First of all I have to apologize for the not so great pics, we used my phone all weekend instead of hauling my big camera. Anyway, to say that Charleston is a beautiful city is an understatement and although it was kinda gray and storming half the time, we took in as much as we could in our quick 3 night stay. We stayed at the Historic District Marriott, which was less than a 5 minute walk to King street. You wanna be settled near King street, it offers a lot of shopping, restaurants, coffee shops, markets, and is where we did the majority of our walking around. We got in pretty late Friday night because we wanted to take the scenic route down through Myrtle Beach. We stopped at a super kid friendly restaurant too, the Carolina Roadhouse, I got the fried pork chop and it was bigger than my head!! You get a lot of food for your money, and awesome kids meals. Highly recommended if you’re in the area. 
The first day we had breakfast on King street at Callies Hot Little Biscuit, and it wasn’t as accommodating for our huge crew but the plate of pancakes could feed an army!! We made the mistake of ordering two, but one plate could have fed the older three boys easy. Than we made our way through the biggest, most beautiful park, Gadsdenbro Park. It offers multiple themed playgrounds, a ton of running space, swings, and more. We could have stayed all day we but had a deadline for the Harbor Tour. The harbor tour was nice, we got to see the outside of Fort Sumter and and hear some interesting facts and history about Charleston from the boats Captain. The boys got pretty restless tho about 20 minutes in, so I would say if you have older kids or babies that are sleeping its worth it, but with our boys I was ready to get off before it ended.
That night for dinner we ate at the The Macintosh, awesome outdoor seating and really good food. A little more on the expensive side, but excellent customer service and great beers on tap!! I would love to go back for a date night, because it has a nice romantic atmosphere.
The next morning we ate at Kitchen 208, its a self seat and order at the front kind of place, PERFECT for our family. We got to pick our seats and it offered good kid food options. I got the eggs Benedict and they didn’t disappoint! Next we decided to cross the water and head to the Magnolia Plantation and Garden. It was soooo gorgeous! A lot of grounds to walk around with colorful plants and animals to see. They have a small zoo there too that comes with the price of admission, and the boys loved it!! Peacocks were walking around freely, baby crocodiles were just born and you could even pet the deer. The garden offered gorgeous bridges, some tree mazes, and beautiful scenery, I definitely recommend seeing the Plantation it if you have kids or not, you’ll learn a lot about Charleston’s early history too.
After the Plantation we went to the local Aquarium that was very close to King Street, its placed right on the water and had a lot of fun things for the boys to see and explore. We spent probably 90 minutes inside and got to see everything. It had a lot of lego sculptures next to the exhibits which the boys were digging and a cool white alligator, that we stared at for about 20 minutes haha.
The next morning we decided to eat at Beech, located on King Street for breakfast, and oh man their acai bowls were amazing! I got the peanut butter one and I was in heaven, it felt so good to get some fruit and nutrition in me after three days of eating whatever we saw ha! Lastly before we made the drive back home we decided to walk down Rainbow Row, and its exactly what it says it is, historic homes painted in beautiful pastel colors. It really is as beautiful in person as it is in pictures. Across the street was the ocean too and offered gorgeous views. It was the perfect little stop before we headed back to Virginia.
Overall, awesome little family getaway! I would love to go back as a couple or a girls trip would be awesome so I could explore the night life a little bit, but hey #momlife and you do what you can!! Such a gorgeous city and friendly people though, definitely recommend seeing this place!
