South Carolina recap

OK, this post is late, and probably too detailed -- but I was trying to capture it all. It was such a fun trip!

Sunday, July 4 - the departure

We took off for South Carolina sometime around 4 p.m., drove till about 6:30, stopped for dinner at a McDonald's that also had a PlayPlace (woohoo!) and enjoyed a long, leisurely stop. Matt had a little trouble settling in to sleep , but after about 20 minutes or so of fussing :(, he was down for the count. Ben stayed awake till 10 or even later, and he, Grandma Zoe, and I enjoyed about eight different fireworks shows. It was so cool to drive right underneath them! Both boys woke up and SCREAMED around 2 a.m. when we stopped for gas and to switch drivers. The bright lights of the gas station are not a sleeping child's friend, it seems. Matt went back to sleep; Ben did not. We pulled into Grandma Zoe's driveway around 5:15 in the morning. Matt nursed well and went to sleep. Ben laid in his wicked awesome trundle bed with Toy Story sheets and a couple of books, and eventually joined the ranks of the sleepers in the house.

Monday, July 5

Grandma Zoe and Mommy were in a fog. We opted to lay low this day and just kind of make it through. I forced myself to get up, and wake Matt up, around 8 so we'd have a regular sort of day nap-wise. So far, so good. Ben had a BLAST in Grandma Zoe's little blow-up kiddie pool and MAN IT WAS HOT. I was actually having trouble breathing through all that humidity. Thank goodness for air conditioning! Oh, and Matt woke up with his fifth tooth! We went to Chick-fil-A for dinner, yum.

Tuesday, July 6

We headed toward GG's house and hit a place called Saluda Shoals. They have lots of walking trails, a boat launch, picnicking areas, a playground, and last but not least - a spray park. Matt was delightfully content just sitting in his side of the double stroller, hanging out with GG. We headed back to GG's house for lunch and naps, and began our two-week obsession with Jell-O blocks.

Wednesday, July 7

Ben said he loved me, unprompted, I think for the first time. He often says, "I love you, too," when I tell him I love him, but this time I had scooped him up and said something about how much fun we were having, and how I think he's so great, and he hugged me around the neck and said, "I love you, Mommy." SO sweet. I love him, too. :) Grandma Zoe had to work this day, so we kind of lounged around the house. More time in the kiddie pool, etc. I'm also fairly sure we made lime Jell-O blocks this time.

Thursday, July 8

This date will go down in infamy. Grandma Zoe had called GG and asked her to come over and visit with us, seeing how she had to work. GG happily obliged (who wouldn't want to hang out with her great-grandchildren?), and it turns out it was really, really good that she did. Ben was loving sitting in her lap, and letting her read book after book after book. I had just said, "OK, Ben, pick out one more book for GG to read and then we're going to order a pizza!" He ran over to the stack of books, which were piled on top of one of Grandma Zoe's stackable drawers of craft supplies, and somehow lost his footing. He fell, and his right knee was sliced open on the edge of the metal rolling frame under the plastic drawers. The rest was kind of surreal: Ben said, "I bumped my knee, Mommy! Give it a kiss!" ...and when I went over to kiss it (and he was honestly in no distress; I think the slice was quick and painless!), I groaned inwardly. I knew right away that it absolutely had to have stitches. Sigh. Thankfully, Grampy was available via cell phone to direct me to the first aid kit, the local urgent care, and to just generally untangle the web my brain had weaved. I got out a few jars of baby food for Matt, told GG when to feed him, asked her to pack me some books, buckled Ben into her car, and we were off. The ladies at Urgent Care laughed that I had a half a library of books with me, but we read almost every single one, and some twice. Note to future mothers-of-children-being-stitched: the papoose board they wrap them in is way worse than the stitches. Five stitches plus one inside. Poor guy.

Friday, July 9

Since we were trying pretty hard to keep Ben out of the kiddie pool what with his brand-new stitches and all, Grandma Zoe bought a 20-lb. bag of rice and dumped it into a ginormous plastic tub. She also filled said tub with boyhood treasures like miniature tractors and cars and trucks. Ben happily spilled rice all over the floor on two levels of the house. He didn't seem to be held back by those stitches at ALL! Matt kind of liked the rice, too... sigh.

