Happy Halloween

Halloween came this year on a Sunday. This caused tons of confusion about when to trick n treat. The Major of Chapin said to trick n treat on Saturday but Lexington County said to go on Sunday. I was working Saturday and asked a little boy went he was trick n treating and he looked at me like I was crazy. He answered " Halloween, of course." Oh the wisdom of a child.

Jordan wanted to be a Revolutionary War Solider. Since this is not a normal request for a 9 year old, I ordered his costume online. Thank goodness for the internet.

Hunter wasn't sure if he wanted to go trick n treating. So I told him to put on a mask and no one would know who he was.

Captain Jordan Bristow

We always visit this house on Halloween. They go all out with their decorations both inside and outside.

We had a great time trick n treating. When else can you ring the doorbell of a stranger and ask for candy and actually receive it.

Walk for the Cure

Hunter and I walked to raise money for Juvenile Diabetes. Over 3,000 people walked to cure diabetes. Brendan is one of Hunter's friends from boy scout. He has juvenile diabetes so we wanted help him.

Hunter and Brendan

The walk started at the Colonial Life Arena. We enjoyed visiting the vendor's tent and talking before the event.

You can see Hunter and me in the crowd. We are on the left hand side of the picture.

Since it was Halloween, lots of people and animals were dressed up. This was my favorite dog costume.

Angel Dog

Our team was called the Chapin Cheekers. Here we are at the beginning of the race.

Chapin Checkers

We walked over 2 miles in downtown Columbia.

The crowd walking ahead of us

Even the Piggly Wiggly pig was walking with us. He is holding pig skins which is a little creepy since he is a pig. His name tag read "Mr Pig."

Mr Pig and I

We walked through the horseshoe which is beautiful (or as Mom would say breath takingly beautiful) even if it is part of USC.

Hunter walking in the horseshoe

Here we are at the finish line.

Hunter and I raised $205 for Juvenile Diabetes!

Hunter makes straight A's

We are so PROUD of Hunter for making straight As on his report card!!! His grade in math was a 100! How can you even do that? He is enjoying middle school and doing great.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Jordan and I went to see The Legend of Sleepy Hollow at Riverfront Park. It is the 9th year they have preformed this outdoor play. They sold out of tickets the night we were there.

Jordan loved all the costumes. He could have worn his Halloween costume and fit right in.

The play last about 2 hours with a 10 minute intermission. Being outside made the play feel even spookier. The highlight of the play was when the headless horseman rode by.

Jordan and the Headless Horseman

Carving the Pumpkin

The boys love craving the pumpkin around Halloween. As they have gotten older, they need less help from us. We separated the seeds from the pumpkin and toasted them. They are so good.

GO TIGERS!!!!!

We went to the Clemson vs Georgia Tech game with The Zobel's. It was the boys first Clemson game. We all had a wonderful time. Charlie was Hunter's den leader in cub scouts and Tyler is in boy scouts with Hunter now. One of the best things about scouts has been meeting such wonderful friends.






The boys loved seeing all the Clemson orange. Since we live in Columbia now, Gamecock garnet and black are much more common than Clemson orange. The boys liked seeing all the tailgaters with the flat screen TVs hooked up watching the pregame shows, kids playing football and all their food. Tailgating is an art that many of fans have perfected.



We are the boys liked watching the players touch the rock and run down the hill. The most exciting 5 seconds in college football. They had seen the rock and ran down the hill at the scout sports day at the Clemson.





The boys enjoyed being a part of the sea of orange. Jordan's favorite part of the game was doing the wave. He also enjoyed the cheers and watching the tiger do push up when we scored. Hunter's favorite part was the game. He love just watching the Tigers play.

Our seats were on the 50 yard line. Unfortantally, they were in the upper deck. Our seats could have been closer to the top but not much.


This picture was taken after we won the game! The fan crowd the field and celebrate.

I enjoyed being on campus again. It makes you feel young. Remembering the days I spent at Clemson in college. Chris was amazed at how much larger the trees were now which made me came back to reality. It has been a really long time since college but I can pretend it hasn't been that long. I feels like it hasn't that long ago.

