Old homes

Here are some old homes close to the Battery.

Old Episcopal Church

On our journey through the city, we stopped at the Episcopal Church. This church was old and the pews were walled in for each family. Very intriguing! The balcony was closed to the public but had a beautiful organ! Outside was a church yard displaying many old headstones. Unfortunately, the rain and weather over time erased or faded many of the names!

Poogan's Porch

Celebrating the date of our engagement four years ago, we went to our favorite downtown restaurant Poogan's Porch for lunch.

Poogan was a dog that used to sit on the porch while the contractors were fixing up the old house that now is famous for the delicious meals! The waitress told us that some believe the house is haunted by the old owner, but since we have heard so many "haunted" stories around Charleston, we did not put much weight in this. Lunch was divine and was a great way to start the day downtown. We highly recommend this restaurant if you are ever in town.

Iron gates and windows

Randy and I really have enjoyed the iron work in the French Quarter. It blends beauty with function. Window into a house yard.Gate for driveway.
Guard for a basement window.

Gates into a yard and a church.
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She sits up! All by herself!

Right around Christmas we noticed Sabrina sitting up all by herself.

We went for a walk around Charleston and Sabrina got a little cold, so it was good we had a sweatshirt for her. A little big, but at least it did the job!

Christmas Week '09

Hi everyone, this is Randy typing here - I have this week off, and I thought I'd give this blog stuff a try, so bear with me. Well, first of all we had a great Christmas (I think Julie told you all about that on a previous entry). But did she mention the earrings? Please see attached picture, and ask her about them when you talk to her next.

Me? I got the Beatles on CD (score!) Anyway, after the big day had passed we drove north for about 100 miles north to a town called Myrtle Beach. A place with a long beach to walk (see pics), peppered with hot dog stands, donut shops, as well as plenty of miniature golf.

We're going back in the spring, not for their food, but for the area's state park which will give us a chance to do some hiking as well as see some birds, indigenous plants, and a semi private beach - everything the Northwesterners crave. We did have some fun on the main part of Mrytle Beach as it was not too crowded, but the temp was only about 58 F. Sabrina wore her nice wool hat, and her nice warm fleece jammies.

I know we put her in these types of suits a lot, but she doesn't seem to mind, plus she doesn't have socks to pull off.

Today (Tues) we went to downtown Charleston, and had one of the best times ever. Too bad we didn't bring the camera. We went to the "Exchange Building, and Provost Dungeon" which is one of THE main historical buildings on the east coast. A few highlights: it had an actual dungeon which held 49 pirates all at one time prior to their execution in the battery down the street from this building in 1718. Many years later this building had men ratifying the US Constitution in it, and still later, Brittish troops occupied it during the Rev. War. Also, George W. spent quite a bit of time there one weekend during his tour of SC in 1791. By the way, the dungeon/cellar was very dark and Sabrina decided to seize the moment and immediately took a nap (to the dismay of the tour guide.)

After that we meandered down the Charleston residential streets admiring the houses, and walked into a number of art galleries. During a visit to one gallery we found out this city has a quarterly "art walk" in which all the galleries stay open until 8pm on one Friday night every three months for people to stop by and add local paintings to their wish list. We'll be back...

Well that's about all for now. Julie told me today that I had accidentally deleted the first picture from our camera that showed Sabrina sitting (after getting there all by herself), so stay tuned for another pic just like it coming to this blog shortly.

rc

Book lover

Sabrina is drawn to books! She loves them. This morning she could not decide which book to read and traveled between them.

Cool toy

This morning the toy box was full of surprises. Sabrina tipped it to find some new toys from family. The ball popping machine was particularly interesting.

A good but quiet day

We had a great Christmas! It was quiet but nice. Randy had a lot of quality time with Sabrina during the day! He watched some football and she took a nap next to him on the couch.

Merry Christmas!

Peek a Boo movie

New car

After hours of negotiations on Saturday, we purchased a new Honda Accord. The old Honda will become Julie and Sabrina's wheels.

Christmas scenes

Our decorations are sparse, but the little pink one in the blanket is precious!

Reading with Dad

Randy read a library book with Sabrina.

Peek a Boo Photos

Sabrina's new past time is to play Peek A Boo with blankets or sheets. Here are the photos.

Motivated by thirst

Sabrina invents a way...sort of an arm drag to get to some water.

Fisher Price Nativity!

Grandma Joyce sent Sabrina a Fisher Price Nativity and Sabrina loves it. This morning when we were opening the box, she crawled into it to retrieve people. Then she demonstrated that she knew the food cart was for eating! Bringing forth her best imitation of Godzilla, she wiped out Bethleham. First she made and earthquake dump the people out of stable and then she swept them with her arm and then rolled on them! Pretty funny.

Earthquake in Bethleham!

Peek a Boo

Sabrina had a couple of fun steps that were noted today. This morning I was making clacking noises with my tongue clicking in my mouth. She tried to copy me and would gently click her tongue and end with her tongue sticking out. The other highly noted fun step was her ability to play Peek a Boo! She likes to be on the master bed while I am putting on fresh sheets. The game Peek A Boo has been played for the last month or so, but today she moved the sheet down and did the peeking! Then she laughed and laughed! Who can not laugh with her! When I went to get the camera, I found it had a dead battery! Major bummer. Hope to get it on film one of these days.

Fun with Dad

Sabrina loves her dad. She lights up when he comes home and they have fun together doing the every day tasks of exercising and feeding. She loves rooting for the Beavers which involves jumping and laughing! Even eating rice cereal is more fun when Randy gives her the spoonfuls.