• Pottery Creations at Hearts of Clay

    P1150342c

    Karlie and Brina having fun at Hearts of Clay

    For the girls birthday they received a Hearts of Clay gift certificate so we did a “Girls Night Out” this summer.  We had a blast figuring out what they wanted to create, making the moldings, painting, chitchat, and having fun together.    It was neat watching them come up with and create their treasures.  One of the best parts was when the store worker told them that at the end of the session they can dump any of their remaining paint from their pallets onto the floor, they girls thought that was awesome!  They asked the worker several times to make sure she wasn’t just kidding….how often do kids get permission to spill paint onto the floor.

    P1150286c

    They both made plates – Brina made the flower one and Karlie the square one

    P1150297c

     Karlie made a miniature goat and named it Oreo!

    P1150293c

    Painting their pottery creations!

    P1150289c

     Brina having a grand time!

    P1150284c

     All smiles!

    P1150333c

     Karlie’s rocket, planet, and space plate!

    P1150327c

    Brina’s flower plate

    P1150328c

    With the extra clay leftover from their plates they made a black lab, Oreo the goat, a heart, cat, giraffe, and an egg!

    P1150326c

    At the end of their session they let the girls dump their remaining paint onto the carpeted floor!  They thought that was awesome!!!  Karlie’s ready to dump hers now!

    P1150319c

    Karlie emptying her pallet of paint onto the floor!

    P1150301c

    Brina putting her paint onto the floor!  So exciting!

    P1150310c

    Need to get all the paint onto the floor…..can’t forget to clean the brush off onto the floor too!

    It was a great evening out at Hearts of Clay!  Thankful for a nice evening with the girls.

     

  • Family Fun at Welcome Ranch!

    P1140874c

    Brina and Aunt Mirm swinging at Welcome Ranch

    We had the opportunity to spend an entire day with Jake’s sister Miriam and her family.  It was a fun day full of games, fun, good food, and we ended with a trip out to Welcome Ranch.  At Welcome Ranch we got to see a variety of farm animals, ride horses, go on a huge Radio Flyer Red Wagon, and have a pizza picnic at the ranch.  After all the fun at the ranch we wrapped it up with delicious ice cream at Bruster’s.  Thankful for some fun with extended family over the summer vacation.

    P1140891c

    They had a baby goat names Eloise who was quite entertaining to watch.

    P1140912c

     All the girls are ready to ride!

    P1140933c

     Noah taking a turn on the horse.

    P1140938c

     Karlie loving it!

    P1140966c

     Uncle Paul was hilarious!

    P1140971c

    Sweet Nadia had a blast and wasn’t even scared riding the big horse!

    P1140984c

     Jake having fun!

    P1140992c

     Noelle’s turn for a ride!

    P1140997c

     Aunt Mirm all smiles!

    P1150042c

    The kids in front of the giant red Radio Flyer wagon!  Awesome!

    P1150043c

    Our families at Welcome Ranch!  Grateful for some fun time together this summer!

  • Fun at the Zoo!

    Greenville Zoo and Window Art

    Watching “Joy” the elephant play

    We were able to squeeze in a fun trip to the Greenville Zoo with our cousins during summer vacation!  A big thanks to our sweet cousin who shared zoo passes with us!  Joy the elephant was playing with her tire while we were there.  It was the last week Joy was at Greenville Zoo.  A couple days later they were transporting her to a new zoo in Colorado.

    P1140572c

     Sweet girls!

    P1140579c

     Hanging out in the shade at the Giraffe exhibit.  There were 3 giraffes in the pen and the Momma is expecting another one any day now!  Great times with the cousins!

    P1140583c

     The turtles were very fascinating to watch!

    P1140589c

     A quick picture of the girls on the bear as we worked our way through the zoo!

    We spent the morning at the zoo then headed to Cleveland Park to eat a picnic lunch and play on the playgrounds.  It is always fun going on special trips with cousins.  Thankful for a fun time together with family!

  • Civil War Activity – Museum & Library of Confederate History

    P1120341c

    A picnic at the park with my girls before going to the museum!

    Recently I took the girls to the Museum and Library of Confederate History in a nearby town.  They have been studying in school various aspects of the Civil War and I thought it would be a good field trip to help them learn a little more regarding the history they are studying in school.  They had a grand time looking at all the cool items in the museum.  One of the workers took the time to go from room to room with the girls and explain in more detail many of the items on display.

    P1120385c

    Brina and Karlie at the Museum & Library of Confederate History

    P1120349c

    Touring the Museum & Library of Confederate History

    P1120352c

    Checking out the cool Civil War items

    P1120357c

    This toy cannon is similar to the one Thomas Jefferson’s son had as a child.  It was said that he attacked his toy soldiers with the cannon and occasionally a stray chicken.

