Other beach photos

G'parents Ohio and Aunt and Uncle took a lot more photos than we did, so we were fortunate that they (g'parents) shared what they had. (We had bought a gizmo to share everyones photos with each other but by the last night were so exhausted with repacking, that we aborted that mission).



The first night we arrived at the beach, upon seeing the ocean, Eddie went running for the water, which mind you, it was low tide, so we had probably 50 to 100 yards to get to the water. As he is running, he is trying to take off his shirt so he can go jumping into the water. It was so cute and funny at the same time as we tried to explain that the next day we'd come to the beach all day, but that this was just a recon trip.



Josie LOVED the water too, nobody wanted to leave that first night, but it was around 7:30/8 and we were wiped out.

I put this in (this is the battery in Charleston) because Eddie had fallen asleep in the stroller and unwittingly peed his pants, so he has no pants on in this picture. I had an extra pair of underwear, but for some reason no pants.
Aunt L and Uncle D on the day they toured with the g'parents.


G'parents Ohio. G'pa served on the Carrier, the USS Shangra-La in the early 1960s. We grew up hearing about it. Well, at the Carrier in C'town (the Yorktown??) they had a shop with a little display and a HAT for sale with the Shangra-La. The ship was long ago made into razor blades, so everyone was excited to see the hat.

Phone photos from the Beach

I was just complaining to Den about the problems I've had uploading my phone photos to the blog, esp. becaue they're just so darn cute.

Den and I wondered how J would do on the 8.5 hour drive and I vowed not to make the trek if she weren't forward facing. She did really well, except for refusing to nap on the way down.

She loved playing with this computer. Not sure what she did with it, but if it occupied her time and wasn't harmful, I was all for it (I was riding shotgun, also known as the throw-things-to-the-back-seat-of-the-car and hope for the best seat).

Josie LOVES books. She won't usually sit still for me to read to her--but will sit still for others. She really seems to like this book as it has lots of 'touch and feel' components.

Eddie and Josie did a bunch of laps like this, him holding her hand though the track of the beach house. btw, he STILL talks about the beach house and wanting to go back to the beach to play with everyone and esp. play in the sand.


This was taken just as we picked up the kids from the playground to head back home. The kids had a great time and I think the adults too.

Eddie beach pictures

Seashells and Sharks

5 nights in the Isle of Palms in SC was pretty relaxing. Out of the 4 full days, we played in the surf 3 of them. The other, we treked into Cha'lston to check it out. We had a house directly across the street from the beach access point, so it takes just a a minute or 2 to reach the ocean. We really lucked out, as we booked just a month out.


Growing up, we visited Cape San Blas and St. Geo. Island off the panhandle of FLA. That was the local beach for us, just over an hour away. I remember always being able to find sanddollars that were whole, live little crabs crawling across the beach, and just a great variety of shells. I've always been bothered by all the stores selling bucketsfull of shells. I hope they are reproductions, but probably are not. This trip, I've seen lots of people walking down the shore with plastic buckets filled with shells. I hate that people collect so many shells. What are they going to do with these? I know they are free, I know that in most cases there are no animals left in the shells, but still, why do you need a whole bucket? I like to collect shells with the rest of them and I sure save everything, but if you put all the shells I've ever collected in a box, it wouldn't be much larger than a shoe box. And that is saying a lot for someone who saves as much stuff as me.


We're bringing about 8 small shells home from this trip.


On our last full day (Friday), we had packed everything up and were getting a final rinse/dip in the ocean before heading back to the house, when a police/medical golf cart vehicle approached us on the beach. Turns out there had been a shark attack about a mile up the beach from us. A surfer had a limb bitten, but was apparently okay. I spent 2 hours that night reading up on shark attacks and it actually made me feel better until tonight. I googled Isle of Palms and Sharks and found that last year the beach was closed in August after a man and a 9 year old were bitten within hours of each other and that on Jun 28 of this year a man body surfing--not even using a board--was bitten by a shark.


I love going to the beach, but the 2 things that I hate about the beach are seeing people collect more shells than they need and the potential for sharks and other ocean dwellers attacking. Somehow I manage to enjoy my time at the ocean, all the while worrying about everyone in the ocean.

It was a great beach with a super shallow (couple inches deep) area for the kids to play that seemed to go on forever. G'ma wants to return to the same place and I am quite tempted, but I'm also wondering a little if we should wait until this shark(s) decides to find another area.

I was waiting to post with pictures, but am having some difficulty uploading those...so stand by...

