Thing I will miss about South Carolina

I have been meaning to do this post for a while.  Given we are 2 weeks away from the house getting packed, this would seem like a good time.

This is a list of things I am going to miss.  Some of them are relevant to just this area or state, and some are relevant to the whole country.  Some are just for me, and some are as a family.

Some will be couple of words, others will be paragraphs.  As we conclude our lives here, this list will be added to.  It is also something for me to look back on fondly (hopefully).

So in no particular order.......

1.   The weather.  It is going to be over 90 degrees this weekend.  Winter lasts about 3 months tops.  Snow dissipates quickly.  The kids live in shorts from March- November.  But it does get too hot.  But I don't mind.

2.  The mountains.  I have never really lived near mountains before.  As you drive up the interstate 385 from Simpsonville into Greenville, just after the mall turning, you get an awesome view of the mountains. 

                                     

    

You can also see them from other places around Simpsonville. Although we don't utilize them much, I shall miss having them near.

3.  The Y.  The gym.  We have had a family membership since the end of 2014.  Should have got one sooner.  I love taking Zumba, Cardio Dance Blast and TRX at the gym. The 2 younger ones had swimming lessons there. Oliver honed his basketball kills. They all love running the indoor track.  I love it, and shall miss it terribly.

4.  My Zumba family.  The Zumba instructor network in this area is awesome.  From the instructors at the Y to the Free community Zumba at the Kroc Centre, to the various churches and individual studios that host Zumba classes.  I have met a LOT of Zumba instructors.  And everyone is so nice!!! I am so glad I got my Zumba licences here, under Loretta Bates, Ali Ramirez and Renee Pickett.  They are brilliant ZES, and have taught me well.  I have even taught my first class here, subbing for a friend.  I love my Zumba buddies!

5.  The craft stores..... Micheals, Jo-Ann Fabric, A.C. Moore and Panda's Crossing.  My introduction to crafting then beading has been in large parts thanks to these stores.  I will particularly miss Panda's Crossing, and the lovely ladies who host the classes.

6.  The wild life.  Turkey vultures, blue tailed skinks, even the snakes....  

7.  The coast.  Ok, we are a good 3 hours from the coast, and are hoping to move nearer the coast in the UK.  But the east coast here is wonderful.  Dolphins, sea turtles, fish.  We love it.  

8.  The darn convenience of the restrooms.  Every store has a restroom for public use.  Every park and outside area has at least one toilet block.  Exceptionally good when you have small children.

9.  Eating out.  We eat out.  A lot.  we look for kids set free / cheap, and use these as much as possible.  I shall miss the variety, and the (generally) good service.

Road trip South - Key West

We made a big effort to be on the road early from Miami.  We hit a bit of traffic, but not too much.  We had to drive back through homestead again.  It was fun seeing all the race paraphernalia, and remembering it from the previous day. 

The road down to Key West is long.  Like 120 miles long.  Admittedly, The scenery is stunning.  We got a beautifully clear day to drive down.  We were unsure what to do for lunch.  We had plenty of snacks in the car.  The majority of the islands that are not occupied on the keys are designated a marine protected area, so there are plenty of state parks.  Instead of stopping at a restaurant or for fast food, we decided to stop at one of these,  Curry Hammock state park.  Best $8 we have spent on lunch while on the road. The view was beautiful.  There was a few other people around, but not many.  

After lunch we went for a little walk along the beach.  The kids played in the park too.  It was very warm.

We probably stopped for about an hour in total.  A great way to break up the drive.  It is so stunningly beautiful in the keys.

And hardly anything there.  The people that do live there are very on top of each other, as we found out.  I had booked the hotel ages ago.  The Southernmost Beach Resort is exactly as the name says, the southern most resort in the whole of the continental USA.  Given the size of our family, and our budget, we were limited by hotel room choices.  We were pretty pleased with what we had though.  This was the view from our balcony

We went out for dinner that night.  The hotel sat at the south of Duval Street.  This is basically the party street of Key West.  We found a pub type place for some food.  Key west is not the most kid friendly place..... We enjoyed it all the same!  

