12 May 2015

Charleston–half of the second day

The good thing was that we all woke up in Charleston.  The better thing was that this was the morning we were walking down to the Hominy Grill for biscuits and gravy, (I need a shirt that says GRAVY), and the best thing was that we were all together.DSCN6253

Our walk took us through the middle of the College of Charleston campus, where of course, we set up a stop action.

It’s a friendly campus, and every person that passed us offered to take a picture for us.DSCN6274

Way to be friendly, and really old, College of Charleston.DSCN6256

There are a lot of good looking bikes in Charleston.IMG_4647

And we paparazzi-ed this good looking gal on campus.IMG_4648

After our venture through campus we successfully arrived and placed our order for breakfast around 11:00.  Al got the Charleston Nasty Biscuit, and that just makes for a good time, doesn’t it?DSCN6289

We waited amongst the roses and the jasmine, and then the 20 something worker in the take-out window told me “my order was ready, sweetie.”  I thought to myself “It’s a good thing he’s a genuine southern kid.” 

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Especially after he told me to “have a nice day, baby doll.”

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We wondered down Calhoun street where we stopped in at the Persimmon Café for some basil limeade and vanilla lemonade.  I was enthusiastic about both, Hannah was not.  Or did you like the basil, Hannah?

We stopped outside a Methodist or Baptist church and ate our glorious biscuits and gravy (I need a t-shirt that says GRAVY). DSCN6296

This is what the Methodist or Baptist church looks like if you were to look up Al’s nose.  IMG_4651Rad specks, Al.

Persimmon Café offered free refills and since the church was only two doors down, we kept going back for more until it got embarrassing.  IMG_4650

We continued down Calhoun street to the Farmer’s Market at Marion Square.  Soon after we arrived we attempted some feats of yoga strength (amy is doing a yoga challenge during the month of May), but that just didn’t work and right after we cleared out the plank pile we heard the announcement “All right it’s time for Zumba!  Everyone come on over and let’s get moving!”  So, of course, we came on over and got moving.  DSCN6309

It appeared as though most present had forewarning about the event – as they were dressed for the occasion.  But really, Amy is always dressed for the occasion if it’s something Brazilian.zumba

I shopped around the farmers market,DSCN6320DSCN6323

while these ladies took excellent pictures of themselves and rested their feet.

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We headed back to our Inn for some lunch, and stopped at this graveyard along the way.

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We passed this church:

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It was across from this church that we took perhaps the best selfies of our lifetime.  We know this because as Al held the camera up in her expert way a man driving by on a golf-cart yelled out “SELFIE!” in a heckling singsong way. 

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And we know because of this:IMG_4669

I’ll save what happened later that day for later.  But there will be narrow alleyways, dancing in the streets, a tiny little man, and the thorough distraction of a walking tour – that is to say that we were distracting.  We distracted a walking tour group – perhaps even a few tour groups.  It’s going to be great.  Just wait.

11 May 2015

Nick Graduates

Nice work Nick.

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Now you can legally dispense drugs.DSCN6531

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You made it all look so easy.DSCN6535

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Let’s go make some money, eh?  It’s about time we did that.

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08 May 2015

Charleston, the first day

Back when we lived together we had Michael Dancen Jacks parties, read Harry Potter on the roof, ate ice cream with a spoon in each hand and learned who we really were.

The last time we were all together was over 7 years ago.  We’ve had relocations, jobs come and go, 8 kids, and when we get together we pretty much look and act the same as we did before all that. 

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We planned this trip for years, and we started it with a prayer, a short road trip to Charleston, and some pretty smash-bang barbeque Nachos from Home Team BBQ on Sullivan’s Island.

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We took a short walk to Sullivan’s beach and got excited about the local plant life.IMG_4482

We promptly took off our shoes…DSCN6108

…and like the good tourists that we are, asked someone to take our picture.  IMG_4483

We then proceeded to be really cool.lighthouse

We checked in to our Inn and proceeded to be really cool again:

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Then we were off around the city.  We found a large horse that wanted to eat my head, so Hannah fed it something else.  (Note:  It didn’t really eat my head.)horse

We found fantastically gorgeous alleyways.hug tight

And we found some fancy chocolates made by hand by a man named Christophe Paume.

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Then we went window shopping on King’s Street.

