Sullivan's Island

This month has been a whirlwind of back-to-back trips. It's been A TON OF FUN but has left me with about 1000 pictures to sort through and that deflated day-after-Christmas feeling. It's like we compressed all the fun of an entire summer into the month of June. Sigh.

The brief summary of the month's comings and goings is this: spent 9 days at the beach in South Carolina with assorted friends and family. Shortly thereafter the boys and I spent 4 more days at the beach in Virginia with friends from Richmond. Came home in time to celebrate my birthday and put tubes in Oliver's ears (he is already hearing better and his articulation is improving, too. Poor guy has had persistent fluid in his ears since January). Left again a few days later with Ryan and the boys to visit friends from Ithaca who recently moved near Lynchburg, VA. Now we are home and I'm trying to establish a routine. Elliot is sick again (why, I wonder? could it be the constant onslaught of new germs/kids we expose him to???)

Since it might take me a few days (weeks?) to post about all our recent adventures I'll stick with our first trip, to the beach near Charleston, SC.

 

We rented a house in the most charming beach town called Sullivan's Island. It was just perfect. The house was a 100-year old cottage that was stylishly, but not fussily, appointed. The owners have three small kids so the house was very kid-friendly. They had toys and games and a train table and chalkboard wall in the bunkroom and a playhouse outside. The beach was just over the dunes in the backyard.

 

Sullivan's Island has a fascinating history. It is sort of the ignoble Ellis Island for African Americans. Some 40% of African Americans have ancestors who came through the notorious "pest houses" on the island during the height of the Atlantic slave trade. It is also the site of Fort Moultrie, a Revolutionary War fortification from which the colonists successfully defended Charleston. Much more recently it has been in the news as the home of philandering SC Governor Mark Sanford. (Little did we know of the drama that was brewing just down the beach!)

My dad and Abby and Adam couldn't come down until Tuesday night but the house rented from Saturday to Saturday so we invited some friends from Raleigh, the Becks and the Harrises, to spend the first 3 days with us. We PACKED the house with 6 adults, 8 kids and 2 teenage babysitters. It was so much fun! The kids had a blast playing together at the beach, in the playhouse, on the porch, on the lawn. And WE had a blast while the babysitters bathed, fed and put our kids to bed.

 

 

      

The guys cooked an absolute feast on Sunday night. Matt and Ryan had been planning this meal for weeks. We had shrimp and scallops, steak and grilled corn on the cob and vegetables. It was delicious. The guys truly outdid themselves.

 

The "grown-ups" all went in to Charleston for dinner on Monday night. What a cool city! We were all plotting how we could move down there permanently (perhaps a trip in July or August would change our minds).

On Tuesday we visited Ft. Sumter, learned a little more about the "War of Northern Aggression." Did you know that South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union and that a cadet from the Citadel may or may not have fired the first shot of the Civil War? Well, everyone I talked to after our trip to Ft. Sumter knows now because I made sure to mention it a few dozen times. Still not sure why I found that so noteworthy.

On Tuesday we also said goodbye to the Harrises and the Becks, and hello to my Dad, and after several unforeseen delays, Abby and Adam. Abby and Adam celebrated their "pre-niversary" on Sullivan's...their wedding is planned for June 5, 2010. Congrats in advance guys! 

While Dad read the paper, I surfed the web, and Ryan took extensive pictures of downtown Charleston (I hope he'll post a slide show of his pictures soon), Abby and Adam dove into their roles as nephew wranglers.

  

 

We had dinner one night on Shem Creek, fresh seafood right off the boat!

Our friends Bianca and Mark and their adorable twin boys joined us on Thursday. In the second half of the week we took in some highbrow culture at the Spoleto Festival in the form of a bizarre Scandinavian play and a French opera from 1900 about free love and parenting teenagers. Interesting and thought provoking indeed. Adam also treated us all to dinner at the MOST AMAZING restaurant, McCrady's in Charleston. Check out Cackalacky Kitchen for full details.          

Thanks, Daddy, for making such a memorable trip possible!

Freezie Freakies

The other day it was really hot so I got out a little "Ice Treasures" project that I read about here. I had started making this a few days before since it takes at least 24 hours in the freezer. I froze some plastic butterflies, ladybugs and other treasures in a big Tupperware bowl. You have to do it in 3 layers or the treasures end up frozen together at the bottom of the bowl. Anyway, I gave Oliver and the neighbors some squirt bottles and old toothbrushes and they had a blast excavating their treasures. Elliot also had fun chewing on the ice. It was a ton of fun on a hot day.

