A year in

So, we have been here a year.  I can't quite believe it.  I have spent most of this week looking through photos for our frames we got for Christmas, and rereading my blog.  Wow, what a lot we have done.

I was going to give a big old speech, but the more i think about it, I would have too much to say.  Instead, I have spent the past couple of nights putting together a little snapshot of out lives in the last 12 months.  I hope y'all enjoy whats below.  There are links below each picture relating to what is in the photo.

I am so proud of what we have achieved here this year.  I don't want to brag, I just want everyone to enjoy what we have done.  I have fun writing this blog, even if it does seem like a chore at times...

Happy reading, and I look forward to you all keeping up with us in our upcoming adventures:

NASCAR race

Trip back to the UK

Many birthdays

France next summer......

And plenty more in between

Free photo collage made with Smilebox

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NOTE ABOUT THE PHOTO COLLAGES

I originally began collaging these photos on my iPad, using my last 1000 photos.  That took me back to Florida (can you believe we have taken 5000+ photos in the last year?  the joys of iPhones).  I used Smilebox to collage them.  When I downloaded the same app to the Mac, it was a pain in the a**e to use, quite a hassle, though the choice is better.  I just hope the slide show thingy-me-bobbies come out ok.

Oh, and I am becoming a bit intrigued as to who actually reads my blog.  When I see my friends and ask them if they have, they normally have not!  I don't mind that.  At the end of the day, I do this for my own sanity as much as anyone else's.  I am just intrigues, thats all.....

So if you are reading this, please comment/message on the source you found it, being Facebook, Twitter, Expat Blogs, BlogExpat,  Pinterest, Google and anywhere else that shares this blog.  Will help me to market it in the future.....

A year of blogs

I can't believe I started this blog a year ago today.  Man, a lot has happened.

Having this blog has been very good for me.  In the beginning, when no one knew about it, I was able to put down what was happening in our lives, and speculate on what was going to happen.  It enabled me to unburden myself, without jinxing our upcoming adventure.  As our plans began to evolve, and we began to make it known to people that our lives were in for a huge upheaval, it enabled those close to us to know what was going on.

Once we had done our 'look and see', we had a mad month in which we basically sold and gave away a big chunk of our possessions, said our goodbyes, to friends first, and then family.

Then it was time to begin our biggest adventure as a family to date.  The boys have both started schools, and settled in now.  They have just finished their first year here, Oliver finished 1st grade, and Isaac completed his first year in a Montessori school.  I am exceptionally grateful to Paul's company for giving our boys these opportunities, ones we would never have been able to afford in the UK. Paul has been in his new job role for 9 months, and has had plenty of opportunity to travel, the furthest being to Duluth in Minnesota, then driving back to South Carolina via Wisconsin, Illinois (stopping in Chicago), Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee then back here.  He has also spent a lot of time at Talladega Motor Speedway, and Carolina Motor Speedway.

We are exceptionally lucky to have travelled a fair bit since being here.  Obviously we have checked out places locally, but we have managed to go further afield.  We took a trip for my birthday to the Great Smokey Mountains in Tennessee.  We were lucky enough to take a trip to Tybee Island in Georgia when my mum came over at Easter.  We then headed to McClellanville with some friends at the end of last month.  Again another good trip.

This blog has been a learning experience.  It started out very basic, but I feel it is gradually coming along.  I have changed the layout a bit at times, and recently added labels.  Just before Christmas, I started using Pintrest.  Thanks to this site, my most viewed post is this!  I have recently posted my blog to a couple of expat blogs, on the recommendation of a friend who has been an expat in France.  You can find the sites I am on here  and here, but I must remember to go in and add their links to this blog..... I still have to get my head round how sharing blogs works, but I will find it out in due course me thinks.

For now I want to say thank you for reading this blog, it is a pleasure to write, albeit a little after the fact sometimes.  Often living life gets in the way of writing about life, and there is nothing I want to do about it.

Mums here

So much to say....

I got my mum from the airport.  That was a mad dash.  After running around picking boys up from school, and having lunch I jumped in the car as quick as I could.  A flight tracker app had alerted me to the fact her plane was going to be in an hour early!!! And it was.  She was there waiting for me at Charlotte airport.  It was so good to see her.  We drove home, to some very happy boys.

