Happy Halloween!

Bats Heather and I cut out and Keith hung

 It's that time again! This year Yuliya wanted to be Ariel from the Little Mermaid. Chris and I thought maybe the seashell top and dyed red hair was a little too showy for a 4 year old, so I whipped this baby up:) Scaley skirt, silver glitter stockings, a purple sweater and starfish headband and seashell necklace a couple of curls and braids, and viola! You have yourself a mermaid.

Cash got to be the monkey Yuliya was two years ago. I think he rocked it. He was very proud of his monkey outfit.

 Sierra was fancy nancy

  Spooky tree in the pumpkin and a gord we turned into a fish the two colored pumpkins the kids made, Yuliyas is the larger one.

It was a good night, the kids had fun trick or treating. Cash had a melt down when it was time to put his candy away. Yuliya wanted to brush her teeth on the front porch so mid melt down Cash had his teeth brushed. Holding a screaming writhing two year old is a great way to scare trick or treaters by the way :)

Charelston Part 3....but really Myrtle Beach

On Sunday morning we went out to Myrtle Beach. It was nice, the sand was cool and the sun was warm. There was a tiny "creek" of water passing just above the shore where we could rinse off our shell finds before we put them safely in my hand. (this was mainly Sammy's job)

Jack drew pictures in the sand while the rest of us looked for shells.

I had another Gyro on the beach...what can I say..I had a craving this weekend.

It's funny how immediately as we hit the sand they both laid down in it.

Sam shell hunting

We met up with Lynsae, Cody, Jordan, Christy, and Connor for lunch on the boardwalk(which by the way is not the boardwalk that is on the beach....who knew) Behind us is one of the ripley's upside down buildings. Below us were massive hungry fish that you could pay a quarter to feed as the fought to the surface for a pellet of food. It makes you reflect a lot to see those wide mouthed scaley water pigeons flop and fight so close to eachother that the ducks could almost use them as a boardwalk . But the kids enjoyed it.

After lunch we went to Surfside beach...guess who laid down as soon as we hit sand? :)

The water was ICE cold once it hit your ankles, it literally made you shudder. Sam went all the way to his knees!

One more post and I promise I'm done :)

Charleston Part 2

Random pictures around Charleston, pretty buildings, cobblestone roads, Lynsae, Cody and I playing dress up.  The picture above mysterious me with a mustache(most interesting shman in the world) is a neat way to repurpose old windows that I would like to try out.

To the left is a plate of assorted homemade pastas at the Marion Square farmers market. I bought an awesome batch of vanilla lavendar sugar here, that you can continue making with the strained ingredients! I can't wait to make pancakes with it.

Also had wonderful Gyro's and boiled peanuts, which I'm not a huge fan of, but at least I can say I tried :)

Wait! That's a massive pineapple. 

Cody bought this hat on the first day and never took it off the entire 4 days, even when it was hot. As a parent you have to appreciate those purchases where they really do use whatever it is you buy them just like they promised they would.

Pretty wall fountain at the Charleston aquarium

Jack pets a Croc. All of the other kids were freaked out to do so, but not Jack!

Rainbow row, and a few benches along Charleston harbor. I saw dolphins here! I didn't get a picture of them, sorry you'll just have to believe me. :)

Charleston Part 1

I went to Charleston, South Carolina this weekend to visit friends Lynsae and Nathan, their son Cody and Keith's sons, Jack and Sam. There will be a few blogs about it since I take so many pictures :) Below are pictures of a cemetery in downtown Charleston Off of King St. Near Queen St. It was beautiful. Tucked away in what looks like an alley at first, completely shaded by trees as you walk up with morning glories, ferns and other shade lovers protecting the path until you break out into the sunlight and see headstones protected by the wild plants and flowers they are providing growth for.

Lynsae and Cody ready to explore.

Steps leading to a small patio in the cemetery.

I thought it was pretty neat how the tree has grown into the headstone.

It was beautifully overgrown :)

mossy trees everywhere, adding to the ambiance

The cemetery was in the middle of downtown completely surrounded by buildings, so I thought it was interesting how the headstones run right up to the walls and in some places even over lap

Looks very piratey

Sam wanders through content to explore the flowers and headstones.

The end.