A "Winter" Walk

It has been mad cold and rainy here which has made us house-bound and a little stir crazy...that is until Sunday when the sun peeked out and heated it up to a normal South Carolina winter temperature of 65 degrees!  We knew that we had to make the most of it, so we got outside as much as possible.  We found a trail (The Chicken Loop off of Chicken log road!) that is only a three minute drive from our house.  It was perfect for walkin' with  broad paths and limited poisonous vegetation.  Even Edie got down and walked for a bit that is until everyone discovered large mud puddles.

BROAD PATHS

 Oscar found some exciting orange fungi!

 Edie found some exciting sticks!

 Navigating the mud puddles.

Showing off.

There was also some heated debate whether these were tiny pine trees or bryophytes.  They had root like structures but they also formed a nice carpet... Cast your votes!

Now we are six!

I mean, now Oscar is six! What a great birthday! He had no school on his birthday because of ice up north, so we opened presents in the morning and he got to play with them all day.

His elephant goes "toot!"

I explain the workings of his new camera, with classic mom face.

Classic Oscar and John faces here.

Personal computer OMZ!!

Two very careful excavators find gems.

And we have all been eating a delicious chocolate cake with strawberry frosting, hurray!

 I made a banner out of felt and glitter, and I think we will be able to use it forever! Oscar liked dancing with his elephant under it, and Edie wants to eat it, which is a real seal of approval.

Also it is very cold here, we keep finding the cats being adorable like this:

the fourth walk: Oconee State Park

The last day of Thanksgiving break, we tried to find a nice field to run around in. We found a field, but it was right next to a lake! No dice. This was in Oconee State Park outside Walhalla, just up the road from the Yellow Branch Falls path. The State Park requests that you pay a per-person fee! No dice. We went on just a little hike here, since there was no loop or particular destination. I decided to turn the train around after about 40 minutes, which worked out just right for everyone. There were, as always, only a few people on the trail with us. They all had off-leash dogs and said, "Oh, no, they're friendly!" when we stood aside and waited for them to pass, and I said, "But my kids are not friendly to dogs". It goes both ways, you see. And one woman's dog was wearing a shock collar! 

I don't know if we'll go back to this park with the kids. It looks like there is a waterfall a little farther on, but that would be too far to be fun for them. Anyway, they much prefer throwing leaf litter off a bridge.

The grocery store was full-up yesterday afternoon, and not because everyone had off for the national day of mourning. The cashier laughed when we suggested that, and said, no, it's the big snowstorm that's coming! And we laughed, because what kind of snow storm hits South Carolina? It should arrive some time this weekend, so I think it will be a while before we go on another walk.

We listened to the stories about Anansi the Spider on the way to the park, so Oscar had to prove to us he was bigger than biggest bamboo, just like Sneeeek.

And I leave you with this image. I put Edie in John's robot costume and she was having none of it! It was hard to get her out again, she was so sad.

SNEEEEEEEK!

The third walk: just kidding, it's a park

We found this place on Thanksgiving day. It's about ten minutes from our house, and it's surrounded by two baseball diamonds, a soccer field, and a short nature walk. We also went back on Friday and Saturday, because why not? On Friday it was very cold, and nobody had any mittens (except me), but Edie had kindly created a sock stockpile on the floor of the car. So everyone wore socks on their hands, which gave them great pleasure, and returned to the car still wearing them! A minor triumph! Also you might notice John's hat - it's a hat Edie got last year and it's John's current favorite. The pom-poms, you see.

And although I had forgotten socks, I did remember chocolates for the little bribes that keep things running smoothly.

Oscar in his Thanksgiving turkey costume, with feather headdress. 

Turkey feather? Nobody's saying.

Crazy nudibranch-type bug; very hard to photograph 

For his next trick, John will attempt the rubber bridge! Very scary! 

Peace of cake! Stairs for Edie? Not so much.

Oscar attempts the tire swing ladder:

Success!

Many swing options for John

 He is a pirate king!

Edie, brave turtle rider

In other news, Edie seems to have had an ear infection, and now that we're treating it properly she's started pointing at everything and is even saying "buh" and "guh", for "boy" and "girl". (Of course this is just a correlation but it's the kind of story parents have to tell themselves to move on with their lives.) So expect a few silly videos soon!