Jordan

Jordan is the world's biggest 5 year old Star Wars fan. He has been crazy about Star Wars for about 2 years now. So for Christmas, he got Star Wars transformers that when put together makes the Millennium Falcon. And for those of you who are wondering, yes Jordan did get a watch from Santa. (along with lots of other suprises) He said that everyone at school, including his teachers, asks him what time it is. We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Hunter and his boat

Hunter wanted a remote control boat for Christmas. He was very excited when he got one. He has already been out to the dock several times to play with it.

Daniel and Jordan

Hunter and Jordan had a great time playing with their cousins, Daniel and Kate Christmas Day.
This picture is of Jordan and Daniel trying to wait patiently to open Christmas presents.

Christmas Lights at Riverbanks Zoo

We visited the zoo to see the Christmas lights. I bet they had lights on every tree. The animals must have been wondering what is going on. Most of them were asleep but the nocturnal animals like the bats were very active.

Jordan and Santa

Santa took time out of his busy schedule to let Jordan tell him his Christmas wish list. On the top of Jordan's list, a new watch and a phone. Don't ask me what kind of phone. I have no idea. Hopefully Santa knows. I guess Jordan wants to get there on time and talk to his friends on the way. Hunter would not sit on Santa's lap. He said he had already sent him an e-mail and that was enough. Hunter's Christmas wish list is much more detailed and longer than Jordan.

Letterboxing!

We have started letterboxing. It is so much fun. For anyone that does not know, there are letterboxes hidden all over the world. Websites like www.letterboxing.org and www.atlasquest.com help you locate letterboxes in your area and have an area where you can log your "finds." They give you clues to find the box. Before you go letterboxing, you need a ink stamp, a stamp, and a log book. Then follow the clues to find the box. Inside the box there is a stamp and a log book. You stamp the stamp that you found in your book and put your stamp in their log book along with your trail name and the date with any message you want to leave. Then you put everything back in the box just as you found it. It is like a mini treasure hunt. In the picture above Hunter and Jordan are holding a letterbox that we found in Ballentine.

Deerpark Restaurant

After the Candlelight tour of the Biltmore House, we ate at the Deerpark Restaurant on the Biltmore Estates. Since we could not take pictures inside the house, I thought you might want to see the inside of the restuarant. This was just when you went inside. The entire restaurant was beautifully decorated inside and out. If this is how they decorate a restaurant, you can image how the house looks inside. The food was delicious.

Biltmore House

For the second year in a row, Chris and I went to the Biltmore House for Christmas. We took the Candlelight Christmas tour which is beatuiful. The fireplaces are going. The lights on the Christmas trees are twinkling. They have live music on each floor.

We spent the night and the next day we toured the gardens and winery. We also took a behind the scenes tour of the Biltmore. We just happened to be the only ones of that tour. So we had a private tour of the Biltmore!

Edventure

Today we went to Edventure which is a childern's museum in Columbia. In this picture, it was "snowing." (Even though you really can't tell.) Every 5 minutes, this "snow" would fall from the ceiling. The "snow" was a type of foam almost like thick bubbles. I guess that is the closest to snow you get here. (I can hear you now. I know about every 10 years a freak bizzard comes to Columbia. ) The boys enjoyed watching it fall.

Chris and Running Fox

Today Jordan celebrated Thanksgiving at school. Everyone picked an Indian name. Jordan chose Running Fox. They played roll the pumpkin, tug of war, gobble, gobble, turkey (played like duck, duck, goose) pin the hat on the turkey, pass the popcorn and had their faces painted. The day ended with a fest. All the kids looked so cute. Chris and I helped over 100 kindergarteners roll a pumpkin between cones. Running Fox's favorite game was tug of war.

Running Fox playing Tug of War

I am thankful for "famle"

Everyone in Jordan's class drew a picture
of what they were thankful for. This is a picture of Jordan's hanging in the hall at school. He chose his family. Note the picture... 2 dark haired stick figures and 2 red haired stick fiqures. I thought it was so sweet.

A Day at the Zoo

Since today was an early release day at Jordan's school , we went to the zoo with Grandmom. It was a perfect day for the zoo. Not too hot or too cold. We had a great time looking at all the animals. Jordan even rode a cheetah.

The zoo employees were busy decorating the zoo for Christmas. This made the job of decorating our house for Christmas seem easy. They started decorating in August.

Sunset on Isle of Palms

We went to Amy and Shane's gorgeous wedding last Sunday. They were married at the Citadel Beachhouse on the Isle of Palms. I took this picture just before they cut their cake. Congratulations to Amy and Shane!

Only in South Carolina

While trick or treating tonight, we saw this. A local family has a Halloween party and then they take everybody trick or treating with an orange tractor and trailor. There was at least 40 kids on the trailor. Not a bad idea!

Happy Halloween!

Hunter and Jordan had a great time trick or treating. Hunter (Capt Jack Sparrow) and Jordan (Harry Potter) are posing here just before we left the house to go trick or treating. For Jordan's homework tonight, he had to count the number of pieces of candy he received. His grand total was 124.

Hunter's soccer team was named Fever this year. All the players rotated positions. Hunter's favorate position was offense. He loved scoring goals.

Soccer Season Ends!

Jordan played on the Cougars team this fall. He loved it! He wanted to play every quarter! His coach did such a wonderful job with all the kids. Thursday his team had a pizza party and got their trophies and metals. Jordan is already talking about next soccer season.

Bristow Briefs first posting

Hello everyone! Well, it is our first posting. We figured that a blog would be a great way to keep everyone informed without e-mailing such large picture files. I hope everyone enjoys it.