Our girl, perhaps more than any of us, adores South Carolina. Meera is not a fast-paced, rat-race, harsh-life kind of girl. From her first days on this earth we knew from the start that she is a slow-and-steady, easy-does-it, sweet through-and-through, soulful and big-hearted, gentle and kind, warm and sugary girl. She didn’t take long to let us know, too, that she’s a proud-as-can-be Girlie-Girl. She likes to wear her hair down, with a dress everyday. She likes her ocean water warm and salty. Even on the beach, she has a strong preference for the skirted swimsuit. She likes her shrimp dunked heavily in warm melted butter (and has no problem with double dipping). She hums non-stop, smiles pretty much constantly, and enjoys life without a hint of competition or aggravation. Pretty inside and out, Meera is a dreamy, laid-back little soul who loves nothing more than: 1) her family, and 2) chillaxing.

If you think about it (and if you know the South at all), everything above is a pretty much a perfect stereotypically positive description of the south. I’ve come to realize that Coastal South Carolina is pretty much Meera’s dream world. She exists in great harmony with the place, the people, the culture.

On Sunday afternoon Meera announced to me that when she gets married someday her wedding will be in South Carolina. Somehow I wasn’t surprised by that at all.

Meera is having the time of her life these days. Monday evening she said to me, very thoughtfully and sincerely: “Today has been the best day of my life.” I believed her. Yesterday, as we were driving back to the beach house from the pool she said, “Today was the second best day of my life Mama. I mean it. The second best day of my life! These have been the two best days of my whole entire life!” Sweet Carolina Girl.

(All pics in this post from the past few days~)

Braydon took the photo above on Sunday afternoon. I think it is one of my favorite photos of all time. It turned out amazing. If you know the Charleston waterfront, this photo will speak to you. Notice, especially, how the boy has his hand on the dollar bill he’s slipping into his pocket.

If you don’t know Charleston— here’s a tiny tidbit: the “Palmetto Rose Legend” says that during the Civil War, confederate soldiers were sent off with palmetto roses given to them by their sweethearts. Today, around the Charleston Marketplace, and around the Charleston waterfront, boys sell these palmetto roses to tourists. They are handmade from palmetto palm fronds. Green when first made (from the fresh palms) and beige once dried, they are a lovely and lasting souvenir that is hard to resist. Meera, for one, loves them. So do I.

On Sunday we bought a couple of them for Meera. I also asked one of the boys if we could strike a deal: we’d give him one dollar if he’d let us take a photo of his bouquet. That’s the photo above. I love it. I might need to get it framed.

Anyway….

Charleston. What can I say about it that I haven’t already said? See here (from 2011). And see here (from 2012). And see here (from 2013).

This year I’ll just say this: Charleston has truly become a love of not just Braydon and I, but of all three of our kids as well. Meera, Owen, and Kyle have fallen head-over-heels in love with Charleston, South Carolina. There are certain things that we all look forward to now. Like, Sticky Fingers~~

At Sticky Fingers this year, Owen ate an entire slab (yes, a full slab) of ribs. By himself. If you’re interested: they were Sticky Fingers’ Carolina Sweet ribs. This boy can eat some ribs.

And then we walked down to Market Street Sweets for pralines for dessert. Owen had been waiting all year for that. We bought him a two-pound box of pralines to bring back to the beach house. He’s quickly working his way through that box.

The fountains are always a Must Do.

The rest is just wandering the streets, taking it all in, and thoroughly enjoying the slow-paced, splendid, southern charm of that beautiful little city.

Kyle is developing (or has developed?) a serious interest in U.S. History — specifically, African-American History — and even more specifically: the Civil War. At first we thought this was an intensive obsessive interest (he tends to fixate on specific topics for stretches of time, but then he usually moves on). This interest, though, seems to be sticking. It has been growing and rooting for a few years now. And instead of phasing out, it seems to be deepening and strengthening. At this point he already knows far more than I ever knew about the Civil War. Once we saw that this interest was not just a passing phase, we began to help foster it a little bit — the real start of that was when Braydon took him to Gettysburg for a weekend, which was (truly), for Kyle, a top highlight of his life to-date.

