Pirate Weekend at Yogi Bear Campground

This year, Lee and Todd were invited to go on Lisa and my annual camping trip to Yogi Bear Marion. I know what you are thinking, "Lucky Lee and Todd!"

The theme for the weekend was "Pirates."

This banner pretty much sums it up:
The three kids were inseparable and had a great time playing together in "nature" all weekend.
I am not sure why I am always the most excited to meet mascots?!
About two hours into the trip a torrential downpour occurred suddenly. The boys, Lisa, and I were on the Friday night "hey ride" when it started. As you can see, Graysen freaked out!
Todd was sweet and manned the grill while we all huddled in the tent. All seven of us ate dinner in our tent and played games. It was very cozy and felt like we were on the show "Survivor."
Lee was a good sport about the weekend and Todd and Lee even completed a treasure hunt for us girls while we stayed cool in the shade. Although, Lee says no more treasure hunts in the future.
A beautiful rainbow crossed the sky after the storm and the rest of the weekend's weather was great!
I stopped taking pictures after Friday since Lee became the official photographer for the trip. Hopefully he will post some of his pictures later.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...

How does your garden grow?

Perhaps if I knew the rest of that nursery rhyme, I would know why my garden will not grow. Although, I am pretty sure that it is due to lack of watering.

My garden has produced nothing this year and, when I went out there this morning, all the plants could be declared dead. After three different people gave us vegetables from their overflowing gardens this week, I decided that "growing season" is in full swing and I can't blame my garden's lack of fruit on it being "early" in the season.

So... I was inspired to "revive" the garden.

This is "Laura's Garden Version 3.0," after spending $100 at Lowes for all new plants.
Version 1.0 (last summer) didn't produce anything because I only bought one of each type of plant so cross-pollination didn't occur to fertilize the flowers.

Version 2.0 (this summer), and my lawn, died from my desire to let Mother Nature take care of my yard and prevent a repeat of last summer's $400 water bill. But, Mother Nature didn't do a good job, so I am on a mission to fix both.

The boys and I also decided that our garden died because we didn't have anyone protecting it at night. So we hired Hop, Skip, and Jump (three frogs) to watch over it at night and help us take care of the garden.

Now that my gardening "opportunities" are corrected, I am expecting an abudant harvest anyday now!

Graysen

This picture pretty much sums up Graysen.

Announcing: Palmetto Hearts 5K Run & Walk

As some of you know, I am chairing a committee to plan a 5K walk and run to benefit Palmetto Hearts, SC's congenital Heart Disease organization.

The committee meets about once a month and, as promised, I will post an update from each meeting on my blog.

I am very excited to announce that the date and location for the event are final! Mark your calendars:

Palmetto Hearts 5K Walk & Run presented by the Spartanburg Running Club

Saturday, April 14th, 2012

9:00 AM

Duncan Park, Spartanburg

This will be a family-friendly event. Both runners and walkers are encouraged to participate and the course is stroller-friendly.

After the race, there will be a celebration area with inflatables for the children and awards.

All proceeds from the event will go to Palmetto Hearts.

Go ahead and mark your calendars and come on out to support heart babies. It will be a fun-filled family day!

Turtles & Pirates!

We started Friday by visiting the sick sea turtles at the Sea Turtle Hospital.
Erica and I identified this guy as dead, but it turns out that he is actually still alive. He isn't doing too well...
This one has a cast on his shell.
Afterwards, we took the boat to Inlet Harbor for a relaxing dinner by the sea. Our pirate captain was pretty scary...
Gray found the boat ride very relaxing.
Caleb and Auntie enjoying calamari.
Mommy and her baby.

Pool & Baseball

The theme of today was "Relaxation and Baseball."

Erica and I started the morning with a Hatha yoga class at a studio on Beach St. Here we are ready to go to class. I am in "Tree" pose and Erica is in what she calls "Ice Cream Sandwich" pose.
The afternoon was spent hanging at the pool.
"Drink Turtle, Drink." -- Graysen
This evening we went to the Daytona Cubs' baseball game. Uncle Cory came up for the game and the boys were thrilled to see him.

Our family. Just the "5" of us have not had an outing (without husbands) in almost 10 years! My parents were in heaven, and I swear felt younger, just taking out their "kids."

Why did I buy the boys bats?!? I will seriously regret this as Graysen smashes walls and tables in my house.

Beach Day

We spent most of yesterday at the beach. It was great to relax and enjoy the sun, sand, and salty air.

When we arrived, Caleb decided that only one type of sand (soft loose sand) was acceptable. He refused to follow us across the road to the packed sand by the ocean, which is where we set up "camp." In order to coax Caleb over to the "bad" sand, Auntie began the process of importing "good" sand to cover "bad" sand.

Caleb is unhappily scoping out the "bad" sand as Auntie packs up a bucket of "good" sand.

Gray loves his big shovel and continuously yelled, "I NEED TO DIG" for the first hour we were there.
Caleb happily playing with imported sand, barely away from the safety of the towel.
Best Friends!
Good beach reads... Sisters think alike.
Nobody is safe from Graysen.
The boys are obsessed with building sand castles. Their first "castle" turned out to be a bunch of beach toys with lots of dirt dumped on top. The boys were very happy once I showed them how to make a better sand castle and worked on it for hours.
After the beach, we headed to Crabby Joe's for dinner. This is one of our favorite places as it sits on top of a pier and you can see the ocean water and surf under your table.
Graysen enjoying his Pina Colada.
Little did we know that Caleb LOVES "squid." He told us, "I love to eat both the body and the tentacles."
He ate over half a plate of calamari (after a hot dog and two piece of chocolate cake). He thoroughly enjoyed each bite.