Downtown

While Ryan was traveling, we had a girl's date downtown.  My mom and I took Tessa to lunch and then walked down to the river to feed the ducks.  I love walking our downtown, especially when it is not crowded.  We stopped at the Michelin store to see Bib, Ryan's "boss."  And we stopped in front of the Westin to sit a spell with Mr. Poinsett.     

The next week-end we went back downtown to Fall for Greenville.  One of my favorite events because it's all about sampling food from different restaurants.  Sweet potato fries, fried green tomatoes and crabcakes are always at the top of the list.  But this year we had a couple of new favorites, a lamb burger slider and a BLT with pimento cheese.  Tessa LOVED the pimento cheese.  My child really is a South Carolina native, which is a little hard for this 5th generation Texan to admit.  We had been sharing food all around but she wouldn't even let me hold her pimento cheese wrap.  The only time I even got a bite was when she came across a piece of tomato, then she would share by holding it up to my mouth and snatching it back before I ate too much.  Later I gave Tessa tickets to go buy another pimento cheese.  When it was her turn to order, the sweet lady at the counter said "I know you want a deep fried Oreo."  Um, no, actually she wants pimento cheese.  Too funny.    

Oktoberfest

Our little downtown does a fun Oktoberfest each year.  We danced to the polka band and posed for pictures.  A photo of us doing the chicken dance was even posted to the online newspaper, pretty funny.   We ate yummy food including peirogis which are actually Polish.  But, hey, Poland is right next to Germany.  They were good but I have to say my MIL's are much better.  It was a great way to spend a beautiful fall afternoon and get Ryan ready for his trip to Germany. 

Where Did September Go?

We have been busy, busy, busy!  Tessa is loving school and all of her activities and I am adjusting to this crazy new schedule.  I had quite the mental list going of things I would do while she has at school.  I was delusional!  Most days I find myself racing across town to not be the last mom in carpool line.  Punctuality is incredibly hard for me, and now I have so many opportunities to be late.  I am determined that Tessa will never be the last (second to last maybe, but not last) kid picked up at school.  We've had fun this month but I have hardly any pictures to show for it.  Tessa's art portfolio, on the other hand, is already bursting with precious school projects.  Maybe one of these days while she's at school I can scan some of them in and post them on the blog.  There I go again planning my "free" time.  

Baking with Momma   

The Three Musketeers

Neighbors

Apple Orchard

Labor Day is a traditional time for us to head to NC to pick apples at our favorite apple farm. Despite the dire weather forecast, this year was no exception.

It was misty on the top of the mountain and we had the sensation of walking through clouds.  We had the place mostly to ourselves and Tessa's first apple pick was Macintosh.  They are delicious, as were the Galas we also brought home.  Tessa asked if we could make pie like Snow White.  Note to self, Macintosh is not a good pie apple.  It is so sweet it turns to mush so we ended up with applesauce pie.  Tasty but not a traditional apple pie.         

No trip to the apple farm is complete without homemade apple doughnuts.  Tessa ate three all by herself! 

First Day of School

Ryan took the day off work to participate in the excitement and drama that is the first day of school.  I had held onto summer as long as I could, not returning from the beach until just the night before.  But now it was time to cross another parenting bridge and send Tessa to school.  Pre-school is a fun time of crafting and coloring, reading and singing, learning and socializing.  For Tessa that is.  For me it is a time of letting go a little bit more than I am ready to just yet.  But ready or not, the big day was here so I plastered on my fake smile and off we went. 

Tessa is going to school at our church which is wonderful on so many levels.  First of all, we already know most of the faculty.  Secondly, Tessa is familiar with the building and the playground.  And most importantly, I know that she is in a loving Christian atmosphere.  So why am I having such trouble with this milestone?  Because it means my baby is growing up and I just feel like the time is flying!  Sigh.  I managed to hold it together and act excited as we walked into her classroom.  She posed by the door for a picture, so cute.  Then she raced in to play with the dollhouse.  Apparently I was the only one having major anxiety issues.  Her very sweet teacher calmly shooed me and Ryan out of the room and that was it.  Had I really just dropped off my child at SCHOOL?!  I broke down in the parking lot and boo-hooed on Ryan's shoulder, thoughtful guy had even come prepared with tissues.  He he knows me so well.          

