Ashtabula, Pendleton, South Carolina

One of my favorite things about homeschooling my kids is this:

The time we get to share together is priceless and I love how the kids love each other. Yes, they do argue and hit and... but the majority of the time is living, playing and learning together in complete harmony. No, rarely in complete harmony, but I must admit they do get along very well and I am proud of that.

(oh, and yes that is laundry on the back of the couch...I try to stay humble)

Anyway, we were able to learn together today thanks to my wonderful mom-in-law. She took us to Ashtabula, in Pendleton.

They have tours going on right now throughout December and it was a different experience. Each room is set in different time periods of the homes existence. For example, our first room was set around 1800 during the time of the house's initial construction.

Mrs. Gibbes is being visited by her sister from Charleston. They put on a 5+ minute skit. Each room has people relevant to the house performing a short skit in period clothing. It was a great experience and the girls loved it...I loved it!!

Each place along the tour was a new revelation of the time and the people. It really made it come alive.

 

It was a great day to spend together. And one of my and my mom-in-law's favorite things about visiting historical sites are THE BOOKS! You can always find a unique book or two that is more specific about the area than other book stores. We found two keepers that I highly recommend:

Did you know that the Swamp Fox could not swim!!! Just one of the interesting things I've already learned. Jonathan liked the maps in the book. They did a good job of illustrating the vast area that he fought. The man got around!

The other find was one that my girls really liked. They love studying other girls and women in history and this one is perfect:

In summary it was a wonderful day to spend together and learn about our history in South Carolina. I hope my little ones never loose that love for learning something new.

Our week of fun

 I absolutely love Edisto Island. I remember coming here when I was little and exploring. Jonathan came here most years with his family. It's where we were engaged on one such family trip. And it's a place that I hope we can always go to for years to come.

This year was the first time that my little guy could fully embrace the beach experience. He is so cute in beach mode!

The girls equally enjoyed their beach bumming time. We even ventured off the island to Beaufort. It was a longer trip than expected but we had fun once we got there.

During high tide the girls brushed up on their checkers skills.













It is such a beautiful and unique place.

The Mystery Tree

My favorite thing at the beach to do is to watch the sun fall into the horizon over and over again.

The island has a really neat Serpentarium that added to our educational experience. It was so informative and the girls had a blast and were so brave.

My favorite picture from our trip.

Our last destination was one that I'd hoped would be one of our first. Botany Bay Plantation is an enchanting place. The beach is a half mile walk and has been left untouched. The shells that are there cannot be taken home so they are everywhere. And they are HUGE!! The kids enjoyed listening to the ocean in everyone they found.

 

It was a perfect ending to a fun week.

Sunray Farms, Piedmont, South Carolina

The kids and I took a break away from the house and went on a fun farm field trip to Sunray Farms.

 It was another group trip that our friend organizes. She does such a great job.

 We learned about horse/pony care. Amy McConnell opens her home to a wonderful time. The girls said this was their favorite field trip so far but it did tie with our trip to Roper Mountain Science Center.

Cinnamon labels Cookies upper lip.

We found new uses for stickers and played pin the sticker on the live pony. They each had a sticker to label the different parts of the pony named "Cookie". She was so sweet..ha..yeah that was awful but I had to say it.

It was a Green grooming session.

So proud that Emily let Cookie eat from her hand.

All the kids got a chance to groom Cookie and give her a treat for being such a good pony.

 There were some simply perfect play things for the kids to climb all over. Emily had the roping thing all figured out.

 Lauren was more concerned for the farm owners little girl who was sitting all by herself. She said she thought she was lonely over their and that she could be her friend.

 They have a small pond and creek and Thomas was thrilled to throw every stick he could find in it.

 The girls and Cinnamon were busy snake hunting. But the only thing that was found was a wasp that stung Emily. It was the first sting for all three of them. Emily still claims it was a brier. She recovered quickly and was soon roping anyone she could.

And what farm trip would be complete without a golf cart ride. Amy drove them around the pasture. She even filled up their water bottles.

I'm looking forward to more of these in cooler weather.

Grocery store field trip

No, I didn't pretend a trip to the grocery store would count as a field trip. It was a real bells and whistles tour! A group that we go on field trips with organized a tour of Publix grocery store.






This was the most important part of the tour. I don't know why the manager didn't point them out herself but I made sure everyone saw the Blue Bell....sadly there was no Happy Tracks today.














The kids got to see how incredibly skilled and fast the ladies are in the bakery. She made a beautiful yellow rose within a minute!

They also gave them a squirt of icing....none for me though. We walked in their coolers and freezers but first the girls turned into Lavern and Shirley...

So hon, what size cut of turkey can I slice for ya?


We then ventured over to the produce isle....Now there have been moments that I've been in produce and I just wanted to throw my hands up in the air and scream to the top of my lungs.

Well today.... I didn't. But I could have! Hopefully the kids will understand the next time we're in produce and not scream to the top of their lungs again.

We soon sailed on to our favorite part of the tour...seafood!

The guy in seafood was great. He had a whole show to perform for the kids. I learned a lot about lobster too.

He let the kids pet the lobster if they wanted. He even brought her over to Thomas so he could pet her. This sent Thomas into fetal position and thinking of a happy place....yeah, he was not impressed!


For his big finale he performed the famous lobster sleeping jedi mind trick. I never knew you could make a lobster stand on it's head and go to sleep!

It was a great time and the kids loved it. It was also a nice escape for the business going on right now.



Now I'm going to go rub my back and fall asleep on my head.