State Fair

Ah the lights, sounds and smells (both good and bad) of the state fair. Going to the fair is always an adventure.

Jordan is standing in front of a giant sand structure. This room was also full of flowers.


This was the newest food item at the fair.... The Krispy Kreme bacon cheeseburger. I didn't try one but I prefer my Krispy Kreme donuts without any meat.

The boys on the ferris wheel.

Chris and Hunter rode lots of rides. Hunter wanted to ride until he threw up. Luckily he has a strong stomach and that never happened.

Jordan is in the center and Hunter is on the left hand side

It will not be long before they will be driving real cars. UGH!

Chris and Hunter are in the middle of the picture on the right hand side.

Chris and Hunter just after riding the Swing Tower

Hunter spent his money riding rides. Jordan wanted to play the games of chance. He had to win this game twice to win the price he wanted.

Here is Jordan and his prize... a large stuffed dog he named Shotgun.

Here was the tallest man at the fair.

Chris took this picture of Jordan and I on the sky lift. It is horrible of me but Jordan looks so cute tight holding on to Shotgun.

I love the way the fair looks at night.

We had a great time at the fair but I'm glad it only comes once a year.

Great Wolf Lodge

We spend the day at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, NC. The Great Wolf Lodge is a hotel with a giant indoor water park.

The lobby was decorated for Halloween. This giant balloon spider was hanging from the ceiling.

The lobby looked like a lodge with a huge stone fireplace and lots of exposed wood.

This was our room. There was a separated area for the boys to sleep. There was a bunk bed and another single bed. They even had their own flat screen TV.

We arrived at the hotel around 2pm. We put our luggage in our room and headed to the water park. In the picture above, Jordan was walking from lily pad to lily pad. They was wet and slippery. They were connected to the bottom of the pool but they would move around. I tried to cross over on them but failed. For a moment, I felt like I was on Surviver.

There was a tree house with tons of areas to spray others with water. There were buckets that would fill up with water and dump out on you. At the top, there were 2 slides you could race down.


Jordan is on this giant snake. It would move when someone else got on it and you would have to hold on or slide off.

There was a wave pool that simulated wave. We would get on floats and ride the waves. There was other tube slide rides. The biggest was the Tornado in which you dropped down a hole in the dark.



One of the boys favorite parts of the hotel was MagicQuest which was located in the hotel. They were able to use their wands from the Myrtle Beach MagicQuest. They were able to play throughout their hotel stay which is a lot better deal than paying by the hour at Myrtle Beach.

Jordan is choosing his next quest for MagicQuest.

They battle the dragon and won!!! Hunter worked for about 30 minutes and figured it out. Then he shared his knowledge with Jordan.

This cool Spiderman in the lobby. They had a costume contest at night. We wondered if Spiderman was a guest or employee.

Cotton Gin

I have been wanting to take the kids to Jeff's cotton gin. Jeff is Laura's step dad. Luckily, Laura was in town for her grandmom's birthday so we toured the gin together.

The first step is the cotton field. Since cotton is not a food, they use tons of pesticides to keep the bugs away.

Laura and I in the cotton field

The cotton fields are sprayed for defoliation and turns brown.

Jordan and Anna in the field

Next the cotton is picked (by machines of course) and bought to the gin in large trucks.

The cotton was sucked up a large vacuum to be separated.

This machine combs the seeds out of the cotton. It sends the seeds to the seed room and the cotton to the bailer. All the trash and other bits go in a different direction. They are used for stuffing furniture and other things.

The bailer compacts the cotton into 500 pounds bails every 4 minutes.

The cotton looks like this after it is bailed. Now it is sold to make fabric and cotton balls. It is nice to know that something is still made in America.

This is the seed room. The seed are sold and crushed to be made into cotton oil. It was like SC snow to the kids. You can see how high it is. Hunter is a little over 5 feet and it towered over him.

Cotton seed fight