Hilton Head Weekend

Before too much time goes by, I wanted to post some of my favorite photos from our weekend in Hilton Head.  We went primarily to celebrate Sophie's birthday.  

{A live starfish.  No worries....we put her right back in the water.}

{These wine charms were in the townhome we rented for the weekend.  Aren't they SO ME?}

{Our patio had lots of lizards.  A big hit with the girls!}

{My mom was able to join us for the weekend. I managed to get an action shot while she played with Clara at the pool.}

{An extremely rare family shot.  On my favorite beach at sunset.  Thanks, Mom!}

{After blowing out the EIGHT! candles on her birthday cake, Sophie asked me to take this photo of her.}

Alain & I took Sophie kayaking for the first time as one of her birthday presents.  It was so great and we got to see dolphins (we were really hoping for this)!  I lucked out and came within about ten feet of two who were swimming close by.  One tilted his head up out of the water to look at me and we locked eyes for a moment.  You know what that is?  PURE MAGIC. It's the second time in my life that's happened and, I'm telling you, there really isn't much else like it. He wasn't a tortured dolphin locked up in a tank that I had to pay money to swim with and touch.  He was wild and free and perfect.  I know it was a 'he' because our guide told us.  He's been living in that particular area for at least twenty years.  The people who work for the kayaking company see him almost every day. The kayaking may have been Sophie's present but I left feeling like it was mine as well.   

Big Meadows, oh how I love thee!

Such a perfect day.....I'm so glad I spent it with Sophie, Clara, Mom, Dad, Jen, Jose, Alejo & Sofia.

(The last 7 photos are courtesy of my Dad....thank you, Dad!)

Reflections on Clara's 3rd Birthday

 Before too much time goes by, I wanted to capture some of my favorite details from Clara's tiny little birthday celebration.  My general rule for birthday parties is to invite the number of children equivalent to my child's age plus one (I've only broken this rule once and boy do I ever regret that ~ it was a DISASTER!).  So Clara had four friends over along with my parents, my cousin and her boyfriend.

In the past, I've thrown down plenty of time and money on the birthday cake.  We've had some stunning cakes over the years (mostly, thanks to my talented friend, Elizabeth!).  This year, because Clara is on a gluten-free (GF) diet, I purchased some GF cupcakes from Trader Joe's (quite good, I might add!).  Yet Clara kept mentioning that she really wanted a cake.  I headed out to the grocery, picked up some GF cake mix and baked a simple cake.  Since I'm a rookie GF Mom, I had no idea that a $5-6 box of cake mix only makes one level (just in case you're wondering why my cake if so short!).  The very day before the party I saw this pin and couldn't get it out of my head.  I raided the girls' massive animal collection, chose a few friends and created the below.  And, I'm not even lying to you, it is my favorite cake we've ever had. I love the whimsy, imagination, sweetness and childhood magic of this cake. Alain and my Dad know how much time I spent laboring over those miniature party hats..... and I'm telling you, it was worth EVERY second.  They were a BIG HIT!

Each year I try to incorporate some birthday wrapping paper that I saved from Tio Iggy's last birthday present.  Last year I was able to wrap a couple of presents in it.  This year a small scrap made up the chimpanzee's party hat!

  

Mom & Dad blew up all the balloons, around 30 of them in all.  Thank you, Mom & Dad!

Clara's Abu and Nonno Carlo sent this lovely dress from Switzerland.  It is so adorable and was perfect for the party!

The little message board got filled during the party and I've saved all the notes for Clara to read when she gets bigger.

The party was held at brunch time so we had bagels and bubblies.

There was no theme for the party but a strong color theme and loads of yarn pom poms.  I LOVED making the pom poms (use this tool if you ever need to make them ~ it's AWESOME!).  They appeared on the favor boxes, on flower vases and in various other places around the party.

When I sent Alain out to buy champagne, he found this one.  Couldn't be any more perfect!

We had frozen blueberries to keep our drinks cold.....a tip I picked up from a club in New York City!

  

As I looked back at the photos of Clara unwrapping her presents, I was overcome by how much she has my mannerisms.  Considering the amount of time we spend together, it's not surprising.  Still, it warms my heart.  (Have I mentioned lately how happy I am to have daughters?)

Big Sis was just as excited about all the presents as Clara!

  

Alain and I gave Clara this tiny little bike as our main gift.  She'd been asking for a bike with training wheels for many months.  Well, she was ecstatic and has probably taken a ride on it every day since.

All in all it was a beautiful day/party.  There's no question that Clara enjoyed it immensely! 

A Big Thanks to Mom & Dad, as always, for making the drive and helping out with all the party prep!

RIBBIT, RIBBIT!

