Fun Times in Charleston

Sophie at Folly Beach

Sophie's happy-Abbie not so much!

the girls playing in the fountains

Sophie digs in to some chocolate ice cream

On Saturday, we made it to Charleston. It's a LONG road trip and Abbie hardly slept at all. Then, that afternoon, we settled in to stay with some of our friends and Abbie wouldn't settle down and take a nap there either. We decided to head to Folly Beach and she was so tired. She HATED the beach. (It was Abbie's first time at the beach.) Sophie loved it and I kept having to try to console Abbie. It was sunny but a little windy. She didn't appreciate the cold ocean water but didn't mind the sand too much. I think if she hadn't been so tired and could have gotten used to the cold water, she would have been OK. Every few minutes, she would start crying again. Then, after about 45 minutes, I was trying to get Abbie a snack when a big wave came in so that all of our stuff was WET. I told Matt it was time to go. Sophie really enjoyed the beach but NOT Abbie. Maybe her next experience will be better.

Two days later, we took the girls to one of our favorite places-Splash Zone, the water park that we used to visit frequently when we were in Charleston. I wish that we had something comparable to it here. Well, Abbie HATED it too for the first 45 minutes. Then, Matt helped her get used to the water and she was fine with it. It's a great place for little kids with all of the spray play areas, fountains, lazy river, big pools, shallow wading areas, slides, etc. Overall, it was a lot of fun and it didn't rain on us that day.

While in Charleston, we also briefly took the girls downtown, saw some of our old friends and got together, went to one of the parks, took the girls by the Angel Oak Tree, and checked on our house. Overall, we had a good trip. We'll have to go back when the girls are older. There's so much fun stuff to do in Charleston that you just can't fit it all in. On this trip, Abbie visited 2 new states-South Carolina and Georgia. =)

By the way, we are going to put our house in Charleston up for sale. Please pray that it sells.

The Riverbanks Zoo

Abbie & Matt with the flamingoes

Sophie wanted to "take pictures" with her play cell phone as she saw others doing.

the elephants

me & the girls on a lion statue

For Memorial Day weekend, we headed southeast to Charleston, SC so that we could have a fun vacation. We also needed to check on our house that we are currently renting. We left on Friday and spent the night in Columbia, SC. Since we were so close to the zoo and we could get in free with our Nashville Zoo membership, we decided to go to the zoo for a little bit before heading on to Charleston. Sophie's favorite exhibit was the penguins. She enjoyed "snapping pictures" with her play cell phone. This was pretty funny! We also enjoyed seeing the lions, flamingoes, lots of monkeys, a grizzly bear, giraffes, and many other animals. The girls did great riding in a double stroller. We decided that we'll have to remember that for our Disney trip in the fall.

Goodbye Charleston, Hello Nashville

On Friday, July 27, we packed up a moving truck (with the help of movers). As moves typically go, there were a few hitches and they ran late, etc. so we didn't pull away until about 9:30 that night. We had already planned to get down the road a little ways and stop at a hotel. By the time we stopped at a hotel, it was pretty late. Then, the next day, we drove about 12-13 hours (ugh!) with Matt and his dad trading off driving our 26' Penske truck and Paula and Matt's mom trading off driving our mini-van and entertaining Sophie. Needless to say, it was a very long trip! What usually takes 9 hours or so to drive, took 15. There was a lot of construction, a wreck, lane closures, etc but we made it. We were all so exhausted. We got to Nashville on Saturday night. Matt, Paula & Sophie stayed at Paula's parents' house while Matt's parents stayed in a hotel. We closed on our house on Monday morning and moved in afterwards.

Before our move, Teresa, Matt's mom, came and helped us prepare to move and then stayed for about a week after the move to help unpack boxes. What a huge help that was!! His dad came down for the move and helped Matt drive the truck. Paula's dad was a big help in finding our house, getting movers, moving, etc. Paula's mom helped with unpacking boxes and with babysitting Sophie. We are lucky to have such wonderful parents!

Anyways, I've probably bored everyone to tears with his entry. Sorry!

Overall, we are really excited about being back in the Nashville and close to so much of Paula's family and Matt's extended family. We will enjoy having free babysitters. =) We are also happy to be close to so many of our friends again! However, we had grown to love Charleston with it's beautiful beaches, wonderful historic places to visit and a very nice downtown to explore. We will have to go back and visit when we can. It's a very charming city and we grew to love many of the people there too! I left with a bit of nostalgia.

Fire Marshall Sophie

There is a new fire museum in North Charleston, and Matt took Sophie to the grand opening today. There were a few antique fire trucks there for the day on display that Sophie climbed up and pretended to drive. Sophie was so excited to see all the steam wagons, fire trucks, and firemen. She kept looking for her Great-Uncle Mike, who she got to visit earlier this month at the fire hall in Nashville where he is the fire captain. Sophie really is fascinated with trucks, buses, planes, and other large machines.

Outdoor Fun

Our family returned home from Nashville on Monday after Easter. On Wednesday afternoon, Matt's parents rolled into Charleston for a visit during Matt's mom's Spring Break.

Sophie gets ready to help Mimi and Paw Paw Tom do some heavy duty yard work while they are visiting.

Sophie takes gardening very seriously and she doesn't stay clean doing it either. Here, as you can see she's very wet from watering herself as she waters the plants. Later, she's covered in dirt as well and loving every minute of it. This was Sophie's first experience with planting flowers. Our yard looks much better thanks to everyone's help-especially Paw Paw Tom and Mimi's.

On Saturday, we all visited the Middleton Place plantation and walked around the gardens and visited the farm animals. Everything was so beautiful! Sophie really enjoyed seeing all of the animals!
A monumental occasion occured at our house this week-Sophie used the potty for the 1st time. Yay, Sophie! It's just the beginning but it's still exciting. She gets a couple of M & M's when she's successful.

Chez Sophie

Sophie enjoys going grocery shopping with her little grocery cart. She got this cute little outfit for Christmas from Nana and Paw Paw Waggoner. Part of the reason it's taken us so long to post is that after we got over the stomach bug, Paula came down with a really bad cold and an ear infection. Matt & Sophie have also had little colds. For President's Day weekend, Mimi and Paw Paw Tom (her Vergne grandparents), came down to visit. We had a great time visiting with them. Sophie received a special gift for Valentine's Day, a Dora play kitchen. She loves it! Santa Claus had a little problem finding one in time for Christmas because the elves did not make enough of these kitchens and ship them out around the world.

Here's Chez Sophie washing dishes after cooking up food for everyone. She enjoys cooking in her kitchen and dancing to the little radio (which is hilarious)! =) Below, Sophie is playing with Ashlyn, a friend from church, who came over to play this week.

While Mimi and Paw Paw Tom were in town, we visited the Charleston Tea Plantation. It is the only tea plantation still in operation in the United States. We also went to the Wildlife Expo downtown one day where many different types of animals were on display. Sophie enjoyed seeing all kinds of animals such as camels, cows, goats, birds, etc.

Fort Sumter

On January 2nd, Matt had a day off of work as a day of remembrance for President Ford's funeral. We used the opportunity to visit Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. The shots that were fired on Ft. Sumter to begin the Civil War were fired from Ft. Johnson, which was on the of the campus where Matt works. We realized on the boat ride to Ft. Sumter that it was Sophie's first boat ride. She took the cruise in stride as she ate her lunch as we sailed past the beautiful homes on the harbor. Once we arrived at Ft. Sumter, Sophie ran around and explored. She was fascinated with the canon. In all it was a great lesson in US history for Sophie.