Christmas in Columbia SC {2020}

Much like when we lived in Raleigh, NC, we wanted to experience Christmas in the capital of our state. Columbia is the capital of South Carolina and has a beautiful old Capitol building. One Sunday before Christmas and after church and lunch, we decided to take advantage of a particularly beautiful day to walk around the Capitol. Quite a few other folks had the same idea even with professional photographers taking their Christmas family pictures. We had taken our own family pictures at home, but we couldn't pass up an opportunity for some shots around the Capitol building.  Seriously, the weather turned foul right after this, and there was not another good weekend for picture taking before Christmas.  We hope this will become a new tradition for our family.

Daddy and his boys in front of the State House (what South Carolina calls its Capitol building) and the big Christmas tree.  Next year, we hope to visit during the actual tree lighting ceremony.  It was a particularly bright and sunny day which did make picture taking more difficult.  

All of my pictures with the boys here had sunspots so I had to pick the best option.  

Here, the sunspots were over Brody and Grayson and a little on Evan. 

The boys enjoy some shade by the Confederate war monument. Yes, I am glad our state has not "taken them down."  You will see later in this post how South Carolina honors everyone's history in this beautiful state. I think it is sad to remove monuments honoring the dead of any war.  Confederate soldiers died for their states and fought over more issues than slavery.  Most of these soldiers were poor farmers with no slaves and did not even own their own land.  They fought against the tyranny of the northern leaders which Abraham Lincoln would have fought against after the Civil War.  I am a history major so don't challenge me to a duel on this one.  

The beautiful State House

I love those sweet boys in this picture.  They enjoyed running around freely outdoors with NO MASKS!  Don't try to start something on that one either.  Sorry, but I am not playing that game of ignorance here.  Goodbye if you don't like it.  

My sweet Mattox

A contemplative Grayson

A slightly better picture of me and the kids in the shade of the tree. 

I love Grayson's smiles in pictures!  

We have a kid who can take decent pictures of us now.  Yay!  He did get a very funny blurry pic of us pointing and yelling at Grayson in unison who was running off while we were trying to get this picture. 

My handsome husband of over 17 years.  He will soon turn 43, and I think he gets better with age and gray hair.  Haha! 

Trying for a better picture in the shade of the Capitol. 

The boys didn't want to be in another picture with mom so it's just me and my girl.  I love it! 

And another sweet couple shot.  

Isn't it a federal law that every state must have a statue of George Washington?  I thought I remembered that from our trip to Washington, D.C.  Anyway, this is South Carolina's statue. 

The simple yet lovely State House Christmas decorations. 

Here is quite possibly the best African American History Monument I have personally seen, and I have visited the monuments in Washington, D.C.  

These realistic sculptures take you through the history of African Americans from arriving on slave ships to Emancipation to becoming some of the most noble characters in our country's history.  I don't think any people on earth can claim to have risen so quickly from the lowest lows to the highest achievements.  It's a very beautiful and touching tribute.  

Grayson loved the depiction of jazz musicians and athletes. 

And both of these boys were captivated by the astronaut.  

I got teary eyed at this depiction of a slave ship just imaging the deplorable conditions for human beings on board and knowing that many men, women and children did not even survive the journey.  

Only to be sold like livestock into a life of slavery where even their own children weren't considered their own.  

Fighting for freedom not only for themselves but for our whole nation. 

Emancipation was only the first step on the journey towards freedom and equality for all. 

Our sweet Maggie just looks so big walking around like her brothers. 

Walking hand in hand with Daddy is a dream come true for me. I never had this relationship with a father when I was young. 

My heart could explode! 

This beautiful old cathedral like church sits across from the State House. 

A Revolutionary War monument.

It was finally looking like Fall here in December. 

Lovely ginkgo trees may not be native species, but they provide ample color. 

Merry Christmas 2020

While this is coming a few days late, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We all went into 2020 with very different aspirations, I am sure. Looking back on our memories from the year, I still feel very blessed. Our family experienced so many blessings this year, including a move to a new home closer to our families, great school accomplishments for our kids, and lots of time together making memories. I understand that everyone may not have the same feelings about 2020, but I am not going to forget our special memories this year. We do continue to hope and pray for a safe, happy, and healthy new year for everyone!

