South Carolina Vacation

For our big summer vacation this year we decided to go visit my sister Heather in South Carolina. We ended up staying for about a week (after deciding Tuesday was far too early to leave). We did lots of fun things all week long. First we went camping for a couple of days. There was a river there that we played in. Of course, we roasted hotdogs and smores and made pie iron pizzas. We even introduced them to the goodness that is roasted starbursts.

Jameson making the fire. The first one took far longer to start than it should have, it was almost embarrassing. I'm going to blame wet wood for that little problem. And getting wood ended up being a dilemma due to the fact that there was only one place that had wood and the lady couldn't get to it that night (that and they didn't accept those plastic things there... silly hicks). So Jamo went out the next morning on got some more. Luckily we had some wood from a previous camping trip for the first night.

Heather and Collin eating smores! They were of course delicious.

We played lots of games. It threatend to rain on us, so we went in the screen tent and played some more.

Collin and Jameson

I think we might have work them out at the river that day.

They all fell asleep in chairs and various places around the campsite before they made it to the tent.

Jameson making a face...

On Monday we took a trip to the beach. I had never been to the Atlantic Ocean before. It was pretty. The water was also really warm (unlike that west coast ocean) and we played all day. We also ate at Coconut Joe's. It was a restaurant that overlooked the ocean. I ate a burger with coleslaw and chili on it (also another first). Jamo had some sort of delicious chicken pineapple wrap. Yum.

Heather and Collin sitting in ocean.

Jamo and the kids spent a part of the day making this castle, equipped with it's very own mote.

On Tuesday we went to Charles Towne Landing. This is how I knew I wasn't in Missouri anymore. We even caught a glimpse of one of the alligators.

This is a big Indian statue... yup.

Collin and Chris in the sitting stocks.

Here I am in the stocks...

All the kids laughing at their dear mother in the stocks. Must have been bad.

There was also a ship there you could go on and learn about. I think they're learning how to put up the anchor here. Pull down until it clicks!

Jamo chillin on the the boat.

Heather and I at the front of the ship. Sisters are awesome, especially us.

I'm steering the boat... I'm pretty awesome at it.

The mast of the ship. Pretty sweet eh?

On Tuesday we went to Fort Moultrie. It's right on the coast and has underground rooms and lots of canons to look at. Here's Chris with a huge light I believe... good to send signals with.

Alyssa with the light.

Jamo and I hanging out on one of the canons. They were huge!

And those are the canon balls. I don't think I'd want to attack anytime soon.

Me on the canon balls. Man I've gotten fat... will work on that.

Kaliegh hanging out at the fort.

This is where they stored the gun powder. Note the kids in the background.

Jamo and I at the fort. Yup, good stuff.

Jamo and I with the kids right before we left. We look like total scrubs. It was a long week full of adventure.

Perfectly Franks. They had like 25 differ flavors of hotdogs... so good!

My hot dogs. I got one with mac n' cheese on it. The other had pulled pork, slaw and cripsy onion thingies. I crave. Jamo got a couple different kinds and tried some of there fish tacos. I even took a bite of one of those... I still don't like fish.

The restaurant we ate at in Summerville when we went on a date while Heather was with Activity Day girls. It was called the mustard seed. We ate a torte for dinner. We also had crab cakes and fried green tomatoes. It only seemed fitting since we were in the south. The crab cakes were ok, probably better if you love crap. And the fried green tomatoes were interesting, but I liked them. Pretty much if you fry it I'll like it (except fish...).

So that was our fun adventure to South Carolina. We didn't want to go back home. It was quite depressing actually. And the next few days I couldn't figure out why we lived here and not there. So I guess what that means is we'll definitely have to go back for a visit.

Abridged or Unabridged?

When deciding on making a documentation of your past, how do you decide which photos, which things, which events to include? I mean, there are parts of my life that have happened that seem so insignificant now. There are parts that probably shouldn't have happened. There are people, and I remember why I was hanging out with them at the time, that don't fit into the mold of my life now. Do I gloss over those parts of my life that I look back at with... embarrassment? Unease? Regret? I'm not sure of the quite the perfect word. I was silly at times and had silly friends. Do I embrace my past, include it in, recognizing that it did help shape me into the person I am today? Or do I ignore it, realizing that maybe it's not a part I want to share with people. Is my life going to be abridged or unabridged?

Anniversary and Eyebrows

Today we have been married 2 years. This is more than 1, but less than 3. We are at the year that they finally tell us we can stop being newlyweds. And I guess that's true. I mean, it's definitely a lot different then it was the six months. And again different from months 6 to 21. The first six were ignorant bliss. All we needed was love and we had plenty of it. From 6 to 21 I wanted to kill him :). At about 21 months I hit the phase I'm in now. It's the point where I have learned and got into the routine and quit getting mad over nothing (except when I pms maybe, then he better cut my sandwich the right way). And now I like him pretty much all the time :). So the first couple are years were great, but I think the next one will be even better. It feels like a chapter is closing though. We are out of the newlywed phase and now I'm interested in other things (like babies!). And I'm going to miss this silly time in our life where we only have each other and get to live in this ghetto fabulous apartment and bum around. It's been fun and interesting.
And how am I going to celebrate this most joyous of events? I think I'm taking him out to O'Charely's. We've never been together. And if you sign up for their eclub, you get a free appetizer just for joining. So that's kind of cool. And as I recall they have delicious rolls they just bring out to you for being awesome. I don't know what else we will do. Go to Wal-Mart? That seems to be what happens, "it's not a date if you don't go to wal-mart". Maybe we'll get fancy and go to Target, haha. Except they don't have ice cream there and I think tonight I could eat some ice cream.
Also as getting ready for tonight and just a general kicking off summer. I decided to bathe. I bought real shaving cream and used it today, it really does make a difference and I think I will continue my use of it. Plus, it smells good enough to eat, which sometimes, I'm almost tempted to try. It's like those butter creams they had at Bath and Body that smelled like cupcakes and frosting and stuff. And the cream even looked like frosting. In case you were wondering, they do NOT taste like frosting and cupcakes. No bueno. Oh, and I'm also painting my nails again, they're pretty again, yay! What else? Oh yes, the dreaded eye brow plucking. It has been far to long. I look like a hair beast with a unibrow. And so I'm about to remedy that. It's just such a pain and time suck. I guess I was lucky enough to get the bushy eyebrow gene, sigh.
Ok, time to stop procrastinating. It could take a while :).

$1.37

There is sometimes money on the floor at work. The kids drop it and I clean it up. The high schools seem to have the most change on the floor after lunch. So the last two days = picked up $1.37 in change. It will be put it my change jar that were going to buy a wii game with. I think I have about enough money now thanks to the students here :). And for all the messes they leave, they probably should leave money. Sigh, I will not miss high school lunches. I only have about 20 minutes left of my last work day for the summer. So I'm super excited. I have lots to do though before we leave for south carolina. Although I have accomplished quite a bit aleady. But I still need to pack and buy roadtrip food. And I want to get music organized to listen to. I'm also going to go get a book or two on cd for the trip, although I don't know which ones yet. I'm thinking Harry Potter maybe, or
His Dark Materials. K, my phone is almost dead. Time to get er' done.