Updated Christmas Pictures Posted

Christmas at the Martins

Although it was a cold rainy day, it was warm and festive inside today with the sudden appearance of Santa's gifts already in Sumter.  Annaka about hyperventilated opening her present that contained her Dorothy dress and Jack was beside himself with a helicopter from the Cars movie. Needless to say a fun time was had by all.  I wonder how we will get them to bed tonight?

Tomorrow we travel to Myrtle Beach.

Finally we rake some leaves

Pictures from Edisto

Annaka at Toccoa

We took the family for a little hike a couple weeks ago to Toccoa Falls which was a surprisingly pretty waterfall.  Annaka and Jack both did their best to test the will of the water gods, but fortunately did not fall in the water.

Toccoa Falls Hike

Blue Jay's Rule

Relive the magic season...more pictures here.

Celebrating Grandpa's Birthday

More Trick or Treat Pictures

We are still eating a lot of assorted candies. This year Annaka was not as bashful about getting a handful of candy, while Jack was happy to just get candy.

Celebrating Halloween Clemson Style

A Little Fall Camping

This weekend we decided to try a little car camping with another family. Our choice location was at one of our favorite spots at Asbury Hills Methodist Camp. Today, we enjoyed some a perfect fall day to hike to a local waterfall.

Helicopter at Clemson

Last Saturday it was Military Appreciation Day for the disastrous Clemson / VT game. One bright spot was watching this Apache land and takeoff from the campus. Jack really liked it!

More Annaka Soccer Pictures

Annaka Playing Soccer

Annaka has been enjoying her soccer adventures this fall....

This Tree Must Go

Clemson Tailgating

We have the perfect tailgating spot for football weekends. Nice open grass , big oak trees, and lots of food.

Cicada Girl

Annaka has been finding Cicadas, or the remnants of Cicada shells, in the backyard this summer. Its been a bumper crop. This has been a fun activity for little Miss sunshine. She has a jar full of cicadas. The jar was in the kitchen for awhile, but was removed to the outside, because it was just kind of gross.

She found this Cicada while we were taking a walk on campus.

Fall is here!

We went to our first Clemson soccer game tonight, so fall has officially arrived. Go Tigers.

Jack is starting to learn all the Clemson chants. His favorite is "Fight tigers, Fight Tigers, FIght, Fight, Fight". Annaka is not into the cheers as much as giving us a status report of where the Tiger is in the stadium about every minute.

Tweetsie Railroad

During the heat wave a few weekends ago we went to Boone, NC to cool off a bit. Annaka and Jack had a great time at Tweetise railroad. We spent all day there without any breaks. Mom and Dad were just as tired as the kids.

Family Shot with the Redwoods

Family Shot with the Redwoods
Originally uploaded by rrwater

Picture from Last Summer visiting Uncle Brian. Wow. We all look older now.

Sunset Beach is the Best!

Hey, who are those two folks in the background?

Jumpin' Jack Flash

Jack likes to jump in the water. Now, he is not the most graceful jumper, but he is animated jumper. Every time he jumps, he has to say "1,2,3, Blastoff"

Annaka takes a Picture

Enjoying pizza with the Owen Clan.

Real Gone .... A New Movie

Spooky Tunnel

We visited Stumphouse tunnel today. Where the heck is Stumphouse tunnel? Its 30 minutes away near the small town of Walhalla. It was partially constructed in 1856 and was only excavated to a length of 4,363 feet.

Today, Jack walked in 100 feet of 4,363 feet and decided that was all he needed to see. He said it was spooky and he wanted to go home. Annaka and Mom were more successful and managed to hike most of the tunnel.

The Travelin' Fool

Uncle Brian has had some humorous posts from his adventures traveling in Europe this summer. If you like to travel vicariously in the comfort of your home, check out his blog the Travelin' Fool

Here is an excerpt:

"How did we end up at such a God-forsaken place like Puçol? Well, let me explain. While in Alicante, our little beach resort town that was like a paradise to us, we had totally forgotten about our oath (sworn in blood) made a week prior after the Sevilla debacle to stay ahead of the game and have everything planned out a few weeks in advance. Maybe it was the nice weather in Alicante that clouded our brains, or the beautiful beaches, or possibly the sangria. I don´t know."

