Dad's visit

Over the English half term holiday my dad came to visit us.  He had initially planned to come in the summer, but his knee would not allow it.  So we were limited to a one week trip.  Boy, did we pack a lot in!

My dad flew in on Saturday afternoon to Charlotte.  I picked him up from the airport. It is nice now their new hourly parking garage is open.  Most convenient.  I drove him back to ours, as you can imagine he was pretty tired, though we enjoyed a dinner of Papa John, and the boys were very pleased to see him.

Sunday, we awoke fairly early.  We took a drive up towards Ashville. I have been desperate to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway, as I have heard many great things.  This was our 3rd attempt, and the road was open.  We were fortunate to choose this time of year to go now.  The fall foliage was outstanding.

So beautiful.  And also busy.  We took a scenic drive south, back towards Greenville, before turning off at Brevard 

We came across a stunning waterfall just before we left the parkway

We enjoyed a little walk by it, then headed back into Greenville to treat dad to a Five Guys for lunch.  By then it was about 3 pm, and we were all starving!

I wanted to take my dad somewhere different this time as it is probably the last time he will be here while we live here.  On Monday I dropped the kids at school before heading down to the coast.  Although we had done Charleston in a day trip before when we stayed at McClenanville, I had never been with out the kids.  

We headed to Boone Hall Plantation first.  I had heard many awesome things about this place, and it didn't disappoint.  We took a tour of the house, then looked at the slave shacks.  Learning the history of this state both enthrals and appalls me in equal measure.  The grounds are amazing too.  It is still a working farm, though most of their crops were wiped out by the recent flooding.

A beautiful place, Boone Hall is certainly worth it's $20 entrance fee.  The kids might even like it too next time! 

From there we drove through Mount Pleasant, over the Arthur Ravenel Bridge and headed towards the hotel.  I had booked us a twin room at the King Charles Inn.  The hotel did not disappoint.  We had a great evening, and went out for probably the best wine and steak combination I have had in a very long time.  This was followed by a delicious dessert and cocktail.  

We had planned to go to Fort Sumter the next morning.  It rained steadily all night and we walked to the ferry port to get the boat.  Except it was cancelled! The Fort was under water, as was the dock.  It was very wet.....  We headed back into Charleston towards the market.  But that wasn't set up yet as it was too early.  So we went for a carriage ride instead.  This was excellent.  We were entertained by a delightful driver who gave us the ins and outs of the history of Charleston and some of its buildings, all the while missing the major flooding.  Charleston is used to flooding, so by the time the carraiage ride finished, most of the water around the market had gone.  But the weather had kept away a lot of vendors also, and we couldn't find anything we really liked.  We bit the bullet and headed back to the car, and back up to Greenville, only stopping to pick up a quick snack.

We arrived home at the same time as the boys and Paul. We went out for dinner to Carolina Ale House, which everyone enjoyed.  The boys were most insistent on sitting with grand dad.

Wednesday we went for lunch with Isaac at his school.  Dad loved this.  Being able to see inside his school was good.  Seeing the way it operates compared to Oliver's was an eye opener for me.  

After this, it was on to some shopping.  Dad took me into Golfsmith.  Definitely a shop I have never ever been in, but interesting all the less.  For him, that is......

Dad was keen to get something for the boys.  Obviously he sends them gifts for Christmas and birthdays, but he doesn't get to spoil them. We we're initially going to take them to toys r us, but we remembered how torturous it is to get 3 small boys to decide on things they want with price limits.  There is a Hot Wheels garage that they ALL WANTED.  to get a toy that they all want is rare.  It is large, so certainly not something they can have one each of. The price was right on it, so we got it for them.

Their faces when they saw it was awesome.  They truly love it.  We have been looking for a good toy car garage for a while.  Finally there is a decent one on the market, after going through more than 5 not so perfect ones.

Thursday was conference day for Oliver.  He is doing fine.  His teachers only complaint is that he needs to choose to read a greater variety of books.  He likes the comic ones like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Big Nate. I can live with that!   We dragged Oliver up to Gaffney to go shopping at the outlets.  He was not pleased but he put up with it. A few bargains were found.  Dad had specific things he was looking for, and he managed to find them.

