Chucktown 2011: Day 4-5

You probably thought we forgot about the rest of our vacation. No chance! There's still plenty of excitement and photos left to share.

Wednesday

We headed to downtown Charleston around 10 so that we could do one of Kelsey and my favorite things to do on vacation: shop. Most of it has to do with visiting stores we love that we don't have in Des Moines: Urban Outfitters, American Apparel and 21Men (in Forever 21). I achieved my goal of bringing home some tank tops and cutoff jean shorts. Kelsey also bought a pair of high-waisted shorts that she can't get enough of. Sweet, sweet victory!

We went to a place called the Kickin' Chicken for lunch. It was tasty. After a little more shopping we headed back to the Abels' abode to get ready for the party.

What party you ask? The gender reveal party! Lauren and Garrett had gone to the doctor earlier that morning for an ultrasound that would tell them if little baby Abel was going to come out wearing blue or pink. They took the sealed envelope to the bakery and had them make a cake with either blue or pink frosting in the middle so that we could all find out together later that evening.

Brenna decided to make the game a little more interesting and told everyone to dress up in the color they thought the baby was going to be. So here we are... (Don't mind Belle's butt in the photo. The timer took longer than expected.)

After dinner, we were ready to cut the cake. Papa Abel Skyped in from Iowa and Lauren's twin sister, Rebecca, was on speaker phone from her business trip in Las Vegas. Here's the 29 second video...

Of course, I guessed right (slash I didn't have any pink to wear). We were super thrilled that we could be there for the momentous occasion. And here is the cake with proud dad via the photo bomb.

Thursday

Kelsey and I got up slightly early to head to the outlet mall. We still needed to do a little more shopping. The others took their dogs to the beach. It was Kinnick's first trip to the ocean and I hear that him and his cousin, Belle, had such a wonderful time.

We went to the neighborhood pool in the afternoon. It was a perfect afternoon of relaxing and fun in the sun. We didn't capture any photos, though. We did play a mean game of gutter ball. Garrett and I vs. Brenna and Justin. We were ahead for most of the game, but a second half surge by the Stoffa's led them to the eventual W. I still shook their hands as a good sport and even let them ride home with us. ;)

Thursday night we headed back to Seacoast Church for what they call "theWell." It's a ministry for college and 20-somethings. We again got to watch Garrett do what he does best: worship.

This past spring, Garrett headed up a recording project at Seacoast. They recorded six original songs. We were able to pick it up while we were there and it is AWESOME. Garrett has two songs on the record. We're so proud of him! If you want to check it out, it's available on Beginnings - Seacoast Worship.

After church we headed to Kaminsky's downtown. It's a dessert bar. Otherwise known as the perfect capper to a great day. Kelsey and I shared this little guy...

Sadly, our vacation was rapidly coming to an end. We have one more post coming later this week!

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