March: A Blooming of activities and travel

 Every year this time of year, around St. Patrick's day, my pink flowering tree outside my family room window glows. This is my 8th year in this house, and by now, I know when and what to anticipate in my yard each spring. 

The spring season always brings me such comfort; it is my favorite time of year. Weather predictions suddenly change, and once forecasted rainy days become bright and sunny, foreshadowing what lies ahead: No where is better than Oregon in the summer, and the anticipation begins to grow with the budding flowers. 

What always amazes me is the sudden burst of spring during the week of Spring Break.We are suddenly surrounded by white, billowy flowers. 

March was a very busy month. 

It began with Evelyn's Patriotic Program at school. Like my spring time flowers, this is a much anticipated event at their school. The 3rd and  4th graders research a key historical person related to American history. 4th grade focuses on the Oregon expansion. They they write a speech, memorize it and and perform it for the school community. They also perform various patriotic songs and speeches as a class. 

It's a truly wonderful night of honoring our nation, God and the hard work and dedication of these students.

Because they were unable to perform last year due to Covid, this year was especially meaningful. 

Evelyn knocked it out of the park with her performance of Annie Oakley. 

GG bought that hat for her in Arizona. 

"Fifty Nifty, United States..the thirteen original colonies....."

                                                                                   🎵 🎶 

 The beginning of March also had Evelyn competing in the finals with her Battle of the Books quiz team, "Ladies of the Library." Thye won second prize and were thrilled. 

And of course, St. Patricks Day always includes shamrock shakes. This year we met up with one of the boys' friends from school. ☘️ 

John and I also got to get out of town just the two of us to Tennessee . We rented a car from Nashville and drove all over the state: Franklin, Chattanooga, Pigeon Forge, Gaitlinberg and Knoxville. 

I've never been and I've always wanted to go.  So many people are relocating there right now I just had to see what all the hype was about!

Downtown Nashville's Country Music wall of Fame

Gaitlinberg. 

It was nice to be away for a few days, but I am always anxious to get home. We were in the home stretch of the second term of school, and this year, we adventured during Spring Break.  Cheap tickets+dark, depressing, covid winter= South Carolina. Yes, we ventured ALLLL the way across the United States to the east coast. For some reason, we could fly all six of us from Seattle to Charleston for a very reasonable price when we booked them in November. 

The kids were excited. 

This would be the farthest away from home they had ever been. They were slightly terrified by the prospect of alligators and snakes. But I promised them that sunnier skies and palm trees were definitely more of a common sight. 

A  beautiful southern sunset welcomed us

The kids were fascinated by the palm trees and the hanging Spanish moss

 

And so, we spent the entire day, traveling from coast to coast, waking early to make the nearly 3 hour drive to Seattle to board our plane for the nearly 6 hour flight to Charleston; upon landing, we then lost three hours in the process. So, by the time we arrived, we picked up our rented mini van and it was time for dinner! We searched out the best BBQ place around Charleston before we began our 2 hour drive to Myrtle Beach. 

We landed on Swig and Swine, a cute, crowded BBQ place with picnic tables adorned with multiple bottles of homemade sauces. We opted for the "family platter," a mixture of all the smoked meats laid before us. 

Our first southern feast.

ps: we ate nearly all of it!

 

The first morning, we a woke at the bright hour of 11:30 am. Yes, almost noon, which would have been a total record for our family if not for the fact that we were still operating on west coast time. 

Evelyn was furious that we had wasted so much of our vacation morning sleeping it away.

Caleb, Levi and James just wanted to hop right into the hotel pool and not waste another second. 

And so, we spent that first day swimming and then exploring the Boardwalk at the Beach, which was one of the many commercial areas at Myrtle Beach. 

We walked around, dipping into various shops. 

The kids were immediately drawn to the bright displays of candy.

Yes, the store was called "I Scream Candy."

Evelyn did the zip line across a pond of koi fish. 

This girl was so confident as she ascended the staircase to the very top

In the evening, John and I surprised the kids with dinner at Medieval Times. We cheered on a battle between knights while we dined on medieval fare. 

Entering the 13th century....

 

It was a messy dinner eating chicken, potatoes and corn with only our hands.

Everyone was fascinated by the elegant horses and fearless knights and their weapons. 

Caleb was disturbed by the fact that he had to eat dinner with his hands and drink soup from a chalice. Nonetheless, it was a memorable first full day of vacation that ended on a really fun note. 

Our next day, Monday, had us wandering the beach in search of shark's teeth. I had read in a blog that there are hundreds of fossilized sharks teeth to be found on Myrtle Beach (makes you not want to venture into the water!)

It took awhile to know what we were looking for, but once we found one, our eyes stayed fixated on the sand and each discovery was pure elation. 

The sharks teeth were various sizes, but all black. The true gems were the ones with the gum line still intact. During our trip we found about 40. 

In the afternoon, we tried one (of the MANY) mini golf courses around Myrtle Beach. This one caught our eye due to the fact that it was elevated. John rightly guessed that the terraced levels were created from a defunct parking garage. It was a clever use of an old building, and the kids had a lot of fun/frustration/ competition.

There were even a few hole in one!

The evening brought a leisurely stroll down Myrtle Beach. I was quite surprised on how not crowded it was, considering it was spring break. Apparently, it was still the "off season" as the local spring break was not until April and the weather was quite cold for any sort of ocean swimming. 

