Sunday, July 24, 2011

Back to School Bonanza

Is it that time already????

12 aweome bloggers haved teamed up for this fabulous give away.  Please see Erica Bohrer's First Grade page at http://ericabohrer.blogspot.com/  for complete directions!!  Contest ends midnight eastern time on Thursday, July 28th.  I REALLY HOPE I WIN!!!!!

Random......

Despite this heatwave, I have spent the week in my classroom each morning cleaning it up.  I have inherited a room from a teacher who had been teaching FOREVA....ha ha just kidding, 41 years.....soooooo, needless to say there's a lot to go through.  This is the second time I have had to do this and I will never do it to someone else.  When its my time to retire, I'm going to make sure my classroom is in move in condition for the next person.  The crazy thing is, this lady did clean out a lot, it's just that she has so much stuff that she thought I might be able to use.  It's fun (kinda like shopping) but its not so fun, especially with no a/c.....just can't wait to get it DONE!!! and make it mine.  I will post before and after soon.  In the meantime, I'm posting a few more pics from our trip (for you Annie), btw yours look great, can't wait to see the rest.  Today is also my mom's bday, #66, woo hoo!  We're celebrating tonight at the beach with a bbq, although right now it looks very ominous out, hope it passes by quickly AND cools us off, we've had crazy temps all week!!! So, here's to a happy Sunday!!  Ttyl!!
Berkeley Hall pool

Taking a water break walking through Savannah.

Annie, we were thinking of you.....

Jack and Sharkie

John and his trusty map of Charleston

Last beach day with a storm approaching

Watching and waiting for the storm to end

Inner Harbor, Baltimore

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Our trip down south.....Holy Hotness!!!!!

We left Connecticut last Friday at 7pm and arrived at Mary(John's sister) and Richie's home in Okatie, SC at 9am. VERY LONG drive.....but after relaxing quite a bit on Saturday, we began our action packed vacation.  On Sunday we were off to a beach in Hilton Head about 20 minutes from Mary's, we spent the day there.  Thank God for the breeze, it was a bit HOT, including the water. The next day we drove down to Savannah......I'm going to complain a little here, I am partly chalking it up to the fact that it was about 114 degrees and humid.  I have to say I will not be visiting Savannah any time soon....there wasn't much to it, below is the River Walk which is very touristy, some kinda cool stores but mostly the same type of store every other one throughout the block.
River Walk, Savannah
I did think this cemetery was pretty cool. It had tons of crypts, mausoleums and awesome gravestones. 
Very old cemetery, Savannah
Back at our new home away from home, the boys were in heaven driving a golf cart everywhere on the property(they live in a golf club community)  There's so many things to do and see.  Obviously you can play golf,  you can go crabbing, watch for dolphins, fish, go tubing, kayaking etc.  And catch SHARKS!!   Hello, why are sharks in rivers??? I couldn't believe it when this lady was fishing, thought she caught one and up comes a baby shark.  Very crazy, but cool at the same time.
The boys loved driving the golf cart ALL OVER the neighborhood

River Park

Yes that's a shark!

A shark that some lady caught in the river???  Never knew that could happen.

Hilton Head Beach
Anyway, we headed out to the beach a few more times throughout the week.  When I think of a summer vacation I think BEACH, I love the beach. So glad it wasn't too far from their home. In the meantime, Mary and Rich just sold their house and want to move to Charleston within the next 2 years. My niece is attending the College of Charleston in the fall so we drove up there on Wednesday to take a look around. I LOVED Charleston except for the fact that it was probably 105 when we were walking around. So, we were dripping the majority of the time, but the kids were troopers, better than me and John ha ha! Charleston was a nice small city and I loved her college, it's right smack in the middle of town with King Street a block away.  King Street has every store you can imagine and this beautiful hotel.  Just so classy, loved it.


College of Charleston- the picture is foggy because my lens  immediately fogged up when John took the cap off.

The Citadel Hotel

Love these houses!!
It was back to the beach on Thursday, our last day, it was hot but with the breeze, the ocean and the pool it was fine.  I have to say Mary and Rich were the best hosts, we ate like kings the whole week, got to see a lot of places and really just had such a nice time. 
Our last beach day :(

The best hosts,  thanks Kenny Family

Me and my boys
Friday morning we began our trek back up north.....John, Jack and Ryan insisted on stopping at this place South of the Border....it was like a deserted carnival but it had fireworks which is what they all wanted.  John was like a kid in a candy store.....finally we continued our drive and made it to Baltimore by 7:30, went to Johns Hopkins for lax attire, and then onto the Inner Harbor to look around and eat at the Cheesecake Factory.  We finally made it home at 4 am.  It was another LONG ride, I don't know how Mary and Rich do it every couple of months.
Possibly the cheesiest place on earth ;)

 Random after thought pic, I downloaded a bunch of extra pictures, but they wouldn't go in order for me in this post, so.....below is the clubhouse down the block from their home.  Well, I need to get to bed, I'm still a little tired.  Tomorrow I'll try the ones I couldn't do today.  Hope you're all having a nice summer so far!
Berkley Hall Clubhouse