South Carolina
This shall be picture-heavy and text-light – but here’s some pix of our week in South Carolina with my in laws.
It’s about a 10 hour drive including stops, which ain’t no small feat. We left a little late, and got there too late for swimming, but the boys were up and at ’em first thing in the morning to head to the pool.
On Monday, I went to visit a local friend who had just had twin boys. I spent the day with another friend – I see neither of them often enough, and it was a really great day. The twins are doing great – born early, they’re home already. While I was visiting the hospital, the boys went on a trip on the bus to get some school clothes.
The next day, we took a nice long walk along the levee. A nice long HOT walk.
That evening, we headed to Greenville to watch the Drive play (minor league baseball). They have a free trolley from a giant parking lot to the stadium, and the boys were first on the trolley and got to take the whole backseat.
Our seats were great. The kids all sat together, and the moms went up and waited in a very long line to get hot dogs and waters and beer.
It quickly clouded over, and the kids spent much of the night watching the sky and waiting for rain.
. . . . which finally came, in sheets.
It cleared up enough that the game could finish, and the fireworks planned for afterwards were able to go off without a hitch. We all watched, drenched.
When we got home, the lights had gone out, so we lit candles and chatted a while, til they eventually came back on.
Next morning was Fourth of July – more swimming, walking around to see friends, and just enjoying the lovely day.
The Prof’s grandmother came and spent the day with us, which was lovely. We made ice cream with a hand crank ice cream maker, and enjoyed delicious BBQ and pie.
The next day (I think? It’s been too long to keep track, I should really do these things contemporaneously), we went on a walk down the street to get Wendy’s for lunch.
Then it was back home, for – you guessed it – more swimming.
The following day, the Prof headed out for lunch with his friends, and my SIL and I took her littlest to ballet and then all the kids to lunch at a great Mexican place. It was SO MUCH CHEAPER than New Orleans. I mean obviously cost of living is different in different places but I am so used to paying $16 for an enchilada – it was refreshing to pay just $6.
WE then had to spend the rest of the day at my SIL’s house nearby, while my parents-in-law prepared their home for a celebration of the Prof’s getting tenure this year. They invited his friends and theirs, and the house was full of a lot of the same people who came to our engagement party in 2006. At the same house! It was a very special night.
My parents drove over from their home, quite a distance, so they could attend. They stayed the night in a hotel nearby and came back over in the morning to spend a little time with the boys.
My nieces had to head home that day, as they were hosting friends for the weekend, but we stayed the rest of the day so that we could pack and relax. Then it was off home on Sunday, back to NOLA and work and camps and life!
