David "plays" with Cody

Currently I have a screamer on my hands. Usually these things are just a phase, we're working on that part. But I just had to get a clip of David "playing" with Cody. Poor dog might just lose his ear drums.

Charleston S.C.

Yesterday we spent the day with Uncle Dan walking around the city of Charleston South Carolina. We walked down Water street, saw Rainbow Road, walked past the huge farmers market (although we didn't go in) got some history lessons from Uncle Dan, went through the Market on Market Street, played in the fountain and ended with lunch at the South End Brewery. I have to say, this is one beautiful city. It's not built like most cities because you aren't allowed to build buildings higher than any of the churches so there aren't any high rises. It feels much like a more spread out Annapolis with it's great history and unique shops andrestaurants. We could walk through and point out to Breanne the oil lamps, boot scrapers, and horse steps that still exist from the 1600 and 1700's. Bre had tons of good questions about what life was like back then but of course, being four, her favorite part was playing in the fountain.

Bre wanted to climb to the middle of the fountain but didn't want to have to go through the wall of water to get there.

David fell asleep and woke up looking like he'd drank to much milk. :)

Bre found a friend to play with and they surprised a group of teens standing by the fountain.

Then her new friend really wanted to paint her nails. Hey why not, impromptu beauty parlor.

I didn't get any pics of the city yesterday, I was to busy just enjoying the scenery. Maybe next time.

Golfing at Mosquito Plantation

This is Where Chubbs Lost His Hand!

From what I've heard, South Carolina has more golf courses per land than any other state, so while we are visiting Dan and Holly, Dan and I had to get at least one round in.  We played a course called Redbank Plantation, but as you can see by my post title, I think it should be renamed.  This is not to say that the course was bad (on the contrary), it is just to say that it has it's fill of mosquitoes.  The course cost $24 with cart and was a par 70.  It was very forgiving (I know I played at least one shot from a neighboring fairway), which is probably why I broke 90 for the second time this summer by shooting an 87.  Here is a list of other things I learned while golfing in SC:

1. Bug repellent is considered to be necessary golf gear.  Carry it in your bag at all times.
2. Pace of play is strictly enforced, not by the marshalls but by mosquitoes.  Address your ball and swing or suffer the consequences.
3. This golf course has hybrid mosquitoes.  They were huge and the bites itch worse the next day than they do on the day they happen.
4. A new hazard has been added called close to the swamp or long grass.  You guessed it, this is where the mosquitoes wait.
5. You can skip a ball across a lake.  No, I can't take credit for it.  Dan skipped the ball across the lake just off the tee at 18.  While I have witnessed and done this myself, it is always super cool to see over and over again.  
6. Alligators are on the course.  Can't say I saw one, but I did get this cool picture taken above. 

Thanks, Dan, for playing.  I'd play Mosquito Plantation again in a heart beat!

Magnolia Plantation

Day two of our South Carolina trip took us to one of the oldest plantations in South Carolina, Magnolia Plantation http://www.magnolia plantation.com/

It was gorgeous...and hot...very hot...but very pretty. We spend the first bit of time walking around the vast gardens. I've read in books about the gardens on southern plantations and estates but I've never witnessed any and to say that it was a big garden is an understatement. It took us at least and hour and a half to walk through and we didn't even start at the beginning. It was neat to see the tags on the different sections, one in particular that read "circa 1685" and wonder about the people that wandered these gardens back then.

Black Eyed Susan's, Maryland never leaves us.  :)

A White Ibis, they were all over the plantation

These nasty things were everywhere.  Golden Silk spiders, or Banana spiders as they are more commonly called had giant webs spun all over the place.  They are called Golden Silk Spiders because their webs are actually a yellow/golden color.  The ones we saw had bodies that were anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long.  Huge...gross..and everywhere.

Golden Silk Spider (a.k.a. Banana Spider)

From there we went on a swamp walk, also on plantation grounds.  Saw a couple alligators, more spiders, some turtles...typical swamp stuff I guess.

A few more pics from today:

Red Faced David, did I mention it was hot?

Pot Bellied Tree, Pot Bellied Brandon

Breanne found an owl feather at the little animal section they had.  They called it a petting zoo but there wasn't anything that you can actually pet.  She said to me, "There are lots of people who like to wear owl feathers in their hair, I'm one of them, I've just never had an owl feather before."

South Carolina Beach Day 1

Hello all,

We made to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina yesterday to vacation and spend time with our friends Dan and Holly.  Today we made our way to the beach (Isle of Palms) which is only a very short drive from Dan and Holly's!  Last years trip to the beach was a little difficult as David was only 2 months old so Lauren and I took turns holding David while the other spent most of their time running down Breanne.  So we were a little interested to see how things were a year later. 

