Santa Tracker and other Miscellaneous Follies

DIEDRICH FAMILY FOLLIES-PART ONE!

Whew! WHAT A TRIP!!! I wasn't going to blog much about things other than stamping, etc...but after a few conversations with friends while on vacation, I was encouraged to do so...guess the Diedrich family follies are in high demand LOL! So, I will give the highlights over the next few days, time permitting...as we all know, it's right back to the grindstone...but this will let me re-live a few of the finer moments and who knows...maybe it will inspire me to write that book I've always wanted to one day...

My good friend Heather reminded me of the NorthPole.com "Live Santa Tracker" that shows exactly where Santa is riding in his sleigh all over the globe. She deemed our car the "Diedrich Shuttle" and said that we should have had a live feed of the "Diedrich tracker" this trip. Hindsight. Damn. Ah, well... better luck next year, right?

DAY ONE: Saturday, 4/12/08 We take off from Cary, IL about 4:30 CST and arrive in Richmond, KY for a quick night's sleep. Pretty uneventful. I will add a little shout-out to my favorite company, Papertrey Ink and say that I was VERY disappointed to be driving through Cincinnatti late at night or I'd have stopped by to ooh, ahh and say hey :)

DAY TWO: Sunday, 4/13/08 We arrive in our favorite place in the world, Charleston, South Carolina. The weather is beautiful, sunny and glorious. We stop for a few groceries and check into our hotel, where the kids immediately strip down and go for a swim...uneventful but we have arrived.

DAY THREE: Monday, 4/14/08 What the hell happened to the weather? WHY is it 65 in Charleston (CHS) and 75 in Chicago? Ok, clearly we went backwards... but the picture above shows that no matter how cold it is, kids love water and that's that. Judging by the looks of this picture, we know a good time was had...

DAY FOUR: Tuesday, 4/15/08. Bummer it's still in the sixties and now looking like rain. We accept that it's not going to be the best day for swimming so we decide to take Jack to Queen Anne's Revenge on Daniel Island in Charleston. This is a relatively new establishment that combines a restaurant w/ a Pirate Museum...what could be better for Jack??? Chicken and Blackbeard? Are you kidding me? Um, did I MENTION that Daniel Island is where we want to live???

While visiting we discovered that it is our DREAM neighborhood, so we visit the sales office and get some info, take the tour, etc. This was actually quite a load off my mind although I've been anxious about it everyday since. We now know where we want to live, so that is good...its getting there that will be the interesting part...

Just as an aside, I don't know why my son was insistent on making this face in so many pictures, but I'm sure that it will provide fun for years and years to come...

...and speaking of making faces....

...This one DEFINITELY speaks for itself LOL!

DAY FIVE: Wednesday 4/16/08. We drove out to Wadmalaw Island, about 20 miles from the city to visit America's only tea plantation now left standing and still producing teas. I must admit that I was a little disappointed when I found out that they were owned by Bigelow...I can't tell you why other than the fact that it's just kind of a big-chain, cheap tea company, I suppose. I guess I was envisioning something a tad more authentic or indigenous...At any rate, we learned a lot and got to tour the factory which was cool. We started out at the wilting beds, got to see how much was harvested and how long it took, toured the oxidation beds as well and then sampled some teas. I don't think the kids were thrilled with this either which surprised me because they really enjoy taking tours... I brought home some peach tea and we spent the rest of the day on the beach and at the pool...IT WAS FINALLY WARMING UP!!!

This definitely has to be one of my FAVORITE pictures from our trip. Just a candid shot of my two boys walking along the Folly Beach pier. They are so freaking cute together I can't stand it...

DAY SIX: Thursday 4/17/08. Probably the most relaxing (so, way, much needed!!!) day of our trip. We also discovered Carolina BBQ on this day...I know, I know...for as MANY times as we've been down here, who-da thunk it would have taken us so long! Did you know that Carolina sauce is actually yellow? Well, yellowish brown but that doesn't sound as appetizing LOL. It's more of a mustard-based sauce, and all I can say is although it's not very pretty, it's amaaaaazing! Thank you to Melvyn's BBQ on James Island for taking such good care of us and for having the freaking most awesome ( and cheap!) Banana pudding you've ever tasted!

It was about 75 this day and sunny-a perfect day to just hang by the beach and pool. Yet another candid shot of my beautiful girls that I just adore...

DAY SEVEN: Friday, 4/18/08. Last day in our beloved Charleston, although we stayed until about 4 in the afternoon.

One of the things we usually do on the last day is take a super-long walk and stroll the Battery, Charleston harbor, and take one more stroll through the Market. During our walk along the Battery, M and I stopped in front of our favorite PINK house :)

Didnt find much at the Market this trip...however we did find a hot sauce called "Jump up and Kiss me" that we really enjoyed, so took some of that home with us :) I also got a really pretty pair of earrings that are designed after the Charleston central park's gate. Charleston "gateway" jewelry is really popular at the Market. Chris and the kids also surprised me with a cute silver and enamel butterfly pendant too although I love my Tiffany one so much it's hard to take it off :( To be honest, the best gift I received was just the time I got to spend uninterrupted with my family in our favorite place.
Our "featured" merchant this trip is Dacuba's fine jewelry downtown at the Market.

I've gotten a lot of complements on the Charleston Gate earrings Chris got me so I thought I'd post a shoutout for them :) Mine are just like the toward the bottom right w/ the hooks only mine are just posts. I'm not a fan of hooks, actually. They fall out on me :( Mom loves the hooks so we got her a pair, too :)

Oooh-another cool thing we found this trip (although I kind of wish we hadn't LOL) is a new bakery called Cupcake. You guys HAVE to check them out! http://www.freshcupcakes.com/

AMAAAAAZING! These guys are fresh-baked daily and have more cupcake flavors than you can shake a stick at! I fell in love with the signage before I even got inside! They are ALL about pink, and ALL about cupcakes. That's the only item on the menu, just in a TON of cool flavors. We enjoyed the Red Velvet w cream cheese frosting the best although the plain black&white was just fine in our book as well. I took home a pink coffee mug that simply says "Cupcake, Charleston, SC". Just bottle up the cuteness and sell it why don't ya...actually, that's EXACTLY what they did :)

These are some happy faces, don't you think?

Well, although we always hate to leave, we had quite the agenda waiting for us and the best part was we didn't even know about all of it yet!

"Part Two" of this post (to follow asap :) is really where Santa Tracker comes in... can't wait to share more of our fabulous family follies later but for now I have a very busy day ahead of me...I know you're all on the edge of your seats! LOL

BY THE WAY: Would you believe I ONLY took 130 photos this trip??? I'm VERY proud of my ability to restrain myself LOL! (of course this will all be blown out of the water in June when we go to see the big Mouse... )

STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO, Y'ALL!