Friday Sebastian was off school. Dad stayed home with Seb while I took the other boys to school.  Then it was on to more shopping! We went to the mall then into downtown Greenville.  Dad loves downtown.  That evening we went out for a nice meal.

It was awesome having dad here.  We did lots of chatting and catching up.  We speak weekly anyway, but it was nice to have him here.  Don't think he could quite get his head around the amount of running around we do, or the amount of time and effort that it takes to care for 3 crazy Children! A week was too short, and sad to think he will probably be our last visitor.  The boys miss they grand parents a lot.  But we know it is not forever.  This time next year we will be back in the UK, and seeing them will be a lot easier! 

I took grandad to the airport on Halloween.  He missed all the fun of trick and treat.  I did a lot of driving the week he was here, and I certainly felt tired for it! 

My birthday shenanigans

Hey!

So we are on another winter weather watch, tomorrow morning till Thursday.  Anything between 1-8 inches of snow, depending where you read it.  I think school will be on tomorrow, but possibly not Wednesday.  There is a big fear of cold weather here, a bit weird, coming from the UK....

It was my birthday last Wednesday.  I started the day opening my presents which consisted of beer, chocolates, work out tops and more Pandora charms.  Isaac was off last week, so we went to Gravatopia to meet up with some friends.  This place is awesome, loads of trampolines, and pits full of foam you can jump into.  Here is a photo of Isaac about to jump in to the big pit. 

 It took him a while to work up the courage, and would only do it holding my hand.  Gravatopia is reasonably priced, they do a session 9-10am where kids are usual price, and adults jump for free.  This  is a place I am sure we will be back to.  I spent the rest of the day relaxing and letting the boys play too much computers......  I cooked a lovely meal for Paul and I, and enjoyed my first beer in a month (followed by a few more)

Thursday I went to Rachel's.  It was nice for Isaac to get the chance to lay with Riley.  They get on so well.  Anna was also there.  All these guys were just getting over sickness bugs....

Friday we took Isaac to get his haircut.  Seb was supposed to get his done too, but he point blank refused, and I was not going to force the issue.  I was supposed to be going to the Free Zumba and the Kroc centre in Greenville in the evening, but got a last minute text from Anna asking if I wanted to go to the cinema instead, as a late birthday treat.

So off we trundled, Anna, myself, Rachel and Clare.  We saw American Hustle.  An alright film.  I won't be going out of my way to see it again though.... As this was not a stupidly long film like the one previously, we decided to go for a few drinks after.  We ended up at Sherby's in Simpsonville.  This was the first time any of us have experienced the bar scene here, and I think we all rather enjoyed it, given the time we got home.... Thanks ladies for an excellent night out.  Looking forward to the next one.

Saturday I got to go shopping on my own, which was lovely.  I visited Old Navy, and could have spent so much more than I did.  I also visited Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW), and finally found some boots!  Unfortunately they didn't have my size and tried to order them for me, but alas their stockings did not have my size.  The manager did however manage to put some life into my old boots with a special lanolin cream.  They look almost like new now...  I did invest in some decent Clakes flip flops for the summer.  I then checked out TJ Maxx next door, and was so not impressed.... I took a quick trip into the mall and spent my gift card for American Eagle.

Saturday night we were lucky enough to go out.  Thank you to Anna for babysitting.  We headed into Greenville, and after trying to get into nearly every decent restaurant on Main Street, we ended up at Roost.  It was pretty good (I hope to blog about it soon).  It was a good night, but Greenville was very busy.

It has been a long time since I have been out on a Friday and Saturday night.  Thanks to my friends for taking me out, and babysitting, and thanks to my lovely husband for taking me out!

Sunday, Oliver had a birthday party at Sky Zone.  This is a lot like Gravatopia, but on a grander scale for bigger kids. This was the first birthday party Oliver has been invited to this year, and he even let me leave him this time!  I think he had a good time, and this could be a good place for him to have a birthday party.....

Fall break fun

It's been a while, so this could be epic.  I apologize now.....

Last weekend we went up to Charlotte in North Carolina.  Paul had bought a bike from eBay, for a very bargain price, so we went and picked it up.  It is quite old, with most of the original parts, but luckily it does not need too much work.  Plus paul is used to working on bikes and knows exactly what he is doing.  On the way back we stopped at the Spartanburg International Festival.  My fried Liene put me on to this.  They have been running this festival for about 28 years.  There were copious stands representing 33 countries.  Liene was manning the Latvian stand.  We said hello, had a quick look around, they headed back to the car.  If it had not been so hot we may have stuck around a bit longer, but it was warm, the boys were grumpy, and we were all tired from being in the car so long.

