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| Claire, Lucie, Sarah and Kathleen! |
Monday, August 29, 2011
Dinner with friends
We enjoyed a lovely meal with the Rodgers clan on Saturday night. While Bucky and Keith manned the grill outside, the teenage girls cackled together in the den and Suzanne and I caught up on mom stuff! She prepared a fabulous Greek dish with marinated chicken, flatbread, feta, veggies and tzatziki and served it with her very own Greek mashed potatoes! It was delicious! The meal was followed by lots of dancing, laughing and a spectacular fashion show starring our hostess herself! Good good times!
The calm after the storm
Luckily, Hurricane Irene did minimal damage in the Lowcountry. We had some wind and rain and some downed limbs and toppled trees in the neighborhood, but we fortunately avoided the brunt of the storm. Friday evening, the four of us walked down to the end of Ferry Street to check out the spectacular sunset that bid Irene farewell. Truly stunning show...
Friday, August 26, 2011
Fanny and her fish
Fanny has adjusted quite well to life in the states...her favorite past-time these days is watching my dad's fish. She is constantly beside or behind the tank checking on her little finned friends. I am sure that they are happy to be safe and sound inside their glass haven!
Whirlin' Waters
In an effort to continue our 'family unit momentum' that we established during our years in France, I agreed to accompany Lucie, Kathleen and Bucky to Whirlin' Waters Adventure Park on Sunday. I am not super keen on public amusement attractions, but I decided to take one for the team and try it out. I figured that I would at least get a good blog out of it!
We left for North Charleston at about 9:45am since the park opened at 10am and we wanted to take advantage of having the place to ourselves while most of the Charleston population was at church. Apparently, if you have a Piggly Wiggly card, you can get a $3 discount on each entrance ticket which is not too shabby since the price of one ticket is a whopping $19.99. Of course, we did not have a Piggly Wiggly card with us so we figured we would have to pay full price, but a very generous woman who was ahead of us line surreptitiously handed us her card so we were able to get the discount! So, only $67 later, we were in the park.
The girls were pretty certain that I was not going to partake in all of the thrilling activities that the park has to offer, but I wanted to prove them wrong. So when they suggested we start with the Riptide Run, a gigantic slide that one travels down on a mat, face first and on your stomach, I heartily agreed. Climbing the steps of the massive structure, I got a bit nervous, but Lucie was full of advice so I got in place. The attendant counted down and said go, and three Walls plummeted down the slide, but I didn't budge. The attendant had to give me a good push to get going - I met my family at the bottom of the slide and we were all in hysterics! We got out of the water and started immediately to mount the stairs for another go...I gathered more advice on the way and the second time around, I actually got out of the starting gate on my own and laughed the whole way down. After a few more trips down the Riptide Run, we decided to take it easy in the Lazy River, which was much more my speed. We lolled around there for a while until the girls suggested we hit the Tubular Twister, a massive complex of three twisting and turning water slides. Of course, I joined in with enthusiasm, screaming and hollering down each one and flipping not so gracefully into the water each time I emerged from the slide. The girls loved it!
The rest of the day we spent enjoying each other's company and the other attractions at the park. We eventually enjoyed a hearty meal of junk food that kept us energized for the afternoon. When we headed home, thoroughly exhausted, we were happy that we had made the trip and this mom was proud that she had participated fully in the Whirlin' Waters experience!
We left for North Charleston at about 9:45am since the park opened at 10am and we wanted to take advantage of having the place to ourselves while most of the Charleston population was at church. Apparently, if you have a Piggly Wiggly card, you can get a $3 discount on each entrance ticket which is not too shabby since the price of one ticket is a whopping $19.99. Of course, we did not have a Piggly Wiggly card with us so we figured we would have to pay full price, but a very generous woman who was ahead of us line surreptitiously handed us her card so we were able to get the discount! So, only $67 later, we were in the park.
The girls were pretty certain that I was not going to partake in all of the thrilling activities that the park has to offer, but I wanted to prove them wrong. So when they suggested we start with the Riptide Run, a gigantic slide that one travels down on a mat, face first and on your stomach, I heartily agreed. Climbing the steps of the massive structure, I got a bit nervous, but Lucie was full of advice so I got in place. The attendant counted down and said go, and three Walls plummeted down the slide, but I didn't budge. The attendant had to give me a good push to get going - I met my family at the bottom of the slide and we were all in hysterics! We got out of the water and started immediately to mount the stairs for another go...I gathered more advice on the way and the second time around, I actually got out of the starting gate on my own and laughed the whole way down. After a few more trips down the Riptide Run, we decided to take it easy in the Lazy River, which was much more my speed. We lolled around there for a while until the girls suggested we hit the Tubular Twister, a massive complex of three twisting and turning water slides. Of course, I joined in with enthusiasm, screaming and hollering down each one and flipping not so gracefully into the water each time I emerged from the slide. The girls loved it!
