Goldfinch

I just saw this beautiful bird at one of my bird feeders! It is the first goldfinch visitor I've had since we moved form GA! Usually, I see them eating at the finch sock. However, this one was just at a regular feeder. here's a few more pictures.

Our New Kitten, MC Hammer

With Mom and Jesse, came our new kitten, MC Hammer. She is so cute! She's around 8 weeks old. H2 looks so big next to her. I just wanted to share some pictures of her.

A Visit From Mom and Jesse

Last Thursday, Mom and Jesse arrived from Georgia. It was so wonderful to see them! After showing them around our unpacked apartment, we headed out to see Darren at the newly opened Dick's Sporting Goods. Jesse looked so excited to get to see him, as she ran and gave him a giant hug. We then headed to my new favorite restaurant, McAllister's, so that I could show my mom their giant potatos. She loved them!


After Darren arrived home from work, we took Mom and Jesse to Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place. Jesse caught the lizard pictured above. We spent the evening hanging around the house. I cooked ranch chicken for dinner. Darren went to bed early because he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. I stayed up and played games with mom and Jesse.


Friday morning, we all got up when Darren went to work and headed to Folly Beach. First, we went to the north end of the island, which I've never been to before. From here, you get spectacular views of the Morris Island Lighthouse. Also, on the 1/4 mile walk to the beach from the parking area, we saw some absolutley beautiful flowers. Here's a few pictures of them:







These flowers were everywhere! I loved them! As we continued along the path, it turned to sand and then very quickly opened up into on of the most beautiful views.


Between the high sand and sea grass, you could see the Morris Island lighthouse. I took many other pictures of the lighthouse this day, but this one is by far my favorite. We walked around for a bit on this end of the island. Shelling is not as good here because there is a sand bar about halfway between the beach and the lighthouse. Around 9am, when Folly Beach Park opened, we gathered our things together and headed there. This is a wonderful place to shell. Jesse also met a little girl named Nicole, whom she played with for a little while.


Around noon, Mom went to plant Buttercup's letterbox. Jesse and I hung out on our beach towels. We both and gotten a lot of sun and were hungry. So, when Mom got back, we headed home. We did KFC for dinner and Darren and Jesse rented Dreamgirls. Jesse wound up making some friends in our apartment complex and went to play with them. So, we watched the movie without her.


Saturday morning, I woke up not feeling well at all. So, Darren took Mom and Jesse to a local park for a few hours while I rested at home. Around noon, they returned home. I felt a little better, so I went with then to the USS Yorktown. Not only can you tour the Yorktown, you can also go on a submarine, a coast guard boat, and a destroyer. We started on the submarine, then went to the destroyer and coast guard boat.


The deck of all of the boats offered a great view of the Charleston Harbor. From the flight deck of the USS Yorktown, you can even see the Sullivan's Island Lighthouse. After touring the three smaller vessels, we ate a quick snack at the Yorktown snack bar. Then, we started our tour of the aircraft carrier. There are 6 walking tours you can go on. We did not do them all. My favorite was the flight deck. There were around 10 planes out on the deck for yout to see. You couldn't get in any of them. However, there was a plane down near the snack bar that was avilable for you to sit in the cockpit. That was pretty neat. I do not recommend going to the USS Yorktown when it is hot. We were sweltering. Go in fall or winter. Here are a few more pictures from our visit to the USS Yorktown:







Saturday evening, I cooked chicken tacos. We watched Smokin' Aces while Jesse played with her friends again. We woke up on Mother's Day and had breakfast out. We hung around the house until 11am, at which time Mom and Jesse headed for home. It was so great to see them. I can't wait until they come back and we can show them more wonderful parts of our new city.

A Sunday afternoon ride on the Ashley River Bikeway

On Sunday afternoon, we headed out for our first real ride on our new bikes. We went to the Ashley River Bikeway, which is a 2.5 mile each way paved path. We weren't sure how we'd do, so we picked a shorter path to start with. It was much easier than I thought and know I know we can definatley handle something harder!


We saw a lot of wildlife on the path, the first of which was this giant turtle that was laying right in the middle of the path. Mostly, we sae birds and quite a few babies! here's some pictures of the different birds we saw.













There was so much wildlife everywhere! I was really quite suprised because it seemed like such an urban trail!