    P1120368c

    Enjoying the museum

    P1120373c

    Karlie soaking it all in…

    P1120375c

    Brina enjoying her time at the museum exploring.

    P1120393c

    Karlie and Brina had fun learning more about the Civil War!

  • Greenville Gemstone Birthday Celebration

    Greenville Gemstone and Joes Crab Shack Birthday celebration

    Karlie very carefully picking out the perfect rock bucket to mine today!

    I picked the girls up a few minutes early from school on their birthday and took them on an adventure to downtown Greenville.  Our first stop was the Greenville Gemstone store.  A couple months ago the girls studied about various types of rocks for their Science unit so we thought this would be a fun and educational experience for them.  They LOVED mining the gemstones and finding all the cool treasures.  It was a great activity.  They had a blast identifying the various gemstones they found too.

    P1100828c

    Getting started on mining their rocks.  They were quite excited whenever they found a treasure!

    P1100829c

    Brina found a huge one and the bonus is it was amethyst which is their birthstone!  Cool find on her birthday!

    P1100832c

    Karlie was so excited and trying to do her mining task it was impossible to get her to look up for the camera.  She was having a blast finding all the neat stones!

    P1100833c

    Brina on the other hand stopped every time she found a treasure to show me.  This one was a beautiful green!  “Look Mom your favorite color!”

    P1100838c

    It was hilarious watching both of them!  Seeing their expressions and hearing them giggle.   Once they found a gemstone they would compare it to the charts that they were given to try and figure out what type of rock it was, there were moments of discussion if they couldn’t figure out which category it fell into.

    P1100840c

    Karlie pauses for a brief moment to show me some of her latest gemstone finds!

    P1100844c

    Brina carefully putting each rock into her bag so she doesn’t break any of them.

    P1100847c

    Karlie still hunting for treasures!

    P1100850C

    We were thrilled that they enjoyed this fun adventure.

    P1100852C

    The beautiful gemstones Karlie found during her mining experience!

    P1100856C

    All the neat gemstones Brina found while mining!

    P1100858c

    Proud of their cool gemstones.  They couldn’t wait to show Daddy their treasures while mining today!

     After we finished mining their gemstones we headed for a relaxing walk through downtown Greenville.  It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect birthday weather!  We made a brief stop in OP Taylor’s Toy Store to check out all their neat toys.  Talked with Grandma few a minutes on the phone then went to Mast General Store to pick out 5 pieces of candy out of the barrels.  They each picked out different candies and were very good about sharing them so everyone could taste the different candies they found like cow tails and cherry mash just to name a couple!

  • American Revolution – Cowpens Battlefield

    Cowpens Battlefield - American Revolution

    For the last few weeks we have been studying the American Revolution with the girls.  It has been a fun unit to study and they have learned a lot about our country and pieces of our history during this section.  As we were studying this unit I decided to check and see if there were any American Revolution  battle re-enactments in our area.  I found the Cowpens Battlefield was having its annual celebration this January in memory of the American Revolution battle that took place.

    We decided to surprise the girls and take them to the Cowpens Battlefield for the celebration weekend.  They were so excited, had a lot of fun, and they learned a lot of neat information about our country’s history.  We watched them shoot off cannons, muskets, calvary demonstrations, walked the battlefield while listening to historical information both on the American Patriot and British side, talked with various “characters” regarding their roles in the battle, listened to the army band, and much more.

    What a fun trip.  I even learned a lot on this adventure too!!!  Thankful for an opportunity to experience a piece of history first hand.

    P1060342c

    Guns blasting off, muskets and other rifles.  The men on the left are American Militia men and the ones on the right are the Scottish Highlanders that fought with the British during the American Revolution.

    P1060362c

    They fired two canons the “Grasshopper” (the girls favorite) and twelve pound Mountain “Howitzer” (it was called a 12 pound mountain Howitzer because it was the size of shell it could launch)!     The picture is of the bigger canon, the “Howitzer” firing.

    P1060368c

    The girls checking out the canons up close.  This one is the “Grasshopper” canon.

    P1060393c

    The calvary did demonstrations on horseback.  One of the girls favorite parts, mainly because they loved watching the horses!

    P1060396C

    Getting ready to run through the practice course.

    P1060407C

    The girls thought the kids that got to put on the cabbages for the soldiers to hit in practice were very lucky (guess it looked like a fun job)!

    P1060408C

    Demonstrating how a soldier would practice using cabbages.

    P1060422C

    They wanted a picture next to the horses after the discussion and demonstration.

