Bringing the Progress Home -- Day 1

The weekend of my birthday, Jason was out of town for a Boys' Weekend, so my boys and I headed to Myrtle Beach in this crazy rental car to meet Papa and the Progress to help bring it home. (The boys' LOVED this car and were extremely sad I didn't pick them up from school in it on Monday!! They are still asking where the red car is!)As we drove into town, I saw the NASCAR Grille, and I knew that was where we would have to have dinner... Jackson would love it!
We picked Papa up and headed to the Grille... it was rainy and wet, but we were sure to get pictures of the boys in front of every NASCAR we saw. Both boys were beside themselves seeing the all of the race cars.
Dinner was so-so, but there was a TV screen at each table showing NASCAR clips all through dinner. Jackson and Harris fell in love with race cars watching the movie Cars, and dinner only perpetuated this love!
Harris LOVES driving... anything he can drive, he will. There was a game that we let him pretend to play that simulaed driving a NASCAR. Well, the whole weekend he wanted to drive:

Thinking he is the Captain.
We stayed at the Marina at Grand Dunes. It was rough getting the boys down that night, as they were so excited to be sleeping on Papa's Waterhouse. Not to mention, it poured... while the noise of the rain usually helps me sleep, it kept Harris up even later!
We got started fairly early, and I quickly learned why they call the ICW in Myrtle Beach "The Rock Pile". The banks look just ike this for much of the trip. It seems very artificial, and I wondered many times why people want to put their huge houses on tiny lots along these banks.

The boys did a great job of entertaining themselves as we cruised. They played Cars, colored, read, and sat with Papa and me as we took in the sights.
This is a tour boat we saw along the way.
Eventually the steep rocky banks faded, and the scene around us changed... much better!

Approaching Georgetown.
We got into Georgetown early, so I put Harris down for a nap and went for a long run. I love running in Georgetown... it is such a pretty little town to explore. The weather was perfect, and I had one of the best runs I have had in a long time!

Later, we headed into town to explore and find dinner. It as a bit of a crazy time, as both boys had a ton of energy to brn off, but we survived. My birthday dinner was at an Italian restaurant (that wasn't so Italian!), and we were serenaded by a 30 minute bagpipe concert. Between two hyper little boys and the bagpipe music, Dad and I thought our heads were going to explode!!

It was an early bedtime for the boys, and thankfully, they both went down easily and slept like rocks. After a few hands of cards, Dad and I headed to bed... it was a restful night for all.

Bringing the Progress Home -- Day 2

As we left Georgetown on Sunday morning, it was a bit overcast and chilly. However, that quickly changed and it became clear and beautiful.

Both boys enjoyed being outside more that day than the day before. Liek me, I think they enjoyed the scenery more!

I think they were ore comfortable, too, so monkeying around became more fun.
The ride was beautiful, and I think we all felt like we were home. Here's Dad driving us into the Charleston Harbor, his 6 week adventure bringing the Progress home from Toledo had come to an end. While he was glad to get in, I think he was a liitle sad that the trip was over.

Thanks so much, Dad, for inviting us along on your journey... the boy will be talking about their "adventure" for a long time to come! Love you!

Why I Have Children

Pumpkins!

Jacson and Harris couldn't stop talking about Jack-O-Lanterns this month. I think all of the talk at school got them so excited to see what kind of Jack-O-Lantern they could make. Thankfully Papa was here to help, as we had a big job in front of us! While they wouldn't win any contests, my boys thought their Jack-O-Lanterns were the best in town!

Fish Or Treat

Halloween started big for us this year, and we got to show off our two M&M's at the Aquarium's annual Fish Or Treat. It was an evening of trick-or-treating among the fish, turtles, and eels.
I was really excited at how well the boys' costumes turned out... Nancy and I made them! Harris' costume was the first thing I have made wit my sewing machine since my sewing class almost two years ago. What made me the happiest, though, was that they LOVED their costumes and were thrilled to be wearing them.
While the aquarium was packed to the brim with little trick-or-treaters, Jackson and Harris had a great time visiting the fish and trick-or-treating. Harris was too young to remember how to do it last year, but this year, he was all over it, hunting down aquarium volunteers to beg them for whatever was in their bag of goodies!

The boys headed home, happy with their goody bags, ready to take on Halloween in full force the next day.

Little School Halloween

Every year, Little School has a Halloween Sing-Along and Parade. The Sing-Along was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

All of the children sang sweet Halloween songs, and they danced like crazy to the Monster Mash, Ghostbusters, and Purple-People Eater. Jackson was the star of the show... that boy got down like I have never seen him before. Absolutely hysterical.
After they sang their hearts out, the little ones paraded around the college campus. The college students loved it, waving at each of the little witches, balerinas, monkeys and M&M's as they passed by.
Such cuties!

Halloween Night

We have started the tradition of having friends over on Halloween night for pizza an trick-or-treating, and it seems as if each year it grow and grows. We missed Rutledge this year, but we were thrilled to be joined by DuBose and Mills, and Wilson and Alexandria.

We took ten little ones out into the neighborhood begging for candy... I know they were the cutes ones out there! We had Captain Hook and Peter Pan, Thomas the Tank Engine and a fairy, Raggedy Ann and Andy, Cinderella and a fairy, and my two M&M's.

Even Baby Anne perfect the art of trick-or-treating!We sorted through buckets and ate a bit of candy, and the boys headed to bed... exhausted from the week that was Halloween.