Five Years

This weekend marks five years that we have been living in Georgia! i can't believe we have lived here for that long. The time has gone by so fast. Here is a picture we took right after we moved in-

Rachel had just turned two years old. And of course, it was a nice hot and humid Georgia summer. The temps were in the hundreds the week we moved into the house.

And the house how- amazing to see how much the shrubs have grown.

 And Rachel has grown up a little too.

And our favorite addition to the house!

We love living in Georgia!

Pringle Park and Popsicles

I took the girls to a great park the other day. The entire playground is covered by a wooden gazebo type structure. There are big fans in the top to help create a breeze. I think every playground in Georgia should be like this- from April till October it is too hot to play at the park unless there is some kind of shade.

Big girl doing the stairs all by herself. She didn't want any help at all!

Rachel begged me to be able to take a friend to the park to play with. I tried calling several friends, but no one could make it. We were at the park about two minutes when we discovered Rachel's friend, Kai, was there!

These two have been friends since they were two years old! They were in preschool together and we also go to the same church. They were so happy to have someone to play with and so were Alex(Kai's dad) and myself. The park it alot more fun when you have a friend!

They played for hours and just about time to go home the park's sprinklers came on!

I was kind of wanting to run through the water myself. The girls had fun and Rebecca was running around with them. Thankfully, I had extra clothes and towels in the car, so it all worked out perfect.

And we eat a few popsicles for dessert during the summer.

Even Lola gets a treat!

The Last of the Vacation Pictures!

Last week we were on vacation at the beach. I blogged about it here and here if you want to see what we were up to.  While we were in Charleston we visited the aquarium, the kids museum, a waterpark and a plantation . A few final pictures of our trip!

 Perla at the aquarium.

 I stayed with Rebecca in the little kids section, so I didn't see much. Raphael and his parents liked it.

 The waterpark we took the girls to.

Roy celebrated his birthday! We had a little party, complete with the cake and ice cream.

There were a few tears on the trip.

We went to Magnolia Plantation for a tour. It had beautiful gardens, petting zoo and Raphael went on a tour of the house with his parents.

 the main house

 I love the moss growing in the trees, so pretty. And according to our tour guide, it is not really moss.

The houses where the slaves lived- two families per house. Sad, but true.

On the tram checking out the plantation. Rachel and Abuela laughing about something- the heat makes you laugh at just about anything!

We had a great vacation- lots of family time and memories made!

Charleston

                                                                Fountain at Waterfront  Park

Our house in Folly Beach was about twenty minutes from downtown Charleston. On quite a few days we drove into town for some sightseeing activities.  For Charleston, either Raphael or I stayed home with Rebecca. She is still way too little to make it through a boat tour or trolly ride without having a major meltdown. Charleston is so full of history and there were so many things I would have loved to see, but with kids it just doesn't happen. But we did manage to see quite a few sights.

This is the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. We never drove over it, but Raphael, Rachel and his parents went on a boat tour and they went under it!

This picture is the ONLY one we managed to take in a week of togetherness that had all four of us. It was at Battery Park. Rebecca was eating candy and Rachel was not happy about having her picture. Better luck to us next time I guess.

For a day, Perla, Rachel and I toured around town. We started at Battery Park by the harbor and walked through the narrow streets looking at the sights. We had lunch, Rachel splashed in the fountains and we made it to the market.

The houses were beautiful! Covered with vines and gorgeous flowers. Many houses had a plaque explaining how old they were, original owners, etc.... I would love to live in a big old house. But the streets are sooo tiny. I would be hitting everything with our big SUV-ha!

Two sweet pups guarding the house from all the tourists. They never moved from the steps or barked.

Colorful houses and hotels in downtown.

We spent some time looking for gifts at the city market. It was packed full of tourists and had crazy gifts like keychains made from alligator feet.  There were ladies on each street corner weaving baskets. The baskets are everywhere in Charleston and they are expensive. Amazing to watch them weaving them togteher.

After the market, Perla and I realized how far we needed to go in order to walk back to the car. It was a hot and humid day and I wasn't sure if Rachel would make it. Earlier we had seen a bike taxi and Rachel really wanted to have a ride, so we took one back to the car.

The guy who took us was so nice. I think it was the best eleven dollars we spent all week!

Beach Babies

We had perfect weather for the beach. Not a cloud in the sky most days. It was a bit too hot and humid some days so it was a relief to get into the water. I was too scared to take our big camera to the beach, so all these pics are with our point and shoots. And there are lots of beach pics- so fair warning!

The girls checking out the waves.

 Rachel was so excited to get to the beach and get in the water. Rebecca had been to the beach in Panama, but she wasn't quite one yet, so this trip was her first real encounter with the ocean. For most of the trip she went back and

forth between loving the water and then wanting nothing to do with it.

Raphael and I spent alot of time with the girls in the water. We went to the beach everyday, sometimes we managed to go twice. Thankfully the water was warm!

There were some big waves that took us out a few times. But Rachel loved it! I bought her boogie board, and she spent quite a bit of time riding the waves.

Of course Rebecca wanted her own boogie board! She never did venture out into the water with it.

Raphael's parents- Perla and Roy came with us. We took a long a pop-up tent for the beach to block out some of the sun and wind.

And we spent a lot of time digging in the sand, looking for seashells and building castles. I am still washing sand out of Rachel's hair!

I love Rebecca's cute little tutu swimsuit.