Photoshop.com Album: Hunting Island 2011

Beach camping with good friends.
Hiking to the lighthouse, A beautiful view from the top, Climbing on the playground of fallen trees, Tromping through the mud, Nature center, Walking the pier over the lagoon, Spotting the osprey on her nest. Walking on the rocks out over the waves, Flying the kite, Chasing the kite that got away. Warm fires, Dads playing guitar, Swinging on the hammock. Older kids playing late night yahtsee, an original play by the kids and sweet voices singing their made up songs. Last hike down the boardwalk trail. Always sad to leave.

I think we took about 1000 pictures on this trip! Everything was so beautiful. I narrowed it down to about 37 photos and you can see them in this album I've posted above. You can scroll through them individually or hit play and watch them as a slideshow.

Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site

As a part of our Colonial Period literature study and history coop we are reading the book Johnny Tremain. It takes place during the Revolutionary War in Boston. Today our group took a field trip to the Camden, SC Revolutionary War Site. There was a small fee but it was well worth it. The tour guide was very informative and engaging. She took us through the Kershaw Mansion (pictured below). She let us feel the clothing and touch the uniforms and weapons of the period. We walked all through the house and spent the afternoon picnicing and playing on the grounds.

The wealthy merchant who built this house helped establish Camden as the largest inland trading town in the Colony. He wasn't able to complete the house before Cornwallis' troops took it over in 1780. Then the house and town became the main British supply post in the Southern campaign. The Battle of Camden was the worst American defeat of the Revolution. The original house was burned after the Civil War but was reconstructed and furnished in the late 1970s. Very interesting stuff:)

There are also other original small houses set up as museums, reconstructed redoubts, a part of a blacksmith shop, and gardens all on the site.

I highly recommend this as a place to visit.

Homeschooling and Socialization

 We attended two events last week that made me thankful for our friends and the town we live in. On Sunday we met up with 3 other families and went to Unearth at Saluda Shoals Park in Irmo. For this event, the park organized more than 20 artists, musicians, and drama teams who were all performing along the nature trails. (It was put on for the entire Columbia area not just homeschoolers.)

 Some artists had hands-on demonstrations while others just talked about their work.

 

 The day ended with the Lake Murray Symphony set up for a free concert right by the river.

  

 On Wednesday, Harbison State Forest hosted our homeschool group for a Fall Field day. The 60 or more people in our group divided up according to the ages of their children and we split up for nature hikes and relay games.

When we first started homeschooling people would ask me if I was concerned about my kids having enough opportunity for socialization. I was pretty confident even then that finding friends would not be a problem. Now I find that it is hard to choose from all the field trips, clubs, classes, and events that Columbia has to offer for families and homeschoolers. The girls (and I) have amazing friendships and are thankful for the relationships, play times, learning opportunities and memories of these early elementary years.

Swimming

This is a collection of pictures taken over a week or so. We have some very generous friends who allow us to use their pool anytime and so we have been over there a lot. We spent July 4th there with our good friends and ended the night with a wonderful vegetarian feast followed by the traditional Kruidenier fireworks spectacular.

Daniel played many games with the kids in the pool. Most of the time it was Marco Polo with Arianna on his back.

We've also had playgroup at the public beach area at nearby Lake Murray. A great group of friends!

Spring Break Hunting Island 2010

We were so happy to return to Hunting Island State Park. This year we asked our good friends the Morrisons from Durham, NC to meet us there. It was cold and sunny so we just bundled up and played all day. The mornings and evenings we huddled around the campfire and enjoyed wonderful meals including oatmeal, pancakes, toasted burritos, roasted veggies--yum! The kids had so much fun playing on the natural playground of fallen trees along the beach on our hike to the light house. We also explored the marsh boardwalk, pier over the lagoon, and the nature center. It is a fabulous place to visit and one of our favorite spots in SC.

Happy Birthday Arianna

Arianna turns 7 next week. We had her birthday party sleep over last night. The kids all had a great time and they are still playing hard this morning.

Above, Arianna and one of her best friend's Ayla admire the beautiful cake last night. Ellen and Arianna decorated the top. Didn't it turn out nice?

There's our home-made pinata. Arianna decided she wanted a simple round one this time. The last few birthdays we all felt bad beating down the elaborate dolphin and dog pinatas.

Our girls. How and when did they get so big?!

Alley cats in the garden

I'm combining more Halloween photos with a garden update. I got my camera working again thanks to Do it yourself digital camera repair blog. I'm afraid it's a temporary fix so I sent Daniel and the girls out to take some pictures while it was working yesterday.

The garden is just beautiful these days. Daniel works hard out there and his work is paying off extremely well. We are still eating from these huge eggplant. (Arianna is holding one of the smaller Japanese eggplants but we have the globe variety also.) The lacinato, or dinosaur, kale that is in the front of this picture is so big. We have been harvesting from it for about a week now and loving it.

The cats are hiding behind the lettuce that are providing fresh salads every day!

