Beach, BBQs and Birthdays
For those of you who are fans of The Office tv show this title is an homage to Dwight’s “Beets, Bears, Battlestar Galactica” phrase. Although it obviously has nothing to do with that. I realized this whole month of May has suddenly disappeared. It started out with our anniversary trip to Charleston SC and since then we have been busy traveling nearly every weekend.
A few weeks ago we took our first trip of the season to the beach. We stayed in Atlantic Beach for the night. After some delicious seafood at The Sanitary restaurant we took the dog for a walk on the beach before calling it a night. This was Peppers first experience with the beach. She wasn’t sure what to think at first. The next day we spent a few hours enjoying the sun. The water was way too cold to get in. We learned that Pepper is not very fond of the waves at the ocean. Not sure if she is scared of the sound or the way it moves or both. Nevertheless she still enjoyed digging tons of holes in the sand and then laying in them to stay cool. That black fur gets hot in the sun pretty quickly. The main purpose of the beach trip was to visit Lauren’s grandparents who live in that area. It had been a while since we had payed them a visit. After spending a couple hours visiting with them it was time to head home.
The following weekend we celebrated my sister’s birthday with her friends. She wanted to go to one of their local favorites. A sushi restaurant down the street from our house. Lauren and I were newbies to the whole sushi scene. With over 50 types of rolls to choose from on the menu we were thankful to have the expert advice of Heather and Wylie to explain our options and offer helpful suggestions. Unfortunately when it came to operating chopsticks properly I clearly failed regardless of the several people who helped give me instructions. I did the best I could. I must say Lauren and I were both pleasantly surprised at how good the food was. I think we had Philadelphia, California, and sweet potato sushi rolls. Nothing too exotic for our first time. It was fun sampling others dishes including Eel. It sounds disgusting but was actually one of the best things we tried that night. Everyone agreed it tasted like catfish. To finish the evening off we celebrated with their green tea ice cream complete with a birthday candle.
Since it was a long 3-day weekend for Memorial Day Lauren and I decided to host a BBQ cookout at our house that Saturday with some of our friends. It was kind of a last minute deal but it worked out well. After spending a few hours cleaning up our poor, neglected house and grabbing some groceries we started to feel like we had things in order. I got the speakers hooked up on the back porch as part of our dinner entertainment. I even found this cool program to let us wirelessly control the iTunes playlist on a laptop streaming to the stereo in the living room. After a couple hours enjoying dinner outdoors we headed inside to avoid the insects. That meant it was time to fire up the Xbox for some Rock Band. You can’t have a party without Rock Band right? Always a good time.
On Sunday it was back to the beach again. This time Mom and Mike got a condo for the whole week and they were kind enough to invite us down for a day or two. We met up with them Sunday afternoon to celebrate my sister’s birthday as a family. We spent the evening enjoying some great fresh seafood for dinner and then proceeded to play several board games. I am notoriously bad at most games that don’t involve a controller in my hand and a TV screen but I have learned to embrace that fact over the years. I had my teammates and opponents cracking up at my odd answers in Catchphrase. While my team only won one game out of 10 or more we all had a great time. There was also an old school Super Nintendo in the condo with a copy of NBA Jam. That proved to be more my speed and offered up some great nostalgia. The next day we stayed in the sun as long as we could bare it ( a few hours). Even though the water was colder than I would have liked, 68 degrees, that didn’t stop Lauren from swimming in it. After a little convincing I finally joined her. Once your in you adjust or just become so numb you can’t feel anything anymore. After the beach we headed back to the condo for lunch and then made the long drive back home. Traffic was heavier due to it being Memorial Day weekend.
This past weekend we mixed things up and took a break from the beach. Friday night Lauren and I went to dinner and a movie. I have been bugging her about Star Trek since it first released weeks ago and she finally agreed. Of course it had been downgraded to smaller, non-digital screen so we opted to go with Disney Pixar’s “UP” to get our moneys worth. Not only was it digital but it was also 3D. It was our first experience with a movie that used this new Dolby Digital 3D technology. It is such a world of difference from the cheezy 3D technology used back when I was a kid and before. No more green and red cardboard glasses. No more blurry images or headaches. Best of all the entire movie was in 3D not just a “special section”. Even the previews were in 3D. The movie itself was a lot of fun and was a great way to demonstrate 3D in a full length film. While I liked Ratatouille and loved Wall-E I could see where both of those films were geared more towards adults than children. Especially the slow openings. UP was a perfect balance for both adults and kids. I won’t ruin the plot other than to say you go on an exciting adventure with an old man and a boy scout as they float his house with balloons to paradise. Along the way you meet a crazy cast of charecters and face all kinds of circumstances and obstacles. While its not my favorite Pixar movie of all time or anything it was very enjoyable and I can recommend it to everyone interested. Especially for the 3D aspect.