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Nailed it:DSCN6236

We found this quote along the way and were really inspired.  I mean, Stephen R. Covey is an inspiring guy.

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That is to say, it inspired to indulge on the ice-cream we were all imagining in our faces.  Yes, true, we’ve had ice-cream in our history, but not in our Charleston history.IMG_4640

We sat under this tree and ate and chatted and it was great.IMG_4628

I’ll show you what we did tomorrow, tomorrow.

09 December 2014

Halloween Happened.

Now that it’s almost Christmas it’s a fine time to blog about Halloween, eh?  Eh.  DSCN4754

I didn’t blog about Halloween last year and I just don’t think I should keep skipping it.

The boys were Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  And Rosalyn was Izzy:

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The kids wore these same costumes last year.  And this year, when I asked what they wanted to be they looked at me like I was asking needless questions and matter-of-factly told me “Mom, we’re Jake and Izzy for Halloween.”

“I know, that’s what you were for Halloween last year, but each year you can be something different.” 

Again, the stupefied looks.  Then the statement: “No, we’re Jake for Halloween.”

Well, I didn’t fight too hard.  The costumes still fit, and that meant I didn’t have to sew anything.  Besides, I hadn’t even blogged about it.

No one wanted to be Cubby.  At first I couldn’t figure out why, and then I watched the show for a moment and saw what they saw: Cubby is afraid of a lot of things.  Nobody has time for that.

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Our neighborhood has a Halloween parade.DSCN4762

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Our neighbor friend’s costume was pretty smash-bang.  I was really proud of his mom and her homemade handmade skill set.  He’s a specific kind of beetle that I can’t remember right now, and she should design costumes for major productions.DSCN4763

But speaking about costume design, I’d like to publicly brag about my innovativeness (read desperation to not sew things-ness) and talk about those boots.  I took brown adult socks and pulled them over their rain boots and then used yellow electrical tape for the little buckle.  So smart.  So so so smart.  I told myself how smart I was about those boots quite a few times that night.

After the parade the the kids trick or treated together.  The throng of young people parading back and forth excitedly on the warm night felt very cinematic to me, and I really enjoyed myself.  I think they did too.DSCN4769

Oh, and my boys wouldn’t let me dye their hair black like Jake’s.  DSCN4775

We ended up back home where dad was handing out candy, but he was making trick-or-treaters ‘earn it’ by drawing a small slip of paper with instructions on it, like “meow like a cat” and “tell someone you love them” and “talk with a British accent”.  Then and only then, would he distribute candy.  That’s what happens when you leave Nick alone with his thoughts on Halloween.DSCN4779It’s one of the reasons I really like him.

The kids sat on the porch and ate their candy – it was a really nice night.DSCN4784

Making her face into a Hershey kiss.DSCN4787

But, all that candy wasn’t enough, of course there was the church party – which was a trunk or treat.  It went like this:DSCN4751That’s me there, as tic-tock croc – the one that chases Captain James Hook around.  Here’s a picture from last year with those costumes:  DSCN0554

I made that Hook hat out of this:DSCN0273

Not too shabby, eh?DSCN0277

And the crocodile out of this.  Thank you, good old Purdue A&D 106.DSCN0527

Oh, and while I am looking at pictures from last year’s Halloween, I love this one:DSCN0546Another reason I really like Nick.


And this is a really long Halloween post, but this is more for me than you, so here are our Halloween cookersmoodles (the boys really laugh when I call cookies that).

DSCN4499Brookston was an impressive frosting piper.

Oh man, I just love the concentration on his face:DSCN4497

Below is my attempt at a witch, created with an upside down ghost shape, if you couldn’t tell.  Oh, and we made the ghost shape by squishing a metal star cookie cutter around a bit.  The kids started it when they tried to mangle that star beyond recognition.  My mom and I just finessed it.  Salvaged it, really.DSCN4517

Roz did less decorating and more consuming.DSCN4506

We got to make these cookies with Grandma in town.DSCN4500


Oh yes, and we did carve a small pumpkin:DSCN4543

You see the kids sketches there above – chickens.  And then it turned out like this:

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Not chickens.  But that’s okay, this pumpkin liquefied into a puddle of mold the next day or two.

And that’s Halloween for you.DSCN4737

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