We enjoy taking our annual family Christmas pictures.  We got Cocoa in them this year.  Brody was having a bit of trouble handling her though. 

These kids wish you all a healthy and happy New Year! 

Our Fall Road Trip 2020

Even though 2020 may have slowed us down on traveling, I knew I was not going to give up our Fall traditions.  I wanted to see some Fall colors and visit a farm to pick pumpkins or apples and let the kids have some fun.  With Evan's busy sports schedule, our weekends have been pretty jam packed until last weekend.  After watching the weather, we had planned to head towards the mountains on Sunday, but Saturday morning, Eddie checked the weather again, and it looked like the rain that was suppose to show up on Saturday wasn't going to hit until late Saturday night and Sunday.  We quickly changed our plans and jumped in the car for the drive after a quick stop by Chick-fil-a to get our lunch through the drive thru.  We live right beside the interstate that would take us all the way to the best spots for apple and pumpkin farms in North Carolina.  We last visited the area of Hendersonville, NC in 2013 so I was interested to see how much had changed.  We visited the same apple orchards that we last visited.  The area did have some new developments, but the farms were pretty similar.  The pumpkins were pretty picked over and slim, but we did manage to get a bag full of apples and had some good fun too.  We made it through the amazing Chick-fil-a themed corn maze just before the storm arrived, and we headed home in the opposite direction of the storm.  We were very thankful for this wonderful day of memories made.  

The drive isn't too steep as Hendersonville lies just on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  My ears only popped once on the drive coming back down.  

You know you have entered the mountains when you see the exposed granite along the roadside where the mountain was blasted away to make the road.  The road through Hendersonville is lined with farms selling pumpkins and apples and lots of yummy homemade treats. 

The first thing the kids wanted to do upon exiting the car was to get some energy out on this playground.  Grayson wasn't too sure about the horse swing.  The bike merry-go-round was pretty neat although the boys couldn't get it to move.  I tried pushing it, and it was very difficult.  

On the way to pick some yummy apples.  The granny smith trees were the last ones to be picked, but the kids really love those the best.  

Miss Maggie got to ride in the wagon.  

I tried to get Maggie to hold an apple, but she just kept letting it fall to the ground like "I don't want that."  Mattox demonstrated for her. 

Oh my sweet Grayson.  He really steals my heart! 

I can't believe how big my oldest baby is now.  He is way taller than me and just so handsome and grown up.  He really loves his little brothers. 

Just pictures of the old couple. 

Teaching Grayson and Maggie how to pick the best apples off the tree. 

Evan doing his baby Simba pose with Maggie.  Maggie is definitely his favorite now as she looks so much like him. 

Daddy had the brilliant idea to make an apple pyramid for the boys, but the execution of the plan wasn't so easy.  The apples kept rolling away.  Haha!  Brody practiced his "make an apple float" trick.  

Grayson wanted to try to pull everyone.  He's our little Hulk baby.  

Me and my babies

Seeing her walking through the orchard was a dream come true. The last time we were here, we were still in the early stages of grieving her sister. 

My two biggest babies are definitely growing up.  Evan is about 5 1/2 feet tall, and Brody is over 4 feet tall.  

Mattox was about 3 1/2 feet tall, and Maggie was almost 2 1/2 feet.  

I think my Gerber baby is just the cutest.  She could definitely sell some baby food even though her baby food is homemade. 

My little pumpkin heads.  I told them to do a silly picture for the second one, and the silliest thing Mattox could think of was to show his ear.  Haha! 

Maggie and the Great Pumpkin

The cutest pumpkin in the patch

All of my little pumpkins. 

Brody is reading the story of Ivan the gorilla with his class so he had to get a picture with the big gorilla statue.  

And the babies wanted to ride in the wagon.  

We braved the corn maze. 

And the kids lead the way.  

Which way?  

Evan had a lot of fun in the maze.  He wanted to go the long way through it. 

Mommy and Daddy have to take selfies to get a picture together. 

Grayson hiding in the corn.  

I took a photo of the maze map to help us stay on the outer edge of the maze.  If we had gotten into those letters and words, we would never have gotten out.  Haha!  The storm hit right when we finished.  We ran to the car.