Hilton Head Beach Run

  Sabrina takes off running down the beach.

 

The day after Christmas we decided to go for a drive to Hilton Head in a quest for a t-shirt.   When we left Savannah, it was raining and cold and the weather was just not really nice even if it was sort of warm.   To our surprise, after lunch a sun break came just in time for our visit to the beach (which we had not planned and did not have appropriate beach clothing as is shown by Sabrina's dress)

Once she discovered the wide open beach, she was off running and there was no catching her unless she stopped to build a sandcastle or pick up a shell.

Posing by a castle which did not make it into the photo.

Chasing birds.

 

For an hour, she ran full tilt on the beach and then napped in the car on the way home.

Puzzle Girl

When Sabrina isn't wearing her Rapunzel costume and playing with her princess dolls, she enjoys doing puzzles.   

She loves all sorts and styles of puzzles.   Some she likes to do herself and others she likes to have company!   Definitely, shape placement and finding hidden shapes are some of her strengths.   

Pears, Rapunzel and Rescue Missions

Sabrina's first opened gift was from her cousin which was a resue helicoptor that lights up and makes rescue copter noises.   She loved hovering all over the living room and even had Rapunzel and her chameleon piloting the missions to rescue others all over the living room!  

Modeling a new dress and aligator slippers while showing how strong a little girl can be!

 

The helicoptor:  the perfect gift for the entire family!   Everyone has had a chance to play with the coptor as Sabrina likes to share.

 

 

Rapunzel and Prince Charming

Rapunzel with Prince Charming(Daddy) dancing by the tree on Christmas Eve.

The spin before the dip.

Christmas morning hugging her stocking before seeing what was inside.

The giraffe was named "Daddy" after Rapunzel's hero.

Sunday Sundays

The Sunday before Christmas we decided to go to Leopolds for Sundays.   Reputed to be the best old ice cream in town, we definitely had a treat!

 

Walking off the ice cream treat we stopped by the huge fire bell named Old Duke.   This bell was used to alert the fire station across the city about local fires.  Townspeople would ring the fire bell if they spotted smoke within the town which would alert the firemen.

 

Practicing letter recognition.   Sabrina has flipped a switch with her letter recognition and is pointing out letters everywhere around her, even those on grave stones.

Pizza Cookies

Lately, Sabrina has shown an interest in cooking.   A couple of mornings she has insisted on making scrambled eggs where she cracks the eggs and mixes in the milk!   Recently we made chocolate chip/ oatmeal cookies where she mixed the batter with the big spoon.   Then she had smooshed some of the dough on to the counter and insisted they were pizza cookies.   Oh, the imagination!

Forsyth Park

Family photo near Forsyth Park.

 

Monument honoring Civil War soldiers.

In the background is the outdoor stage with fountains.

Sabrina's favorite:   the park with hours of playing opportunities.

 

 

Since moving to Pooler, Georgia, our outings have involved lots of walking and playing at parks.  Last Sunday we went to Forsyth Park in downtown Savannah.and found both a huge playground for Sabrina, but also some nice statues and fountains.    One man offered to take our picture and then afterwards tried to sell us a palmetto rose!   Now we are savy to a possible sales pitch.   Near the park was a huge outdoor amphitheater with water fountains.   It will be interesting to see how this stage transforms during the Spring and Summer months.  

A Tale of Two Trees

This year, being away from our home and belongings, we have been blessed by the generousity of friends and strangers.   One friend back home has continually been mailing little things to decorate or add to our Christmas, especially for Sabrina.    The first item sent was a paper tree with sticker ornaments.   Sabrina decorated this tree with help from Grandma Judy and Mom.   It was the first item on our walls to break up all the yellow paint.   

Paper tree sent by the Rawie Family!   Very fun!

 

Sabrina decorating the loaned tree.

To our surprise, a lady who works in the office at our apartment, loaned us her seven foot artificial tree with some ornaments as she will be out of town until New Years.   This was super fun for Sabrina to decorate and adds lots of Christmas sparkle to our apartment.    Amazing how little lights on a tree can lift spirits at the holidays.

Wilbur

No!  Wilbur is not a pig!   He is a very, very fat duck who lives under Oglethorpe dock on a lake behind our apartment.   We think everyone feeds him and we are included in the "everyone" as it has become an afternoon ritual.   First we walk down to the end of the path and then work our way down the lake path to Wilbur's dock.   He loves bread crust which delights Sabrina!   In fact, she declared yesterday that Wilbur was her duck.   Now this should not be a surprise because along with Wilbur, Papa's dog, Annie, is also her dock....and the little kitty in the parking lot and any other animal she can declare is hers!  