Oliver and Isaac have both been off on fall break for the last week, Oliver on the Monday and Tuesday, Isaac all week. We all went to Gymboree on Monday.  I had promised the boys they could play iPods while Seb did his session, but they were far to busy watching and encouraging Sebastian to take part. They were able to come and so the bubbles and parachute part which they absolutely loved.  They were really well behaved, and a privilege to call mine. 

Decorating pumpkins

Tuesday we chilled around the house, and went out after dinner to watch Oliver play baseball.  His team won again!

Wednesday Oliver was back at school.  Isaac, Seb and myself met up with our friend Tracey and her Isaac at Monkey Joes.  This is a big building with about 8 bouncy castles/houses/slides in it.  We went the week before, and Seb was not very keen.  But with his big brother there, he was all over it.  By the end he had been in every bounce house, and was even going down the very big slides all on his own.  It is so nice once he gets used to places.

2 Isaacs + Sebastian = Monkey Joe's fun

From here, we headed to our friend Anna's house for some lunch and a nice catch up for me.  Again the boys were awesome, really well behaved all day.  Both boys fell asleep on the way to get Oliver.  This was the first time in about a month that Isaac has fallen asleep in the day.  My boy is growing up.....   When we arrived home, the package from Grandad had arrived.  This contained loads of lego base plates, the boys spent the afternoon setting up their city.  Lego is huge in our house at the moment.  Oliver had another baseball game on Wednesday night.  They won again.  They have not lost a game all season...... 

I was supposed to have my exam on Wednesday.  Unfortunately my assignment scores were very low, so low that if I had got 100% in the exam, I still would have failed.  I chose to not put myself through the stress of revising for an exam I was not going to pass, especially since changing my degree.

Ouch!

I was practicing with Oliver at baseball on Wednesday night.  When I awoke Thursday morning, I noticed my ring finger was all swollen.  I managed to get my wedding ring off, then I noticed the shape of my engagement ring.  It was all bent!  But in such a way, it had made my finger swell up.  I tried to get it off using some lotion, but it would not budge, and managed to cut my finger.  Paul came home at lunchtime, and had a go at reshaping it while still on my finger.  He did this at various times during the evening.  The cuts are pretty deep, but the swelling has gone down.  I am waiting for the cuts to heal before I try and get it off again.  This has happened before with this ring, and we managed to get it repaired.  I will wait to get it off my finger before we decide what we are going to do (new ring, new ring!!!)

Friday, Oliver forgot his lunch box.  I didn't know what to do with the boys this day, so this gave me a few ideas.  After we had dropped Oliver's lunchbox back at school, Seb, Isaac and I headed to Conastee park for a quick play.  From there we headed to Dollar Tree for my monthly pilgrimage of arts and learning supplies for Seb and Isaac(I will do a post about homeschooling soon, I am just lining up all my resources).  I love Dollar Tree.  I got loads, and the joy is everything is a dollar.  I spent under $20!  The on to Bi-Lo, for the food shopping, where I spent significantly more.....  Paul came home from work early, to watch the England Football game.

Yesterday we took a walk round our subdivision (estate) in the morning.  I love walking round.  It makes our front garden seem not so messy.  Lots of people had Halloween decorations out, which the boys enjoyed.  In the afternoon we headed to Fall for Greenville. This is a foodie type festival held down Main Street in Greenville.  It is in its 32nd year.  They close off the whole of Main Street and a lot of the side roads.  There were tents from over 40 restaurants this year, 3 live music stages and a kids area.  We arrived about 4pm.  Man, it was busy.....and we don't do busy.

Busy!

But it was manageable, as there were breaks in the crowd in between the stands.  The boys enjoyed the kids area, and went on quite a few of the bouncy castles.  We headed further down the street towards Falls Park and got some food. The boys all had pizza from Mellow Mushroom.  Paul had a slider and I had some Irish nachos from Fitzpatricks Food and Spirits.  These were crisps covered in salsa with gooey cheese.  They were all yummy, and reasonably priced.  There was not an empty plate.  By now all the boys were tired, and it seemed to have got busier.  I think we arrived at just the right time.  It felt like the daytime people were leaving as we arrived, and the evening crowd arriving as we were leaving.  As I said, we don't really like things like this, but we really enjoyed Fall for Greenville.  I think we will be back next year.  