There is something about being in the South — or maybe it is specifically the Lowcountry?, or maybe it is the summer’s time to decompress, and open up mental space, and create space for continued conversation about topics-outside-the-realm-of-the-daily-grind?, or maybe it is something else entirely? or maybe it is, as I believe, some combination of all of those? — well, there is something about our time here that seems to noticeably intensify Kyle’s passionate interest in history. To me, it is intuitively understandable why this is, but I think it would be hard to understand it if you’d never spent time in this very specific and very unique part of the country. Here there is history all around us, it is just oozing out of every pore of the place; it almost feels like if you are open to it, you’ll absorb it through osmosis; we are — quite literally — at the epicenter of African-American history. We’ve brought the bambinos to the Lowcountry for the past four summers in a row, and it is remarkable to me how much just being here stirs and rejuvenates and fuels Kyle’s interest.

Last summer we took a trip to Magnolia Plantation, which was, for Kyle, a pivotal experience. We wanted to do something like that for Kyle again this summer, and we knew — months ago — what it would be. He had a burning desire (seriously! an obsessive need) to go to Fort Sumpter. So, just a week into our stay, as our first big day-trip in the Lowcountry, we all headed out on Sunday for Fort Sumpter National Monument.

The bambinos have been sleeping in until 8 or 9 each morning, but on Sunday, Kyle was up at 6:10am, ready to get the day started, too excited to sleep. We were on the road to Charleston at 7am, and got there (with plenty of time!) to make it on the first boat of the day at 9:30am.

It was good that we had left so early, actually, because we ended up needing to stop to run an errand — before we had even left the beach house, Kyle explained to me how much he really needed a notebook and pen for this trip. So, we stopped on the way to buy a notebook and pen for him, which you’ll see Kyle holding and/or writing in when you look at most of the photos of our Fort Sumpter trip.

It was cloudy and threatening rain all day, but it never actually rained on us, and it made for a welcomed — relatively cool (instead of swelteringly hot) — summer day-trip in South Carolina. As we approached the island that is Fort Sumpter, Kyle was starting to realize that his dream of visiting Fort Sumpter was coming true in real time.

As soon as we were off the boat it was announced that there would be a “history talk,” which, of course, Kyle definitely wanted to attend (and in which, of course, Owen and Meera had zero interest). So, we split up. I took Owen and Meera to explore the fort and island, and Braydon took Kyle for the “serious stuff.” Kyle immediately got to work with his notebook, sitting within hearing distance of the expert/speaker/tour guide, listening with rapt attention, and taking notes in his book.

This (above) is my favorite recent picture of Kyle. I think this really shows his true essence. This (below) really shows his true essence too! He wrote in that notebook the entire time.

A page from his notebook~ (This page, below, is notes from the actual Fort Sumpter trip — since then he’s been working on turning all these notes into some sort of “draft”. A draft, of what, I do not know. But I do know that he spent an hour yesterday, while his brother and sister were swimming at the pool, sitting at a table in the shade working in his notebook.)

Owen and Meera, on the other hand, are much more typical kids — being dragged by their parents to a National Monument during summer vacation. The boat ride was fun, the first few minutes of exploring were fun, but they had exactly ZERO interest in the history of Fort Sumpter and spent much of their time either: 1) waiting to get back on the boat again, or 2) finding ways to entertain themselves.

Despite Owen and Meera’s lackluster enthusiasm, Kyle, Braydon, and I found Fort Sumpter to be so interesting. It is amazing to be able to visit a place like that.

Above: I, for one, as someone who isn’t originally from a coastal area, always find this sort of thing so incredible — the fact that they originally built the foundation from shells and mud. This — called “Tabby” — is something that has always fascinated me. You can read a quick little bit about “Tabby: The Oyster Shell Concrete of the Lowcountry” by clicking here.

Below: We, for obvious reasons, are particularly focused on the history of all of these things from an African-American perspective.

