• Introducing……the Newest Members of Our Family – “Shipwreck” & “Overboard”

    Our newest family members “Shipwreck” and “Overboard”

    When we first moved into our house (almost 10 years ago) we set up a fish tank and put in two red ear slider turtles.  One was called “Slider” and the other was named “Rigel”.  They lived for about 8 years each.  It has been almost 2 years since we have had little friends in that fish tank.  My neighbor had mentioned several times that I need to go by the Wednesday Pickens County Jockey Lot sometime.  I had a Wednesday off one cold and rainy day so I decided that it would be the day to check it out.  That’s when I found these two little guys, the only thing I bought that day.

    Karlie & Brina get to pick out 1 box to open…..they have to use their “reading” skills to chose the best option!

    When the girls came home from school we had two boxes on the kitchen floor one had the word “turtle” written on the top and the other one had the word “nothing”.  After their homework they had the opportunity to pick which box they wanted to open for their surprise.  They were able to sound out the words and decided to pick the one marked “turtle”.

    The girls decided to pick the box marked “turtle”, good choice kiddos!

    Peeking into the box to see what is in the box……followed by squeals of delight!

    “Shipwreck” and “Overboard” in their little tank

    When I brought the turtles home they were the size of a quarter.

    Trying to escape already

    The girls were excited to see the new family members.  It took us a couple weeks before we came up with their names but everyone agreed on “Shipwreck” and “Overboard”.  It has been quite entertaining to have these two little guys around.  They have a lot of personality and are constantly re-arranging their tank.

  • Travel & Vacation: Angel Oak Tree and other Family Adventures near Charleston, SC

    Canopy of trees on the way to the Angel Oak Tree

    The girls and I ventured out a little ways to check out the Angel Oak Tree while Jake was working in Charleston one day.  The picture above is the beautiful canopy of trees we saw on the bumpy country road that led to our amazing tree adventure that was recommended to us by my friend Janet.

    Facts about the Angel Oak Tree

    In case you cannot read the sheet above here are some of the details –  The Angel Oak Tree we visited is said to be between 300 to 400 years old, 65 feet tall, the circumference is 25.5 feet, area of shade 17,000 square feet and the largest limb is 11.25 feet in circumference and 89 feet long.  It is located on John’s Island near Charleston, SC.  Some people believe that the tree is over 1500 years old.

    Angel Oak Tree near Charleston, South Carolina

    The Angel Oak Tree is massive, it was really hard to get a picture that truly shows it’s size.  I took a few pictures from different angles but I couldn’t get the entire tree to fit in one picture.  It was simply amazing to see such a huge tree.

    Beautiful and huge Angel Oak Tree

    If you look closely you can see the supports helping hold up the limbs.  The girls and I were nearly speechless at the size of the tree.  We walked around it several times just in awe!

    Brina inspecting the large carrot we picked out at a local Farmer's Market

    We stopped at this really neat local Farmers Market store on our way back from the Angel Oak Tree adventure.  Their carrots were very BIG, the girls have never seen carrots that huge before (not sure I had either).  They must have had some great soil for carrots.  We picked out a large carrot and nibbled on it for a couple days (I didn’t think to weigh to but I am think it could have been over a pound).

    Great quote the girls and I discovered along our adventures

    The girls love traveling with Jake and I on road trips.  We are always on the look out for neat ideas or something interesting to share.  Of course one of the areas we frequently visited in our travels were a variety of restrooms.  Sometimes the girls were in dire need of a restroom by the time with found one.  The girls wanted me to read this sign in the Farmers Market restroom, we all had a good laugh at it as we reminisced together of some times just in the last few months we felt like a minute was a very long time as we waited on the other side of the door.

    Walking down one of the girls favorite piers.

    Some days the water is low and all the greenery is out of the water other days it is complete under water.  Love the little “sand” trail that you can see under the water.

    The guy fishing off the pier caught a little one!

    As we were walking down the pier we notice a guy fishing.  We asked if he had caught anything yet and he showed us his catch of the morning.  The girls thought it was such a cute little fish!  They were very excited for him.

    Daddy brought us a blue raspberry slushy.

    After a fun day at the park and pool Daddy brought his girls a blue raspberry slushy.  It was amazing!

    We had blue tongues after just a few minutes.

    The blue raspberry slushy made all of our tongues blue!  I think the girls drink more of the slushy based off their tongue color, ha!

    Cannon outside the hotel.

     The girls always hoped that our room was never in the line of fire.  Thankfully our room never faced the cannon.  The girls always loved looking at it!

    After dinner we took a little walk together and found a pond with turtles.

    I am not sure how long we watched these turtles but it was a lot of fun.  The girls were mesmerized by these cute little turtles.   According to the girl there was a whole family of turtles (we did see quite a few).

    Crashed on the pull out couch after a few minutes of chitchat about their "super fun" day

    We got back to the hotel, gave the girls baths and they spent a few minutes talking and giggling about their “super fun” day before crashing.  They were exhausted but in good spirits.  We really did pack a lot into one day!

    The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax.  Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away.  Explore with a good attitude, look for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories.  It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine.  Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn.  You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!