The hotel did not include breakfast, though they were adjoined to the Southern Most cafe.  This is where we ate breakfast every morning.  The breakfasts were very good.  Most mornings after breakfast we would go for a walk around the grounds of the resort before most people were up and about. They had plenty of hammock's around, which the kids loved.

They also had a bar area with a fooseball table.  The boys discovered this the first morning, and absolutely loved it.

Our first full day we had a glass bottomed boat ride to the coral reefs booked.  Unfortunately it was too windy, so it got cancelled.  We spent the day on the beach drinking cocktails and playing with the kids.  We went out for dinner that night to a nice ace we had spotted the evening before.  The good restaurants all had set times for meals, like 12-2 lunch and 6-10 dinner.  A little old fashioned, and certainly not the convenience of the rest of America......

Road trip south - Miami

The drive from Cocoa Beach to Miami took just over 4 hours.  It was a Saturday, and the nearer we got to Miami, the more crazy the traffic was.  I was glad I drove first, so paul handled the Miami traffic.

I have been to Miami before, back in 1998, when I was 16.  I can remember most of that trip, it was my first time in America, and everything was amazing and awe inspiring.  In that respect, Miami has not changed.  We drove to South Beach first.  We parked up and headed for the beach.  What an affluent area.  

Typically the boys wanted to go in the sea, even though it was freezing.  So they got their stuff on.  Daddy had to go with them.  To be honest, this was really not a very nice beach.  It seemed dirty, the tide was rough, and there were more asses on display than at a donkey farm.  

The weather started to turn a little grey and windy, so we headed back to the car, very unimpressed.  Fortunately the hotel we had booked was in Coconut Grove, a suburb south of the craziness of Miami. Driving there was an experience: high rise buildings, people everywhere, and the general madness of a city.  Reminded me why I didn't like them.

As we drove into Coconut Grove, we breathed a little sigh of relief.  Yes, there were still high rises, but all the crazy people had gone. Granted it was raining.......

We took a little drive around before checking into our hotel.  What a delightful, artistic, eclectic area.  A real breath of fresh air.  However, not overly kid friendly......  We ended up eating dinner at a local sports bar, early.  They were more than accommodating, and it was almost relaxing

We had booked into a suite hotel, so the boys took the 2 rooms, and we slept on the sofa.  It wasn't a great night sleep, but us all not being in the same room was nice......  We awoke the next morning, and went for a good breakfast, before going for a walk to the local marina.  We walked past the Ritz-Carlton on the way.....

There were some nice boats here.  Absolutely stunning on a Sunday morning.

There was a park of sorts, so the boys had fun playing and climbing.  

We headed back to the hotel as the boys wanted to take a dip in the pool.  It was freezing.  Our hotel was full of NASCAR supporters.  I sat by the side of the pool watching them all depart for the race at Homestread, before deciding we needed to get a wriggle on to the track too.....

Fall break at Edisto Beach

We booked this trip in the summer after we got back from Anna Marie Island.  It was the time of school for Oliver and Isaac that was fall break.  Due to Isaac changing schools, however, it was no longer his fall break, and we had to pull him out of school for 3 days.  They were informed of this holiday before he started, so the repercussions of unauthorized absences have not been too great so far....

We picked the boys up on friday, Isaac at lunchtime, and Oliver at school finish, which was a half day.  Seb was already off.  We hit the road quickly, stoping in Orangeburg for a Bo Jangles.

As we got nearer the coast, the rain started getting heavier and heavier.  The meteorologists had already predicted that hurricane Joaquin wasn't going to hit us, but the state of South Carolina was in for a 1 in a 1000 year rain event which was going to affect the whole state.

But we went to the beach anyway! The rivers in the low country were looking a little high already.

We made it to Edisto Island safely.  The topography is not dissimilar to Kiawah Island, it is only about 30 miles down the coast from there.  But Edisto is public, and has no hotels.  It has a few apartment complexes, and only about 6 restaurants.  It is very family orientated. 

In the background you can see our house.  This is the first time we have stayed in a single family home, on the beach.  It is typical beach style, with the living area in the middle, and the bedrooms off to either side.  It has 4 bedrooms, so the boys decided they would all have their own rooms.  

