(My First) Father's Day

Better late than never posting about Father's Day I guess.
Friday evening the three of us went to Columbia for dinner with some friends. They have a 4 year-old and thought it would be fun to see Olivia and him together, along with catching up with Emily and Rob. We had a good dinner and Olivia did pretty well despite not getting much in the way of naps that day. After dinner we dropped Olivia off with Mima and Grandpa Rob. Lulu happened to be staying with Sheri from work, she requested a weekend play date with her since she loves Lu, and thinking nothing of it, I obliged. I had promised her that she could have Lulu on a weekend when she wanted and this was her requested weekend. Brooke's master plan was falling into place right in front of my face and I was oblivious. The plan as I heard it was that Olivia would stay with Mima and Grandpa Rob Friday night and then they would bring her back Saturday afternoon. Little did I know this was not the case.
I woke up Saturday morning, ate breakfast and was getting ready for a run when I heard the shower running at about 8:00. This was strange, Brooke is never awake before 11:00 on weekends. She emerged from the bedroom and said, "Go shower, we are taking a trip." My immediate thought was "great, we are going to Target in Simpsonville and possibly BabiesRUs, just what I want to do on a weekend." I showered, got dressed and noticed the leashes on the entertainment center. Then saw Brooke wheeling out a suitcase. I realized that maybe Target wasn't on her mind after all. I put the suitcase in the trunk of the car and saw dog food, another suitcase, pillows etc. Definatly not Simpsonville here.
Brooke told me that we were going on a surprise Father's Day trip with just the two of us and that Livi was staying with Rob and Marcia for the weekend. Sad to be away from Livi for part of Father's Day, but a weekend with just adults, awesome!!
Brooke broke down and told me we were going to Charleston. We were dropping the dogs off with Marcia and Rob, so that makes 4 dogs, 1 cat, and 1 baby for their weekend, 0 animals and 0 babies for us, SCORE!!
We arrived in Charleston and ate at a little "dive" sandwich shop that was very good actually. After lunch, we drove to the downtown market area and started the long process of finding a FREE parking spot. After about 1/2 hr of looking, we decided to pay to park a few blocks away. We had a great time looking at all the shops and in the flea market style area in the middle. It was hot hot hot though. We were both drenched. Should have listened to Marcia and brought a towel to wipe ourselves off with.
After shopping, we headed to the hotel. We got checked in and had just enough time to shower before heading to dinner. Brooke surprised me with a fancy Sushi restaurant for dinner. I had not had sushi since I left Florida and had been craving it for a while. I got a very good sushi fix!! After dinner we headed back to the downtown market area for another round of 1/2 hours of driving looking for a parking space, where there were a few good dessert places. Again, after wasting time driving, we headed to the parking garage and parked. We ended up at a desert place that has no menu. They make all their desserts fresh daily and what they make is what they have. Brooke got a turtle cheesecake and I got a mountain of chocolate cake. After we were through, we were both stuffed and decided to walk it off for a while now that it wasn't so hot. We walked back by some of the shops we saw earlier until we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.
The next morning we had to get up early because Brooke had another surprise expedition planned for us. We were going on a kayak tour. I was very excited, yet another thing I have not done since Florida and had been craving. As it turns out, the group of 5 that were scheduled to go on the tour with us cancelled so it was just Brooke and I along with the tour guide. Made the trip allot more enjoyable. We saw dolphin and learned all about the native birds that roost there. It was an awesome kayak trip. Just what I needed.
After kayaking we headed back to Columbia to have a late lunch with Marcia, Rob and Livi, then head home for the evening and receive Lulu from Sheri. It was a great first Father's Day. I will remember it always, especially next year when I will probably just get new socks or a tie :-)
Lulu was happy to be around her main snack source, and wore her bib in anticipation.