After my Bird Walk in February, I was keeping my eyes peeled for the next one.  Much to my delight, March's scheduled walk turned out to be a Frog Walk.  I knew that this one was kid-friendly so I immediately signed up for Sophie and myself.  Well, we had more fun than either of us had imagined!  

The walk is led by a naturalist who helps identify species, point out things we wouldn't see on our own and help explain things to us.  For example, I probably would've seen this print on my own but I'm not sure I'd have known it was a raccoon print. 

There were these beautiful pods of yellow wildflowers all over the Greenway.  They were some of the only color.

Someone walking behind us got Sophie's attention and pointed out this sweet little chipmunk.

Yep, the beaver is still around.  There are signs of the beaver everywhere.  They stay very busy!

At some point, the naturalist dipped his net down in the murky water below the boardwalk and came up with this painter turtle.  Sophie's eyes were as wide as saucers!

 

She was so happy to be able to reach out and touch it!  She also made sure to direct me to take a picture.  My pleasure, Sophie!

The next net caught a crayfish (crawfish, crawdad....what do you call it?  Have you taken the dialect quiz yet?).

Please note these are not my hands.  :-) 

Aaahhh, our first frog sighting.  SO ADORABLE.

Yep, hello there, Mr. Frog.  You are about to get yanked out of the water, I tried to warn him.

He didn't listen.  We watched as the naturalist turned the frog on his back and proceeded to rub his belly.  Apparently, this hypnotizes the frog!  (Who says you don't learn something new every day?)  I think I must have been mesmerized myself because I forgot to take a photo of his little legs splayed out, with his spotted belly all visible.

Then the kids had an opportunity to hold him.  This was all fine and dandy until his spell wore off and he tried to escape. He jumped right onto one of the young teenage girls.  Ha!  You've never seen someone jump like that!

Seriously, how cute is he?

The weather was divine.  We started out at 6:00 PM and the walk lasted 2 1/2 hours so we also enjoyed a most gorgeous sunset.

Of course you feel so proud when you find something yourself that you can share with the group. This guy was my first find.  A VERY LARGE bullfrog.  The largest we saw on the walk.  The picture is blurry but I just wanted to share.  So proud!

So the naturalist told us this was a beaver print.  WHAT?  It looked like BIGFOOT.  I mean it was massive.  I didn't believe him.

Next we found a musk turtle.  Well, unlike the painter turtle, he was mad as hell.  He sprayed his stinky musk and his jaws were all agape....ready to strike at any moment.  Poor guy.

Can you see his mouth wide open?

Sophie could not get enough.  She's walked the Greenway many, many times and I think she was surprised to learn just how many different animals are all around at any given moment.  That girl spent most of the walk walking right up front beside the naturalist.  As I've mentioned, I'm the dreamer/caboose always pulling up the rear.  She and I are so different.  And I love it!

A Nature Group from another elementary school was there....all girls.....and I could tell Sophie was really happy to have other kids to hang out with and talk to about the animals.  It was REALLY NICE to be around other children who think nature is cool and don't stand around screaming....OOOH, GROSSSS.  Yuck, bugs.  Trees are boring!  (Her classmate told me that last one after I read The Lorax in her class.  Sophie replied, "WHAT?  You don't know what you're talking about.  Trees are AMAZING!")

Clearly, Sophie was not intimidated by the turtle's musk smell or the gaping jaws!

I don't know how to take a nice photo of the sun setting over the cattail marsh so you'll have to take my word that it was beautiful!

The darker it became, the more frogs we saw.  It was fun to find them.

AND THEN........

The highlight of all highlights......THE BEAVERS MADE AN APPEARANCE!

And I almost passed out when I saw how big this beaver was.  I had no idea. That print really did belong to a beaver!!!!

Adults and kids alike were ecstatic.  Seriously, our mouths were all hanging wide open.  Even the naturalist couldn't believe our luck!  He kept telling us how lucky we were as if we needed reminding!  The girls ran down the boardwalk following the beaver as she swam along.  The rest of us laughed and joked that they were like paparazzi.

Even now, as I sit in the bookshop writing this post, I still cannot believe we saw one of the beavers. 

Lastly, since it was pitch dark by this time, we saw the tiny little Spring Peepers.  Sophie was an expert at finding them.  This teeny tiny little soul makes the loudest, most adorable, high-pitched peep.  I just stood there and listened with my eyes closed.  We were surrounded by a symphony of peeping and it was the sweetest sound.

At some point during the walk, Sophie stopped me, gave me a huge hug, and told me that I'm the best Mom ever for bringing her on this walk.  Well, my heart melted.  I felt/feel so grateful for this amazing, interesting, fun child who just happens to share my interests and enjoys and appreciates nature as much as I do!  

She's already asked me several times, "Mom, when is the next walk?".  "Not soon enough", I tell her....and we both smile.

XOXO