   

Happy Birthday Elliot

Sweet little Elliot turned 1 year old last Sunday. Elliot is such a fun-loving little guy. He is so intrepid, always seeking a new adventure, whether that be trying to climb into Oliver's big-boy bed (quite a feat considering even Oliver needs a step-stool), or quality testing all the toys in the house by a) chewing on them, or b) throwing them down the stairs. He is so cute and funny!

We had a quiet birthday celebration for him at home. Our friend Brad came over for dinner and then we had present opening and cake. It was pretty low key. I was very happy that Elliot ate his cake. I made a vanilla-orange cake with blueberry filling and orange butter cream frosting. It turned out pretty well. Elliot liked the cake but he especially liked the blueberries. 

  

   

Mama's Mama's Boy

I am behind on my posts because we've had Nana (my mom) in town. Oliver had a freakin' FIELD DAY with my mom. She had little presents and treats for him stuffed in every pocket of every bag (there were many). She knows how to enchant a child. It must be her patience and kindness and lively imagination...to say nothing of her total indulgence of his every whim! Oliver was in heaven. The afternoon after she left I was exhausted and lay down to take a nap. Oliver came up to me and said that he wanted to snuggle. He climbed into bed next to me and put his arms around my neck and whispered softly, "I love...Nana." So do I buddy, so do I.  

  

Thoughts on Motherhood

I had the chance on Mother's Day to write a letter to each of my sons, a little tradition that I hope will someday amount to a really meaningful gift for them and a treasured memento of these years for me.

One of the things I wrote about was how fortunate I feel to be a mother and in particular to be a "stay-at-home-mom". I haven't always felt this sanguine about the whole "SAHM" status. I was raised by a very accomplished mother who not only earned her PhD while I was a toddler, but also was able to develop a rich professional career while raising two kids. It sounds trite, but I HONESTLY do not know how she did it. My dad was appalled when I quit my job to stay at home, but he is trying his best to be supportive now. I know he thinks I am a good mother, but I also know that he feels like being at home with two little kids is some sort of purgatory: it's hard work that kind of sucks, and my "real" contribution to the world is still to come.

I know that I have a duty/obligation/privilege to make a difference in the world outside our home, and I hope I can figure out what that will be. But during this "season" while my boys are so young, I LOVE being able to be with them every step of the way.

I feel like being with my children is such interesting and rewarding work. I love observing how little brains work. I love watching Oliver gain knowledge and skills. It's fascinating to hear what he remembers and notices about experiences--the details that are salient to him are often so surprising. I love seeing Elliot develop physically and attack the world with such gusto. And it's so much fun to create opportunities for them to explore and learn.

It is also really reassuring to feel that what I am doing in raising my children is in no way frivolous. It is not a waste of time or something ephemeral. It is profoundly meaningful. And I am REALLY GOOD at wasting time (no, really, really good...trust me on this one). When I am doing things with my kids it never feels like I'm "wasting" time even if we are being lazy or inefficient.

Anyway, the way I came about this topic was that I was thinking about friends/family members who have had a hard time conceiving children. It is such a blessing and a miracle that we can have children and my heart just breaks for those who yearn to be parents but cannot. You'll notice that I added a link to Taylor and Lisa's (my bro & sister-in-law) adoption website on our sidebar. They were able to adopt the MOST adorable little boy about a year and a half ago and are hoping to find another child to adopt soon. They were introduced to their son's birth parents by an acquaintance, and apparently this works out quite often. So, I thought that I could use my blog as a little platform not only to shout out the wonders of motherhood, but also to advocate for adoption in general and for Taylor and Lisa in particular.

Ryan just got home so I'm going to sign off...

DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!

                 

For about 15 years my passion sport was downhill skiing. I would stop at anything to do it. While living in Hawaii I was introduced to SCUBA diving and my passion sport quickly changed. It was further embedded after I moved out East, away from the fresh powder days and world class skiing in my backyard in Utah.

I’ve dived, as chance would allow, the last 10 years when I traveled to warmer locales outside the country, but for the most part the sport has remained largely unsatisfied for my overwhelming love for it. A few months ago the need became unbearable (it was also the middle of the winter and everyone in our house had been sick for 2 months). I asked Anna if she would  like to go the Caribbean. She was interested and suggested we invite another couple to join. So we invited Jason and Kim Harris, friends of ours who live nearby in NC. Jason is a dive enthusiast and they both are up for the fun and adventure of travel. They were in.

But then a curious thing happened. A couple days into the planning of it, Anna backed out. She claimed she wasn’t that interested in diving or going to a resort and relaxing on the beach in the Caribbean sun or something like that. Frankly, I stopped listening to what she was saying, because honestly, who decides not to go on vacation… to the Caribbean. Well, I guess Anna would be one. They are probably dozens of people like her all of the world. Dozens!  All of them should be in counseling of some sort.