We settled in for the night.  I had packed enough food and beer, so we should not have to go out on the saturday.  Good job too.  The Friday night, the thunderstorms were so loud, as was the sea. Seb was in and out of our bed.  We didn't sleep particularly well, it was very warm, and the air con in the house was not very good!  I got up with the boys at 6.30 on the saturday morning, to watch the rain and the sea.  It was ferocious! 

But it was not cold.  We stayed in the house most of the day on the saturday.  High tide was at lunch time, and there were flood warnings galore across the whole state.

To say the tide got high would be an understatement.  We all had fun splashing in it though.  The water was warm! 

It didn't take long for the tide to come up under the house.  It ran all the way through to the road.  Judging by the shells around the front of the house, this was a regular occurrence. 

The kids loved it though, and we felt pretty safe.  Later that afternoon, once the rain had stopped, we took a little walk down the beach, in the direction the tide came from.  The debris was scary.  A house had lost all of its decking, and some of its foundations.  Another had a huge slab of concrete slammed into their stairs.  Scary stuff. 

After the initial rains on the saturday, it rained on and off all day sunday.

Didn't stop the boys though.  They had great fun playing in the surf, hunting for shells and sharks teeth.

We even found a star fish! First time seeing one of these on the beach.  We weren't sure if it was dead or alive, so left it where it was. 

Most of the time the water was warmer than the air 

This was always going to be a relaxing break.  We really didn't do much other than sit around, play, read books, play, drink beer.  We went out for lunch a couple of times which was nice.

On the Monday afternoon, the sun actually came out! Then  it was warm.  Like, really warm!!!  The boys went for a final play in the sea.  Edisto is an amazingly beautiful place.  We got talking to the guy staying in the house next to ours.  They had been going to Edisto from Kentucky for the last 25 years!  They love it so much

He was a real beachcomber, and knew exactly what he was looking for.  He gave the boys a couple of sharks teeth, and found this one morning, and left it on the step.

It is a horseshoe crab.  We have only ever seen these in aquariums, though they are prolific along the Atlantic coast.  Once we had seen this one, we spotted a few others too. Think the hurricane out at sea may haves killed a few off. 

All in, we had an excellent time in Edisto.  But we had to contemplate getting home.  The severe rain and flooding had closed down a lot of the roads across the midlands and low country of SC.  We were fortunate.  We were only diverted off the interstate once.  But this is what the road closures around Columbia looked like the day we drove home.

Sheer devastation.  They are only now starting to open up some of the roads.  The National Guards have been around Columbia for the last week, and will be there for a while longer still.  Charleston also flooded, but they are better equipped to handle it, as it happens more often.  With Columbia, there is no where for the water to go.  There is also run off form the mountains affecting them.  A lot of the water is now making its way down into the low country.  There are still a lot of flood plains there, but a lot of people live near those flood plains.  A lot of people still don't have any ruining clean water.  This rain event really did affect South Carolina, but the state has come together and helped each other out, which has been  awesome to see. 

Last few days on Anna Marie Island

We enjoyed our last couple of days on Anna Marie Island.  We went out for dinner at the Sandbar, and had a few too many cocktails.  The kids loved walking home on the beach

I think this holiday really did show that we are beach people.  Well, just holiday people.  We certainly work to live, and not live to work.  We loved the beach here, it was so beautiful, and the water was always warm.

The kids got really into swimming in the pool.  I am so pleased that they can now all swim without any type of flotation device.  Granted, Isaac swims best when he is snorkeling, and Sebastian does a bobbing type of swim, but thats cos he loves being under water.

After last years crazy holiday, and the trips to the UK that followed it, it was nice to go and relax as a family.  I loved being able to spend time with my husband and my boys.  We have built such a close family unit.  Yes, we have our issues, but who doesn't?  We are learning to work together as a team, and are constantly refining our techniques and strategies of dealing with the boys.  As they grow, we learn......

See, water babies!

OF course, we had to get some souvenirs. I was advised by a girl in the bakery to head up to Holmes Beach area, as there is a huge shop that sold every kind of souvenir you could wish for.  She wasn't wrong.  The kids loved these delightful pirates out the front.

