In February, we celebrated our five year anniversary at 3302 Wild Rose (that is Zach on the driveway, me and mom by the garage and Adam is riding his bike near the front door). This is the longest place (by 3 years!) we have ever lived. So it got me thinking about all the moves/jobs/adventures we have had through the years. Since we have lived in five different states and moved eight times, it's too much to write in post. So I’m going to make a little series out of it, and go in chronological order.

Charleston, SC
First residence: 7930 St. Ives Rd, #M
March 1997-September 1997

Second residence: 1441 Cobb, Charleston, AFB
September 1997-September 1998

There is no street view available for our house on Charleston Air Force Base, for security reasons I’m sure. It's probably the one and only time we will live in a gated community on the 9th hole of a golf course. There was a walking path in our backyard that went around the base and I remember hearing a drill sergeant in the early morning “inspiring” his crew to keep exercising.

This is us in 1997:Scott worked criminal investigations so it was not unusual for him to be “on surveillance” during the night. If I remember correctly, there were several times where he would work all night and sleep during the day and we wouldn’t see each other for a couple of days.

I was working at an advertising agency (if you click here and look to the left you'll see a Banana Republic store...our office was on the second floor) where I used my four year degree to take care of the owner’s dog (walking, taking the dog to weekly grooming appts, fedexing dog food to Italy, etc), pick up the owner’s friends at the airport, fetch him lunch at a nearby bistro, find an original signature of Thomas Jefferson (or someone similar), let the rug cleaners into his house and field calls from New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s office. At the time, I had never heard of Rudy Giuliani and could never seem to pronounce his name correctly, much to the dismay of my boss. I did have more duties than that, but those are the ones I seem to remember.

Aside from some job issues, Charleston had a lot to offer. My favorite, which is no surprise to anyone, was the close proximity of the ocean. I probably went down there at least once a week the whole time we lived there.

I’m sure Scott would say his favorite attraction was Patriot’s Point, where you could tour an aircraft carrier and submarine. After about nine times, I refused to accompany him anymore, so he had to con others to go with him.

I also remember eating numerous times at a world class restaurant… the Wreck of the Richard and Charlene, or just The Wreck. As you can see from this menu, I spent a lot of time eating salad, boiled peanuts and once (only once) did I try the pork loin. Rice used to be on the menu, but I don’t see it listed anymore. As I was browsing their website, the funniest thing I found was this statement…which pretty much sums it up:

“Remember, we don't have a sign and we don't look like a restaurant. If you find that you are still uncertain, please call us at…”

And a picture is worth a thousand words:
Some of you may have had the privilege of eating there…with the concrete floors that often had standing water, the “cash only” requirement, and the lovely smell of seafood that came from everywhere. No wonder I was so skinny.

One thing I could not get used to was the lack of seasonal change. In Charleston, the average high in July is 90 degrees…the average LOW in January is 42 degrees. Coming from Kansas where it could fluctuate 50 degrees in one day, this was quite a change. I basically wore the same clothes all year. And 60 degrees on Christmas Day is just not right. But the mild weather DID allow us to buy this...
This is where the infamous Brittany and Samantha joined our family and the much heard antics of their turkey-stealing, skeleton-scaring, palmetto-bug eating, and the ever popular plastic bag around the neck story.

Next: Birmingham, AL

Spring Break.

Friday: Read this blog post.

Saturday: First soccer game of the season. Hilger's arrive late.

Sunday: Pancakes, biscuits and sausage gravy at our house. However, there was an uproar because there were only 8 biscuits to feed 13 people. Spent a few hours at Riverside Park. In the afternoon some people hit golf balls in the yard. Then Knolla's pizza at night. The weather was great...77 was the high according to weather.com

Monday: A visit to Oak Park in the morning, then Sedgwick County Park in the afternoon. I was at work all day, but I hear everyone enjoyed walking around on the paths, climbing rocks and "fishing" with a stick in Oak Park. Tag was the game of choice at Sedgwick County Park. Our group was there along with the entire population of Wichita. Tuesday: Sedgwick County Zoo, then lunch at Wendy's. More golf and climbing trees. Fun in the "elevator" at Oma and Papa's house. Wednesday: A sad day as our cousins leave. I think Oma took the boys to Buffalo Park this time.

Thursday: We just hung around the house in the morning. Papa played a gazillon games of Uno. But apparently didn't win any of them.

Friday: Off to the Y and grocery store. Our friend Luke came over and played and at lunch with us. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples slices, mac and cheese and chocolate milk. Zach informed me that "this was the best meal EVER."

It's the first day of Spring Break. It's cold and little flakes of snow are falling. The boys are out of school until March 23. Adam asked if he could clean the windows. Now Zach wants a turn. We're anxiously awaiting the arrival (in 3 days) of our cousins.