They are standing in the middle of the garden and you can see the large broccoli that is forming some nice little heads. The cabbage is in front of them. The tall plants with stakes behind them are our second try at tomatoes.

Collards are in front of Arianna and lupine cover crops just starting out in front of Ellen.

Here's the whole crew dressed up and ready for trick or treating last night. We enjoyed a lovely potluck before heading out  in  our friend's neighborhood in the 78 degree temperature. Thankfully it was not raining yet, but we were all sweating by the end of the night! I love the South.

Fall break Topsail Island 2009

This was our third year in a row to spend Fall Break at a NC beach with our good friends Lesley, Jason, Alder, and Heath. The weather was perfect--warm enough to play comfortably in the water with beautiful sunny skies. We shared a small house at the end of the island where we enjoyed wonderful home-cooked meals together and had a blast hanging out talking and laughing late into the night. We spent 2 full days playing (well, Daniel played but I was mostly relaxing) at the beach. Our girls LOVE the beach and stayed out running, swimming, building as much as they could. We saw an amazing rainbow after a quick rain shower on Saturday night. It really was a perfect way to end a perfect weekend. I've put together a slide show but the pictures are out of order and the captions don't make as much sense. Missing Les and Jason and the boys already...

A little more background to the story--Lesley and I have been friends since her family moved to Baton Rouge when we were in the 6th grade. We went to highschool together, were roommates in college, and bridesmaids in each other's weddings. I am so thankful for her friendship and that our husbands/families get along so well together. We are separated by a few states for now but I'm hoping to be living a lot closer one of these days. Annual beach trips will have to do for now!

Home for July

My goal is to stay in Columbia for the month of July. We did a lot of traveling to visit family and friends over the last few months. It's not as though I think about my year in advance and plan to be out of town every other weekend, but with good friends and family scattered across the eastern U.S. I have come up with good reasons for road trips.

Life at home is full. We are continuing our "school work" so the girls spend time every morning learning math, recorder, and reading good books. We are also going through a history curriculum called The Story of the World and we'll be doing nature studies and filling our nature notebook. The afternoons are usually open to swimming, errands, playgroups, or free time. So here's a few fun pictures of the past week having fun with friends.

Swimming at Lake Murray with a group of friends. The girls loved being in the lake and playing in the waves.


The kids making funny faces and taking a short break while picking blueberries at a farm in Lexington, SC. We'll go back at least one more time to get more and make jam. Picking fresh fruit (especially strawberries and blueberries) is one of my favorite things to do. I love being outside and surrounded by the smells and colors of fresh berries.




Fourth of July was spent at our home with some friends and fireworks. Our friends brought over the slip and slide.
It is a Kruidenier tradition to splurge a little on fireworks twice a year at New Year's and July 4th. I didn't get any pictures of the big ones that Daniel lit and we all sat back and enjoyed, but here's one of the crew playing with sparklers.


I'll be posting a garden update and some photos of our recent house/remodel projects soon!

Camping in the mountains

Last weekend we went camping on Grandfather Mountain (near Boone, NC) with our dear friends, the Morrisons. We had been planning the trip for weeks! Scott found a wonderful campground that was great for families and car camping. We had a nice spot tucked back in the woods by a creek. Our cars and the bath house were close but we couldn't see them so it felt like we were really far away. The weather was perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better vacation camping trip.

I've got tons of pictures to share. First is this great spot where we set up camp. We cooked all our meals on stoves set up near the campfire. Daniel used the campfire to grill squash and roast potatoes from our garden. The kids enjoyed putting potatoes and not dogs on sticks and roasting those over the fire too. We also brought our little baby Taylor camping guitar so the guys played for us while we were cooking and hanging out. The kids took turns too.

Across the street from the campsite was a big open field. It was so beautiful to walk out of the woods and have this view! It made me really miss the mountains.

On Saturday, we went over to Hebron Rock Colony to explore the rocks and waterfalls. This was a place that Daniel and I used to go to when we were in college and even after when the girls were babies and we lived in Boone.

All the kids were very brave and hopped all up and down these huge boulders. The parents were guiding steps and holding hands. We watched as the kids were totally enjoying themselves. It is an awesome place. The kids took turns standing under waterfalls and sliding down rocks with help from the dads. Little Brady was not quite big enough for most of the adventures but he had fun with mom watching from the side.




That hike was very exciting and we were all tired and ready to relax around camp when we got home. Thanks to the guys for keeping the fire going and to our friends from Columbia for letting us borrow an extra large tent for all the kids to sleep in!

While back at the campsite the kids spent lots of time at the creek collecting crawfish and salamanders, making dams and playing games in the water.
And here's a fun game of Uno.
Saturday evening we got to go on a free hay ride around the campground.

Here we are in the last few minutes before leaving. Being in the woods is so refreshing. None of us were ready for life in the real world yet. We miss our good friends already.


On the way home we took a driving tour through Boone. We drove by our old house and up to the top of Howard's knob, another favorite place of ours. The girls had never seen the view from the top. We spent a little while looking out and reminiscing. Then Daniel took the girls back in the boulders and helped them on their first experience bouldering.