Oh dear

There is no denying that Ian is my sensitive child and Isabelle is a little more, well...tough, I guess. But, I had to laugh at a conversation that I overheard yesterday.

We had a couple friends over to play after school. All of the kids were upstairs playing with the buckets full of costumes and dress up stuff.

Here is how the conversation went:
Renna: Ian! Isabelle hit me with her pom-pom!
Ian: Isabelle is tough, man! I mean, you can punch her and she doesn't even cry!

This was followed by a short silence. I was sitting downstairs listening to this, horrified! But I also couldn't help but laugh just a little bit. I mean, really! How would he know how tough she was? It sounds like he just incriminated himself!

I did go up and clarify that we don't ever hit anyone! But I am still chuckling at the conversation! Oh, the things that come out of the mouths of children!!!

It's official...

He is big now!

Ian started the First Grade today! It is hard to believe! He had his backpack packed, his hair gelled perfectly, his new lunchbox was full and he was ready for his day!
Isabelle was excited about the day too. It means that we get a "girl day" at home.
By 7am we were loading in the car to head of to school! There is so much excitement at a school on the first day! We found his teacher and I said goodbye and gave him a big kiss! He didn't seem to mind too much that I kissed him in front of everyone...I will do it as long as I can!
His first day seemed to be a success. He likes his new teacher and got to make paper snowballs in art class. Eating lunch at school is pretty cool and he earned a sticker as a reward today. that is about as much as I could get out of him about his day before he was begging to go out and ride his bike! Sounds like a pretty cool day for a six year old!

Walking adventures

We took some time to walk around downtown Charleston with Uncle Ben and Miss Jamie. It was fun to explore some places that we hadn't seen or experienced before.

These trees are common throughout downtown. If you look carefully you can see that there isn't any bark on the tree. The tree twists as it grows and the bark falls off. I thought this one in particular was very pretty. This is an alleyway that runs behind one of the large churches. It is a beautiful, peaceful place to walk.
We took some time to enjoy the fountains at the waterfront.
You can walk under the water without getting wet (unless you splash like my kids and then you get soaked!)
Next was the pineapple fountain.

I think it is beautiful, but the kids didn't seem as excited about the water.
I thought this was a nice picture of the USS Yorktown and a sailboat.
During our walk, we encountered a fisherman that was willing to show us what he was doing. He pulled up his nets to show us what he had caught
Ian was excited to see the shrimp in the net

Then the man showed us the fish that his wife had just caught. The kids got to feel the scales and then watch as he was thrown back into the water. He wasn't large enough to keep.
Doesn't this ship look like a fun one to sail?
Next, we went down to this pier.
On the pier there are big "porch swings" that you can sit on and enjoy. It was a great end to our day and I can say that we ALL had a great time!

Humility

Today I took Isabelle to a trial class at The Little Gym to see how she liked it. To say that she enjoyed it would be the understatement of the century. For the entire hour that she was in class, there was a smile glued to her face. She was so proud of her accomplishments. Apparently, however, I wasn't fully aware of how proud she was until our drive home.

This is how our conversation went:

Mommy: What did you like the most today?

Isabelle: I liked it all, but I did really good on the balance bean. (I didn't misspell that, she calls it a bean instead of a beam)

Mommy: You DID do really well on the beam! You reminded me of the girls that we watched in the Olympics on television!

Isabelle: Yeah...but they fell off!

Fort Sumter

Our next adventure took us to Fort Sumter, where the first shots were fired at the begining of the Civil War. I have never been a huge history buff, but when you can actually stand in the places where the events took place, it seems to take on a whole new meaning.

We took a ferry boat out to the island.
This is the view of downtown Charleston as we rode out to Fort Sumter.
The kids with Uncle Ben and Miss Jamie.
A view of Fort Sumter.
Uncle Ben and Isabelle took a break during the tour. They are sitting in one of the openings that the cannons used to shoot out of.
Many of the interior walls are filled with oyster shells.

A view of the new bridge that was built while we lived in VA. It is North America's longest cable stay bridge.

Here is Ian, the professor, explaining the inner workings of a cannon to Isabelle.
A view up to the top of the Fort
Everyone enjoyed the tour.
A view of the brige with the USS Yorktown, an old air craft carrier used in World War II.

A tour in Charleston

We started our time in Charleston with a classic carriage tour! The kids weren't too excited about going, but they had a fine time! This is one of the many beautiful private gardens in front of a home.
And a traditional porch. We were told that the two staircases were meant to be a welcoming sign and that traditionally, ladies went up one side and men went up the other.

Ian and Isabelle played by themselves while we listened to the tour.
It is a crooked view, but a view nonetheless of one of the many church steeples in Charleston.
This is a painting on the side of one of the buildings. It used to be a hat store and if you look closely you will see that the whole picture is made of hats. You can't change anything that is 75 years or older downtown...so the hatman stays.
This is an old cobblestone road, affectionately referred to as "labor lane." Women ready to give birth were given a shot of whiskey and a free carriage ride down one of these streets to get things going...
Rainbow row??? One of the most publicized landmarks in Charleston is Rainbow Row. I think we found the real thing...but of course we couldn't see it fully because of the giant moving truck outside. Oh well...

A visit with Uncle Ben

I am aware that I have been behind on my blogging...

We have been a little busy this week with a visit from my brother, Benjamin and his girlfriend, Jamie. The kids have had a great time with them both.

The visit started off great when Uncle Ben started handing out surprises for each of the kids...way to win them over! Isabelle was so excited about her new ponies and her pony bag, while Ian was completely engrossed in legos and a whole bag of Transformers from when Uncle Ben was a kid!

We have spent a lot of time playing and watching the Olympics!!! The kids have actually had a great time learning about the olympics and rooting for Team USA!

I will spend the next few days telling you about all of our fun adventures from the past week! Enjoy!

A comfy spot

When we were looking at buying this house, one of the things that I loved was the balcony off of the master bedroom. It just has such a warm, comfy, relaxing feel. I never dreamt that the kids would love it as much as we did!

I had sent the kids upstairs for some reading time and when I went up to check on them, I couldn't find Isabelle. This is where I found her reading quietly. She told me later that it was a "cozy spot."

Future Super Model?

While we were waiting for David to come upstairs so that we could surprise him this weekend, Isabelle decided to make the most of her time alone with the camera. She kept saying, "Now like this, Mommy!"

So here you have her posing for the camera...what a ham!

Celebration

This weekend the kids and I worked on making some posters to celebrate Daddy's promotion. We blew up some balloons and surprised him when he came in from mowing the grass! They were so proud of their creations!

Congratulations!!!

Yesterday we found out that David was selected for promotion to Chief Petty Officer! This is a huge step in his career! Only 26 Sailors were selected Navy wide from his job rate. I know that may not make sense to a lot of you, but it just means that it was a very selective group this year!

David will now go through 6 weeks of induction before he gets to change his uniform and actually be called Chief. For now, he is called Chief Selectee.

Congratulations Baby! We are so proud of you! We know you have worked really hard for this and you deserve it! We are behind you all the way! Love you!