    P1060458C

    After the walk through the battlefield where we learned key pieces of history both from the American Patriots and British Red Coats sides we got to meet some of the army’s band players.

    P1060471CC

    Brina with a big smile along our walk through the woods.

    P1060473C

    Karlie giggling as she peeks out from behind the tree on the trail.

    P1060479C

    Brina writing her name with a quill pen, a lot harder than she thought it would be.

    P1060481C

    Karlie writing with ink and a quill.  A little harder to control, but it was legible.

    P1060492c

    Plaque with the American leaders at the battle at Cowpens.

    P1060514c

    One of their favorite parts of the event, learning how to shoot a musket (complete with the instructions and commands soldiers would hear on the battlefield).

    P1060522c

    Listening to the soldier give commands.

    P1060549c

    Karlie putting her “powder” in her gun, Brina is already done loading her gun.

    P1060559c

    Checking to make sure their guns were ready (there was a specific command for this step too).

    P1060605c

    Waiting for the next order!

    It was a lot of fun watching them go through the steps.   It was almost an hour long drill and they got the steps down by the end!

  • Roper Mountain Science Center

    Holding a snake

    The girls always love going to Roper Mountain Science Center.  They have second Saturday themed events that are fun for the whole family with a lot of educational information.  The animals are always a great hit with our kids.  For more information about Roper Mountain Science Center, the upcoming second Saturday events, or activities please check out Roper Mountain Science Center’s website.

    What do you think she is holding?  If you guessed baby mouse you are correct!

    So soft!  Chinchilla!

    Karlie trying to play one of the games

    Brina and Karlie having fun!

  • Greenville Drive Baseball Game & Fireworks

    Greenville Drive Baseball Game

    The other night as we were talking about summer the girls brought up the Greenville Drive and how much fun they had going to the games.  There is just something about watching a game in person that makes it extra fun.  It’s a great family summer activity too. Plus, if you time it right on certain nights they do fireworks (that is always a big highlight for our kids)! 🙂

    We try to go to at least once (maybe more) to a Greenville Drive Baseball game each summer.    Also, the past two summers the girls have earned rewards for doing the summer reading program through the local library which includes free tickets to a Greenville Drive game.  Way to go girls!

    As I was thinking about our conversation I came across some pictures of our last Greenville Drive Game and thought it was a good time to share.  If your starting to think about summer break and planning some fun activities for your kids you should check into your local sports teams!  For those of you who live near Greenville, SC you can check out the Greenville Drive’s 2013 Schedule online.

    Brina and Karlie pausing for a brief moment from watching the game so I could snap a picture.

    Fireworks after the Greenville Drive game are always a hit!

  • The Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry

    Heading to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry

    While we were in Charleston over Spring Break we made a trip to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry.  We haven’t been there before so the girls were very excited.  We headed out first thing Wednesday morning to downtown Charleston so we could be there when it opened to go exploring. The girls had a blast playing in all the rooms from being creative in the art room to checking out all the nooks and crannies in the castle, splashing around in the water wise room, experimenting with golf balls using Newton’s Laws, steering the pirate ship, shopping for groceries, and all the neat games outside too.

    We had only been there for a little while and McCown Bridges came to welcome us as well as let us know about the upcoming events.   If you are in the Charleston area and want a fun place to take the kids you should check out the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry!  Here are some of the highlights of our trip to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry.

    Karlie having fun exploring the castle room!

    Brina and Karlie having fun

    Brina and Karlie at the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry

    What things happen in Spring?

    Walking the plank

    Brina steering the pirate ship

    Our little Karlie pirate!

    One of Karlie’s paintings. Both girls loved hanging out and doing several crafts & paintings in the art room

    Brina really liked the art room and the colored rice

  • Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry (Two for One Admission Coupon)

    Our family loves Charleston, South Carolina and we especially enjoy all the amazing family activities in the area.  Whether you live in the Charleston area or love to visit it one neat place explore with the kids is the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry.

    Nine interactive exhibits, including a two-story Medieval Castle, a pirate ship and a dedicated Art Room, allow your children to explore the arts, sciences and humanities through their own hands-on experiences. Weekly classes expose children to the arts, movement and foreign languages. 

    Regular admission: $10 per person over 12 months old, $8 for SC Residents, free for children under 12 months old.   The Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry and US Family Guide are giving my Readers Receive Two For One Admission to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry with this exclusive coupon!

    A special thanks to U.S. Family Guide and Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry for offering a special discount to my readers.  Any specific product information was provided by Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry and U.S. Family Guide, however, the opinions expressed in this post are our own.