South Carolina

Packing for yourself and two small children for a long trip (11 days) can be daunting. The cure for me is to pack at least 24 hours in advance so I have time (or at least convince myself that I do) to remember the last few items that otherwise would have been forgotten if I had packed the day of. I can jump out of bed and jot a few things down to remember to pack in the morning. Of course there is the challenge of packing 3 people for 11 days, including nice clothes for a wedding, in one small carry-on size bag, because you know I am NOT going to pay to check a bag. But rolling clothes and planning to wear at least a few outfits more than once did the trick.

As we boarded the plane we got two very distinctive looks

1) the warm happy smiles and bright eyes from the passengers that thought are kids were the cutest (o.k. they probably would have thought that about any kids, but we'll take it)
2) or the straight faced, eyes say it all "oh hell, small children on the flight, please tell me they aren't sitting close to us," and I swear you could hear them sigh with relief as we walked a few aisles passed them.

I have to assume that the first category of people are parents and can appreciate the fact that kids are people too and need to get from point A to point B. I can also say that I understand where the people from category two are coming from because lets face it, sitting near a screaming child in a confined space where no one has the luxury to leave can be challenging.

Luckily for us, our kids were very well behaved and hopefully making all the people in category 2 feel bad for the looks they gave us.





As we were exiting the plane Jason scored him and Blythe a seat in the Cock-pit. I don’t know who was more excited, but I was shocked that they kept telling Blythe – yeah push all the buttons you want, yet pull that up, push that down, etc. Blythe is usually shy in this kind of setting, but she was all about flying that airplane. Certainly a highlight of the vacation for Blythe.











When we arrived in Charleston and collected our rented mini-van the theme park started for Blythe. She was mesmerized by her ability to open and close the doors with the touch of a button, rolling the windows up, and down, moving the seat, and the DVD player. I think she thought THIS was the vacation. We really put our kids to the test while we were in Charleston. The girls and I left the 'bachelor party' bar at 11pm on Thursday, closed down the rehearsal dinner at 10:30pm on Friday, and were out in downtown Charleston at 1am on Saturday enjoying dessert after the wedding. We received tons of comments on how well behaved the kids were and I think we made some of the couples decide that maybe they really were ready to do the kid thing, if life with kiddos was this easy. We even received a really sweet letter from the parents of the groom upon our return stating "you guys are a great advertisement for how you should do the parenting things." Its moments like this that as a parent you swell with pride and thing "hey, at least we got something right."

On Sunday we drove from Charleston to Columbia to stay with Jason's soon to be Aunt and Uncle and to have some much needed regular napping and down time for the kids before their wedding the following weekend.

Jericho was loving being down on the ground and out of arms and figured out a new trick on Monday night. Of course as soon as we got the camera out she went all silly...



Blythe was already having a great time with the mini van, but the singing deer head was icing on the cake. I don't know who she's been watching dance, but I am pretty sure I don't purse my lips like that, but hey it's cute..maybe I should try it.



We spent the week soaking up the sun and playing in the lake.























We concluded our South Carolina weddings with a hill billy wedding. We're talking getting married in overalls, a unity fish, driving away on a tractor, toasting with a alcohol soaked worm, and good old beer and BBQ. Kids seem to always be entertained by the most random things. At the reception my girls spend hours bobbin for beer (really they were bobbin for ice and juice boxes, but beer sounded cuter so we will go with that) out of a repurposed bathtub to beer cooler.

Our trip ended with a crash and burn with our flight out of Columbia being delayed by 3 hours. We were told there was weather in Atlanta and there was NO WAY we would be able to get to DFW that night. I was persistent and had them put us on the standby list for the flights that there was "NO WAY" we could get on because they were oversold. I was banking on the fact that if this many people were delayed out of Atlanta it is possible those connecting onto that flight would miss it just like we had missed our 7:25 flight. We arrived into Atlanta at 9:45 and there was a 10:35 and a 10:55 flight to DFW. Long story short we got tickets to the 10:55 flight and we saw more than a handful of seats open. I guess this is where the saying of "if there's a will, there is a way," comes from. And take those looks that I described from group 1 earlier and make their brows furrowed, their lips upside down and their eyes mean as dirt as we boarded a 10:55pm flight with 2 small children. We lucked out and got 3 seat together on the bulk head meaning Blythe was able to lay down and sleep the entire flight and Jericho (after having a 15 minute power nap on the previous flight) was able to stretch out between business class and coach, cooing, and entertaining everyone. In the end we made it to DFW at 1:30am South Carolina time and 12:30am DFW time. What was supposed to be a 4 hour adventure turned into 9.5, but at least we made it safely to DFW and didn't have to stay in a hotel in Atlanta.

