and everyone else too f course.. but these are as promised. some new photos of the Things.  I have a lot to post about.. but we are all softball all the time thsi week. Thing One made the Allstar team.. so we have a tourney this week.. I promise a big catch up post before I head off to work at church camp for 3 weeks.

This is T2 and my Daddy in his garden. They grew the cabbages together for a school project. It made a LOT of cole slaw!

T1 is ALL about tons and tons of random self portraits.. I thought this one was pretty.. except kind of funny since she has two pairs of glasses on.  You can REALLY see how much weight she has lost since starting weight watchers. YOU GO BABAY!

I might have already posted this one.. but I love the dress T2 has on in it. We are growing out her bangs.. wow It makes her look so much OLDER. Boo. it makes me sad to see her look so grown.

** notice she is wearing the earrinsg Shanny made me again. You can get your own pair in her etsy shop. They are perfect with this outfit!**

This is T1’s softball photo. She played for “First Bank” and had a pretty good season. SO much better than last year. She is loving playing ball. I sure wish we’d have gotten her started when she was little!

This is one of the shots we took at the Angel Oak Tree in Charleston. She’s so cute

Here is a freebie of me on my birthday. I love the look on T2’s face

Thursday Steven, Thing Two and I went on an adventure to Charleston SC. We had an amazing time.. and it has totally ruined me for Myrtle Beach.. Id way rather go to Charleston.. to the beach and to the city. I totally fell in love with the place.

Most people know that I grew up in Alaska. Living in SC has made it really easy to  have really lost touch with a lot of the people that I grew up with…. and sadly I am bad about correspondance. BUT the magic of facebook has really changed all that. I am talking with people I havent spoken to in years on a regular basis and just loving it. Its so fun.. I bring this up because I recently got back in touch with my friend Jimmy Filley. He was a huge part of my life for a really long time.  A really fun guy that I just love. He works for a television station as a news producer and  when I heard he was going to be in Charleston covering the hockey finals I KNEW I had to go up to see him.

I am so so glad we did. We had a blast!

Thursday morning we got up early and got Thing One off to school.. she was going on her 8th grade trip to a local state park and didnt want to miss it, so we decided she could stay home.. she ended up wishing she’d have gone with us.. we had that much fun! We hit the road and Thing two curled up with her favorite blanket and her dvd player and we didnt hear a PEEP from her the entire trip.  I really love taking my girls on road trips. I am pretty lucky because they are easily entertained and often just either sleep or watch the scenery. T2 especially loves to go on trips. She packs months ahead of time and plans and plans her outfits… hmm I wonder where she got that from? heh. It didnt take long at all.. at by 9 am we were pulling into Jimmy’s hotel parking lot. It was so so good to see him. I cant believe we didnt take a picture together! I was so sad to get home and realize that. ohh well. next time for sure!

Neither Steven and I or Jimmy had been to Charleston, so we didnt really have any set touring ideas.. and its a good thing too.. because Thing Two definatly had preferences for what she wanted to see. She has been taking South Carolina History this year in school and knew all the places she wanted to see in Charleston. It was amazing how much she actually knew about the area. I was totally impressed!

The very first thing she mentioned was visting the “Angel Oak” a 1500 year old oak tree that is on John’s Island outside Charleston. She knew all kinds of facts and was only to happy to act as tour guide.  The thing was HUGE and the feeling in the thicket where it grows was really cool.. You could almost hear the tree talking and thinking. I have never actually FELT a tree’s pressence.. It was almost like its been there so long it holds a friendship with God. The Angel oak is over 1500 years old and is 65 ft high and covers 160 feet and It is considered the oldest thing living or dead east of the Mississippi. VERY cool. We had a great time taking pictures and exploring the area. It was a perfect morning. Warm and breezy. The sun was so pretty and the shade of the tree made it perfect for pictures.

* I really wish Thing One was in this picture.. it would be a perfect christmas card right? We might have to photoshop her in!

Darn Tree Huggers

 After we visited with the Tree we drove to downtown Charleston. We didnt really take very many pictures down there. I guess we were to busy looking at everything.  This is a fountain that is on the waterfront near the battery. There were little kids in swimsuits playing in the water.. that water would feel GREAT on a really hot summer day.

We didnt get our own photo’s of these places.. but we went there.

 Rainbow row is a block of historical houses. There are so pretty and colorful. The ironwork on all of the gates is so so pretty. There are foutains and beautiful gated flower gardens everywhere you look. Most of the houses have painted shutters and window boxes full of such pretty flowers.

 They had amazing jewelry there that is fashioned after the gate designs. SO pretty.

 Thing two was disapointed to learn that the “pineapple fountain” did not indeed spout pineapple juice. bummer man.

 I loved this pier. They have porch swing type benches under the covered areas. What a neat place to sit and watch the goings on of the waterfront park. PERFECT place for a picnic

Speaking of food.. we were getting hungry. In my research of Charleston I had read several reviews and seen some food network stars eat at a place called Jestine’s Kitchen right there in downtown charleston. AND being that I knew that Jimmy had never experienced low country cooking. I knew that was where we needed to eat.

