South Carolina for New Year’s

We flew out to visit Jacob’s parents the day after Christmas. We had an evening flight and I really enjoyed that we had all day to get everything ready. The hard part was trying to get to sleep after the kids had napped on the plane that night. But who could nap in the excitement of seeing their grandparents, I mean really?

Waiting for Anna was a pile of my little ponies and a bicycle to try out. She’s never ridden one with two wheels (plus training wheels) so it was a great adventure to learn to brake and pedal around the neighborhood. Anna enjoyed coasting down the hill to the park but us adults took turns hauling the bike back up the hill, ha.

We did a bunch of fun activities indoors for the few rainy days. There were puzzles, moon sand, and a cool book doll which Anna would dress in pieces of fabric. We made jewelry and decorated t-shirts and of course recorded some youtube videos. 

We were so grateful to be there for Grandma’s birthday. We decorated cupcakes and went out to dinner. And we loved being a part of all the family skyping that day and seeing everyone.

Grandma and Grandpa took us to the art museum downtown to visit the current Norman Rockwell exhibit. And I dragged the family out to the Congaree National Park on New Year’s Eve for a hike. I loved the elevated boardwalk to hike on. We explored and Grandpa kept us informed about all the numbered spots. We saw a variety of plant life and the afternoon light was just beautiful. We wore out the kids and ended up carrying both of them back to the car. The kids’ nap on the way home was a good one.

We pushed through to stay up until midnight for New Year’s Eve. We were all underwhelmed by the entertainment and mostly commercials of the countdown programming. We did rewatch the Taylor Swift performance a few times because everyone likes to Shake it Off. Even Isaac made an attempt at staying up. He was up until about 11:45 then finally conked out in Jacob’s arms. Anna dressed us up in party hats and glasses, we had noisemakers, and even spent some chilly time outside, while Isaac was napping, shooting off fireworks. Anna managed to not poke her eye out with a sparkler so we can call it a success. Happy New Year!

We stayed warm by the fire one afternoon in the grandparent’s backyard. Anna tried her hand at a marshmallow gun and eating s’mores. Anna had fun roasting marshmallows but eating a s’more. Not really her favorite dessert. She just kind of looked at us like, you thought I would like this?

Some classic quotes from the week:

Anna at the lunch table: “I’m pretty sure Grandpa is right about everything.”
Grandma replied: “how much did you have to pay her to say that?”

Jacob, nonchalantly: “stop pounding your brother on the head with a golf club.”

Isaac: “ma ma ma ma ma”
Yep, my son picked my name to say first! Woot!

Anna, upon arriving back home: “Hello house. Hello car. Hello garage. Hello washer and dryer.”