Edisto 2011 (Part 2)

We took a different "day trip" this year from Edisto. Last year, we went to Charleston for the day. This year, we stuck to experiencing nature - going on an ecological journey through the ACE Basin. (ACE stands or Ashepoo, Combahee, Edisto Rivers) The ACE Basin is the largest estuary on the east coast - where fresh and salt water come together - supporting a variety of wildlife in a unique habitat.

The boat tour dock was outside of Beaufort, SC and "claims to fame" by being the Bubba Gump Shrimp dock in the movie Forrest Gump. Sorry - we didn't take any pictures of the dock - but we did take a lot of pictures of the various birds that we saw. We saw orange-billed oyster catchers, yellow leg gulls, herons, egrets, ibis, and a pair of mating _____ (something) that we forgot the name of - but was somewhat rare to see. Unfortunately, Mercer started to throw a fit on the boat / screamed / and they flew away. We caught a glimpse of one of those rare birds after it landed just around the bend in the river... thankfully for the others on the boat tour.

We had dolphins playing in front of us and swimming up to meet the boat. Mercer was interested in seeing the dolphins the first few times (but about after seeing them a dozen or more times the excitement faded). He was interested in eating lunch on the boat. He was interested in the (gross) little potty on the boat. He was interested in my hat. The birds - not so much. Oh well. The fresh air was great for all of us.

The next stop that day was to some nearby ruins that Todd and I have been to before of the Old Sheldon Church. Mercer wasn't as impressed as we are by them, but he seemed to have a good time running through the remains of the structure and trying to swing on the tree that was low to the ground.

Another place that we went that was "further afield" from our post at the beach is called Bottany Bay. I blogged about it last year. I went by myself because Mercer was sick & had fallen asleep on Todd's lap on our last day at the beach on our trip in 2010. This year - happy to say - no one fell ill.... so we went out to this former 4000+ acre plantation. The state of SC manages the property now and it is free to visit. There is a variety of wildlife here as well. The marsh didn't seem as fascinating this year as last -- but probably b/c we were immersed in it during our boat tour. The highlight of the visit was the naturalized beach and the shore full of shells.

There's a strange tradition there of placing the conch shells found on the trees. You are not allowed to take shells from the property, so perhaps people wanted to display their finds? Mercer caught right on and joined in with the same tradition.

We decided that next year, we will take a picnic lunch and spend more time on that beach.
Yes - we decided that we would like to go back again. There's not a great deal of things to do there, but that's the allure. And - 'til we have exhausted all interested in this place - we may be calling this "our" beach spot.

Edisto 2011 (part 1)

Our vacation has come and gone - but we have made some fantastic memories. The trip to Edisto Island Beach was very different this year than last. There were things that we discovered by happenstance (such as an inner-island bike trail) and there were things that we sought out that would provide unique experiences.

Instead of being 2 years old, Mercer was 3 on this trip and was able to do additional things such as swim in a pool (with the aid of a Safety Seal swimmer) and he was more interested in building then decorating sand castles. He was also more curious about and active in flying a kite this year. We had to get it up in the air, but once there he wanted to hold it and control it / see if he could make it dance in the sky.

We knew the island much better this trip than last as well. We were in the same complex of buildings, but in a different unit. We were right next to the swimming pool and we had a view of a park with a river beyond - as seen in the previous blog entry. This change actually elevated our experience quite a bit, for it offered additional scenery and ease of access to a couple of amenities. We've discussed going back next year and trying to get the same unit if possible.

I also jumped on a history tour one afternoon while Mercer was napping. It went inland of the island and visited the old churches that line the main road. There is also a history center which we popped into. The island settlers went to grow rice, but instead, ended up growing indigo and became very wealthy because of it. The tour was interesting - however - it didn't paint as complete a picture as I was hoping for. I am interested in learning about the Gullah heritage and traditions. I will have to dig deeper on the next trip for that.

