Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school for "J". I thought I would be bawling....but unlike the very emotional goodbyes on the last day of school last year, this goodbye was relatively easy.

"T" joins the class for an ice cream party.


Telling her teachers goodbye

Hilton Head

We just arrived home from our annual spring trip to Hilton Head. It is, in my opinion, the very best way to kick off summer vacation. The kids had so much fun. I found that I didn’t need many of the clothes I packed because the children were content to spend 90% of their time on the beach and in the pool. We didn’t go shopping, didn’t go for ice cream, and I had to carve out time to do at least one educational side trip.

The kids have grown and changed so much since our first Hilton Head trip 5 years ago.




See what I mean....




Having fun at the splash fountain



Notice it’s raining…..the only rain we had during the trip


My son, who wouldn’t put his face in the water a year ago, is now doing flips and swimming under my legs in the pool. I NEVER thought it would happen.


Being silly outside the condo



We drove through Savannah National Wildlife Refuge/Laurel Hill scenic drive. The scenic wildlife drive was located on the site of a former rice plantation that existed before the cotton gin was invented. Soon thereafter rice farming was abandoned in favor of growing cotton. We were on the prowl for Alligators…and we weren’t disappointed.

This guy (or gal) was resting on a creek bank a few yards away. He was about 6 feet long.


It may be hard to tell from the photo but this gator was at least 8 feet if not longer…we saw two (this size) swimming in the waterways.


This is the site of a slave village on an old rice plantation.


"T" atop an old water cistern



This guy was only about 4 feet long.

Still, we stepped back from the edge of the pond when he started swimming towards us.

The Butterfly Habitat (title by "J")

Last summer we bought a butterfly house on clearance at target….then a few weeks ago I finally got around to ordering the caterpillars. In an awesome mix up at the caterpillar factory (or where ever caterpillars are produced in mass) we were accidentally sent two cups of caterpillars.


Let me tell you-raising butterflies is not for the fain of heart. Soon those tiny caterpillars sealed in a sterile cup of goo-became giant caterpillars in a cup of goo and poop and eewy looking “silk”-that was more like hideous cobwebs than Hermes.

After a week or so the caterpillars climbed to the top of the cup and formed chrysalides. Last night they started to emerge. We have watched excitedly all morning hoping to catch one emerging…Boy they are fast. So far we have only seen a just-emerged butterfly all wrinkled and folded up-still very COOL.

We have since released 4 of the butterflies into the back yard.


From “J” -I got to hold a butterfly on my finger. I love butterflies. They’re so cool; I think butterflies’ are so pretty.


From “T” – I think butterflies are cool, I mean they are just like, like, like as cool as a moth. I just like butterflies. When they were caterpillars they were kind of plump but kind of disgusting too.