Once the boat got back to the pier, I took Kyle into the Fort Sumpter National Monument gift shop. It was a thrilling experience for him. As I told my mom the next day: Taking Kyle to that store was like taking Meera to the American Girl Doll store. We took this selfie just as we left the gift shop. He had just had one of the best experiences of his life (a trip to Fort Sumpter! a dream come true!), and was leaving with two new Civil War books and a Fort Sumpter t-shirt, that his mom had happily bought for him. He was on Cloud 9 and I wanted to try to capture that look on his face.

We visited “The Tree” (Angel Oak) yesterday, on St. John’s Island, on our way back to the beach house from Charleston. The photos do not do justice to how unbelievably massive it is. Angel Oak is famous for being the oldest Southern Live Oak tree east of the Mississippi. It is thought to be up to 15,000 years old. It’s area of shade is 17,000 square feet. The bambinos thought it would be perfect for a tree house (or a few). It reminded us of the “tree of life” in the center of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Except… well… this one is actually real!

(artistic credits, photo above: Owen wrote the words, Meera decorated it)

Our second 4th of July on Harbor Island. A spectacularly gorgeous day for a golf cart parade, the beach, the pool, and dinner with sparklers on the back porch! Nothing could be finer than 4th of July in South Carolina!

Happy 4th of July!

Something about the beach house inspires me to not just cook, but to post Food Fridays! Pretty often I get emails from longtime blog readers telling me how much they miss my weekly, consistent, dependable Food Friday posts. They tell me how much they miss the food dimension on this blog. It is still there (sort of), but you kinda have to read between the lines to get it. For those who miss the weekly (Friday) food posts, I just want to tell you: I’m right there with you — I miss them too! There is something about living in a dorm, trying to cook in a tiny galley kitchen, and not having good natural light in which to photograph, that is… well… pretty much an uninspiring downer where all-things-food-blogging are concerned.

And then, bam!, we’re transported to the beach house! And the South Carolina Lowcountry is a food mecca! And there is creative inspiration everywhere! And we’re hungry from days of sand and salt and adventurous exploration! And the kitchen is flooded with gorgeous natural light! And…. bam! Food Fridays!

In the past five days of being at the beach house I’ve cooked more scrumptious stuff than I typically cook in a month back home at the dorm apartment. Today, for Food Friday, I simply want to remind you of 3 awesome and easy and special posts from last summer. In the past five days I’ve made all three of these. If you haven’t tried these yet, folks, really, I urge you, try them ASAP!

1. Beach House Blueberry Muffins (click for link). Photo above. These originated last summer with me trying to make a quick, easy, ‘cheater’ muffin that would satisfy my muffin-loving-son Kyle. I now buy two boxes of the mix, and make 24 muffins at a time, because Owen and Meera have — as a result of these muffins, and these muffins alone — developed a muffin-love too. But Owen and Meera love chocolate (Kyle does not like chocolate), so I make one box exactly per my recipe (link above), but I substitute chocolate chips for blueberries when making the 2nd box (and, I will admit: I’ve somehow managed to wind up with two chocolate snobs, and they have a specific preference for Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips over all others, and I am a self-confessed foodie-enabler, so I use those). I made these Tuesday morning and they were gone by Wednesday afternoon.

2. Shrimp Scampi. Despite the fact that I made this at least once a week last summer, I never did a Food Friday post about it, but I did post a picture and mention it (click). However, I have posted this recipe to the blog way back — you can find it here (click). Braydon is a shrimp connoisseur, and he swears (and I agree) that the Lowcountry shrimp are the sweetest most tender shrimp in the world. I totally agree with him. We are so spoiled by this shrimp — on the way home from the beach we can just swing by Gay Fish Company and buy shrimp that was caught that day, from shrimpers working shrimp boats right off the shore — within eyesight — of where we swam on the beach. Seriously, it does not get any better than that. But back home I make this same recipe using store-bought, frozen shrimp. Better in South Carolina, but so good either way!!

3. Carolina Marsh Tacky (click). Oh my goodness. This is such an unusual and magnificent cocktail. So spicy, so refreshing, so perfect for the end of a summer day! We’ve graduated this year to some extremely good ginger beer, and some extremely good bourbon (photo below), which just takes these up another notch. Amazing! Give it a whirl and see what I’m talking about!