Saturday we headed to Fayetteville for Alan’s birthday (Lauren’s brother). Her grandma prepared a huge pot of steamed crab legs with all the fixin’s. We never grow tired of seafood. After stuffing ourselves completely we had plenty of time to relax on the screened porch and catch up on the latest with everyone. Of course there was also cake and presents mixed in there. As usual Pepper came along for the weekend and was thankfully much more well behaved than last time we visited for Easter. Although she managed to find something nasty in the backyard and rolled in it until she smelled like manure. A quick bath solved that problem before loading her up in the car and returning to Lauren’s mom’s house. The next day after church I took it easy while Lauren and her mom did a little shopping. Then it was time to say our goodbyes and head home.
Needless to say the month of May has been really busy for us on the weekends with lots of traveling. Of course isn’t that what summer is all about. A few other things that have been going on. Lauren and I have both been more actively participating in our church. I have volunteered at least once a month to help run the computer and video projection system used during worship. Lauren has also begun singing up on stage with the praise band every few weeks. Speaking of church there have been plenty of young couples our age and younger who have just had their first child. That means that Lauren has also been busy in May attending several baby showers and a few weeks later visiting the newborns and their new parents. She has also had the opportunity to expand her child photography portfolio with some amazing shoots. You can see more on her site. There are lots of exciting things coming up this month in June but I will save those for another post.
A few weeks ago I realized Mothers Day was around the corner. I decided to get serious about finding a way to scan all these photos and turn them into a Mothers Day gift this year. After more research I ran across this company simply named ScanMyPhotos.com While their website design was not very impressive their resume was. They had been around since 1990 (yes before digital photos existed) and they had glowing reviews from reliable sources like David Pogue at the NY Times. What really sold it was their ultra cheap $0.03 per scan price. I decided to give them a go. I followd the instructions and shipped the photos out the week before Mothers Day. I paid a little extra for shipping to CA since I was short on time. 2 days later my photos arrived at their headquarters as I received a confirmation email from them. Before I left work that same day I received another email that my photos were done scanning and the whole package with digital photos were being shipped back to me. I got them before the weekend and just in time for Mothers Day. Total cost under $100 including shipping. Needless to say when I shared this gift with mom and pulled up all the photos on the computer she was blown away. I highly recommend them to anyone interested in saving their photos.
Food
During one of our tours of a local plantation we stopped in at the nearby 
A large portion of our time was spent touring a few of the local plantations in the area. The first of three was the 
The second plantation we toured at 
The last plantation was 
With nearly 350 years of history in the city of Charleston there are countless number of things to do and see and learn. Certainly much more than anyone can absorb in just one weekend. Lauren and I took our time walking all over the historic downtown district. I enjoyed the rich architectural homes the most and the various styles ranging from the popular greek revival to the occasional victorian and a mix of everything in between. Each one was unique from the one right next to it. There were also plenty of parks and piers and fountains to be enjoyed while walking around. We made a few trips through the city market in search of souvenirs. Saturday evening we booked a haunted ghost harbor tour. We heard a handful of spooky stories about real pirates that were killed in the city and their ghosts that still haunt people today. It was also a great opportunity to float around on a boat and see the city and the bridge from a distance at night. Very cool experience. Another fun tour we managed to squeeze in was a carriage ride on Sunday morning before we left for home. Our tour guide was a local who lived there all his life and he knew every single detail there was to the history of the city. It was amazing all the things we learned in just 1 hours time. 
You may have noticed my site looks a little different than the last time you visited. Well I made a couple changes. Nothing to drastic, just a way to better organize the flood of information. There are now tabs along the top of the site to help navigate to just the content you are interested in.
Growing up as a teen of the early 90s I quickly became a fan of the new sounds coming from Seattle. Bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and one that is still with us today… Pearl Jam. While their music has changed with the times over the years Pearl Jam is still by far one of my favorite bands of all times. I have all their studio albums and most of their B-sides and live material. I have been to several of their concerts as they have passed near here. When I heard that they were celebrating their 20th anniversary I felt really old but also psyched in what was to come.