Instead of renting bicycles for a few days like last year, we brought our bikes from home so we had them all week. This is how we travelled on the island except when needing to get groceries from the other side of the island. We rented a "toter" - which it's official use is to transport children - however we used ours like a wagon behind my bike to transport beach gear. Mercer rode in a carrier on Todd's bike - which he is just about grown out of . We can probably cram him in there through this fall... but next spring... we'll have to figure something else out.

One evening after playing on the beach, we ended up riding our bikes past the western tip of the island right around sun set. We hopped off the bikes to take in the colors in the sky. We had hoped to see the beautiful red and orange hues, but to our surprise, we also had a perfect view of the full moon that was rising. Standing in one spot, we could see the sun set AND catch glimpses of dolphins playing and small fish jumping out of the water just under the moonlight that was rippling on top. It was a beautiful spot. All of this was happening at the point where the mouth of the wide marsh-lined creek met the Atlantic.

One morning, we made it to the beach fairly early. Our reward: watching groups of dolphins swim by. Some of them would leap high out of the water. Of course it was impossible to catch on film, although we tried! We were actually lucky, too, in finding a few nice (whole) sea shells as well as quite a number of sharks teeth. Of the three things just mentioned - none of those occurred on our first trip here.

The weather was quite nice for the trip, but took a little turn close to the end of our week. We brought activities to do inside in case of rain - which did not threaten any of our beach-going. It was actually chilly for about 1 1/2 days. We had some board games to play inside, brought some arts & crafts projects to do with Mercer, and baked cookies as well. We also decided to explore the S.C. state park that straddles across the eastern portion of the island as well as a nature / interpretive center that is adjacent to the inland part of the state park. We rode our bikes through the park and sought out a letterbox stamp to add to our book as well.

These pics are actually on a stretch of the beach that borders the state park. The beach where we go (because of the cabana & bathrooms) has not been too busy - although we've gone "after season" both years. This stretch of the beach is quite isolated and the shells seem to be nicer in this area. One thing that we haven't been able to do yet is to complete the 3 mile hike to the end of the park's border and look for shells at the mouth of another creek. Ssupposedly this is the best place on the island to look for the jewels that come from the sea. Maybe next year Mercer will be up for it??

I've got to run for now. Edisto 2011(part 2) will follow shortly. Included will be details of our mid-week day trip to the Beaufort area as well as our quick visit to Bottany Bay.

Early September

Last week, Mercer began wearing his "official" Montessori School uniform -- a shirt with the school's logo + khakis. (This was his idea to take a picture and pose here in the hall just outside of his room.) He has been so proud of this shirt -- so much so that one night when we went out to eat for dinner, he had to show the waiter his shirt. I don't think the guy had any clue what he was talking about "new shirt new shirt" but we thought it was funny. The week before, he was the same way about the new tennis shoes he's wearing in the photo. He said they're fast and would actually be upset if we tried to get him to wear a different pair. He has stopped and showed at least a dozen people those shoes.

Kids are funny that way. However, with the good comes the not-so-good. Mercer has become very whiney when he wants something. He gets frustrated easily and cries a lot if something goes wrong. We're hoping he grows out of this quickly!! We're working on it -- trying to explain that he shouldn't express himself like that. If he drops something.. go pick it up instead of cry about it. Wish us luck as there are ever-changing "tests" on our parenting approach!

On Sept 10, we headed to our friends house (Tana & Charles) in Augusta to stay the night. We visited them last year when we were en route to Edisto Island Beach. 2 years in a row... are we beginning a new tradition? Mercer enjoyed playing with their children -- especially their daughter Phoebe (age 8) and her best friend who also stayed the night. He followed those two girls around all night & did what they did -- including doing cartwheels across the back yard and splashing around in their pool.