We have spent our fair share of time on beautiful beaches. We love the beach. Most any beach! But we have a definite preference for the no-boardwalk, no neon, no crowd, as natural-and-walkable-and-remote-as-possible beach. In the category of Able-To-Get-To-Without-Getting-On-An-Airplane, Hunting Island wins for us as all-around favorite beach.

In fact, we chose the beach house we did for its proximity to Hunting Island State Park (click here and click here). The park entrance is 5 minutes down the road from the house we’re renting. Hunting Island is stunning in it’s rare, protected, natural beauty. The park is expansive in possibilities for adventure. We spend lots of time there, and I always feel like we can’t even scrape the surface of it. But the beach itself is a prime attraction.

The drive to the beach, alone, is worth the trip. (I took all of these photos with my iPhone yesterday — the photo below is taken from the driver’s seat, through the dashboard window). Check this out! For those of us from other parts of the country, this sort of lush, tropical, palmetto-rich landscape is almost surreal ~

The only “boardwalk” you’ll find is actual boardwalk paths, zig-zagging through the woods, to get from the parking spaces to the beachfront. The woods and dunes are all protected, so the boardwalk paths provide the only beach access. It feels like we’re in an entirely different world as we make the walk to the beach ~

Then, there it is. Hunting Island beach in all it’s glory. Apparently this is the most-visited state park in South Carolina, but the beach is never crowded. Even this week — 4th of July week (the busiest week of the summer season) — there are amazingly few people there. There is so much to do on the beach there — not the least of which are searching for sand dollars and shark’s teeth (on Monday we found 35 shark’s teeth on Hunting Island beach! We have yet to find a dead sand dollar, so we have yet to take one off the beach with us.). But for the bambinos, the best part is that the water is so warm, and the waves are so perfect for boogie boarding and body surfing ~

(Meera has suddenly got the hang of boogie boarding and body surfing this year! She’s quite the 6-year-old pro at it!)

Seriously, if you’re ever in the area, Hunting Island is a must-do!

We’ve been letting Owen drive the golf cart a little bit. It is totally against the rules of Harbor Island (you are supposed to have a valid driver’s license). But sometimes rules are meant to be broken, right? Especially in summer, right? He absolutely loves it (and is a much better driver than his mom is). Hopefully we won’t get caught anytime soon.

Braydon is taking two days off as we begin our stay in the Lowcountry. Yesterday I packed us a nice lunch for the beach, with some fine cheeses, bread, and fruit. I had packed special treats to drink — ginger ale & root beer for K & O, lemonade for M, and white wine for Braydon and me. The kids got such a kick out of the fact that we were drinking wine on the beach. I got such a kick out of the fact that Kyle kept referring to our picnic as a “First Class Lunch.”

Friday afternoon (once swimming camp and baseball camp were done for the week), we hit the road south. This will be the centerpiece of our summer: a month-long stint — July 2014 — in South Carolina.

We made what felt like, for us, a huge decision (since we try to never go to the same place twice) — we decided to go back to the same place, even renting the same exact house, as last summer.

It felt like summer would really begin once we began the road trip south. This is now four years in a row that we’ve made the trip deep down to the Lowcountry of South Carolina. It is a two-day drive with an overnight at a hotel somewhere in Virginia.

There is lots of iPod’ing and iPad’ing in the backseat ~

And always an audio book in the front seat. Since this is Dash’s first summer with us, this was his first trip to South Carolina. He was conked out most of the time, and handled the long drive like a champ! He seemed to know, like we do, that the pay-off would be huge ~

A stop at Taco Bell has — for whatever reason — become a ‘Must Do’ part of this road trip. It is the one and only time each year that we eat at Taco Bell. It is funny how these little rituals develop. I wonder if the bambinos will remember stuff like this when they are older — ‘Oh, yeah, and my family used to do this crazy 16-hour drive to South Carolina, and we’d always stop at Taco Bell…” ~

There was a long section of the drive — somewhere way south in North Carolina, or maybe it was way north in South Carolina — where I sat in the backseat with Kyle and Meera, while Owen rode shotgun. My backseat portion of the road trip began in order for me to oblige Kyle’s request to watch a video with him that neither his brother or sister would watch unless forced entirely against their will — a documentary about the history of immigration, coal mining, and labor union development in the United States. He thought it was fascinating. I thought it was boring as heck. Meera and Owen were just relieved they didn’t have to watch it.

