this is how you would look if you biked 20 miles today....

daddy, how does this thing work again? i'm thinking of biking to mother's morning out next week.

are you kidding me? i'm not tired at all!

john, the biking machine!!

ernesto is headed our way!

owen and caroline sitting in the hole we dug for them

you talking to me, mommy?

owen and caroline

my camera was a little cold!

i guess we will officially be christened as lowcountry residents tomorrow when ernesto comes to town. whether he will be a tropical storm or hurricane is yet to be seen, but i'm sure it will be interesting. john's dept is closed tomorrow so he'll be home with us. i've stocked up on water, canned goods, batteries, candles, etc. and made a big pot of soup today so we should be good to go. a friend and i took our kids to the beach today and she said they wouldn't evacuate even if it was a category 1 or 2 and she lives much farther inland than me. she's "experienced" with this kind of thing unlike myself. one time, they evacuated for one and spent 18 hours on the interstate trying to get to columbia. keep in mind, columbia is maybe 100 miles away!! talk about insanity. so, we'll let you know how it goes tomorrow with 'ole ernesto!
on a different note, john biked to work today. it's about 10 miles one way and he said he wasn't sure if it was worth it until he went over the bridge to downtown and saw dolphins playing in the water below. how many people get to see that on the way to work? he's going to be wiped out tonight after 20 miles of biking. only john!!! that's why i love him so much!
i've posted some pixs of our trip to the beach today with allison and owen...they're so much fun to hang out with!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

papa reading to sarah, luke and caroline

Happy Birthday to my dad!! Thanks for being the most wonderful father and papa in the world. We are so blessed by you, old man!!!

quotes of the week

we've had lots going on the past 2 weeks so i'm going to post about all of it with pixs sometime in the next few days. in the meantime, here are 2 quotes from my 4 year old niece, sarah....

aunt lauren: sarah, do you need to go poopy?
sarah: no, i only go on saturdays and its....(can't remember what day it is)
aunt lauren: it's wednesday
sarah: oh, well, i only go on sundays

the following conversation took place while me, my sister and our mom were getting the kids ready for bed and we thought somebody had a poopy diaper...

kristen (smelling luke): it's not a poopy, but it is.....
lauren: gaseous?
sarah: gaseous? that's a funny name! i think i'll name my baby gaseous

caroline's quote of the day

(getting a hot dog ready for dinner)

grammie: i know someone who likes ketchup!?
caroline: baby jesus

caroline's quote of the day

(the following was overhead while caroline was supposed to be taking a nap)

caroline: we did it, yea! lo hicimos, we did it! yea!

love and don't love

john and caroline at splash zone on james island
picture courtesy of allison and her awesome camera!

ten things i love about charleston...
1) being close to the beach
2) people are so nice
3) awesome restaurants - will take all 4 yrs to try them
4) fun stuff for kids - beach, children's museum, water parks, etc..
5) all the history of the city
6) our neighbors
7) wonderful new friends
8) water, water everywhere
9) my husband loves his job
10) beautiful weather

ten things i don't love about charleston...
1) being 6 hrs from our family
2) housing market - EXPENSIVE!
3) traffic
can't think of anything else!!!

fun weekend!

anthony, anna and emily dragun

musc radiation oncology (l-r) james, anthony, john and john

caroline and anna dragun

caroline and rafe aren't ready to leave

caroline, corey and rafe at the beach

caroline at kindermusik

we had such a fun weekend! friday, caroline finished up her week long kindermusik class and we went to lunch with emily, mandi (moms) and their kids, anna and rafe. that night, we ate at anchor line, the best and cheapest seafood in charleston, with mandi, hubby corey and rafe. after dinner, we drove down to folly beach and walked on the beach. rafe and caroline had a blast getting sand all over themselves and running around on the beach. it was awesome! caroline wanted to swim in the ocean, but we didn't have a bathing suit. she was confused why we would come and not swim!

saturday, we went to splash zone on james island (think white water scaled down very small) and ran into our friends allison and rob and their little boy owen. allison and i met at the water park and have hung out with the kids several times, but our husbands had never met. we enjoyed hanging out with them so much. they're a great family and owen is such a cutie pie. he and caroline held hands walking to and from lunch...so sweet! they will be in the same preschool together in the fall along with rafe so that's awesome for caroline.
saturday night, emily and anthony dragun (the chief resident in the radiational oncology dept) hosted a welcome party for us at their beautiful home on james island. they have got to be the sweetest people in the world! emily and anna were in kindermusik with us all last week so caroline and anna were already little friends. anthony blessed us with his barbecue skills, which are very impressive. the food was delicious along with emily's cornbread casserole, greens, apple slaw and peach trifle for dessert. yummy! i got to meet the other residens, james and john and get to know them better. we were just blessed by all the trouble anthony and emily went to and it made us again feel so thankful that the Lord has placed us here.
sunday, we visited another church, which we will not be going back to again. nothing awful about it, just not where we feel led. seemed a little too televangelist for us. ate at moe's at caroline's request and then went over to john's island and explored a little bit. we love just driving around here. it's so beautiful! tomorrow, caroline and i are meeting allison, owen, mandi and rafe at the children's museum, which is so cool. i'm so thankful for all the friends the Lord has already given me. He has been so faithful in that area.....

still love our ugandan neighbors

yesterday, susan (neighbor from uganda) came over while caroline was napping. we had such a great time talking and visiting. 2 more things that i think are great about uganda/africa...
1) fat women are considered beautiful (fat was susan's word of choice, not mine)
2) gaps in your teeth are considered beautiful
the teeth thing came up when susan saw that caroline has a gap in her front teeth from sucking her thumb. susan said she used to try to put her finger in between her front teeth to make a gap. how funny! she is so easy to talk to and so fun to be around. later, after john came home from work and we ate dinner, we decided to go swim in our neighborhood pool for the first time. we knocked on susan and raymond's door on our way and asked if they wanted to join us. raymond was tired from work so he took a nap, but susan and shannon came a little later. caroline was so cute. as soon as she saw shannon, she yelled "my friend, my friend!". shannon is such a beautiful little girl. she has gorgeous big brown eyes and is tall and skinny. i need to get a picture of all of them to post. it took a few minutes for shannon to warm up to the water, but after a while, she was having a blast. she's still working on her english so she didn't say a lot, but her smile spoke volumes. we played for a long time until it started getting dark and then walked back. caroline and shannon gave each other kisses goodbye. how sweet!!! can't wait to hang out with them again....

caroline's quote of the day

#1 - walking out of a very chilly barnes and noble

caroline: it's so hot, mommy!
mommy: it is hot, isn't it!
caroline: mommy, can you pease turn the air on?

#2 - standing outside on our screened porch looking at the pond

caroline: there's our riber, mommy
mommy: there it is, it never moves
caroline: we need a boat, mommy
mommy: you're right, we do
caroline: i'll tell daddy

**she may not look like daddy, but she thinks like him when it comes to water...loves anything and everything to do with it!

caroline's quote of the day

(the following was overhead while daddy was giving caroline a bath)

caroline: i pooted (giggling)
daddy: you did (said with pride)

**daddy and caroline's favorite and funniest conversations usually revolve around the word "poot" and "poopy"... i know you're shocked!

quote of the day

(in the car riding home as the sun is setting)

caroline: look mommy, there's the sun!
mommy: yeah, you're right, it is the sun
caroline: it's so petty
mommy: it is pretty
caroline: it's pink and lellow
mommy: yes it is
caroline: it goes round n' round like circle