The rest of the day we spent enjoying each other's company and the other attractions at the park. We eventually enjoyed a hearty meal of junk food that kept us energized for the afternoon. When we headed home, thoroughly exhausted, we were happy that we had made the trip and this mom was proud that she had participated fully in the Whirlin' Waters experience!
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| The Walls before setting off for Whirlin' Waters... |
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| Getting our gear in a locker... |
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| Our first ride, the Riptide Run... |
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| The more-tame Treehouse! |
Monday, August 22, 2011
Snow White
On Saturday evening, the Wall family headed downtown to the Sottile Theatre to watch Grace dance in The Tale of Snow White. Adelaide and Emmeline Basco joined us and we sat with Barb and some other friends so Grace had her own full-fledged fan club in the audience! The Mt. Pleasant Performing Arts Company put on the ballet and it was a wonderful performance by the entire company, but we were most proud of Grace!
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| Lucie and Adelaide... |
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| Emmeline and Kathleen... |
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| The dancer... |
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| Grace with her fan club! |
Thursday, August 18, 2011
First day
School started this week in Mt. Pleasant! Lucie is in the 9th grade at Wando High School. There are about 950 fellow Freshman starting high school with her this year, one of whom is her cousin, Grace. My nephew, Canham, is driving Lucie and Grace to and from school everyday so hopefully he will help get them both acclimated to life in high school!
Kathleen is a 7th grader at Moultrie Middle School. She is excited that her homeroom teacher is Ms. Currie, the same homeroom teacher that Grace had! Kathleen is riding her bike to and from school everyday with her friend, Claire. We are all excited about the new school year as we transition to life back in South Carolina.
Kathleen is a 7th grader at Moultrie Middle School. She is excited that her homeroom teacher is Ms. Currie, the same homeroom teacher that Grace had! Kathleen is riding her bike to and from school everyday with her friend, Claire. We are all excited about the new school year as we transition to life back in South Carolina.
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| Lucie and Grace before Freshman orientation... |
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| Lucie and Kathleen on the first day... |
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| Lucie and Grace's driver... |
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| And off they go to high school. |
Classic
Some things never change...like Kathleen and Claire goofing off together! The other day, the three of us went shopping at Towne Center and the girls wanted to try on heels. They had fun strutting their stuff through the shoe department at Belks. Good times!
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| Classic Claire and Kathleen. |
A lighthouse
Over the years, we have often commented on the lighthouse on Sullivan's Island as we are walking on the beach or driving through the neighborhood hunting for beach rentals. When I saw an article in the local paper recently about the lighthouse being open to the public for one day only, I made sure to show the article to Bucky. Since he is a history buff, I assumed he would be interested. Of course he was and he encouraged other history enthusiasts, Hank, Dad and Canham, to attend. The girls pretty much had to go and I stayed home.
The lighthouse, which was built in 1962, was the last lighthouse that the Coast Guard built and is known as the most modern. Because of safety issues, visitors are not allowed to go to the top, but our group was allowed to tour the first level where they took the required photos.
The lighthouse, which was built in 1962, was the last lighthouse that the Coast Guard built and is known as the most modern. Because of safety issues, visitors are not allowed to go to the top, but our group was allowed to tour the first level where they took the required photos.
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| Grace, Lucie and Kathleen before the tour... |
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| The lighthouse... |
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| The view from the lighthouse... |
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| The girls in the lighthouse... |
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Hank (aka Charlie) and Dad (aka Jimmy and Bubba) talking with a guide.
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Eating well
We enjoyed lunch at Poe's the other day. It was pleasant enough to even sit outside which we did while we enjoyed our meals and the obligatory cold beer (or two). I feel sure that we will be back soon for another burger fix for Bucky.
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| The view from our table... |
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| Kathleen and Lucie enjoying their lunch... |
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| Bucky and Canham after their burgers. |
Welcome to the Lowcountry
The Walls have moved to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, for the next chapter of our adventure. We are currently staying with my parents in the Old Village and will soon start looking for a house of our own. The humidity and mosquitoes aside, we are happy to be here. We look forward to many years with family and friends in this beautiful part of the world and we welcome you to join us via our blog!
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| Our current home on Pitt Street... |
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| On the way to Sullivan's Island... |
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| The path to the beach... |
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| The beach... |
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| And the Atlantic Ocean. |
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