Case of mistaken identity

Since we have been here, several boxes have been delivered.   Some have been sent to us with items from home and others have been gifts sent for Christmas.   So when when the loud four knocks came yesterday and I looked through the peephole and saw a man in a brown uniform, I just assumed he was a UPS driver as was the case the day before.   To my surrprise, once I opened the door I discovered a state policeman with an arrest warrent!   He was looking for a gal named Bonnie.   Thank goodness my name is not even close to Bonnie.   So, I went to get my driver's license to proove my identity.   Once I handed him my identification, the second officer who was in hiding off to the side appeared.   Just like on tv shows.   The entire scene looked like a clip from NCIS!  

Tale of Three Parks

The climbing wall!

This weekend the theme was "parks".   Fridy we went to Forsythe Park in Savannah and not only saw the great monuments but also found the best climbing wall, slide and swing park in the downtown area.   Sabrina litterally climbed the wall-went down the slide for hours!   Occaisionally, a swing would take place just for variety.   Saturday, we found a nice park about a mile down from us which has a climbing wall and slide.   Sunday, we walked to the neighboring apartment and found a very small play structure with a slide and bars to climb.   Life is good now that we have parks steaked out!

Got Ants in My Pants and I Need to Dance!

Saturday, in the tradition of exploring we started when we lived in Charleston we decided to drive up to Old Sheldon Church ruins.   These actually are not in Georgia but are in the lower section of South Carolina.  The history and architecture of some of the buildings around this part of the country are amazing!   The Old Sheldon Church was originally burned during the Revolutionary War and then rebuilt.   It stood and was used for about forty years until it was burned again by Sherman during the Civil War.    This time it would not be rebuilt and has been kept as a ruin.   Its fame now is that is the most photographed ruin in the area where wedding photos and family pictures are taken on the grounds.    Even film makers use the beautiful ruins in their films.   The Patriot is rumored to have used the church in its film but I will have to rent it to verify this rumor.
While we walked around the church, Sabrina did her favorite thing: climbed trees.   The first one was a small tree like the one in our front yard in Oregon.   She really enjoyed the limb she perched herself on for a long time.   Unfortunately, we moved to the back of the church and she had to relocate.   The new branch looked perfect but had a crack in the branch.   As she sat down on the branch she disturbed a nest of fire ants which did not like her on their home and proceeded to go up her skort and shirt and bite.   Immediately, she sprung off the branch screaming and trying to get the ants off of her.   The solution was a strip down clothing shake out to make sure that all the ants were off of her.   A painful lesson for sure but now I think she understands when we tell her to give wildlife some space.
On the way home from Sheldon Church we watched a Civil War battle reinactment.   The soldiers and their wives were dressed in period costumes and even camped on site.   The only issue we had with the reinactment was the loudness of the firing of the guns and cannons.  Sabrina plugged her ears with her hands and put a blanket over her head.    Overall, it was interesting to see the period costumes and get a visual at how the soldiers lined up to go to battle. 

The Sun Woke Up!

Last Thursday's flight went remarkably well considering we had three connecting flights and had to manage in Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C.!   When we left Corvallis it was 3:45am and Sabrina noted it was dark outside and was not sure she wanted to go anywhere!  We encouraged her along with the enticing words, "Daddy will be picking us up in Savannah!"   This usually brought a spring in her step and she would cooperate.   On the plane she slept as we were all exhausted from the early morning.   During the leg between Portland and DC she looked out the window and proclaimed ," The sun woke up!"   Later, during the flight from DC to Savannah I expected to hear, "The sun went to bed!" but I didn't as she was fast asleep.

A new "Godfather" line

Not being a great repeater of movie lines, I don't remember the exact lines to the movie "The Godfather".   In "You've Got Mail", the phrase "Take it to the mattresses" is used several times.   Other than that, my exposure is limited.
  Sabrina rewrote one line today as we were going through toys.   "Take the cockroach, leave the moose!" was her line.   This line was ironic as we are moving to Georgia for a little bit and leaving the Pacific Northwest where the Mariner Moose is the mascot!   So, we are packing Ringo the plastic toy cockroach and leaving the Mariner Moo se behind.

