Heavenly Harbor

The Charleston Harbor is beautiful. I love the many different waterways, I love the cruise ships, sail boats, cargo ships and battle ships. I love all of the old Historical sites and homes that you can see from the water. I love the wildlife. Boating in the harbor is definitely one of our favorite things to do in beautiful South Carolina.

This particular day in the harbor we saw several dolphins about 10 feet from our boat. We also watched the pelicans diving down into the water and coming back up with fish. The boys had so much fun watching this as we cruised around in the boat. Later that afternoon the boys decided to tube. The three of us even got in the water and swam for a little while. Macy decided that she was going to go fishing and jumped into the water after some fish that were jumping nearby. What a great afternoon!

State Animals

One thing we have learned about South Carolina since living here is that people make up "cute " names for really disgusting creatures to make them sound more appealing. Here are a few examples...

Palmetto Bug: A.K.A. The Cockroach


River Dog: A.K.A. Swimming Rat


The State Bird: A.K.A. The Mosquito


The Banana Spider: A.K.A. Big enough to eat you alive, luckily I just eat bugs, enormous, disgusting, 8 legged devil


Now I don't want to paint the wrong picture here, we really love the wildlife in Charleston. Here are some of my very favorite animals that we have seen so far...

The Horseshoe Crab
We have seen them in the ocean, we got to touch them at the aquarium and we have found a couple of dead ones on the beach.


The Loggerhead Turtle
We have only seen these in the aquarium, but they lay their eggs along the coast that is just 5 miles from our house.



The Dolphins
We see dolphins in the harbor all of the time. When we were boating we saw one about 10 feet from our boat.


The Squirrels
These are the craziest, most active squirrels I have ever seen! They are so much fun to watch. They literally swing from the tree branches like monkeys. Our Schnauzer Macy is obsessed with them. She watches them out the windows ALL DAY LONG. They eat the nuts out of the trees, then throw the shells at the house and windows.


The Blue Crab
We have caught several of these at the beach. They are always along the shore line and in the tide pools. The boys think is is so much fun to catch them.


The Cranes and Pelicans
I love to watch these beautiful birds fly over the water and catch fish.



The Alligators
Still haven't seen one in the wild, only in the aquarium. Apparently they are all over. Can't wait to see one, from a distance of course!


The Blue Birds
These pretty birds are always in our trees. Macy has killed two already. I wish she wouldn't do that... but what can I say? She is a hunting dog (well, she thinks she is anyway).


The Lizards
I am not sure what type of lizard these are, but you can catch them out in the bushes at any given time. They change in color to blend in with their surroundings. The boys like to catch them... and so does Macy. She has killed several of these too.


We are loving this beautiful state and all that it has to offer.

First Day of School 2011

Holy Moly! I can't believe how quickly this summer flew by. It was definitely a very eventful summer with the move and all. Broc and Brady both started school in mid August. Broc is in the 3rd grade and Brady started Kindergarten. Kindergarten is full day, 5 days a week, so Brady and Broc both have the same schedule. Broc's teacher is Ms. Sheibel and Brady's teacher is Ms. Newton. We had the chance to meet them both the evening before the first day of school. We liked both teachers very much and are looking forward to a great school year.

Their school is brand new this year. It is absolutely beautiful! They boys are excited about the huge gym, music room, art room and multiple computer labs and library. We have been really impressed with the school system in South Carolina so far. Broc was really excited that he gets to ride the bus this year. He has never ridden the bus before, so to him this is soooo cool! Brady was pretty excited too. He was nervous, but Broc offered to walk him to class every morning until he got the hang of things.

The boys have been off to a great start with school and are both doing great. Their teachers are wonderful, the principle has been great and the school nurse is amazing. We are so grateful for the opportunity the boys have been given to go to such a fantastic school.

Both boys did great their first day. They were both a little but nervous, but mostly excited to meet new friends. They didn't shed a tear... I on the other hand wasn't so lucky! It was sad for Jesse and I to have both of our boys at school all day long. It is a little strange not having kids at home during the day anymore, but I am glad that they are enjoying school and learning so much.

The Big 2 - 8

I recently celebrated my 28th Birthday. The boys told me the night before that I could not go in their room because they were making a "Surprise" for me. The next morning Brady came in my room, woke me up and told me that there was a lizard in the house. Since this really had happened the week before... I believed him. I jumped out of bed to find homemade signs all over the kitchen and living room. They boys had spent a long time making them the night before. What a sweet surprise.

That afternoon we headed to downtown Charleston to get some lunch. We ate at an awesome place called "The Buccaneer". They have great food and really fun things to look at. They have old pirate things on display dating back to the 1500's. We took a few pictures while we were eating, the first one is Jesse's favorite. Brady's face is hilarious!





I had a wonderful birthday and spent it with my three favorite people. Keeping my fingers crossed for another wonderful year.

Must be missin' Idaho...

This past summer the boys came into the office dressed like this...


I am thinking that they were missing Idaho, missing Grandpa Jeff, Missing the ranch... and missing the horses! All I know is they are the cutest cowboys I have ever seen.

Visit from Grandma

This past July my Mom came to visit. I wish I would have taken more pictures with my camera. Good thing I can always count on my Mom to take a TON of pictures. She always told me that one day I would thank her for torturing us with her little photo shoots... It's true. I love looking through her photos and it seems like I always forget my camera. Thankfully she sent us a whole bunch of photos from her trip, I just don't have many pictures on my computer, so this post only has one photo, which was taken with my cell phone and isn't the best quality. Sorry!

My Mom was supposed to come to the beach house with us, but she had Typhoid fever. What's that you ask... who in the word still gets Typhoid fever? My Mom does! In June, she and my Dad went on vacation to Peru. Apparently my Mother had a lapse in judgement because she decided to go cliff jumping into a lake full of parana. You know, because their tour director told her they were docile. Just in case you need a little refresher, this is what a pirana looks like.

I don't think docile and parana should go in the same sentence. Their are a couple of rules you follow when you go to Peru... 1) DO NOT DRINK THE WATER, and 2) DON'T SWIM WITH PARANA. She already got bit by a fish before, you would have thought she would have learned. At any rate, my Mom decided that it looked fun to swing off of a rope swing into the parana infested water, once she got swinging she started to have second thoughts, but there was not turning back. She screamed the entire way down. Needless to say her mouth was wide open as she plunged into the water. She broke both rules in a matter of seconds. She didn't get bit by a parana, but she did come out of the experience with Typhoid fever. I won't go into detail, I will just tell you that she was incredibly sick. She was hospitalized and never made it to the beach house.

We were able to change her plane tickets so she could still come visit us during the summer. We had an absolute ball while she was here. It was very hard to say goodbye when it was time for her to fly back to Idaho. Both of the boys cried, as did Jesse and I. I think having her here this summer was the boys favorite memory. They had so much fun swimming, going to the aquarium, walking to Target, touring downtown, going on carriage rides and just hanging out at home. Thanks for coming Mom. We love you so much!!

We can't wait for my Mom and Dad to come for Thanksgiving.

Afternoon on Sullivans Island

Having the ocean so near to home has truly been one of our favorite things about living in South Carolina. It is wonderful to be able to throw a couple of sandwiches and a few drinks in the cooler and be to the beach in 5 minutes. Broc and Brady love the beach. They love digging in the sand and playing in the ocean. This particular trip to the beach, we found over 20 sand dollars. The sand dollars were still living, we found them in the sand just off of the shore line. The boys also brought home a couple of star fish. We had a ball just relaxing in the sun and enjoying our day together.