(Anna... come on! What's not to like?)

Anna backed off. Kim decided hanging out with the guys is not her idea of fun. So there Jason and I were staring at the reality of a vacation to Grand Cayman for 5 days by ourselves… with the sole purpose to dive! And dive we did.

We stayed at a resort that caters specifically to diving. We did 2 boat dives in the morning and as much shore diving as we could handle in the afternoon. After 4 straight days of we had accumulated 13 total dives and 10 hours underwater. It was awesome. The entire experience exceeded whatever lofty expectations I set for it.

(The Cobalt Resort where we stayed)

Cayman is an excellent place to dive, not least of which is that there is an outer wall surrounding the island that drops off like a cliff to 4000 feet of water. I never could get enough of diving to the edge of the wall and peering down… into the deep blue. Imagine peering over a Grand Canyon wall underwater at 90 feet of depth, that’s kind of what is was like. Stunning. I’d say it took my breath away, but the SCUBA manual is pretty explicit in its recommendation that divers “not stop breathing” while underwater. (I’ve always found it strange that PADI is compelled to explicitly instruct and remind people to do that).

(Floating above the 4000 foot abyss on the outer wall of Cayman)

Of the thirteen dives we did, the most memorable was when we rented underwater diving scooters. The scooters are designed to be held in your hand and propel you through the water, allowing you to move much more quickly than you could by diving normally. Before entering the water, the dive instructor told us the scooters could be placed between the legs to allow our hands to remain free. It’s hard to describe this… but we got in the water, turned these things on and, once we got the hang of it, it was as about as close to flying as I can imagine. The whole experience seemed other-worldly. The sensation of gliding up and over the reefs, through rock canyons and tunnels and holes in the rocks was a thrill that I will never forget. It may have been the most exciting and fun thing I have ever done. It was like living a National Geographic IMAX movie. I highly recommend it to any fellow diver reading this post.

I won’t go into any of the other details in diving, because like a lot of things in life, you “had to be there”. But here are some underwater pictures (courtesy of Jason)

You can’t dive 24 hours before flying home, so on the last day we rented a car and drove around the island (which didn’t take too long). I’m sure Cayman has its merits as a destination, but after four indescribable days of diving, I could not have been more bored checking the place out. We did find a good hole-in-the wall stand that served delicious Jerk Chicken.

Also, there is a curious little section of the Island named Hell.  This fact alone can incent tourists from nearby cruise ships to spend sums of money to take a taxi ride through Hell, which can take all but 1 minute to do.  In honor of the stupidity and banality of the locale, I myself had to take some picture... the post office in Hell, the gas station in hell... Yes, even the Church in Hell. 

Anyway, I can’t wait to go back… or at least get back in the water and dive. PS if anyone is looking for a good dive buddy, Jason Harris could not be better company.

Tickle Tackle and other Good Times

  Oliver and Elliot have invented a new game called "tickle tackle." I think we will have to post a video of it because any description will not do justice to the mayhem that ensues. Basically the boys roll around on the floor and wrestle. What Elliot lacks in size and strength he makes up for in agility, stamina, and enterprising tactics. He's definitely got some bulldog in him.  His signature move is the open-mouth slobber attack. Oliver will shriek, "Ellie's EATING me! Ellie's EATING  me!!"  Sure enough, Oliver will come away with wet spots all over his pajamas from where Elliot face-planted.

I took these pictures this morning because I finished making these pajamas for Elliot last night and I'm really happy about the way they came out. He wasn't the most cooperative model so I don't have any great ones but I actually love this photo (above) because it captures something of their distinct personalities. It looks like Oliver is really mad but he is giving Elliot an emphatic warning that if he keeps on trying to crawl off the bed he's going to fall and get hurt. He is saying, "No, Ellie. Dat DANGERSUS!!  Elliot is laughing because he wouldn't know DANGERSUS if it jumped up and smacked him in the rear, which it will one of these days. This kid is fearless. Oliver on the other hand is very cautious and won't attempt any stunts that he isn't 100% sure he will survive. 

    

These are the pajamas I made from the Amy Butler's Little Stitches book. I think they are too cute to wear only to bed so they are going to be play clothes, too.

Oliver loves to pretend he is a "construction worker man" at  the "sandbox park".

 

My mom got Ollie the coolest bike called a Skuut. It's a balance bike so it has two wheels but no pedals. The plan is that he will get used to two wheels and skip training wheels altogether...we'll see. Oliver loves it and we've gone on several mile-plus walks with it.  This was this morning at the sandbox park.