Paul had managed to get a car from work that had seven seats in it.  So the next day we all set off for Tybee Island.  I had managed to get a last minute booking on a house which turned out to be in a prime locate.  Right near a broad walk that took us directly onto the beach, and a 15 minute walk from the downtown area.  We were also just over the road from the supermarket.  We got some pizza, chips and garlic bread for dinner, and the essentials (beer).  We had a walk on the beach, which was lovely, then went home for some dinner.

The next morning dawned beautifully.  The boys did not wake too early, hurrah. We had a leisurely breakfast, and decided to go for a drive and explore the island.  It is a small place, full of really cool houses.  The downtown area is small, but full of bars and restaurants.  We drove to the north of the island and stopped at the lighthouse.  We got out of the car and took a little walk around the fort, then headed on to the beach.  This beach was beautiful, in fact they all are.  Paul spotted something in the water.  There was a couple of dolphins swimming along the shore line.  Amazing, as were the pelicans, so big, yet so graceful.  We took a drive back to the house, dropped the car off, and headed to downtown for some lunch.  Fannies on the Beach was a really nice eatery, with plenty of families eating downstairs.  We all enjoyed our lunch, and the cocktails.  In fact we ordered extra for the road.  We headed down the pier so the boys could see people fishing.  It was very picturesque, and the beach was pretty busy.  It was Easter weekend and spring break, the sun was shining, but there was a bit of a nippy wind.  Paul headed into one of the beachside shops to get some beach equipment, an umbrella was essential.  We got the boys back to the house and changed into their beach gear, and headed on down there.  The boys had a great time playing with their beach toys.  Oliver and Seb even went in the water.  It was too cold for Isaac.  The wind started to pick up, so we went back to the house, where the boys had a light dinner.  We packed them off to bed a little later than usual, and headed out for an evening on Tybee.   That was interesting...............  Lots of cocktails consumed, a couple of games of pool, some strange people, a pirate.  The whole place really felt like it was buzzing.   I can probably compare it to a night in a UK seaside town, but a little warmer, with cocktails.

Our heads were pretty sore the next day.  We took it easy in the morning, then headed to The Crab Shack for lunch.  I decided (in my stupid hungover state) to try a seafood platter, Paul went for ribs and mum had a shrimp sandwich.  I will not go into too much detail, but it was a disaster.  I don't like crab, or very much seafood it would appear.  It doesn't like me much either.  By the time we left, just looking at the plate of food was making me want to hurl.  One good thing about this place, it has lots of alligators (all captive) right next to it.  The boys loved it.  From there we headed to Fort Pulaski.  This place was awesome, the boys really enjoyed walking around it, and we enjoyed learning the history.  We even got to see a musket being fired.  I thought the boys would freak out, but they were really good with the noise (did help we were covering their ears).  We stayed in for dinner and had yet more pizza, sad in the fact the next day we would have to head home.

What didn't help was the fact we were all coming down with something.  Isaac and Paul both had colds, and Oliver appeared to be getting one too.  We drove back home on the Monday, and arrived back mid afternoon.  We took it fairly easy on tuesday, just a trip to the local garden centre.  Isaac has been on spring break this week, and him and Seb have been loving having nanny to play with.  Sure beats boring old mummy!!!!

To be honest, I have been quite ill this week, so we have been taking it easy.  I took my mum to Paris Mountain State Park, which was nice, and we have been out for a meal.  But I have been feeling sooooo rubbish.  Seb also has a streaming nose too.  We are all generally under the weather.  It has been a blessing having mum here, she has helped out loads.  The weather has been improving a lot, so we had a BBQ yesterday.  I have also done loads of planting, any excuse to be out in the garden.

We did make it into Greenville today.  We went for lunch at the Carolina Alehouse.  A little earlier than usual, but we could not get over how quiet it was.  We were the only ones sitting out the front for the whole time we are there.  Never seen that before.  Then we walked over the bridge, and back down the Reedy River, to show mum some sights.  It was a lovely relaxing day.

Isaac goes back to school tomorrow, Oliver has his first baseball game on tuesday, Paul goes away on tuesday, and mum goes home thursday......


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You can fiind the link to the photos from Tybee on Facebook (if you have not already seen them!!!)

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We did make it out to eat one evening too.  In case you didn't know, I also do a foodie type blog with restaurant reviews/recipes here