The next day was the 10 year anniversary of the Sept 11 terrorist attack. We were travelling, so we did not get to participate in any memorial services, but it's been very heavy on our heads lately leading up to that date. We have been watching some heart-breaking testimonials that family members would lay out on t.v. The most memorable for us was a series done on the people who were on the 4th plane... where the passengers stormed the terrorists and managed to divert the plane from it's original destination such as hitting another US building or monument. Knowing that they were destined to crash and take down another building and additional lives, taking over the situation was - indeed - heroic. We went to church with our friends in Augusta that morning before we continued down the road and they talked about how much it has changed the world in which we live / the perception of the world. This is true; Mercer will not have as much freedom to explore & be a kid as Todd and I did when we were growing up. (This is part of the allure for our little vacation spot on Edisto. It's much safer than many other vacation destinations and it has a lot of room for exploration... natural exploration.)

We made it to Edisto Island and checked into the condo for the week. Mercer kept saying that his new friends (from Augusta) were coming over to swim in our pool. He was so apprehensive at first to play with them & after 1 day of hanging out... he wanted to then entertain them! We made it onto the beach for a little while that evening.

The following morning, I found the perfect spot in which to hang out early in the AM. From the side porch of the condo is a sliver of a view to the Bay Creek which lies at the mouth of the South Edisto River and the Atlantic Ocean. There have been a variety of birds hanging out in the marsh these past few mornings as well as a few fishers who trawl down the creek wanting to make an early catch. I've been sitting in this spot every morning before anyone else wakes up. Also - in the afternoon - I will sometimes go down to the Bay Creek Park beyond the white fence and sit on a park bench or even the fishing dock just barely visible from our porch view.

One day while Mercer was napping, I went down to the dock to read & a handful of boats passed by. There are no wake signs posted in this area, so they all putted along quietly. There was one boat I was certain had fish or crabs on it, as there were no less than 30 sea gulls squawking and flying in circles around the boat. It was quite a site to coming towards me... passing by at a snail's pace... then continuing on down the otherwise peaceful creek.

There will be another vacation post with lots of photos once we get home. But - for now - we're hanging out, enjoying the time together with our little family unit, and relaxing!

3 years ago today....

Mercer's adoption was finalized!

We had the day off today. Today is the Labor Day holiday. We wanted to go somewhere / do something to have fun with Mercer and honor "his day" but mother nature had different plans. There was a tropical storm in the gulf that moved up to Georgia and rained all day. Instead of travelling today, we stayed in all day. We played with marbles, blocks, games and watched some movies. Mercer seemed to be happy. (especially with this new balance game - ChickyBoom - that we got yesterday when we travelled to Greenville) ~wink~ instead of cancelling our trip, we pushed our trip up a day instead.

We went to Greenville, SC to visit my college roommate + her family and to check out their awesome children's museum. Mercer and I stopped at that museum once on our way home from NC. He was just under 2 years old. At that time, there were only a handful of things that he could do, but it was still a lot of fun then. This time -- it was even more fun because he was into a lot more of the activities. Admittedly, Todd and I had a great time too!!

Last time we went, the majority of time was spent playing in the water area. Mercer got some play time in it this trip, but found many other things to do too. (Note - although wearing a water-proof smock - he still got soaked / had to change. You'll notice he's sporting 2 different looks on this trip. That's why - no other reason!)

There's a sculpture that you can climb that spans the top two floors of the museum. I wanted to climb it the first time we came to the museum, but the kids have to be 3 and up. Mercer was a little apprehensive at first, but he did go back through it a couple of times during our visit. It's constructed mostly of clear Plexiglas shells and cables to hold them up and to create "walls" so you don't fall off of the thing. The way that they're organized, it's like a 3-dimensional maze.

He really enjoyed riding in the Indy race car simulators and playing in the music room - where they had a musical pinball machine that you could customize. He - of course - enjoyed running around and playing with Cindy's kids, Trevor (3) and Daniel (5). I think we have a similar picture to this one with Mercer chasing Trevor (Apr 20, 2010 post). Deja vu~

Quick note: Cindy said that this is the photo (on the steps) that depicts what the boys were doing before they all had to be rushed to the ER. Luckily / amazingly... no one was hurt. There are all sorts of great things to do at the museum, but they'll still climb on things that weren't intended for them to do so!

