Thanksgiving Lowcountry Style

We were blessed with the opportunity to head to Kiawah Island, SC with Grandmommy for a second time this year. This time we celebrated Thanksgiving in the Low country.

Peaceful. Slow. Laid back. Books. Bikes. Beach. These are the words that come to mind when I think about spending time on Kiawah.

We played on the beach and took a couple of long, leisurely bike rides, enjoying mid-70 temperatures most of the time

We took a quick trip to Charles Towne Landing to take in the flora and fauna.

We had a low key and yummy Thanksgiving meal and still had energy to enjoy the evening activities at Night Heron park.

We watched the nature dude feed 5 year old alligators at the Nature Center and Eliza Grace managed to beat me at checkers fair and square.

A great getaway but now back to real life!

Egrets were roosting in the lagoon in the backyard

About to take flight

Great blue herons made an appearance as well

We did a lot of bicycling. Eliza Grace wanted to wear her new scarf, hand-knitted by Grandmommy, everywhere.

Water break!

Oh how I love this face!

Running the remote control four
wheeler all over the place

This is the face of mischief!

Beautiful scenery at Charles Towne Landing

I always feel like I have stepped into a scene of
Gone With The Wind when I see the huge, stately live oaks with their Spanish moss lazing from their branches.

Speaking of live oaks, 
this one was fun to sit and climb on.

Replica of the early accommodations for the settlers.

I told Will that this was the early
American version of our no-no couch.

Reproduction of a the 17th century
cargo ship, The Adventure.
Practicing tying knots
Ta Tanka
A very smart Grandmommy who brought all the fixins' for a yummy craft to keep the kids busy while we prepped the Thanksgiving meal

Cookie/Candy Turkeys:

You need: Oreos, candy corns, chocolate icing, malted milk balls, and orange tic tacs.

1.Split the Oreos in half so that one side has no icing and the other side has all the icing (my Mom used dental floss to separate the halves.)

2. Use chocolate icing as "glue" to secure the malted milk ball in the middle of one half of the Oreo and to hold the other half of the Oreo perpendicular at the back of the first half.

3. Once the icing has set up enough, press candy corns to look like turkey feathers onto the vertical Oreo half.

4. Use icing to secure tic tac onto the front of the malted milk ball to look like the nose.
Kind of messy but fun and yummy!

The Force is Strong With This One.

Yesterday we celebrated Will's 5th birthday a couple of days early (23rd is the official day!)

This was the first time he had a big party with lots of friends. Of course we had it at a bounce house place because, well, that is just what is done these days.

We bit the bullet and bought the big package where they provided everything: balloons, cake (both Star Wars themed as requested by the birthday boy), pizza, cups/plates/napkins, goody bags, and a couple of teenagers to manage the chaos and clean up of it all. All we had to do was show up with cameras and ice cream.

Aaaaaaand of course I forgot the ice cream so Scott got to run back home for the cold stuff while the kids were jumping, running and climbing like sweaty maniacs.

The party was, as expected, quite a hit and Will is very much enjoying all his new toys.

The calm before the storm as they watch the safety video.

The only pseudo-decent picture I took in the bounce rooms. (Will on the big slide). Too many kids moving way too fast.

Sweaty boy, cute smile.

And there's the eyebrow

Silliness with buddy Cooper.

Eliza Grace thinking "Mommy, please just let me eat."

Pizza!

Luke and Darth getting ready to battle it out.

Deep breath to blow that last one out!

Cool presents!

'Tis the Season. Well, Close Enough.

Like so many, my favorite season/holiday to decorate for is Christmas.

I wanted to capture all the twinkling lights with my new lens that allows me to adjust the shutter speed to capture the glow of the lights without the flash making everything too bright. I am still learning to use the lens correctly, which explains why a couple pictures are a little blurry.

Let me give you the tour.

This is a view from the foyer looking at the staircase.
The staircase as you are looking up at the children's bedrooms.
Also from the foyer looking at the "bridge"
between the foyer and the dining room.The antique game table in the foyer.
A close up of the Nativity scene.
Our tree in the living room to the right of the front door.
The library table to the right of the tree holds our
collection of Nutcrackers and Santas.
This Santa & Tree was a gift from my first boss at Cisco. It fits perfectly in this little arched alcove
between the foyer and dining room.
The sideboard in the dining room.
A close up of one of the Nativity scenes on the sideboard.
I think my mother brought this back from Mexico
a couple of decades ago.
The fireplace mantel in the den.
(The print above the mantel is a winter street scene in Old Salem)
A few of my snowmen that grace the mantel.

Well, that is most of the interior holiday decorating we do each year. Next up is the outside but I think I will wait until after Thanksgiving to tackle that!

Pottery via iPhone

Woohoo - my 200th post!

Anyway...

I thought that I had signed Eliza Grace and me up for a class in which we would use a pottery wheel but I was wrong. Instead we got to use slabs of clay to make stuff.

We had fun working together and are looking forward to the 2nd class where we get to apply glaze to all of Eliza Grace's creations.

Patterned bowl with pattern star 
and heart embellishments

Turtle she named Myrtle

A snowman figurine for Mommy
(I sort of collect snowmen)