Christmas Tree/ Ginger Bread decorating party

This year the family great big tree (13 feet) artificial tree decorating party was early so Sabrina could participate.    The morning started with the unboxing and stacking of the tree to form its 13 feet resting place.   Unlike former years, most of the lights would not turn on and had to be checked and rechecked by the Light Engineers (aka. Mark and John).   Then there was the fluffing of the branches before the ornaments could be placed.  
Sabrina and her cousin had a fun time climbing the ladders and placing ornaments.   It happens every year:  ornament concentration and alternating bald spots.   So the job of the adult children was to fill in the bald spots and shift things to add a little balance to the tree.    After the initial decorating time, ornaments were placed between the Civil War plays and time-outs, ginger bread house making, Spanish lessons via i-pod, decorating the exterior of the house with lights and swags.

The perfect placement!  (Rapunzel on the ladder!  We love this costume and wear it all the time!)

Shot taken in surprise from above.

Eating and decorating the ginger bread house.

Modeling Uncle Mark's glasses.

After dinner, there were some card games played where Sabrina tried on some reading glasses.   Again, another action packed family day!

Grandpa with the Grandkids

Early Fall 2012 on Grandpa's deck with Annie.  

Thanksgiving 2012

We have so much to be thankful this year.  However, it was a hard Thanksgiving day with Randy in Savannah away from family and friends.   Thankfully, he received the care package from home and was able to have chicken curry for his Thanksgiving meal as he watched movies and football.

In Corvallis, Julie and Sabrina joined grandparents, uncles and a cousin for Thanksgiving dinner.   Before dinner, the cousins had their bodies traced with markers and decorated them on newsprint.    After dinner, there was some piano time on Grandpa's piano and running around.   The day ended with battery operated race cars that would light up, roar, and honk as they had buttons pushed.   Sabrina really liked these and borrowed them from her cousin.   One was tucked under her pillow as she crashed in to bed to sleep that night.

The Wall of Carver

This summer's huge job entailed building a larger retaining wall out of landscaping blocks that bordered the length of house all the way to the property boundary.   At its highest point, the wall is four feet above ground but one foot under ground.    We discovered old lines to the old well that had to be removed as well as tree stumps.    Something like twelve loads of fill were brought in to the back yard and put down behind the wall to bring the previous slope to be a level area for grass.

The slope which was so steep that we would slip weed eating the grass every year.

Another view of the original slope.

The original brick patio before the wall project.

The discovered electrical wire to the old pump to the house.

Looking down after the wall is put in at the irrigation lines and dirt.

Another top down view of the irrigation lines and new soil.

Once the grass was planted, the real work of keeping the neighborhood deer and turkeys from pulling out the seeds started.   At one point, the deer had jumped the temporary fence and we counted ten deer grazing on the new lawn.   Needless to say, we can verify the effectiveness and value of Scarecrow motion sprinklers that spray the deer or turkeys when they even try to get near the wall!   They literall saved our new project!

Random Fall Photos

Sabrina has been increasingly been interested in printed words.   As a former reading teacher, Julie has enjoyed identifying early literacy skills as they are developing.    This September, Sabrina would retell stories.   Now the big craze is identifying letters on the comic page of the paper.   She also knows the names of all her favorite comics and points out the "Ss for Sabrina".  

The other crazy stage is the OSU Cheerleader stage.   While we were watching the Beaver games, Sabrina was studying the cheerleaders.   When her best friend gave her a cheering outfit all the pieces came together and the jumping and twirling and hair flipping all came into motion.   Oye!   For a solid week any time she wanted to jump on her trampoline, she had to put on her cheering outfit!   Go Beavers!
The last noted funny stage is the sleep anywhere stage.    For about two weeks, she would hop around the house in her sleeping bag and rest on stairs, kitchen window, middle of floor or in the car.   Most often her sleeping bag had George, the giraffe or the Disney princesses inside.    When going to bed at night the conversations between these figures can often be heard and it is amazing how the conversations sound like replays from our day.    All I can say is that we need to be careful what we say as it might be repeated as a conversation with princess dolls and who knows what might be repeated.

The first wedding

As a family we went to Julie's cousins wedding which was Sabrina's first wedding.   She loved it!   The flowers, the Princess aka:  the Bride and the dancing were fabulous!   Rachel, the bride, had a wonderful reception with a photo booth with props and a nice reception full of dancing.   Sabrina didn't wait for others but twirled on the dance floor and then grabbed Papa as her dance partner for the evening.