Irmo

On the way home from the beach, Pat & I stopped in Irmo, SC, where he lived from 4th-8th grade. We saw his elementary school

and his junior high school, which had been renamed to Crossroads Middle School.

We saw the Our Lady of the Hills church annex where his boy scout troop met.

Then we even saw an Adopt a Highway sign with his boy scout troop # 521 as the sponsor.

We also got to see the Dominos that Tim worked at while he lived there.

Then we drove through Pat's old neighborhood to see his home and the "pond" that he and the other kids played near.

Coldstream is the name of the neighborhood. It reminded me a little bit of Booker Creek where I lived in Chapel Hill as a kid.

Then we headed to Lake Murray to see where Pat and his Dad went boating.

What great fun to see part of Pat's history!

Beach 2010: Pawley's Island

We had a spectacular time at the beach! Marge wanted a trip to the beach for her 60th birthday and luckily we got to help her celebrate. You may sense a theme...the beach..fun..and food!

We started with a couple days of Pat & I with Mom & Dad and Marge & Lee. Lee and Pat made a great paella and Marge made fruit with lemon curd dessert.










Then the next evening Pat made bacon wrapped shrimp. We also tried a special oyster that the fish man said was from the Gulf and may not be available again in our lifetime because of the oil spill. I wonder how many different kinds of fish the fish man says that about?
Well, they were good!



Look, Mom & I having fun in the kitchen...cooking! Don't see that every day. While I'm enjoying learning to cook, Mom and I share the love of eating gene more than the cooking gene.



Then after a couple days of lolling on the beach reading books, playing dominoes and maybe a little shopping, Betsy & Jess came with the kids. The beach is so much fun with kids!

Right off, we ended their long road trip with story time....I do love to dramatize!

The kids loved the ocean, well Grace and Ben loved the ocean and Zoe seemed to love rolling around in the sand, but she slowly tiptoed her way into swimming too.

Thursday, Pat and Lee spent the day catching crab and then preparing a crab boil with sausage, potatoes, corn. It was fantastic!






And what's better after a crab boil than a dance party?

Rob and Marc arrived on Friday, just in time for a side of beef that Pat carved into steaks and served with crab cakes for dinner. It was so rich and delicious, I never thought I'd eat again. There were leftovers for breakfast and lunch the next day and the steak was still amazing.

Our final dinner was great homemade pizzas made for us by Betsy and Jessica. Then we had a breakfast of all the leftovers.



We did actually go biking and walking too, but who wants to see pictures of that? Can't wait to go back!

Bye-bye beach!