After the museum, we went in search for a letterbox that was hidden on Main Street in downtown Greenville. This letterbox was based on some micro-sculptures that have been placed throughout town called "Mice on Main." http://www.miceonmain.com/mousehunthints.html Afterwards, we headed south on foot and via a short trolley ride in efforts to make it to Falls Park -- a public space that is graced by one of the most beautiful bridges I've ever seen: Liberty Bridge. http://www.fallspark.com/LibertyBridge.aspx We made our way down to the bottom and crossed (no worries - where we crossed was far away from the falls). If we didn't have the drive home ahead of us, it would've been an excellent day to picnic by the water and explore the greenspace and public art more.

It was a long day and little guy was worn out. He slept pretty much the whole way home (2 hours +), went to bed pretty much straight away when we got home, and slept in today. But, we think he felt special overall & know that he is a MUCH loved member of our family!!

getting back into the swing of things... for a little while

It took about a week of detox (maybe a bit more) to get back to normal after staying up late every night for a week... eating donuts every day... and watching lots and lots of Curious George.

There are some more pictures to add from that week at the beach. (The pics are of him eating his first donut ever... "what's that feeling in my head - a sugar headache?" / squirting great-aunt Nin / and checking out cousin Ryan's dirt bike.) Oh - a good time was had.

There was a historic hurricane (Irene) that moved up the east coast and then moved inland. The New Jersey coast where we were was ok. But, New York City and areas north were subjected to a lot of rain and flooding. Todd's parents and brothers were without power, but thankfully all o.k.

The weekend before the storm, we had company. My mom came for a visit. We mostly hung out here, but one day we went across town to see some of her friends and to visit a green building that was being featured on a tour. It was a public library and - thankfully - they had some stellar kids books and interactive computer setup that kept mom (grandma) and Mercer busy for well over an hour while Todd and I were on tour.

One thing that we learned that day: Mercer really learned quickly how to use a computer and a mouse. Wow.

One thing that he did that was cute that weekend: mom, Mercer and I were playing with a magnetized puzzle. We then grabbed a bunch of paper clips and showed him how he could pick them up with the magnetic stick. He was pretty fascinated for awhile and when Todd came home later, Mercer had to show him and teach him about magnets (as if he knew something that Todd did not).

One thing that he's started that is sweet: saying "bless you" when sneezing.

Another thing that he has started: he is officially in the montessori portion of the daycare. Because he's potty-trained, he was able to transition out of the toddler room. The owner / directress of the school, Mrs Roya, is his teacher. She is really firm, but also very loving to the children. We can't wait to see how this goes.

He will try it for another week before we pull him out for a full week. (The three of us are going to the beach - our family trip to Edisto Island.) This trip will be more calm, but I'm sure we'll be going through detox all over again~~

it's official: mercer loves the beach.

Todd and I haven't ever really been beach people (except for that trip to Cumberland Island a few years ago which was more about camping & hiking than playing in the sun). But... it looks like we need to learn to love the beach too because Mercer is really REALLY into it!

We went up in honor of Todd's parents 50th wedding anniversary. His siblings and cousins all rented a beach house for the week at Sea Isle City beach - about 1/2 an hour from Atlantic City. I stayed for a few days (because of the new job) but Todd and Mercer stayed all week. Mercer grew more and more comfortable each day and by the end of the week was wanting to go deeper and deeper into the water. He followed his cousin Marley around & doing what she did when on the beach. Most of the time spent at the beach, however, was spent digging in the sand, throwing a (soft) Frisbee, kicking a soccer ball, playing paddle ball, and "riding" the waves.

We would generally spend only a few hours in the late morning on the beach and Mercer would take an afternoon nap after coming in for lunch... however... close to the end of the trip - the group "ordered" lunch on the beach - as they have pizza delivery there - and he stayed out all day with the rest of the family.

