Summer Staycation part 3

Next stop on Operation Summer Staycation 2012 was to visit the oldest gardens in the United States, and one of the most beautiful plantation homes in the world - Magnolia Plantation! With Becca and Aaron, we loaded up and drove a ways to Magnolia Plantation.

If you're ever in the Lowcountry for some time, plan on visiting this amazing plantation - the gardens, the history, the boat tour of the marsh, everything! The kids and Nick even got to pet deer, turkeys (sort of) and rabbits in the petting zoo. What a great place!


Look carefully in this collage - top left, find the Great Blue Heron in the cattails. Middle left, see the alligator - and a big one at that! Bottom left, check out the Anhinga bird - spreading it's wings to dry them out so it can fly again. The top right is a few from the 'front' of the plantation, which is actually the rear. The front of the plantation faces the Ashley River, because that's how most folks came to visit the home. Bottom right is 'Flowerdale', which is the original English garden planted at Magnolia, and is the oldest English garden in the US.

These collages were created using the application Diptic on an iPhone - it was the free 'App of the Week', and is a lot of fun!

Summer Staycation, part 2

In the summer 0f 2011 when we told everyone we were moving, we heard so many people say how wonderful this place is! Many tried to console Nicholas, who was having a hard time with the move, by saying, 'Don't worry, when you move to a place like that, everybody will come visit you.' They were right, at least a little!

This July, we had 3 weeks of guests and it was awesome! First up, Becca and Aaron from Memphis spent their vacation with us, and we started checking off our to-do list of historical sites around the area.

Up first was a tour to Fort Sumter in the Charleston Harbor. What an experience! Fort Sumter is where the first shots of the Civil War were fired, and an important location throughout the war. We had to take a ferry to get to the fort, which docked at the foot of the USS Yorktown, a WW2 aircraft carrier that is now a historical site/museum in the harbor. Here's a jet that sits on the flight deck...

One of my favorite parts of the tour was being on the water (of course), and seeing the beautiful Ravenel bridge from this vantage point...










I was not aware of the historical significance of Fort Sumter, and it was an incredible experience. Here is the first non-US flag to fly over the Fort - the flag of South Carolina's Palmetto Guard.










There is also a memorial for the Union commander that first held the Fort, and for all of the troops that died there. In this memorial, every flag that was ever flown above the Fort is included (except for the Palmetto Guard Flag above). Nicholas actually took this photo...good shot buddy!







It was a terrific tour, capped off with this snapshot of Caroline resting in a cannon enclave!

Summer Staycation part 1

I mentioned in a previous post that after 15 years of teaching, I finally was able to enjoy at least part of my summer off - I know right?!?

Commence Operation STAYCATION 2012! We finally had the time (and lots of visitors) to get out and experience some of the amazing things about our fair city! Phase 1 - GET ON THE WATER!!

CSU Professor of Saxophone, Director of Jazz Studies, and Instrumental Coordinator Mark Sterbank has a lovely sailboat, and treated Marshall Forrester (CSU Director of Bands) and myself to an afternoon on the water...AWESOME with a side of AWESOME-SAUCE!  I haven't been sailing since the summer of 1998 or 1999, which is WAY TOO LONG to not sail. Gotta work on that for sure - 

Little did we know there was a small craft advisory that day, but it didn't stop Skipper Mark with mate Marshall at the helm and mate Nick pulling the sheets. GREAT FUN!

Summer Projects

2012 marks the first summer I've had off as a teacher...I heard all of the collective gasps from my teacher friends! I've always been a 12-month staff or faculty person, but at my new job I'm a on a 10-month contract. I worked in June for our Music Camp, but when July came along I could take the WHOLE MONTH off!  So this is that summer perk that teachers always talk about!

Thankfully I was able to get much of my 'marching band director' summer duties taken care of by June, though I've had to get some other things done.  Next comes percussion equipment, folder preparation, uniform cleaning, field painting, and band camp. But in July, life was easy...sort of...

Karen had been counting down the days until "Home Project Month" arrived (formerly known as 'July').  I did have lots of time with sand between my toes, and chlorine up my nose, and enjoyed many of the Charleston historical things during our 3 week 'staycation' with family and friends visiting (see other posts).  BUT, I was also quite busy...

Project #1 - Apothecary TV Console Table

The best part about this project was the reason for having to build it...Our anniversary present to each other was a new TV (mostly a present for me, I confess).  I worked VBS in the mornings, and then spent most of my waking hours for almost a week building this project (from Ana White online). It was difficult, but incredibly rewarding! The side parts feature two drawers, top and bottom, and the inside section is covered by two doors that swing open. Very taxing, but certainly rewarding!


Project #2 - Painting/Redecorating the Drum Room

The Drum Room was the next room in line to be painted, and waited almost a year from when we moved in! It was tricky, because the new paint is only slightly darker than the original paint - made it very difficult to see where I had been! Fortunately, it didn't take long, and the space is fun and inviting now.  Check off project #2!


Project #3 - Remodel and Tile the Guest Bathroom
I had already scraped wallpaper and painted (wished I saved a picture of the old bathroom when we moved in!), and replaced the faucet this spring. I swapped out the tub/shower faucet, and put in a new shower head and tub spout to match. It still needs a matching drain and drain cover, but that will come soon enough. The last piece of the puzzle was the tile - YIKES!

I've tiled our kitchen and bathrooms in TN,  so I was somewhat ready for the job (thanks to Joe Urkavich, Jr!). However, the previous owner had two layers of linoleum put down with A LOT of glue. Not my friend! After several hours just removing the existing flooring and cleaning substrate (sounds technical doesn't it?), I was finally able to start tiling. I had to make a few tricky cuts around the toilet, but all in all it turned out well! Now on to trim paint, but that's for another checklist...

So, when asked 'What did you do this summer' from various folks at school, I'll have some good stories to tell. I'll be more than just a little ready to go back to work - it will be easier than checking off our projects at home!

15 years ago...

On this day, 15 years ago, Karen and I said 'I Will' and 'I Do' to each other. Today, we can say 'we have, we would, and we'd do it all over again'!

Here's to 15 years that have flown by...3 cities, 2 children, 3 dogs (Rest in peace Hallelujah), many laughs, some tears, and ultimately the fingerprints of God.  We have enjoyed times of rejoicing, times of testing, times of faith-building, and times of faith-testing. We've walked in obedience to God and with each other, and I pray that God will continue to bless us wherever we go, and in whatever we do, not for ours but for His fame and glory! 

Happy Birthday Olivia!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!  Our sweet niece turned 8 last Monday!  She is such a sweet, fun, creative girl and Caroline adores her as we all do!  We know she had a wonderful day, we just wish we could have celebrated with her!  We Love you Liv!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Here is our sweet nephew/cousin Ethan!  We took a quick overnight trip to GA over the weekend to celebrate a bunch of birthdays!  Ethan turned 7 this past weekend and celebrated by breaking his wrist!  We didn't know this officially until yesterday.  He was a trooper and spent the weekend playing with his cousins after we wrapped his arm up!  Isn't he a cutie!!  Happy Birthday Ethan!!!

I also want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom.  Can you believe I spent 30 minutes going through our iphoto and I cannot find one picture of her?  She doesn't like her picture taken so...... Happy Birthday mom!!