Readers of this blog know that I post hundreds of photos every year. You may or may not have noticed that I rarely post photos of myself, and have — maybe never? — posted a selfie. Well, this is what happens when mama is in the backseat for a few hours — boredom sets in, people get silly and giddy, and strange requests are made, like, “Mom, come on! Let’s take a selfie!?!” And mama rolls with it and might even post it to the blog.

We know we are very deep, deep, down, down in The South when we finally spot a highway sign for “Hot Krispy Kremes! Drive Through! Next Exit!” We’ve been on the lookout for one of those signs for a long, long time and some of us (one in particular) is a very enthusiastic lover of the hot Krispy Kreme!

We had bought a new travel game for this trip, and we can now highly recommend it — Auto Bingo. This entertained four of us (and the driver) for a couple of hours during the especially dicey last leg of the drive.

But then we arrive. The beach house was just how we remember it — actually even better. The view from the porch was, somehow, a quick reminder of why we did this, and an affirmation that we had made the right decision in coming back. I snapped this with my phone within minutes of our arrival ~

And just minutes after that — yes, the pay off. Feet in the sand, bodies under the waves. Warm water, salty breeze. Miles of protected coastline, in an incredibly natural state. There is no boardwalk or beach bar or buzz. In fact, there is not much of anything, except just us five, left to our own devices, away from the intensity of our “regular life” up North. That is a great life we have up there… we wouldn’t trade it for the world. But, we really benefit from the balance of the slow-paced southern summer too. I’m not sure that our current “regular life” would be sustainable without our July retreat. Harbor Island beach ~

Dash was right. It is so worth it! ~

This week Meera was in Swimming Camp until noon each day. She’s had a blast in Swimming Camp, which was held at the place she’s been taking swimming lessons for the past two springs. I was worried about how she’s do being plopped into a camp where she didn’t know a single person… but that did not seem to phase her at all. And the afternoons have been awesome. She’s really enjoyed a few lunches out with Mommy (while running errands), and some much needed downtime (while Mommy works). It has been a great week for our girl.

Kyle and Owen’s 2nd week of the summer was dominated entirely by baseball. Baseball camp by day, and Little League All Stars practices/games by night.

In 2010, Kyle went to Lehigh’s Baseball Camp for the first time (by himself! yes, that was interesting! click here). Both Kyle and Owen have gone every year since, so this was Year 5. They

For the past two weeks K & O (and thus, all five of us) have been deep in the thick of post-post-season-Little-League. The South Side Bandits had done well enough this season that most of the boys were picked for the district’s All Star Team (they brought in a few boys from other teams, but they even wore the Bandits uniform). This team played their hearts out, but finally lost on Tuesday night — ending the season for them (THANK GOD! We were all soooo ready for baseball to end!).

As a result, the five of us enjoyed a leisurely dinner, at home, at a normal dinner hour (hallelujah!), on Wednesday night. Nothing makes you appreciate a leisurely-weeknight-dinner-at-home-at-a-normal-hour more than a very long Little League season!

It was a great baseball season for the South Side Bandits. Here are just a few pics from All Star season ~

We have been living on campus at Lehigh University for two years now. Lehigh is not historically a campus that has had a Faculty in Residence Program, so kids have not traditionally lived on this campus. Owen, Kyle, and Meera have made a big splash as the first “Faculty Family Kids” (that is how they refer to themselves). They are, I’m pretty sure, the most popular people on this campus! Lots of people are interested in their perspectives on campus life. I sat down with each of them and asked 10 Questions. Here are their unedited, unfiltered, direct-quote answers. In a few places I’ve clarified things by putting my own words [in brackets].

* * * * *

What is your favorite dining hall on campus?

O: The Faculty Dining Hall. The food that Jesus makes is like a graceful party in your mouth! I hope he reads this. Jesus is the best chef on the campus. [The “Faculty Dining Room” = the Asa Packer Dining Room, 3^rd floor of the UC.]