Of course, Tessa had a wonderful first day and loved going to school.  I'm grateful that one of us is doing well with the transition.  So now my days revolve around carpool lines, homework, dance, gymnastics, big girl playdates (the kind where mom doesn't stay) and a novel new thing called alone time.  I will get used to this new routine, eventually.     

The Beach

We went to the beach, Myrtle Beach to be precise, for a late summer vacation.  When you say you are going to "Myrtle," South Carolina natives have interesting reactions ranging from surprise to pity to excitement.  Everyone has an opinion about this vacation destination.  And I will be the first to admit that it does not make my Top 10 Beaches list.  BUT, it is close and it is fun so down the interstate we went.  Our hotel had a beautiful view of the ocean and we were so excited to get out there and enjoy the surf, sand and sun.     

We managed to do a little shopping starting with the Disney Store.  Tessa had been saving her piggy bank money plus G&G had given her a wad of ones to spend on anything she wanted.  We spent a long time debating what to get.  I'm pretty sure she picked up every single thing in the store at least once including a gift card for a park season pass.  Piggy bank money wasn't going to cover the cost of that!  She made her final selections and handed over her money, not at all grasping the life lesson I was trying to teach.  All she processed was that she was surrounded by all of her favorite stuff, a little piece of Disney right at the beach.  As we left the store with our new precious toys, Tessa said "NOW we can go see Mickey!"  Slight miscommunication here, she thought we were at Disney World again.  How sad to explain that her favorite mouse was not there and that we wouldn't be seeing him anytime soon.  She thought about this and said "OK, we'll just see Goofy then."  We went for a ride on the carousel and she didn't mention it again but next time I will be sure to differentiate Disney Store from Disney World.  

One morning we got up early for a photo shoot on the beach.  I probably should have planned to do this about two hours earlier before the sun was shining so brightly.  But, let's face it, we were on vacation and not in the mood to move too fast in the morning.  I captured a few shots of my darling in the beautiful morning sunshine.     

One thing that I do like about East Coast beaches, are the dunes and sea oats. 

We drove down to Murrell's Inlet to sample the famous seafood.  It's ironic that for a girl who dreams of retiring to the beach, I'm not that fond of seafood.  We only eat shellfish, and even then I'm pretty picky.  However, the food here was delicious.  We shared crabcakes and then I had fried scallops and some cocktail that went down way too easy.  We sat on the deck under palm trees and live oaks watching the beautiful sunset.  Then we went for a stroll on the docks because Tessa wanted to look for crocodiles.  She is fascinated with pirates and we even saw a touristy pirate ship.  Seeing Ryan really relax and slow down was wonderful.     

These two silly monkeys are hammin' it up, our very own Muscle Beach!  Myrtle Beach is a great place for people watching, and I don't just mean people like us being funny.  The Yankees (I married one so I can talk about them) around the pool were the most fun to listen to because they were so loud!  And Tessa noticed interesting things too.  Like the big guy with a huge tattoo on his back, she announced that he got a stamp!  I guess she thought he was a good listener at gymnastics or something.  Then there was the biker sporting a half naked girl with long black hair on his t-shirt, Tessa pointed out his Pocahontas shirt.  Sure Honey, that's a princess.        

Our friends made an impromptu trip to the beach and we were able to hang out with them on our last day.  The girls played together in the surf, made sand castles and helped the daddies dig a huge hole.  They made me laugh when they made sand angels.  For most of the trip the surf was too rough to actually swim in the ocean.  In fact, we felt the earthquake that shook the East Coast and I'm sure that didn't help the riptides.       

While we spent more time in the pool than the ocean, we did have plenty of relaxing beach time.  We came home rested, refreshed and reconnected. 