Right at the turn-around point on the ride, we also saw this crazy squirrel. Overall, we had a really fun time and I can't wait to get out and ride some more!

Saturday Evening in Dowtown Charleston

Saturday, Darren had to work until 4pm. When he got home, he found that our Entertainment book had came in the mail. So, we decided to head to Downtown Charleston to check out one of the restaurants in the book. Near where we parked, we found a great park called Waterfront Park. We walked around there for a bit before heading for dinner. The park has two beautiful fountains, a pier, and offers great views of the harbor. You can see the USS Yorktown very well form here. There was a bride and groom having pictures taken when we first arrived. It looked like such a beautiful backdrop for a wedding.



After walking around for a bit, we headed for dinner... only to find the place we had planned on going has closed down. So, we headed for Noisy Oyster on Market Street- mainly because we knew where it was and we had seen that it was also in the book. We each enjoyed some flounder and shrimp. Yummy! After dinner, we walked around some more, inlcuding a walk back through Waterfront Park.



We walked out on the pier and watched the boats for a while. The boat in the picture is one that we saw. I liked this boat a lot. As we were leaving the pier, Darren saw a girl he works with who was all dressed up for her prom. I guess they were having it somewhere near the park as we saw many prom-goers scattered about. I'll leave you with some pictures of the flowers that I saw as we walked around the city. They were so richly colored and beautiful!

Fort Dorchester

Tuesday afternoon, Darren and I visited the Colonel Dorchester State Historic Site. It's about 1 mile form our house. It is pretty small, but very nice. The picture above is the fort. It is situated right on the river. There are also ruins of an old church and a graveyard. There are several picnic tables to eat at. That's about it. It's a very peaceful area that I suspect doesn't get too busy. There is a nice shade throughout the park. The park office is open from 11am- noon each day.




This is a little lizard we saw while walking around. He saw on a fence that was around what I think is a dig site. They're still uncovering many things at this site. They have some of the things they've found in displays outside the office. This is a great place to visit. And, it's included on the parks pass we got at Charles Towne Landing :)

Finished Knitting Projects

I told myself that I had to finish at least SOME of the knitting projects I'd started before I could play with any of the fun new yarn my mom is bringing me next weekend. Most of my half-done projects are a result of knitting at my old job at the Gwinnett Arena. Above is finished scarf #1, which was made from a simple drop stitch pattern knitted only in garter stitch.




Here is finished scarf #2. Same pattern, just knit with a very different yarn. I really love this pattern. It's quite simple, yet I've always been very pleased with the results. It's not hard, so I really don't have to think too much :) Plus, I can vary the knitted rows in between the drop stitches for a bit of a different look.

Sunday Adventures

On Sunday, Darren and visited a church in Summerville called Seacoast Church. It was nice and the pastor was funny, but I don't think it is the church we will choose to go to. For one, the pastor is at another church and the message is fed onto a large screen. So, there's no actual pastor ofr you to look at in person, which I found odd. Then, I didn't feel that there was much of an opportunity to meet anyone, which is ine big reason we want to get involved in church. So, next week we will try somewhere else.

After church, we went to Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site. We got a Parks Passport, so we can go to all the state parks and historic sites we want to for a year. The turtle pixtured above was one the animals we saw while there. We went on an animal walk there. They have a trail that leads through a sort of outdoor zoo. The first stop was the shore birds, where we saw pelicans and other birds I can't identify.


It smelled bad, but the birds were beautiful. After that, we to the otters... where I realized I hadn't charged the camera batteries and they died :( So, we enjoyed many other animals (bears, bison, elk, puma, etc.), but I have no pictures to show you. We'll go back and next time I will have fully charged batteries! Anyhow, as we were heading back down the trail, I caught my foot in a hole in the pavement and fell. I have a nice big bruise on the palm of my hand and my knee. Needless to say, after falling and having no camera, I was ready to go. Not to mention, I think it was the hottest day we've had yet. Anyhow, we found a great place we can't wait to visit again!

H2

Last Thursday, I tried once again to put a harness and leash on H2. She really does not like this! The picture above is her trying to get it off. Here's a few more pictures...





Friday, I took a few shots of her sitting in one of her favorite places- beside the open sliding glass door. She likes to look out the screen and see the bugs, birds, squirrels, and occasional lizard that crawls across the porch. I think the breeze also feels good on her long black fur.