K: The Faculty Dining Hall, definitely. And they lie when they say it’s the same food as the student dining halls. At the Faculty Dining Hall they make a little sauce that’s different, or something like that. There is something different. And it is better!

M: Rathbone. Because I like the spaghetti there. It is so yummy!

What is your favorite thing to get to eat at a student dining hall?

O: Penne with alfredo at Rathbone pasta bar.

K: Definitely crepes at Cort.

M: Ice Cream!

What’s the best pizza on campus?

O: Pandini’s, definitely.

K: Pandini’s!

M: Cheese pizza.

What’s the best pizza delivery to campus?

O: Dominoes.

K: Definitely Dominoes.

M: Dominoes.

What do you think is the best place to hang out on campus?

O: Below the UC, the lawn of the UC. [“UC” = University Center] You can walk down from the UC too, and play in the area where the food truck usually is. [He’s talking about the outdoor open space between Maginnes and the Fairchild-Martindale Library.] These are good areas to hang out because I get to see a lot of my friends there. A lot of students are walking there and hanging out there so we get to see our friends there.

K: That’s hard. Because there are a lot of good places to hang out. But I’d say Campus Square, definitely. You can get to have ice cream, you can play around there. There’s the fountains there. You can have fun outside there.

M: Around the students, that’s the best place. I hang out around the students at home. At Sayre.

What do you get at The Cup? [“The Cup” is the campus ice cream shop.]

O: I get mint chocolate chip and chocolate chip mixed together in a milkshake.

K: Black raspberry milkshake.

M: Party cake, in a cone, with rainbow sprinkles.

What’s your favorite thing to do on campus?

O: Going to football games. Going to the gym to play basketball with the students. Riding the bus! Have babysitters and go to The Cup!

K: Bike riding in the woods. Going to football games. Going to baseball games. Going to basketball games. Going to big huge crazy student parties where they have a bunch of Cokes and I get to sneak some.

M: Go get ice cream at The Cup then ride the bus back up to Sayre.

If you had to choose just one thing that is the best part of living on campus, what would it be?

O: We are surrounded by college students, and when they can, they can play with us. We get to do things that other kids wouldn’t be able to do. We know a lot of people, so sometimes we can get to do all sorts of cool stuff.

K: Having college students around all the time and going to their sports games.

M: Be around students, making friends with students, they’re very nice. I like to color with students.

If you had to choose just one thing that is the worst part of living on campus, what would it be?

O: When there are racism problems. Like this year, at Lehigh, we had some racism problems and I hate that. Oh, and I HATE Quiet Hours! [Notes: This year was a difficult one at Lehigh — you can read about some of what Owen is referring to by clicking here. Also, re: Quiet Hours — in the residential areas of campus “Quiet Hours” are observed from 10pm-10am.]

K: The worse part is that they don’t allow trampolines. Because students would get all crazy and do crazy tricks and get dangerous on the trampolines. So, we can’t have a trampoline. I miss our trampoline. A lot. I really miss it. And Quiet Hours. Sometimes when it is our bedtime they aren’t quiet, but then when they are sleeping ‘till ten, or sleeping ‘till noon, we have to be all quiet for them!

M: Nothing. There is no worst part.

If you had one piece of advice for other kids who might live on a college campus someday, what would it be?

O: During Quiet Hours, you cannot make too much noise, because if someone complains to the right person, you’re out!

K: Alright, this one’s tricky. Let me see. Ok. Unless you have a friend in a sorority or fraternity, never go near them because they are just going to kick you out and they’ll just say, “Leave! What are you doing here?”

M: It’s wonderful living here. To make friends with students, you ask them: “What’s your name?” And when you live on campus you can spend more time with your mommy. It is just awesome here. I love it. It is awesome living here. I love it here so much!

We built the Fairy Forest for Meera’s 5th Birthday. I truly never imagined that one year later it would be as beautiful as ever. The truth is, I think the Fairy Forest is even more amazing a year in — it shows the wear and tear of the seasons, and it feels like it has really settled into itself. The fairies seem to have really moved in permanently to this forest! It is still such a joy for Meera to play there, and it still feels like a most magical place. Here are some photos from Spring 2014, one year after it was first built ~