These are the moments I will treasure in my heart forever

We dined at a cool, retro restaurant called River City Cafe. The whole place was adored in license plates from all over the U.S and signatures and messages handwritten on the walls. The kids loved the doodling paper  on the table and the unlimited access of salted shelled peanuts. 

The following day brought a transition in our week, as we packed up and drove 4 hours down the southern coast to Hilton Head Island. 

The ride was great. There was pretty scenery and we made a stop on the way to a naval base in Mt. Pleasant.

The ship was beautiful and the boys were totally fascinated. And if we didn't have a family of six to pay in admission fees, we would have toured it. 

 

The kids explored the cannons and guns instead, and it was a nice little pit stop. 

 

We made our way to Hilton Head and found a really nice park so the kids could run off some energy. 

They were intrigued and a bit alarmed by a sign they spotted.

Sure enough, there in the little river next to the park swam a small little gator. 

Evelyn ran away to the car in terror. 

The boys marveled. 

However, what Evelyn should have been running from was this bird right here. 

This crazy bird sat unafraid at the park as on lookers came close enough to pet it. 

 If it wasn't for it's long, syringe- like beak, it probably would have been cuddled because it was very cute and puppet-like. 

Intrigued, Evelyn sidled up close to it for a picture; in an instant, this bird lunged at her with its head, stabbing the air with its beak. Everyone around shrieked, and Evelyn ducked and dodged out of its way. 

That night we ate dinner at a cute little diner. James was very excited about his triple decker sandwich. 

Everyone was excited about the Moon Pie Sundae they split for dessert. 

One by one they petered, out. However, James never grows weary of dessert, especially ice cream, and he stayed in it until the very last drop. 

Wednesday we awoke to an ominous sky. Apparently there had been some severe storms below us in Lousiana and Texas, and they were now making their way towards us. The forecast showed rainy weather to come. 

However, we still ventured on with our plans of the dolphin tour we booked. This was the one thing I really wanted to do with the kids. We spotted a few dolphins in Myrtle Beach, and I was determined to see more. To me, they are magical. 

When we boarded the boat at 1:00, it was blustery. The water was a bit choppy. During our 90 minute excursion we spotted several fins and a few full bodies and tails emerged out of the water. 

At one point, the captain allowed the kids to come back and steer the ship. 

The minute we got off the boat, it began to downpour. We made it back to the car just in time.

However, we now had the rest of the day to fill. 

John found a family fun center not to far from the marina in a neighboring town called Bluffton. The nearly deserted building had a fun little ninja gym. We also spent an hour in the batting cages. It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. 

For dinner we ate at the "Salty Dog Cafe." Legend has it that Jake the sea dog, stayed above water for three days while his owner hung on to him for dear life after his boat sank in the ocean. Who knows if it's true, but if sure did make the kids miss Lucy!

Thursday we woke up to strong downpour. This was another transition day, as we packed up our things and moved on to our last stop, Charleston. 

John and I were very excited about this city. I had been here five years previously on a girls' trip with my family. John, however, had never been and was immediately charmed by the cobble stone streets and elegant southern mansions. The kids weren't thrilled about walking around in the rain, but we still made them. 

We saw the famous "rainbow row." 

ps: Evelyn took most of these pictures......

We bought tickets to 'The Charleston Exchange' a building completed in 1771. This included a fascinating tour, telling about this Charleston landmarks' history as a key place in many important events in South Carolina. Over the last two and a half centuries, the building has been a commercial exchange, custom house, post office, city hall, military headquarters and now a museum. 

The kids got through it, but it made me realize that this part was definitely for John and me and not so much the kids. 

Our ticket price also included admission to the slave trade blocks. The museum was an extremely powerful place, telling the story and history of slavery in early America. We walked through this somber place, and I whisper- read the stories on display to the kids. I had to explain the terms "branding" and "stocks" and " whipping belt." We saw pictures of how the African people were shipped over as cargo;  although the veil of their innocence was lift a bit that day, we felt it was important the kids understood this part of history too. 

We ended our day in Charleston with an early dinner at "Crust Pizza pub."

The cook brought out a free oyster appetizer to John and me.  When Evelyn immediately jumped at the chance to try one, the server ran over explaining they were cooked in Apsynth.  😂  

I have to say, they were pretty good. 

 The pizza was also great and there was basketball on the tvs, which captured these tired boys' interest right away.

By this time in our trip, everyone was tired. We headed back to our hotel early, and with nothing to do on a rainy Thursday night, we passed the hours until bedtime with basketball games on TV and bouncing on beds. John and I both felt it was time to head back home. 

Our Friday night flight felt like a long way off as we pushed though the day finding an activity that wasn't expensive (hard to do in a city with six people) or not too hot (the rain finally stopped and the southern heat produced....ta da, this thing called humidity.!!)

We ended up making the kids walk for two miles (mostly for John and me) and then we found a cool, new playground (thanks to the recommendation from the barista at the local coffee shop).

By 3:00, we were having lunch and heading to the airport to bid our South Carolina adventure farewell as we made the 6 hour flight back to Seattle, landing at 10:30 pm (west coast time....) and then getting on a shuttle to head out to the outer parking so John could drive home 2.5 hours to Portland. 

After a quick Taco Bell stop, we quickly heard nothing in the back seat. 

It was nearly 2 am by the time my rockstar husband pulled up safely into our driveway. We pulled sticky, tired kids out of the car and headed to bed.