Scouts), where Justin purchased a Savannah Safari guide. For the next hour and a half or so we took a walking tour scouting out numerous architectural animals on houses and in the squares. After lunch in an old tavern, B Matthew's, we walked across town to the Jepson Center for the Arts, which is part of the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah. The Jepson Center is an airy, modern structure made of white stone, which houses the "Artzeum" where children can be part of the art. The boys especially enjoyed the area where they could construct their own sculptures out of metal objects by placing them on a giant magnetic wall. This kept their attention for over half an hour. They also enjoyed drawing on the art (totally permissible) and constructing buildings of their own. 
In the afternoon the kids napped in their strollers while Justin and I strolled around town some more. We flirted with the idea of visiting the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum but decided that we'd best save it for another visit to Savannah, especially since it was late in the day. On our walk (at this point the boys were awake) we spied Mabel Francis Potter's Cupcake Emporium and procured a few mouth watering cupcakes for later that evening. We dined at Vinnie VanGoGo's Pizzeria before leaving town, and as usual at a pizzeria, Calder stuffed himself silly and Milo picked at his food, complained about the sauce, and the lack of sauce-less crust on his pizza. As we embarked for home in Columbia, we promised the boys that we'd stop in a while so that they could eat their cupcakes. For the next hour and a half Milo whined and asked continuously "When are we going to stop to eat our cupcakes?" As it turns out, Milo only ate about half of his cupcake, and as as soon as we were back on the road again informed us that he was hungry. Tough luck buddy. The cupcakes, however, were delicious. As was our time together as a family. 
More photos from our trip can be found here.
