Edisto Island 2009

Once again we had a GREAT time at the beach with our very dear friends. Claxton and Julia were very brave this year with crashing the big waves. I'm so glad they love the beach as much as we do.

Curious George Was Here Today

He left his mark...

And he left a trail too. I found him trying to escape on the rock climbing wall.

On your mark, get set, go!

We usually participate in The Home Depot kid's work project every month. They post on their website the project for the given month ahead of time so you will know what you will be making. I generally check before we go. This month it was a racetrack. I really thought it was pretty lame and the kids would not like it. I was wrong. What do I know?

Claxton hard at work...

Julia, wise beyond her years, suggested they read the instructions first

Claxton is ready for the races. Notice the sweet little hands with dimples going after the glue, haven't quite figured out who they belong to but they sure are cute. The Starbucks cup without question is mine.

Julia's turn...

This project actually turned into a progressive project. Once we returned home we realized there might just be a problem with the race tracks looking identical. So we had a painting party.

Ready to race

Julia ran to get her harmonica to play us all a tune before the race began. And surprisingly, Claxton waited patiently during her performance.

She confidently says "I win, I win Claxton!!!" Check out his facial expression, I foresee fierce competition in the days and years to come.


Final check before the race

It's too close to call!

Photos from today

What a great day to be outside.

Let's go play over there.

I sure do like jumping and stomping my feet, don't you?

You know she wants to take more pictures. I'm so over it.


Last one, we've cooperated long enough.

Let's wiggle and make faces instead.

Dancing works too.

Hey Claxton, I found a stick.


I can't believe she found that stick before I did. I sure do want it, but I can't snatch it because Mom and Dad are watching. Wonder what she's planning to do with it. Ummm.

I might need to defend myself, so I should probably look for a stick too.

Can't find another stick close by, so I'll put this pine cone in my pocket and pull it out if needed.

Mom, this one is for you, hope you have your camera ready.

We're outta here, on to bigger and better things!

Her new favorite book

Best remedy

When you have an eye infection, nothing can remedy it better than holding Daddy's finger while eating. Nothing.

Really not worth mentioning

On the drive home from church today it started snowing and we were hoping for enough to at least throw a few snowballs at each other, but it was just a big tease. Claxton fell asleep in the car and when we woke him up he just wanted to go inside. Julia decided she would check it out. It's a good thing she did because about thirty minutes later it was all gone. Oh well, there's always next year.

Sleep over

Claxton had another play date/sleep over with his buddy Bentley. The two of them crack me up when they get together and even though sometimes it's several months in between visits, they just pick up where they left off with each other. They play really well together. Unfortunately the weather was less than cooperative so we ended up being indoors the whole time and at times it was VERY LOUD in the house. It didn't seem to bother anyone but me. This morning I fed them all breakfast and while they were eating I decided to make myself a smoothie. Would you believe they had the audacity to ask me to turn off the blender because it was too loud, it was hurting their ears. Seriously???? Apparently it was so unbearable that they had to cover their ears. It has never taken me as long to make a smoothie as it did this one....!!!!! Yummmmmmy, it was good.

Puppet Show

I took the kids down to the Center for Puppetry Arts and we saw the puppet show "Weather Rocks!" First, we attended a workshop where the kids made puppets and were able to put on a very short show (about 1 minute) with their puppets. All of the kids really got into it and it was fun to watch them.

That's the back of Claxton's head you see with his puppet.

Then we spent some time in the museum checking out all the puppets and especially enjoyed all of the Sesame Street characters.

Pretending to be Big Bird

Next, it was on to the show where we were entertained by songs, dancing and fun facts about weather. The creativity was truly amazing. Claxton absolutely loved it and can't wait to attend another event there. The show was a little long for Julia as it lasted about an hour, but we managed!

And all the way home the two of them sang to the top of their lungs the theme song - "We are the weather people, welcome to our show!" Over and over and over again.

We're geocaching!

Some really good friends of ours introduced us to geocaching a few years ago. We enjoyed it so much we decided it was something we could start doing with our kids. So this past weekend we set out to find our first treasures. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and in search of one of the geocaches, we found a treasure that probably otherwise we would have never seen. We found two out of four geocaches on our first expedition, but more importantly we found it to be great fun for the whole family!

Our first find


Hanging out at the local town square

Claxton's favorite find of the day - "Mom, this fire hydrant is taller than me, it's so cool!"

Unexpected treasure

Looking a little lost

INK

Normally wo go to swim lessons on Monday, but since it's President's Day everyone is off for the holiday. So on a whim, we decided to have a family fun day at the INK Museum. There are many exhibits that allow the kids to get a real introduction to some every day things in life - a few of their favorites were the bank, the dentist office, a diner, and a beauty salon. Of course the antique fire engine and an airplane were big hits as well.




The ATM was neat in that upon arriving at the museum they gave the kids real ATM cards so when they went to the bank exhibit they would use it get cash (play money of course), but it actually functioned as a real ATM.

I think it's time to take her to the real dentist

This one frightens me just a little.

Serving up something yummy

If it has a button, it's gotta be pressed

Valentine's activities

I'm just not the craftiest person around, but kids love crafts so I have to talk myself into more often than I really would like to do. Hopefully my kids will really, really appreciate it one day. So last week we did a couple of activities leading up to Valentine's. One day we got out all the red, white, and pink paints that we could find in our house along with a few marbles, a cardboard box and a large white heart. Boy the fun that can be had with just those few items!

On another day we made bookmarks...

The most fun was had making the special Valentine's dessert...every one was in on this one.

Of course everyone knows you can't make cake without tasting the batter

We had several events for the day. Claxton and I attended a birthday party in the morning, while Daddy and Julia enjoyed a lunch date together.

Ready for her date with Dad

I am told she insisted on riding the frog.

Daddy made dinner

Just a nice, quiet dinner at home with the family.