And then, we had to leave.  No one wanted to go home.  We left on a saturday, and managed to be out the door by 7.30am.  We should probably have left earlier.  We hit dreadful weather around Tampa, with a massive thunderstorm, where we had to drive at 35 mph.  We then got stuck in traffic on I75 due to the Interstate being closed.  A man shot at a highway patrol officer who had stopped to assist a disabled vehicle (more details here).  We ended up being stuck on the interstate for about 3 hours, barely moving.  We even had to pull over and do the wee at the side of the road thing for the boys.  We eventually reached an area where we could do a U-turn through the median.  Once we were off the interstate, all the roads in the area were choca-block, due to it closure.  Absolute nightmare! 

But we did see a cool Army convoy.  

All in, it took us about 14 hours to get home.  Given how long we were stuck on the Interstate, and the fact we stopped for lunch and dinner, this was not too bad.  

We are absolutely in love with Florida.  It is still fairly wild, yet touristy enough to cater for what we want. Anna Marie Island, and Tampa area in general are heavenly.  I would quite like to go back there, possibly while we are still living here, or I would be more than happy to make that flight from the UK.....

Better weather = beach, pool, beach, pool, beach, pool

Ready for some ramblings?!?

Our children loved having their own pool, as did we.  By the end of the first day, both Isaac and Seb had lost their arm bands.  Using a combination of swimming and snorkeling techniques, they were both able to swim lengths of the pool. Their under water swimming is awesome also. They are always in their googles at the pool now.

Our house had a fabulous grill, and 3 different areas to sit and eat.  We grilled pretty much every other night, but had to stop sitting outside as I was being eaten alive by mosquitos (as was Oliver!).  These are some delicious chicken kebabs we had.  He ate them in soft taco shells, with all the trimmings.  Delicious!

Speaking of tacos, we went for lunch at Poppo's Taquerias, just round the corner for the house.  Paul and I both had huge burritos, Oliver and Seb had quesadillas, while Isaac went for chips (it is the one thing he will eat at Mexican style places).  These were some of the best burritos we have ever had.  Add in the local crafted beer, and the healthiest sodas you could wish for, and you are on to a winner. It even gets Isaacs thumbs up!

 

We could not be on the Gulf of Mexico with out seeing a sun set.  It was beautiful.  Although we didn't get to see the whole thing go down (darn clouds), it was certainly worth the little walk.  The kids loved splashing in the sea too!

We went for lunch at Ginny and Jane E's.  This is not your usual cafe.  They are also a shop specializing in one of a kind and handcrafted goods.  I even saw some products made in Sussex, UK! They have a bakery at the back of the store and cater for breakfast and lunch also.  The kids certainly enjoyed their lunch, especially as their brownie came out first. They must have been hungry though, as they devoured everything on their plates.  Paul and I both went with the Philly Cheesesteak, and it was delicious.  The only thing that put a dampener on the experience for us was an older gentleman sitting at the table next to us.  As he departed with his friends he made some comment about adult only eateries.  Not sure what he was getting at.... My kids aren't that bad (most of the time!)

 

As this post says, we spent a lot of time at the beach.  It was so nice and peaceful.  The kids are all pretty good at making sandcastles now, if a little impatient sometimes... Paul and I don't mind helping most of the time.

One afternoon we headed to the beach.  It had been a cloudy kinda day but there was no sign of a storm.  Then these clouds were spotted.....

We checked our Accuweather App.  Rain was expected in 15 minutes, but only actually raining for 10.  We decided to sit it out.  We covered all the important stuff like diabetic supplies and my phone.  As soon as it started raining, we went and lay in the shallows.  The sea water was warmer than the rain!! We weren't the only ones either. Any part of you that was no in the water was really cold, but in the water it was very pleasant.  If this had been the Atlantic coast, I don't think you could have done it.  But we did it.  We sat out the rain, and behind it was some beautiful blue sky.  We stayed on the beach for about an hour after the rain had passed.

You are not British till you have sat on the beach in the rain......