Today we attempted to go to IHOP for breakfast.  Because we wanted to watch the formula 1 first, we didn't end up leaving till 11.  By this time, all the churches were kicking out, and both the local IHOP's
had people waiting outside.  So we went to Frankie's fun park instead, where the boys got to play a couple of rounds of minigolf and some arcade games before heading into Johnny Rockets for some lunch.  Paul has headed off on a drive event this afternoon, so it is just me and the chimps till Tuesday.  

I knew this was going to be an essay!

Rockie Cows

Hey!

So this week has been spent seeing friends, doing Uni work, and generally just getting on with life.

Oliver had his first baseball game this week.  I bumped into one of our neighbors there.  Their son plays in the same league as Oliver, so they will face each other at some point.  Oliver's team is called the Rockies, after the Colorado Rockies.  I had to go and hunt out some purple socks for him this week.  I eventually found them at Sports Academy.  This also gave me a chance to check out Trader Joes, the shop next door.  This is a supermarket/speciality shop.  Lots of organic and natural products.  This is obviously reflected in the prices.  Except the wine.... Lots of good, cheap wine.  Cheapest bottle I saw was $2.99!  Think I will be back there...

Any who, despite Oliver's team losing all their practice matches, they one their first game by one run.  Thank goodness I was sitting next to someone who was keeping score.  He has 2 games a week, so Paul and I are going to alternate taking him.

Isaac had his good friend Edmund round on Thursday.  His mum, Christy, had baked some pumpkin bread, which she brought with her.  It was delicious.  Isaac and I polished it off!  Of course, I had to get the recipe from her.  I had a go at baking it today, and it came out really well.  So tasty, and a whole lot of it.... I shall enjoy munching my way through it.

Seb had Gymboree again Monday.  He loved it, listened to the story and pointing out everything in the book.  He joined in with the activities, and even tried some of the actions for the songs.  He was the first at the end of the session to get some stamps on him.  I fact he ended up covered.  He did not cry once.  I am so proud of him, he is doing so well, and I am really looking forward to tomorrow.

I had my change of direction confirmed by th OU this week.  I am now working towards an Open degree.  I did a post about this earlier in the week, but did not promote it.  If you want to know about my journey so far, you can find it here.  My next course will begin in February.  It is an intense course, so I plan to relax a bit between now and then.  Still unsure if I am going to sit the exam for this current course, will all depend how my final assessment goes.

Saturday morning we headed to South Greenville Fair which is held each year in Simpsonville.  They had loads of animal competitions, tractors, old bikes etc.  It is a small event with not many people, but a great event all the same.  The boys loved seeing the animals, and sitting on the old tractors.  We even bumped in to some people we knew!  Well worth going along to, if only for an hour.  Thank goodness we went in the morning, as the heavens opened in the afternoon.   

I have spent a lot of my spare time this week reading blogs and watching TV (It is nice to have spare time...).  I have recently found some awesome blogs to follow, some through Circle of Moms, most through Expat Blogs.  My favorites are Ashley Quite Frankly, Reedy Review, Life of a British Expat in America, and of course Femme au Foyer.  A lot of the big TV networks have their big shows beginning at the moment.  Dancing with the Stars is back, first elimination tomorrow night.  Castle, my ultimate favorite is back for a new series tomorrow.  Sleepy Hollow is quite good, clever concept, all about the headless horseman and Ichabald Crane.  Will be interested to see how it develops.  I am looking forward to seeing what else starts this week!

It's a busy week for me this week.  Gymboree Monday, apple picking with a friend Tuesday, friends round Wednesday morning, then looking after Jack in the afternoon.  Possibly more friends round on Thursday and Friday. Not forgetting the 2 baseball games.

  Busy, busy, busy

Thoughts a month in

This is not going to be a normal blog, Paul is going to help.  I will do a catch up one in a few days time.  This is going to be a post on what we have noticed so far.....