Saturday, July 10

Can't remember. Suffice it to say that we had fun and we ate Jell-O blocks.

Sunday, July 11

We went to Grampy and Grandma Zoe's church, and Ben surprised me by handling the strange church nursery *pretty* well. He did scream at the top of his lungs for a second or two, but honestly? By the time I was out of his sight (and sneaking a peak through the two-way mirror windows), he was f-i-n-e. I'm glad I peeked.

Monday, July 12

We went to the Riverbanks Zoo today! This is always a must-do when we visit South Carolina. Word has it, this Zoo is among the top ten in the nation. By far the favorite parts are the few animals you get to feed! We fed the lorikeets last year, and Ben did enjoy it ...but THIS year, holy man. We stopped to see them first, and shortly after the zoo opened, so those birds were HUNGRY. And um, a bit aggressive. I had two on my head at one point. I'll have to do a whole lorikeet post to do it justice. We also fed some goats, and Chrissy, the 10-year old giraffe. Matt even fed her! We went back to GG's house for lunch and naps and who should show up at her door but Daddy Dearest....! Grampy and Daddy had plotted and planned this surprise rendez-vous, something that involved cashing in personal time (Josh) and frequent flyer miles (Grampy). It was a great surprise! Matt lit up when he saw Josh, and Ben ran right over to give him a big hug.

Tuesday, July 13

Grandma Zoe had to work, so Grampy took us to Swan Lake, another repeat attraction. It was swelteringly hot, though, so we didn't go anywhere near all the way around the thing. We saw a zillion swans, ducks, and a handful of turtles, too. Ben ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran (get the picture?) and ran some more -- it was great. His sweet little cheeks were bright pink and his head wet with sweat, and nothing was holding him back. I loved just running back and forth with him. I hope he never loses that joy of running! We cut our walk quite short and climbed back into Grampy's truck and headed home. Ben loved drawing on this huge white board (and, strange to note, he isn't really left-handed.... hmmm).

Wednesday, July 14

Grampy flew off to Connecticut, and I think we went back to Saluda Shoals on this day. Josh got Ben running in and around and through the water at the spray park, and of course we revisited the playground. We brought a sheet for Matt to crawl around on. He appreciated the suggestion, but preferred to crawl all over and eat grass, thank you very much. He and Ben slid down the slides together quite a few times, and it was so cute to see Ben hanging on to his little brother so tightly!

Thursday, July 15

Grandma Zoe worked this day. Matt and I picked up GG and met Grandma Zoe for dinner. Matt ate a good part of a meatball sub at Subway. Weird, I know. We then wowed all of Grandma Zoe's co-workers with Matt's cuteness. Ben was napping when we left, so he stayed home with Josh to order pizza and wait for the cable guy.

Friday, July 16

Grandma Zoe got up early and took Josh to the airport to head home. He was up around 6:30 in the morning and worked a 12-hour overnight that night! Sweet Daddy.

Saturday, July 17

Grampy flew to Binghamton early in the morning to attend the funeral of his uncle and be on hand to help Grandma Zoe with the drive back to SC. Grandma Zoe worked in the morning, and GG came over to spend a little more time with the boys and me. She passed most of the morning reading books to Ben. We had lunch together and I packed and packed. During the boys' naps, we packed up the car, and when Grandma Zoe got home and Ben and Matt woke up - we were off! We kept a lookout for another McDonald's with a PlayPlace (though, unfortunately, the sign doesn't designate which ones have rotten kids who growl at toddler boys) and made a good long stop. We gassed up and got back on the road.

Sunday, July 18

Home at last around 4 in the morning. The boys went right down in their beds, thank goodness. I crashed into bed and didn't wake up till 8:49! The little guys let us all sleep in a bit. Meema and Papa and Auntie Rah-Rah rescued me and kept the boys for most of the day so I could catch up on sleep.

We will definitely be making this trip again!