We are now safely back in BCS and enjoying the routine of regular naps, the ease of a baby proofed house, and the company of our neighbors.

Happy Wednesday!

P.S. since we've been home Blythe keeps asking me where the mini-van is, I guess someone is ready for another sibling to seal the deal on the mini-van.

The Bistro Set

I'm starting to wonder how many showings we will have before an offer. Every time we have a showing I think to myself 'this could be it,' but that has thus far been quickly followed by a 'not these buyers' when several days go by and we haven't heard anything. We hooked several buyers, but failed to line and sink them for various reasons. When the realtors are actually nice enough to respond to my e-mail regarding feedback it has been mainly positive:
"SO Cute, we love it."
"You have tell you have done a lot of work on the house, I will certainly show it again"
"Buyers really liked, but dining area not large enough for their needs."
"House shows great, one of the cleanest houses I have seen in a long time."

But as positive is the feedback is, its still not an offer and I know we just have to wait for the 'right' buyers to walk through the door it does take a bit of effort to not get discouraged, but I told myself that we would ride it through June and then maybe think about dropping the price come July and no bites. I did talk to an interested gentleman driving by today for about 30 minutes and he thought his wife would be interested so we will see if that materializes to a showing.

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I am not known for my spontaneity, but being spontaneous pretty much always results in a fun time. This Sunday we decided, at the last minute, to go to the St. Anthony's Summer Bazaar. After looking up the start time and attempting to go to the kick-off mass that started at 9am and pulling up to an empty parking lot at 9:10, only to find out the event was being held across town, we had a great time.

Blythe showed off her throwing arm on the ball toss, tried her hand at the ring toss, and after a little convincing by me, got her face painted.










For some reason I was really into the idea of Blythe winning a gold fish and Jason thought I was crazy. Maybe it's because I never went to a carnival/festival as a kid and came home with a goldfish, but none the less my girl sank the golf ball into the jar and we left with a prize goldfish. I told Jason "its just for fun it will die in a day or two." We asked Blythe what she wanted to name the goldfish and she came up with Lightening McQueen. Lightening McQueen really lucked out because our neighbors across the street have a fish tank and they willingly accepted him. I don't think he was digging our large pirex glass serving bowl, but hey you use what you have.



There were a few items at the live auction that we flagged thinking we would try our hand at, but as the 2 0'clock hour neared, our clothes were going from sticky to damp to wet, we decided we should bail on the live auction because our items of interest were at the end. We packed up and were walking out when Jason asked Blythe "do you want a cake," and I know you will be shoked, but Blythe exclaimed "YES." So Jason heads over to the cake wheel where there are 40 numbers and each number costs .25. Jason hands over a dollar and says we want 28,29,30, and 31. I told him, oh you should have done 27 for Blythe birthday. The wheel spun and what do you know it lands on #27. So Jason turns to Blythe and says "oh, we didn't win," turns to head back to the car and Blythe looks heartbroken, she wasn't told "do you want to play a game and then IF you win the prize will be a cake", she was asked "do you want a cake?" So $14 dollar we finally win a cake (clearly we should have bought all 40 spots for $10 from the get go), but hey its all for charity.









Thanks to our cake delay we were now nearing our live auction items. We sat back down, paddle in hand and waited our turn. As I held the paddle my heart was beating a hundred miles and hour, they called item #423 - and my paddle went up, so did others, so I looked at Jason he nodded and I put it up again, this continued for about 2 minutes, and then we scored this super cute outdoor kids furniture set where I am sure many lunches and tea parties await.











Have a Great Week!