Photo shoots

Okay...  I am so behind in blogging and I have to get my tail writing about our trip before I forget all the little details, but I did want to share what I have been up to this weekend!  I joined a photography group and we had four photo shoots this weekend.  Guess who volunteered to model?  My own little superstar!  I had so much fun and learned soooooo much!  I just wanted to share a few with you and I think I am officially going with Coral Sky Photography!  I have even been contacted to do my first "official" shoot!   I am so excited!

I will be back soon if I can every get caught up!!!!  Have a great week!

We are back!

Hello Blogger Buddies!!!!  We are home and settling back in to our routine!  We had the BEST TIME!!!!!!  I  will be posting about our trip day by day as to keep a journal for us so bear with me, but until then... here are a few pictures!

Oh did we have fun!!!!!

I'll Be Back in a Wee Bit!

Well folks, the time has come and we are off!!!  It's off to the Emerald Isle we go where we will be 

staying in this lovely home...

 climbing this

kissing this (on my 40th birthday!  Woooo hooooo!)...

Listening to this...

watching this...

and having a few of these...

Be back soon!  

Irish Stepper

I think I may already have an Irish stepper!!!  She was dancing out in my parents' field and I used the zoom lens to capture her.  I just love the pure joy and happiness that she exudes!  I am submitting this picture into the iheartfaces photo challenge of "From a Distance".  I thought this one was perfect!

T-minus 4 more days and I will be walking on the Emerald Isle!!!!

One year old!

I took some pictures for our neighbor of her little girl.  She is turning one!  I took pictures of her when she was 6 months and now she is a just walking, very intent little one year old!  I love being able to capture moments!

Have a wonderful weekend!

T-minus 5 days and counting until we leave for Ireland!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend adventures

We had a wonderful weekend here and it was so nice to have the BHW home for a long weekend.  Friday and Saturday were spent hanging out with our wonderful neighbors and Sunday was a day for adventure!  We had seen an advertisement for the Frampton Plantation several times as we are coming and going to Florida.  It is off the interstate so about an hour and a half away.  Easy trip.  No worries.  Well, after driving through one pretty subdivision and taking two wrong roads, we ate at the McDonald's two exits up from where we needed to be!!!  We finally made it there.  It definitely isn't what you think of as a plantation, but quaint and neat to see.

Here is the information about the house from www.southcarolinalowcountry.com

"The "Frampton House" property was part of an original King's Grant to the  Frampton family in  the 1700s. In 1865, General Sherman's troops burned the  plantation house and all the farm  buildings that stood on this site. In 1868, John  Frampton rebuilt the present charming Lowcountry farmhouse and continued to  work the land. About 1930, major renovations were made to the old house that  included adding indoor plumbing and electrical wiring, and applying the first thin sheetrock or dry wall, replacing the old lath and plaster walls.

In December of 1993, Wymann Boozer, a Columbia developer, donated the "Frampton House" to the Lowcountry Tourism Commission for the creation of the Lowcountry Visitor's Center and Museum thereby assuring restoration of the old farmhouse. The preservation of the magnificent old oaks that frame the building and the Civil War earthworks in the backyard (erected by Robert E. Lee's troops in defense of the important railroad supply line for the Confederacy from Savannah to Charleston) were also guaranteed. Today, major renovations have taken place to prepare the "Frampton House" for resurrection and a new life. The Lowcountry & Resort Islands Tourism Commission has moved its offices into the upstairs of the "Frampton House" and the downstairs now serves as the Lowcountry Visitor's Center and Museum.

The front room on the ground floor offers visitors a view of a recreated 1900s plantation house parlor or sitting room, complete with antique furnishings. The adjoining room features display cases from the ten museums in the four county Lowcountry regions, and encourages travelers to get off the interstate to see the museums in the surrounding communities. This room also included displays from Walterboro's South Carolina Artisans Center, and a special display about the many major pictures filmed in the Lowcountry."

It was very small and packed to the gills with souvenirs and things to buy.  The front room that is recreated has some beautiful antique pieces, but was not really set up accordingly as they had so many different items to showcase.  It was a large farmhouse that was built back so that showed that Mr. Frampton had squirreled away some money and didn't change it all in for Confederate money!  The ladies there were so friendly and sweet and the floors... oh my those beautiful old floors!  They make me swoon!  

This is a joggling board!  I love them and will have one some day!  They are very "Charleston"!  That and gas lamps will be mine!!!

The back of the farmhouse

This tree was huge!

I love the oak trees 

Our next stop was to Hunting Island state park.  We wanted to show Jemma the lighthouse there and hit the beach for a bit.  We climbed all 167 steps to the top!  Jemma thought this was the coolest thing ever.  I did too until my legs were sore the next day!!  The original lighthouse was constructed in 1859 and is the only lighthouse in South Carolina that is open to the public. 

The Confederates destroyed the first lighthouse at the beginning of the Civil War (or known around here as the War of Northern Aggression or the War of Unpleasantness!) so the Union troops couldn't use it as a means of navigation.  It was rebuilt in 1875.

It was rebuilt using cast iron plates so it would be easy to dismantle in case it needed to be moved.  Lucky for them as it was moved 1 1/4 mile inland in 1889 to where it presently stands due to erosion.  The lighthouse was deactivated in 1933.

There was a lot of information to read about the keepers and what life was like.  It was a very solitary lonely job.  It was very interesting to read about.  

On a clear day you can see about 40 miles out to the horizon!

See the two little faces peeking up at me.  I have a thing for old spiral staircases!

She looked up right after this picture and said, "I was all the way up there?!?"  

We hit the beach for about an hour and a half.  Little Miss learned how to finally dunk under the waves!  Everything was going great until Tom was watching for her head to pop up beside him from under a wave and it did, but right beside a jellyfish!  He grabbed her and ran to shore.  That was about it for us!  We then ate at a local restaurant called Boondocks.  Heaven help me, but we had fried calamari, fried shrimp, fried scallops, fried okra and a crabcake.  I did have a salad though.  That should balance it out.  Right?  :-)

We got home around 10:30 and all snuggled into bed!  Monday was a lazy day of nothing.  What a wonderful weekend!  I hope your Memorial Day was relaxing and as wonderful as ours!