Visit to the Gardens

The next crocodile dundee?

Mimi and miss M

miss M gets a lift from Daaa-dee

We recently made a little trip to Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time exploring the creeks (looking at alligators!), the sculpture gardens and the kids' discovery room.

H on the lookout

me (and more impressive the trees in the background)

in silhouette

observing the giant dinosaur at the natural history museum from a safe distance...

photo credit: Lala

Pilgrimage

We (the kids, me and the au pair) took an annual trip to SC, where we encountered significantly warmer weather than last year. Sand castles were built (and destroyed).

Most of us stayed very busy and were on the run nearly all of the time.

Oh yes, and we kept the golf cart shuttle man in business. Calling him each morning to come pick us up for our daily jaunt around the resort only to end up magically at Starbuckles each time for Momma's (third cup of) morning coffee and of course a little hot chocolate because all that golf cart riding and alligator watching was parching...

We had rad surfing moves as we attempted to freeze off limbs.

But mostly we had an amazing time. Hanging out, watching the wiggles, eating risotto and tiramisu and drinking vino (me not the kidlets of course...) They got the special treat of juice instead. A rare luxury.

Another Trip Slideshow

Yeah, I know it's been over a month and all I have to show you is another slideshow... I'm not sure it's worth the wait... hopefully you enjoy it nonetheless.

Minnesota 2009 from Meg on Vimeo.

Beach Boys

We went on a short but delightful jaunt to the beach over my spring break. The drive was long but the beach was great so it (sort of) made the whole thing worthwhile. I got to catch up with an old elementary school friend and the boys managed to give several seagulls the scare of a lifetime. We came back rosy cheeked after thoroughly enjoying the warm spring weather.

Resolution

These past few months have been admittedly lame for this little blog but hopefully not for the subjects it describes. While I feel badly that I haven't been good at maintaining it, I suspect I'll feel worse in five years when I'll be looking back and will be frustrated that I have little recorded of these busy, wondrous days. Thus I have two New Years' resolutions, one pertains to school and this other to this blog. I resolve to post here every Saturday or Sunday evening for the next year. As this is the first Saturday of the New Year, I am bringing you the first post. Presently, we are traveling down to Charleston to visit the aquarium. H woke up this morning with requests to go the beach. He's been pleading for a beach trip for a couple of months now. Usually it's accompanied with requests to go in Mimi and Poppa's car (the coveted minivan) and to wear bathing suits. Alas, we're packed into the Pilot (not the Odyssey) and there aren't a pair of swim trunks in sight, but we are nevertheless headed down to Isle of Palms beach and to the amazing South Carolina aquarium in downtown Charleston. So far the drive has been peaceful- B spent the first 45 minutes taking apart the CD holder. Deliberately, removing each CD, inspecting it and then handing it forward with a request to play 'Dat One!', he managed to removed all 56,000 CDs and we now have a large pile in the front console.

H has been admiring the large army vehicles that we overtake on the highway. 'That's a loud truck,' he appraises impressed. In other H anecdotes, I've been saving this little one for some time. Mimi went on a trip to Italy with fall with her coworkers. H repeatedly queried as to Mimi's location during her week long absence. 'She's in Italy. That's across the ocean- very far away. She's no doubt eating spaghetti [and probably drinking copious amount of wine],' we told H. Meanwhile, Kate (our lovely new au pair) arranged a playdate with the little girl down the street and her nanny, Emily. When they showed up at the house, Kate introduced them to H. 'Emme-ily' H said slowly then he took a long look at her, 'You are very far away. Across the ocean.' It took us a moment, but apparently, Emily and Italy sound a lot alike.

Update: We've returned from our Charleston trip- a whirlwind 9 hours in the car, 2.5 hours at the aquarium (90% of which was devoted to assuring H that we'd go see boats! and the beach! soon), 1 hour at the beach, and 1 hour at our favorite pizza haunt. As we drove away from the aquarium on our way to the beach (finally), H announced, 'We don't need to go back to the aquarium again... ever!' Geez, that was money well spent.

And now for a few pictures…

the beach

We're back from our little beach getaway. There were moments of greatness: sunny boys, the delight of the ocean! and the wawa!, and there were hairy times: B and E practicing their pitching skills as they hurled diapers, sippy cups and a few unknowns off the balcony into the unsuspecting bushes below... aye, the joys of toddlers.

All told, it was fun and as always: it's great to be back.

Dad's Birthday

So in late news (as in a month late), we headed up to the mountains for what is now becoming an annual tradition of celebrating dad's birthday at a beautiful cabin up there. It was interesting to compare it to last year's experience to this year's: the babies at 15 months versus 3 months really weren't much better sleepers than last year. Though when they did get up, usually bringing them to bed helped. That king sized bed got cozy quickly... do they make family-of-five sized?

Anyway, the babies also were into everything. We are lucky in that most people/places we visit are fairly child proofed--- alas, mountain cabin was not. The calling card of destruction wasn't too bad this time (I think we'll be allowed to return), but it was strenuous keeping so many things out of their reach.

That said, it was great to spend time with Lala, Grandpa, Mimi and Poppa. I'm not sure the feeling was completely mutual (haha) but our wild little monkeys continue to grow and explore and soon won't be so little (and really, let's hope not so wild).

Beach Babes

We escaped for the weekend leaving a messy house, a forlorn dog, tests and textbooks in our wake. Armed with antibiotics for what is hopefully the last ear infections for a long time, we made our way to Litchfield Beach in SC. It was a perfect place to go for kids. They had an elaborate pool setup replete with kid friendly items such as a Dr. Seuss inspired sprinkling submarine, lazy river and wading areas. And even a Starbuckles (or Star-yucks as Dad lovingly refers to it) for mom (me). We were also a short hop from the beach so we spent several hours walking on the beach and playing in (or eating) the sand. It was wonderful.

NH on show

Zoo

We took a little trip to the zoo today. H was bouncing off the walls before we even got dressed. "Bye-bye!" he cheerfully demanded. We reviewed (multiple times) the noises of the animals we were eager to see: lions, elephants, monkeys, giraffes, tigers (though we saw none), and bears. H had a wonderful time-- he even rode on a carousel. We were afraid a previous experience may have scarred him for life, but he enjoyed it this time around.

Yo Bro

The babies have recently started interacting with one another. They spend time smiling at each other, trying to chew on the other's arm. H also interacts well with them- calling them 'babies' and chortling with delight as he pats them on the head- or sits on them.

This past weekend we went to the beach. It was a little cold- a little rainy- but it was nevertheless lots of fun.

We went to the aquarium where H had lots of fun examining the sharks and fish in the huge tank. He also loved the beach where it was hard to convince him that the 50 degree water was freezing.