July 4

We braved the crowds and took Eddie and Josie to the local Fourth of July parade--I didn't even know there was one until I had kids. Just as we were walking down the street towards the parade, this is what we saw--underdog, coming our way.
I knew the parade would be mostly lost on Josie, but that Eddie would like the balloons. Like is an understatement. He was mesmerized. He absolutely loved it. He and Den watched for over 1.5 hours. He'd get tired of being on Den's shoulders and get down for 10 seconds only to ask to be put right back up again.

We had a great spot right in the middle of 7th Avenue (literately in the crosswalk of the street) until a street musician started 'entertaining' us with his trumpet--which drowned out the music from the parade. The Police said they couldn't ask him to stop and I tried telling him that he was doing a nice job, but that I thought some people watching the parade were getting annoyed. He didn't bite, but did thank me for the compliment.





It was plenty warm out and Josie worked to drink from a water bottle--no desire for the sippy cup--guess she was cooled through evaporation.

Den is convinced that we had a post parade picnic next to someone who sang during the evening festivities. Josie and the couple's son (who looked to be about 5 or 6) were quite engaged.

Homefront

Eddie's camera is getting some good use. He forgets he has it until I whip out mine and then he wants to take photos. He is responsible for all these photos except the one with him in it.

Den and I like to call this one 'self portrait'.

Den was spinning the kids in circles, getting everyone dizzy--the kids were laughing hysterically.
I love seeing things from Eddie's view...

We're just back from a week at the beach. I have a post all qued up from that--just have to upload the photos.

House Update

Drywall up and at least one coat sanded--check
outside painted--check
electrical fixtures, medicene cabinet, laundry sink and faucets still need to be selected--check
bill received for cool looking faucet in powder room--check
shipping for above faucet as much as faucet--holy S**T--check
front porch needs more work than thought--check



This picture is the view from the addition looking into the kitchen. The boarded up window will become an opening and the door will be removed.

This is the dumpster that will soon contain our front porch. The porch that was apparently fabricated from interior doors. For as solid as the back of the house, what the heck happened with the porch? The house was built in 1948, not 1943.

The addition seems real now, so it's hard not to get excited about it being done. Of course I have now learned that we can live quite happily and sucessfully in a smaller space (but then we think of it as temporary). More importantly though, I've learned to live with less stuff and throw things out more. Not that I still don't have crap laying around everywhere, but I am able to get of something every now and then.

I just hate the thought of throwing something out that I might some day be able to use. I think this is the curse of growing up hearing about Uncle Vic's barn and how he always had everything--from the mailboxes he procured from the post office when they converted to new boxes to every screw he laid eyes on. Then I went and saw Uncle Vic's barn as an adult--it's about two times the size of my house--well, actually he had a couple barns in his day. I never met the man as an adult, but I can only imagine how we would have been able to relate.

Inching Ever Closer

The progress on the house this week has been amazing --they pulled off the rotting columns and parts that are rotting from the porch. Now the pitted outdoor lights really stand out.

Here's my 'Ed' picture, taken when Den was out of town last week. Eddie was very specific about the 'E' he wanted and I was proud of the results. Meanwhile Josie is just enjoying her waffle any way she can get it. At this point she eats almost as much as her brother in a sitting and sometimes more.



View from the screened porch looking into the dining room through the double doors. If we'd known there would be a step down from the DR, we would have corrected it and insisted on not having the step. Ugh. Looking at the plans today, I realize it's there.

So the 'padding' of the dining room wall that I wrote about previously is not as bad as I thought. And on the plus side, they cut a hole in the wall to retreive the red monkeys from my childhood game of 'barrel of monkeys' I had let Ed play with (until I learned he was stuffing them behind the pocket door).

Had our second parenting class today. It started out really easy, very intuitive--positive reinforcement and all that, but got a little more complicated about how you praise--evaluative and descriptive. Fascinating stuff that cooraborated with an article that Den and I both enjoyed in the NY Times a year or so ago about kids and praise. I'm really liking the class. The concepts are certainly easy to get, it's thinking on your feet and in the heat of the moment that is difficult.

Josie has started squealing when she feels there is a need not being met. Real fun in the middle of church. Eddie has become very clingy lately. Ugh.

My boss has announced he will not seek re-election, but perhaps consider another elected position. This means in just about a year, I will be out of a job, or at least moved on to another job. Kind of excited about the prospect, but interested in what I'll be able to find that is even remotely close to the flexibility I have now (short of a couple key meetings, I work whenever I want to in order to get the job done). Pre-kids I'd probably try working on the hill or in a policy type of environment. It's going to be difficult not to fall back into the comfortable Federal Govt job but I pray I escape that trap (it's a perfectly fine job, but not one that seems to suit me).