Morning Hike

Kim and I decided to get up early one morning and go for a little hike! It was a great time and Kim was great about being my photographer! (I seriously love pictures.)

More ducks!! I loved the ducks!!

Look how cute they are splashing and playing!

Geese!

Canadian Geese

Adventures at Hawk's Nest

Hawk's Nest is a recreation area where you are can snow tubing and zip lining! We were lucky enough to do both and it was awesome!!

Snowtubing was so much fun. We opted to go in the evening and it was perfect! The hills did get really slick though and REALLY packed down. Which made for a VERY FAST ride. In fact, one time going down I hit a huge bump, which resulted in my flying in the air (off the tube, though I still had hold of those handles) and slamming back down on my butt bone. I though for sure I had broken it. Thankfully it was just cut and bruised...but it made the rest of the week pretty uncomfortable to sit!!

The next morning, we did the zip line!! Here we are waiting to get our gear on!

Strapped in and ready to go!! The girls in this family are all adventurous!

Flying through the air!!

Hawk's Nest was a blast and I am so glad to have had the experience! I had done zip lines before but tiny ones! I would definitely love to do more of these long ones! We were only able to do four lines! But they also have a 10 line tour! Our tour guides were awesome and we just had a really good time! 

Banner Elk, NC

A few days after our New Year's Eve party we left for the mountains of North Carolina. If you haven't been, I urge to plan a vacation there. Of course for me, I LOVED when we went in the fall to see the leaves change colors. It is beautiful. But honestly, any time you go during the year, it is breathtakingly gorgeous and there are always fun things to do. This time we went to Banner Elk, NC. It is a GREAT area. Lots to do. 

The fun thing about coming here, is it was the first time I saw my sister in 2 and half years. And I finally got to meet that husband of hers! We had a lot of fun. Of course, we had to have Christmas together. 

Rachael and James brought crackers from Ireland with them. In Ireland it's a tradition for each person to pull an end. Whoever gets the bigger half wins the prizes inside. They include the red crowns, a little joke and a fun fact, and a little prize (we got all kinds of crazy stuff...a tool kit, nail clippers, a noisemaker, a watch, etc) I LOVED them and I think it is such a fun tradition! I have asked Rachael to send me a box next Christmas!

Me, all the sisters, and the brother in law!

We spent the rest of the day exploring Banner Elk. We found a little bit of snow to play in! 

The little park we went to was beautiful. A beautiful lake, a nice path to walk down and even some waterfalls! It was a fun day!

I took a million pictures of the ducks. I just thought they were so pretty!!

More beautiful pictures of our trip to come...

New Year's Eve 2011

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun this year! Dad and Kim hosted a Oyster Roast! Everyone says the oysters were fantastic! (and I'll take their word for it!) My favorite part, however, was getting to see everyone that I hadn't seen in years!! I miss you all already!!

Mauri and I

Dad roasting oysters

Kim with all the New Year's Eve festive attire!

Ron especially loved the oysters! And Lin was busy helping out with the oyster roast! (Keeping Ron happy!)

Nook, me, and Dorothea!!

Stephanie, me, and Minnick!

Me and Bonus Grandma Frances!

Me and the Daddy

Sonia and Joe

The kids were not into the grown ups. They stayed outside by the fire where they could hang out in peace!

New Year's Eve Festiveness

Thanks to Dad and Kim for a GREAT TIME! I loved every minute of it!!

Help please

Hello all....any advice or help is greatly appreciated. Last weekend at the airport, I switched bags with someone. He took mine, I took his. We got everything straightened out, but when I received my bag, I was, of course, missing things. Do I have any rights in this situation? Is there anyway to get my things back? Or the money that was lost? I'm so mad I just can't stand it.

Boone Hall Plantation

On down to South Carolina to go see my Dad's family! We had a really great time and got to do some fun things! So something I had never done was go to Charleston. Which is really terrible since I lived in Myrtle Beach for 2 years. But anyway we got to go on a girl's outing and we had a great time!

First we stopped by Charleston's Cafe for breakfast. GO. It is delicious. My little sister, Ashlee, had the strawberry pancakes. Go devour them now. We were all chowing down on her plate...what little she left anyway! (All of it was great...but those pancakes...we talked about those the rest of my trip home!)

Next stop on our big adventure was Boone Hall Plantation. It was amazing. I could have stayed there the rest of the day! You may have previously seen Boone Hall Plantation in movies like The Notebook. Or those who may know some good ol southern movies that are a little older like Queen or the series North and South. Actually I believe they are closed this month because the show Army Wives is filming there.

Anyway, you can learn all kinds of things about Boone Hall here with good ol wikipedia.  (STOP SOPA!)
This WONDERFUL performer taught us so many things about the Lowcountry Gullah culture brought in by slaves. It was really insightful and I really learned a lot. Not only that but she is a fantastic presenter. If you go to Boone Hall, make sure the first thing you see is this presentation. It gives a lot of insight and history into the rest of the tour.

Of course, we had to take pictures by the oak trees. The pictures don't do them justice. They are BEAUTIFUL.

Here in Charleston, they are known for their famous sweet grass baskets. They are crazy expensive, but they are all hand made and beautiful. One day I will own one. I will say they are cheaper here at Boone Hall than they are in downtown Charleston. (just as a side note for anyone wanting one). The woman making the baskets here, told me it takes her anywhere from 10-15 hours to make one medium sized basket!! 

Boone Hall Plantation. Surprisingly small on the inside...though we weren't allowed upstairs. Or allowed to take pictures...I hate when that happens. It was decorated beautifully for Christmas though!

Look HOW HUGE those trunks are!!

They had a beautiful garden! I can't believe these flowers were blooming in the cold! And although it wasn't below freezing...it was still pretty cold.

Out by the waterway was my favorite spot. It was absolutely gorgeous.

We took a truck tour of the rest of Boone Hall Plantation. It is HUGE. They plant TONS of crops all through the year. People in the area (and from out of town) can come and harvest all they want. The rest is harvested and given to food banks and area shelters in need. Here in this picture is a photo of the corn maze they had last year in commemoration of the Boeing plane for Halloween. Crazy right? Can you imagine trying to get through this thing in the dark??

LOVE THOSE TREES!!!

After Boone Hall Planation, we went to downtown Charleston. We had a great time! We got to visit the flea markets...so many cool things! Definitely go there with some cash! We went on a carriage ride through historic downtown Charleston and got to see lots of historic homes. It got dark before we got to the Battery, but that is on the list for next time!! It was such a GREAT trip. Of course, we weren't finished though. After Charleston, we went to James Island County Park for their Christmas Festival of Lights drive through show! Look at some of the cool displays!

This is kind of blurry, but this is a display of the bridge connecting Mt. Pleasant and Charleston. A Charleston Landmark.

Who doesn't love a unicorn? Or a gingerbread house/man.

The South Carolina palm tree and crescent moon.

Good ol U.S. of A.

It would just not be Christmas in SC if we didn't have a sand sculpture of an underwater Santa. Seriously I don't know how people have the patience to do these things (nor the talent...I'd get about almost done and knock something unfixable off)

I had a GREAT Charleston Girl's Day!!! A HUGE thanks to Kim for making that happen! I LOVED IT!

Don't think the fun stopped there (well on that day it did...that was a action packed full day)! Still more to come!!!