Travel - EVERYONE has a car, you need a car, but there are some sorry excuses for cars on the road.....  Loads of people use mobiles while driving, but there is a big advertising push to try and stop this.  You can turn right on red lights at most junctions.  We are yet to take our South Carolina driving tests, we still have 2 months in which we can drive on our UK driving licences.  Some of the roads are a state.  Overtaking on the inside is allowed.  The interstates when they are busy are BUSY.  General driving standards are very poor, lots of running reds, you have to look when you come out of a junction on green.  Big rigs, are BIG.

T.V - too many adverts, same with the radio.  I have found a few good tv channels, abc, NBC.  There are only 4 kids tv channels with our provider (Charter).  No Cbeebies, although some programmes are available on Nickalodeon and Disney.  Lots of on demand programmes and films, so the boys can watch many of their favourites often.  They have Lego cartoons, which the boys love.  They are being influenced by adverts though......  Different networks have different political agendas.  Watching football in the morning is different, we get at least one Premier League game on a Saturday.  Haven't found the cooking channels yet, but haven't really looked.  In the adverts, they would rather show the bad points of their competitors than show their own products.  It is best to watch on playback, so you can skip the adverts.

Food - we are eating out at least once a week, was more frequent to begin, but have reigned it in.  Paul regularly eats out for lunch.  Cooking is interesting, trying to find ingredients that were everyday back home are very hard to find.  We have found a few places that sell products from home, so we have Yorkshire tea and Bisto gravy.  Everything tasted so sweet, because they add sugar to pretty much everything.  I must get more baking utensils, so I can start making cookies and cakes again.  I wouldn't mind a bread maker, as their loaves are much smaller. Loving the coffee machine though.....but missing squash.  We have found a beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon, which is fairly nice.  Imported beer is expensive, as you can imagine.

Weather - so far so good!!!  Just starting to get cold, having a cold snap at the moment, temperatures are meant to improve next week.  Previously it had been in the low 20's in the day still.  Not much rain, but when it comes down it really rains....

Shopping - probably deserves a post of its own!!!!  After the mammoth task of stocking our house, we are done with most of the big things, mainly thanks to ikea.  Most rooms are sorted, we are just picking up bits and pieces when we see them.  Food shopping is interesting, I have tried Walmart, Publix and Bi-Lo so far.  Bi-Lo is very local, and probably a bit like Sainsburys.  Publix is a more upmarket version of Tesco, and Walmart is Asda.  Only really do Walmart if I need extras, not just food.  Going to try and do big shops at Publix, it seems a tiny bit cheaper the Bi-Lo.  The boys like Bi-Lo as it has the car trolleys, so they are always well behaved when we go shopping there.  The mall is interesting, some of the shops are quite expensive, but some are very good.  I need to go there with just me and Seb, so I can take it all in a bit better.  I have a trip there planned for next week, spotted some good Christmas presents on JCPenneys at the weekend.  Best Buy is a big electrical store, we have spent far too much money in there.  Toys r us is just like at home.  World Market is fab, if a little pricey.  They sell lots of home ware and 'world' food.  K-Mart is ok, a bit like a department store, as is Target. Costco is a big wholesale merchant. We have paid for membership, they have many bargains, especially on toys. Am going tomorrow to stock up on many different things

Medical - having a bit of a hate/hate relationship with this.  They love to keep you waiting.  The receptionists at our doctors are just as useless as at Westcourtt.  The boys are registered, and their immunisation records have already gone to school.  When I registered they did my blood sugars, and they were high, so I need to see the endocrinologist, and have a physical and lots of tests done.  This is going to take at least an hour.  Luckily the doctor is available till 8pm, so that is my fun in a few weeks time.  I am preparing myself for a lecture.

General - everyone has massive drinks cups with them, most drink refills are free. Our road seems really nice, even if no one knows where it is. Wearer loving our house, but there is still lots of reverb, the boys are sending is deaf.... I am up and out of the house within an hour, not loving the getting up at 6.30am. Loving my car and its sat-nav, and the rice of fuel.....cat is happy, Kees getting shut in kitchen cupboards. Skype is great, though the time difference is not. Loving the tumble dryer....enjoying meeting lots of people from lots of different back grounds.

As time goes on, we will have more of these, so we will try and do an observations post every couple of months.

Hope all is ok with everyone reading x