Our first soccer game is tomorrow. The good news is that the game is at 11:30 am, not 9:00 am. The bad news is that according to weather.com, the high at 11:30 am will be 35 degrees.

Zach battled a stomach bug earlier this week. When Zach lays around and sleeps in the afternoon, you know he is not feeling well. He asked "Did you throwed up when you were a little girl, like me?" He did get to watch all the episodes of SuperFriends (Wonder Twins, ACTIVATE!), Wall-e and a few other cartoons.

Adam and I attended a Zoo class on Tuesday afternoon. The theme was "waking up" and it focused on what animals do during the winter. The teacher asked the children what they did in the winter, when it was too cold to go outside. Adam's hand shot up and he said "We clean the house!" Everyone laughed.

Finally.

We have all been waiting patiently for Adam to lose both of his upper top teeth. The first one fell out last week, and the second one has been hanging by a thread...until last night!

Zach wanted to be sure everyone knew that he still has ALL of his teeth.


When Zach starts losing teeth, the tooth fairy may have to take out a loan.

I ran across something that I wrote on March 1, 2007. It made me laugh, and also realize what a difference two years can make when you are a child. Here is a picture of the boys taken around the same time that I wrote this. In this picture, Adam is 4 years and and Zach is 3 years.

Why I do not go inside Starbucks
(March 1, 2007)

After getting haircuts, I took the boys to Starbucks for a treat. When we arrived, there were several groups of people enjoying nice quiet conversations and hot cups of coffee. As we were standing in line, the boys knock over this little tree gingerbread thing. No big deal…at least it was wrapped so nothing went all over the place.

Then they start going up to the cold case that holds bottled water, milk and other cold drinks, some of which that are glass. They start clinking the bottles together and then saying “BRRRR!” (because it was cold).

After that is under control I order my coffee, two little waters, and one piece of coffee cake for all of us to share. While they are making the coffee and getting the coffee cake, I get the boys settled at the table. I go back up to get the coffee and cake, and when I came back (10 seconds, no lie!), Zach had spilled his water.

The employees come over and help me clean it up and get out a mop. We move to a different table, and I pour half of Adam’s water into Zach’s cup and tell him to be careful. The cups had lids on them, by the way. I go back up to the counter to get two more forks and when I came back Zach had spilled his water AGAIN. The people sitting at the next table get up and leave. The employees are very nice “this happens all the time, don’t worry!"

We get everything cleaned up and then Zach realizes that HE doesn't have a plate and does not want to eat off the plate that Adam and I are eating off of. So it’s finally agreed that I will put Zach’s cake into the little container that the cake came in (like a to go box). Then Adam has to make sure that he and Zach have the same number of pieces of cake (I had cut it up).

Then Zach drops his fork on the floor and insists on eating off of THAT one, instead of a clean one. I finally get him to eat with MY fork (which is full of germs too, but I figured it was better than the one that fell on the floor). Meanwhile, Adam is eating the cake and most of it is crumbling in his lap and falling on the floor. We finally finish our food and while I’m cleaning up a major mess, the boys go over to the trash can and tap it with their hands because “listen mom, it makes a funny noise!” By the time we leave, I don’t think there were any other customers…

In one of my earlier posts, I included a video of Zach playing basketball. Here's some footage of Adam.



Today was the last game of the season. They both scored lots of baskets and each received a medal for their hard work. As you can see, Zach did not want to be in the picture with Adam.

Two weekends of freedom until soccer starts!

My first thought when I heard "chocolate fountain" and "preschool Valentine Day party" was..."this cannot be good." But the four and five year olds did a pretty good job of keeping the melted chocolate on their plate and not dripping it everywhere. Now, their faces were a different story: chocolate in hair, chocolate in noses, chocolate smeared on cheeks, chocolate in ears and chocolate under fingernails. Zach was actually one of the cleaner ones...the girls seemed to make the biggest messes.

We had "skewered" marshmallows and strawberries, and they could also dip graham cracker sticks. They all thought the chocolate fountain was fun, and all went back for seconds...and some for thirds and fourths!

At Adam's party they played a game where you tossed candy hearts into a bucket. But the best part was that they each got a cookie, chocolate bar and licorice. He said he didn't eat much of his cookie, "only two bites" because he didn't like it. This child also does not like donuts...must have got that trait from Scott.

They both brought home the usual amount of candy. Only one student in Zach's class made a "homemade" valentine, and four in Adam's class. Some were done on the computer and I did see the iPod valentine that was featured in Family Fun this month. Most of the others were superheroes, sports or princess themes.

For dinner tonight, I ordered heart shaped pizza's from Papa John's. Then it's off to Zach's basketball game (Adam had one Tuesday night). Then another round of games tomorrow morning.