My Birthday

I had a GREAT birthday this year.  Birthday week started on Tuesday when my wonderful friend not only took me out to dinner, but cooked for my husband and child.  Thank you!  Then on Wednesday, Nanny and Gamma came over for our usual girl's afternoon.  Gamma and Tessa had ordered me a Princess Aurora cake and we had presents too.

On my actual birthday, Ryan took the day off work.  He baked a chocolate cake with Tessa and then we went to the pool.  I sat in the lounge chair, soaked up the sun, started a new book and watched my hubby play with my daughter.  My parents came over that night with champagne and more gifts. 

I finally got to open my super secret gift from Tessa. She had been telling me all week that she and Daddy made a cup with her hands and that it was baking.  So much for the surprise!  But I love the tea cup with her big-girl handprints, very sweet. Then we all went out for a very yummy steak dinner. A perfect birthday celebration.

Fishing in Canada

Every few years or so, Ryan and his dad take an incredible fishing vacation.  These two love to fish and  West Coast Resorts offers an unbeatable experience!  Each day, they would get up before dawn and head out with a private guide.  They fished for salmon (king / chinook or spring / coho) first and then, when they hit the limit, would fish for halibut and ling cod.  And, wow, did they catch a lot of fish.  Paula and I each have a freezer full.    

They had beautiful weather and calm seas.  The sunrises were apparently gorgeous.  They saw bald eagles and killer whales.  The killer whales eat salmon, so seeing them is not a good thing when salmon fishing.    

The cool thing is that the lodge is built on a barge.  That way, it can be towed to different locations seasonally to follow the best fishing.  Ryan and Frank were fishing Milbanke Sound in British Columbia.   

Because of the remote location, the lodge is only accessible by sea plane or boat.  Very cool to be flown, literally, to your doorstep.  Not very cool when they had an aborted take-off while trying to leave the lodge.  Ryan told me they couldn't get enough speed for liftoff and almost crashed into the rocky shore.  But, they circled around and managed to fly out of the sound on the second try.        

One day, the boys were so close to a sea otter that they could see him cracking open his dinner.  The sea otter floats on his back and uses a rock to crack open whatever he is trying to eat.  Listen and you can hear the clicking as he cracks open this oyster or abalone. 

It was a great trip, as always, with bonding time between father and son.

Little Fish

We have logged many hours of pool time this summer.  Tessa just loves to be in the water.  Her favorite game is to play dolphin.  She holds on to my shoulders and we dive under water, swim, surface and dive again.  She can hold her breath for a very long time.  We do laps around the pool until Momma is worn out.  Then we float and relax.  

She has never been afraid to put her face under water, as she is showing me here.  With just a little help, she can go all the way to the bottom and retrieve her princess dive sticks.  We have been working on diving and Tessa does a great belly flop.  Her new thing she is trying to learn is an underwater flip.  It is so funny to watch her float, put her head down and rear end up.  But she can't quite propel herself over and she doesn't want me to help.    

G&G went swimming with us and we had a great time.  Tea parties at the bottom of the pool make Tessa laugh and Gampa was so funny talking to her underwater.

She is a good swimmer but, unless she is in a float, she still likes the security of someone holding her hand. Usually when she jumps we either hold hands, like G&G are doing, or she jumps by herself and I catch her belly. Each time we swim she gets braver. One day she got real brave and jumped in by herself, only I was not in the water to catch her. Scared the daylights out of me! She popped right up to the surface and was kicking for all she was worth to get back to the wall. I praised her and made a big deal out of what a good job she did and eventually my heartrate returned to normal.  We will both be sad when summer ends.  But our gym has an indoor pool so we can swim all year round.     

Four Years Old

Four years old and so grown up!  How can I possibly sum up this year in a blog post?  I just can't.  Except to say that a popular song right now has a line "I've got a pocketful of sunshine."  Every time I hear it I think of Tessa, she is my pocketful of sunshine.  This healthy, beautiful, smart, sweet, caring girl lights up our life.  

Her year in review.  I wish I could still access the site that sets pictures to music because Tessa is so music oriented.  But, even in the absence of music these pictures tell the story of Tessa's third year.