Picking Blueberries and Chasing Chickens

We went blueberry picking this past Saturday which is an annual rite of passage for us in July. For the last seven years, we have have been picking blueberries at a place called The Happy Berry Farm not far from Clemson near Lake Keowee.

From Annaka and Ja...

We have taken the kids there every summer. A retired agricultural professor has been running this farm for the last 25 years. The kids enjoy picking/eating the blueberries and harassing the chickens that run around there.

Singing Roxanne and Still Digging Indy

Yesterday I was struck with a bit of 1980's nostalgia.

Somehow, the unbelievable happened yesterday. I was able to score two tickets for Kristen and I to see The Police in Atlanta in November. We have not been to a rock concert since our graduate school days over 11 years ago. While I have seen Sting a number of times, I have never seen The Police. The Police last performed together in 1984 just as I discovered their music. Needless to say, after many Roxanne falsetto singing lapses yesterday, Kristen has banned me from singing Roxanne today.

The other 1980s flashback occurred when I saw this picture floating around the net on Friday. It is a picture taken by Steven Spielberg on the set of the next Indiana Jones movie. The movie has just started shooting and it is due to be released in May of next year.

For a young boy, this movie captured my imagination. Dad and I went to see Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981 in Greenville in a packed theater. I also remember seeing the last sequel my senior year of High School. I could not believe that my dad let me skip studying for my last exam so we could go see the movie.

Great Memories.

Smorelicious Weekend

Annaka and I spent this past weekend at Asbury Hills Methodist Camp and enjoyed a good bonding father/child weekend. This was our second year attending and it was nice to leave the house, kick back, enjoy camp activities, eat smores, play in the creek, canoe, and not worry about cooking your own food.

We spent the night in our own cabin and listened to the sounds of nature. Annaka enjoyed playing with her friend Hannah who was also there last year. What a pair!

Happy Father's Day!

Our Helicopter Ride with the President

Several weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit Washington DC and one of things we were able to do was take a ride in the President's helicopter, Marine Corps One. What a thrilling ride around DC. The skyline of DC at night is really special.

It was a big disappointment, however, that Jack did not want to ride with the family. After some discussion we left him near the Washington Monument with a video camera to take some video of us flying around the Capitol.

Enjoy!

Big Annaka and Daddy in the middle of Lake Hartwell

Vacation Pictures

Mid-Atlantic

I have uploaded some pictures from our recent week long trip through the mid-Atlantic states. We spent some time at a awesome water park in Williamsburg, VA, camped on Assateague, and toured around DC.

It is hard to take a "vacation" with a 4 and 2 year old, but we had something for everyone, even Uncle Brian had a good time.

Annaka Sings

Green Thumb?

From Annaka and Ja...

This year we decided to try our hand at gardening at the community gardens. We have a 10' X 40' plot that we had fun planting all sorts of stuff. Hopefully, most of it will come up. I can't wait until we can taste some fresh vegetables.

Video from Dance Recital

Annaka's Dance Recital

Great Memories From Cleveland

Attack of the Frog

Last night I found a frog crossing the road near our house that I was able to put into a bag. This frog was not a typical frog we usually see, but it was more of a tree frog variety. The kids loved it. Annaka and Jack watched it jump around in the backyard as they were building up enough ambition to finally to touch it.

Soon Kristen let the frog crawl up her hand and as the kids stared intently and without warning, the frog jumped and blasted off Kristen's hand in what was definitely a leap of faith by the frog. The frog landed on Jack's face over one of his eyes. Jack looked like he literally had a patch over one of this eyes. The frog was able to hold this position using its suction cups on his toes.

With a jolt Jack reared back screaming and waving his hands blindly. In a battle between a two-year old boy and a seemingly innocent frog, Jack was able to finally claim victory by knocking the frog off his face with his hand. It took several minutes before Jack could calm down.

Interestingly, he was talking about the frog that landed on his head as we put him to bed last night. He also has brought it up several times today. I guess time will tell if he develops a fear of frogs.

I hope not.

Finally Raining

Annaka and Mom home after a baby shower.

Buying Some Goat Cheese

There is actually a pretty large goat farm not far from Clemson. Kristen really enjoys the different type of cheeses. The kids enjoy seeing the goats.

Puzzle Man

Last weekend Jack was getting dressed, however, he soon disappeared. We found him later downstairs working on his puzzles without any clothes on. What a dedicated problem solver.