When Todd and Mercer came home, they were both exhausted. I was actually exhausted too. As it turned out, I had plans each day after work with different friends. I did a lot of socializing in the evenings and tried to tackle (mini) projects here at the house while the boys were away. I did pack away everything related to diapers / cleared out the potty seat / took down the changing table / got rid of the diaper bag. It was actually a little sad -- not becuase we don't have to change diapers anymore -- but because he's not a baby anymore. He's a 3 1/2 year old "big boy." *sniff sniff* I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, but were - of course - so glad when they both came home.

Mercer kept saying something about going back "our other house." I figured out that he was saying that he liked the other house better (the one on the N.J. shore). Yeah - the beach was steps away. He got to stay up late, watch a lot of cartoons on his DVD player, and eat junk food. He had lots of older playmates (his cousins, aunt and uncles). What's not to like? (Here, his uncle Jim is tossing him around. Thanks for all of the pictures, Becki!)

It was hard for him to go back to school on Monday.

Have to mention one thing he's doing that is cracking us up: he's very into "favorite" colors. Todd's is green. Mine is blue. Mercer's favorite is red. SO... he walks around saying "that's YOUR color!" "that's MY color!" pointing at various objects as we walk along. Todd said that his walk through the airport terminal on their way back home was color overload and he kept on and on and on with his observations.

Mr. Daredevil

oh.... we are going to be in trouble. It was completely evident this past weekend that Mercer has no fear. We went to a birthday party for a neighbor who was just turning 4. They had a big inflatable water slide that was in the front yard during the party. The guest of honor went down a few times, but mostly played in the pool at the bottom of the slide. Some other children - a little bit older than Mercer too went down once, but hung out in the pool.

Not Mercer. He kept going down over and over again. He was completely exhilarated. He was definitely keeping up with the 7 and 8 year old kids. He had a blast. We had fun watching him. But..... we realized then that we are going to have to keep an eye on him and speed!

There are a couple of videos that Todd snagged:

http://youtu.be/vAbnpHU2Agk friends "Jacken" (Jackson) and Glady are in this one playing in the pool.

http://youtu.be/hd8vMZFl_5c the birthday boy, Graham, is in this one... the one Mercer plows into. oops!

Some cute things that he's doing:

at night when we are singing songs before bed, he will change his voice to a really deep voice. He starts laughing so hard that he can no longer sing. He tries to sing again, then busts out laughing again.

As mentioned before, he's really into his ABC's. Anytime he sees the letter M he blurts out "M is for Mercer." (He even says this about the golden arches... another funny thing thing he says about the golden arches, is "that food is sick. that food is sick.") whoops - guess we over-did that one telling him that the food there doesn't make people feel good.

He plays a little game now too but he's not very good at it yet.... "I spy with my little eye" he says while he's looking directly at the object he's describing. I've spied them playing this game at school. It's funny to watch & his current teacher, Ms. Tiffany gets a kick out of it too.

We've officially found out that Mercer is moving up to the next grade... he's moving to Mrs. Roya's class soon. (Main reason - his age + he's officially potty trained - YAY!) He has had 3 accidents in the past 3 weeks, but none at school yet. He's doing really well overall! We are thrilled. And - we are happy he's moving to the next class. It will be interesting to see how he grows and develops, as Mrs. Roya is the Montessori Directress of the school. This is her school. She's strict but she's really gentle and loving to the children as well.

Before signing off - I have to mention these activities that they're doing at the school. They have numbers dotted out on pieces of paper (I think Mrs. Roya has her teenage daughters who have been there this summer hand draw pages and pages of these dotted numbers). Mercer is supposedly "writing" his numbers. He's tracing - with pretty good accuracy - over the dots. I don't know about what's good for his age or not, but I am really impressed with the tracings. It really looks like he's writing!

had a "brag."

Here's a photo that Todd & I just received yesterday. We went to a Cars 2 movie event where the hosts provided balloons, pop corn, and family photos. (No idea what Mercer & I are looking at, but Todd's photo-ready.)

We're going to be packing & flying up to NJ a little later today. There is a family gathering at a shore house in honor of Todd's parents 50th anniversary. Way to go, Bob & Rose Marie! Congratulations!