Despite the short trip to the beach, David decided to take a nap in the car.  It was a 5 minute power nap that ended as soon as we arrived on the beach, but we did get this picture:

This would be the end of his napping though, as David loved everything about the beach.  He played in the sand, he played in the water, he ate the sand, and he drank the water.  Despite showing signs of being he tired, he just kept on trucking the entire time.  He loves playing with the sand toys and splashing in the water.  It is so much fun watching him explore the beach. 

Breanne has also made some changes in how she is at the beach.  Lauren has been working real hard with her on her swimming and you can definitely tell.  In years past, I had to drag her out kicking and screaming to get her to out in the surf with me.  I have not spent this much time in the water since I was 13 and spending every moment I could out there.  Isle of Palm's beach is perfect for kids in that it is very shallow.  Even where the waves get bigger I could set Bre down and she could stand to give myself a break between waves.  She is very confident in her swimming and no longer afraid of the water. 

While we spent a little time building castles, it was hard to keep her away from the waves too long.  She also enjoyed playing with two squeaky frogs that she would fill up with water and squirt us with.  Of course, as she did this, she informed us that the frogs were peeing on us.  :)  Oh, to be four.

Having been at the beach for 3 hours, the kiddos began to tire.  Bre runs around so much she gets raw marks on her legs and has a hard time walking.  Today was no different.  David was fussy so we cleaned him off only to find an explosive diaper in the process.  It was time to go. 

David stayed awake for about a minute on our way home (another power nap) so when we first arrived back, we cleaned everyone else off before him.  After being taken out of his seat, we got this short video, showing how tired he was.

Currently, the kids are upstairs trying to nap (although believe it or not I can hear David still talking).  I have a feeling we may not hear for them for a couple of hours (or we might see them in 5 minutes). 

Hello blogging world! Brandon and I decided to start a family blog! The discussion started with a realization that up until this point we have no written history of our family. Tons of pictures, yes, I am a photographer, but very little written history. When I think of my Grandma's generation, so much of her life is written in letters. Unfortunately with the computer age, no one writes letters anymore and hardly anyone keeps e-mails around for longer than a week. I'd like to have some sort of record of our family so that our children can look back at our lives together.

That being said, I have the desire to record our lives for our children, this does not give me the ability to do so without grammatical and spelling errors. I am going to apologize to any English teacher or anyone reading this who has any reasonable talent in written English...I have no talent. I blame my 6th and 8th grade English teacher. (I had her twice)

Anyway, here is my anecdote for tonight and it's short.

As with all kids, Breanne says some of the funniest, most ridiculous things. Breanne made me belly laugh tonight. She is a thumb sucker and we have recently been threatening ways to get her to stop sucking her thumb. We were finishing up our bedtime routine, lying on my bed reading books and she looks at my toes. She notices my chipped and old nail polish.

She asks, "Mommy, is that the yucky stuff?

I'm confused, "What?"

"You know," she says, "The stuff you put on your nails to stop sucking your toes and thumbs?" My first thought, "Yup honey, I've been trying to get your father to stop sucking my toes for a while now."

Breanne's First Orioles Game

I know this was almost a month ago, but I was able to take Breanne to her first Oriole game.  All parents out there know this is a big deal not so much as to go to a baseball game, but because you never know how long a 4 year old will last.  Things didn't start out too well, as the sky opened up at about 1:15.  The good news was we got tickets under cover, but the game started about 15 minutes late.  All in all, it could have been worse.

I did find myself thinking back to when I went to games with my parents as a child and I always remember having a hot dog.  Now, I love hot dogs, but there is something about a hot dog at a ballgame.  They just taste better.  Here Breanne is just before digging in!

However, if you ask Breanne what her favorite treat was, it was not the hot dog, but cotton candy.  The cotton candy man seemed to avoid our section, so we eventually had to go hunt down a vendor inside.  The bag was gone in 15 minutes tops. 

I know you are asking about the game, but remember I went with a 4 year old, so the game came second.  However, after giving up 3 runs in top of the first, Adam Jones and Vlad Guerrero hit back to back home runs in the bottom of the first.  Adam Jones ball actually landed in the section in front of us about 4 rows away which was pretty cool. 

While we the score would change the next couple of innings we discussed other things like the different music that was played, why cotton candy is so good, and why aren't allowed to bring animals to the game.  At the end of the 5th inning Breanne announced she was bored and ready to go.  Baltimore does a pretty good job of getting kids excited about baseball though.  We stopped by and got Breanne a certificate for her first time and, of course, I had to get a picture of her with it next to #8 (she also wanted her picture taken with the Babe Ruth statue, although she wanted to know why a guy had the name of Baby). 

I do have to make a special thank you to one of the workers.  After leaving the stadium (you can not re-enter) Breanne announced she had to use the potty.  We quickly returned to the gate and after a little begging on my part, we were allowed to re-enter to use the potty.  That guy has no idea how much he helped me out, but I owe him a big thank you. 

Despite Breanne saying she was bored at the end of the game, she melted my heart the next morning.  Right before I walked out the door for work, Breanne asked if we could go back to another game again soon.  Can't wait to take my little girl back again!