 We headed over there. I knew that there would be a line.. traditionally the line for Jestine’s can stretch around the block. They dont take reservations and you cant leave your name with the hostess. You just stand in line. Luckily we didnt have to wait too long as I think we got there between the lunch rushes. We were entertained while in line by watching the goings on at an antique firestation. It is said to be one of the oldest fire stations in the US and was SO pretty.  The openings in the building are so narrow that special firetrucks had to be built for the station

It wasnt very long and the super sweet hostess invited us in for lunch.  It was cool the way she did it. She opens the door and says “Wont you join us?” heh. love that southern hospitatlity. We all ordered Sweet tea and enjoyed the cornbread basket while we decided on what to have. Thing Two was steadily cracking Jimmy up with her antics and they kept eachother entertained while we waited.

I ordered fried chicken and mac and cheese. It was so so delicious. They litterally bring you HALF A FRIED CHICKEN. It was HUGE HUGE HUGE

 I ended up taking most of my plate home with me. That fried chicken was just as good cold on the way home as it was hot and crispy.  YUMMMY. definatly not a weight watchers day.. we just suspended points for the trip.. I know you shouldnt do that.. but I couldnt even count that high!

 After lunch.. and an amaing Pineapple bread pudding Desert from Jestine’s Bakery next door we found a place to park and explored the Charleston City Market/Confederate museum. It was built in 1841 and was all brick and had such neat little shops and all kinds of tables with people selling everything from sweet grass baskets to t-shirts and all sorts of civil war memorablia and souvinears. We got t’s teacher a little tiny sweetgrass basket and picked up some UV activated nail polish for T1.

The market goes on for something like 4 blocks. tons of fun places to look around in.. We had fun talking and walking and as you can see goofing off.

Before long we were all done shopping and getting really hot. We didnt want to melt my Alaskan friend so we headed back to the car and went in search of something cool to drink. We ended up at a sonic for slushies. I could eat a lemon berry slushie every day of the week. YUMM.

Very soon it was time to head back to Dillon and to say goodbye to Jimmy.  We dropped him off at his hotel and turned toward home. I dozed on and off and T2 watched another movie. It was SUCH a fun day. I cant wait to take Thing One there and maybe spend some time in the museums and visit the beach!

Fletcher “Matthew” Rowell

August 13, 1974 – May 31, 2009

I am begining to think that as time goes on, and moves faster and faster that I will become dangerously alone. People that I love are leaving at an alarming rate.  This past week my cousin Matt joined two other cousins, an Aunt, and an Uncle in the lengthening list of loss in the past year. It seems like things barely calm down, and the long grieving process gets underway before we begin again… and sadly so needlessly.

Matt was married to my cousin Tammy and they lived next door to us for 8 years. Thier daughter Patience is T1’s best friend. He and Steven were very close and spent time together almost every single day.  Matt called my mother “ma” and me “sis”. My babies called him “Uncle Matt”. Unfortunatly though, in addition to all these things, he was also an alcholic. His body just couldnt recover from the amounts of poison he put into it.

He had been sick for a while.. and I know now that he knew he wouldnt recover. He had talked with different family members and last tuesday had a talk with Steven about needing someone to “have his back” and take care of his family. Steven wont go into what they talked about exactly.. only that he told him that when the “time came” he wanted Steven to be there to take care of Tammy.

Wednesday night Tammy had called the ambulance to take them back yet again to the hospital.. and since this wasnt that unusual. Steven and I went ahead with a planned day trip to Charleston… we got a call at lunchtime that he wasnt expected to live through the weekend. That evening my mom and I planned to go to Florence the next evening (the next town over where the nearest major hospital is) to spend time with my cousin and to see Matt. But we recieved a call very early the next morning and rushed to the hospital. I hurried through the shower so fast I still had soap in my bellybutton!

By the time we got there Matt was in a coma. He was struggling for each breath and in so much pain. His bloood pressure was very very low and he was a terrible color. It was evident that it wouldnt be long… in fact the nurses were amazed that he had hung on as long as he had.. one said she though he was waiting for someone to get there.. or for something to happen.

We each spent a little time with him. I was so glad I had the chance to hold his hand and remind him of how very much he was loved.. before he went to the hospital and again that day.  As the day wore on his family finally arrived (THAT is a whole other story.) but still he hung on. Around 1 pm Steven who had been watching the business phones and waiting to see if we needed him to bring Patience came into the room. He leaned over Matt and kissed his forehead and told him that he was there.. and that he “had his back.” That if he was tired he should go toward the light and that his “girls” would be taken care of… it was an amazing moment.. I moved into the hallway to catch my breath  and the nurse came and asked me who Steven was? When I told her that he was one of his best friends she told me “well, that’s what he was waiting for then.. its almost time” It wasnt very long and peacefully Matt went to Jesus.

As Im writing it still doesnt even seem real that he wont be home around 5 tonight with his Ozzy blaring and that he wont holler accross the yard and ask what I am cooking for dinner. I cant tell you how many times I have looked accross the yard and seen his car parked there.. and caught myself wondering what he was doing home at that hour…  That at 29 my cousin and friend is a widow.. to the man she was with for 15 years…. Above all.. and selfishly perhaps..  That I am SO SO thankful and aware that I was very nearly in that place just a few months ago.