Isle of Palms

For my family's beach trip this year, we decided to go somewhere different than normal.  Alex got a boat this past fall, and he was itching for us to go to a beach where there is a lot of stuff to do on the boat.  So we decided on Isle of Palms, SC.

We stayed in a beautiful home in Wild Dunes on the Intracoastal Waterway, and the view was fantastic!

We got there for Father's Day, so we celebrated by riding the boat to one of the restaurants on Shem Creek.  (I happened to be reading Shem Creek by Dorthea Benton Frank at the time, so I was excited to see this area in person.)

We also spent a day in Charleston.  On the way, we stopped at the U.S.S. Yorktown in Mount Pleasant, and Jason, Sims, Alex and Isla took a short tour of the aircraft carrier.

I think that this may have been the highlight of the entire trip for Sims!  He keeps talking about it and the planes that they saw.  He and Jason have even starting watching short documentaries on the U.S.S. Yorktown, and Sims loves them!

Jason and Sims, also, got to fish a bit on our dock.  The only things they caught were baby sharks!  That was pretty exciting though.  Needless to say, we didn't do any swimming off the dock.

We spent the rest of the week enjoying the boat and the beach.  We rode the boat to Capers Island and Bulls Island.  And we got to see a Horseshoe crab, which I had never seen alive in the wild before.

Merritt rode on the boat for the first time and had her first sippy cup.  She was not a fan of the life preserver, but who would be?  The thing is massive for such a little baby.  We quickly learned that as long as she had her sippy cup of water, she was happy.  She would just close her eyes and take a little snooze.

It was a great week.  It had been many years since I had been down in the lowcountry, and I had forgotten how much I love it there.  I see more trips there in our future!

Interview with Sims - Age 5

The other night I interviewed Sims with the same questions that I have asked in the past (here and here) and a couple of new ones.  Here it goes:

Maggie: What is your name?
Sims: Sims.

Maggie: How old are you?
Sims: 5.

Maggie: What color is your hair?
Sims: White.

Maggie: What color are your eyes?
Sims: I don't know.  I can't see them.

Maggie: What is your favorite food?
Sims: Grilled cheeses.

Maggie: What is your favorite song?
Sims: E-I-Yo. (I assume he was referring to this.)

Maggie: What is your favorite treat?
Sims: Candy and ice cream and pie and marshmallows and sweet potatoes.

Maggie: What is your favorite animal?
Sims: Giraffes.  Is that your favorite animal?

Maggie: What is your favorite book?
Sims: I don't know.  Dusty? (Referring to one of his books based on the Planes movie.)

Maggie: What is your favorite store?
Sims: Toy store. Our favorite toy store.

Maggie: What do you like to do with Daddy?
Sims: Go to the park.

Maggie: What do you like to do with Mama?
Sims: Go to our favorite toy store.

Maggie: Who are your friends?
Sims: Macy, Emily, Emre, Ela, Talia, Merritt and Graham (our cat).

Maggie: What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Sims: Play golf on a real golf course.

Maggie: What is your favorite thing to play inside?
Sims: Games like Ruckus.

Maggie: What is your favorite bedtime story?
Sims: All of them.

Maggie: What is your favorite thing to do when you wake up?
Sims: Eat chocolate cereal.

Maggie: What is your favorite shirt?
Sims: This shirt (pointing to the Wells Fargo Championship shirt that he was wearing.)

Maggie: What are your favorite shoes?
Sims: My normal tennis shoes.  The ones that have the bright green stripes.

Maggie: What is your favorite snack?
Sims: Animal crackers and jelly beans.  (Seriously?  Jelly beans for a snack?  When did that happen?)

Maggie: What is your favorite way to help around the house?
Sims: Do chores.  That's the best thing, right?

Maggie: What is your favorite place to go?
Sims: To the toy store.  Our favorite toy store.

Maggie: What is your favorite toy?
Sims: Dusty and all of my planes and all my toys and my Legos and my small Legos.

Maggie: What is your favorite way to play with Merritt?
Sims: Give her her favorite monkey.

Maggie: What is your favorite color?
Sims: Green, blue and black.

Maggie: What is your favorite vegetable to eat?
Sims: Grape tomatoes.  (I don't think he has ever tried grape tomatoes.  We are growing some in our backyard, and he promised that he would try them when they are ripe.)

Pre-K Graduation

Last month, Sims graduated from Pre-K, and his school had a big graduation ceremony for his class.  He was adamant that Merritt needed to be there, so we got her out of her class for the ceremony.  (He loves his sister so much!) 

The kids wore graduation gowns and mortar boards, and they sang and danced.  It was great!  They sang "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades", Kool and the Gang's "Celebration", and "Wind Beneath My Wings".

Each child stood up in front of the large group and said what they want to be when they grow up.  I was so proud of how brave Sims was!  While some of the kids needed help because they just couldn't stand and talk in front of such a large crowd, Sims had no trouble at all.  He said, "My name is Sims, and when I grow up, I want to be a scuba diver because I like to go under the water."  He had told me the day before that he was going to say that he wanted to be a builder.  When I asked him afterward why he didn't say that, he said, "I want to be a lot of things."

It was such a cute and sweet ceremony.  It's hard to believe that he will be a Kindergartener next month!  He has been at the same school since he was 12 weeks old and has known some of his classmates since then, so this is a big change for him.  He's ready for it though, and he is so excited.  We are excited for him, too.

And boy, are we proud!