Charleston

Scenes from Downtown

We're back from vacation! It was a wonderfully relaxing trip. We stayed with our friends the Brinsons, who moved to John's Island from Gaithersburg about 6 months ago, and their amazing hospitality allowed us to get plenty of R&R. To more fully appreciate the extent of their hospitality, realize that South Carolina in July is HOT, and our hostess Christine is 8 months pregnant.

We opened and closed our stay by enjoying the 83-degree water on Folly Beach. In between, we toured the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Yorktown, wandered around downtown Charleston's stately old homes, and watched boats.

The South Carolina flag against the backdrop of the new Ravenel bridge, quite a lovely bit of architecture.

U.S.S. Yorktown, CV-10 (Essex class)

If you can imagine a floating airport, with a hotel/dormitory and a dining hall underneath, along with an entire level devoted to machinery, and another to a cluster of lecture halls, and a third to storage of ammunition and sundry supplies and services such as a post office and a laundromat, then you can begin to imagine the size of this ship. We found ourselves wondering how long it took the sailors and aviators on board to learn their way around their ship.

The ship is actually the second Yorktown. The first Yorktown sank after being heavily damaged at the Battle of Midway. The present ship was being built when the sinking occurred and was promptly christened Yorktown in honor of the first. Yorktown the second played an important role in the victory over Japan during WWII. It was a bit of a thrill for me to be strolling the decks where men became heroes, courage conquered, and freedom was bought with blood, after Samuel Morison depicted Yorktown's battles so vividly in the naval history series I'm reading.

Our wonderful hosts, who will probably have to see this vessel many more times than they wish.

After seeing the aircraft carrier, Joshua and Chris built their own.

When we went downtown, the boys climbed all over the cannons and cannonball piles in White Point Gardens. They ran around pretending to fire and load, fire and load, and fought off an invading armada of about "200 battleships," according to Joshua.

Here we are...this restaurant was situated just below a drawbridge, with an excellent view of passing pleasure craft. The bridge didn't open while we were eating, but we did have to wait for it once while driving. And for the record, while it's nice to watch other people's boats, we cannot imagine ever owning one or wanting to.

This is Miss Sharon, spunky gal!

During afternoon naps and after bedtime, the grown-ups talked, read, rested, and played lots of games (by the way, if anyone has a copy of Rail Baron lying around not being used, we are now on the prowl for one). While we were cooking and cleaning up, Joshua and David enjoyed playing with 18-month old Sharon, who has bright red hair, the chubbiest cheeks, and a big grin that lights up her whole face. She is as bright as her hair and smile, and as bold too - she has no qualms about running right into the ocean or squishing unwelcome little ant visitors with her fingers, and she passionately loves fire trucks.

The Presbyterian church the Brinsons attend is renting space in a historic Lutheran church downtown. Next door, some members of the church are renovating a historic home, and they opened it up for light refreshments and tours after church.

I loved how they were blending new and old; I've always had a fancy for interior brick walls for some reason. And the bathrooms! Marble this, granite that, my goodness it was gorgeous.

Joshua and David best loved the beach, the bridges, the boats, the horses, and - maybe tied with the beach - the cannons along the Battery. We ALL enjoyed quality time with our friends, visiting a beautiful place, gelato at Charleston Candy Kitchen, and getting lots of rest! (I even read a whole book - A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.) Thank you, Rob and Christine, for giving us the gift of this refreshing vacation and all the memories!

Fireworks and Finishes

After our morning picking blueberries and making blueberry cobbler (recipe soon to be on the sidebar), I did more sanding on the dresser. After that, we all trooped down to Rockville for a wonderful concert and fireworks.


We staked out a spot close to the bandshell.

That was wonderful for watching and listening to the Fugitive Brass quintet and the Rockville Concert Band (above), but awfully loud when they blasted more music through the speakers near us during the fireworks (as if they weren't loud enough already!). The boys surprised us by not freaking out during the fireworks. David did get scared and buried his face in my chest the entire time after watching for about 2 minutes, but Joshua watched with his ears covered for almost the whole show.


Update on the refinishing project:


Today, I put the stain on the dresser. I am getting excited because I'm so close to finishing this project, and also because, somewhat to my surprise, it looks amazing! The Lord has blessed this project from first to last, from providing the dresser, to giving me strength to work on it even when I'm tempted to be lazy, and finally to keeping the weather almost perfect. My goal has been to finish it before we leave for vacation on Thursday, and by God's grace it will be done!

Blueberries

We went to Butler's Orchard on Saturday morning to pick blueberries. We spent much of the morning reciting, "One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry!" from Bruce Degen's classic Jamberry, which helped Daddy get more excited about our outing. Chris is always a little ho-hum about pick your own crops. He imagines himself a gullible laborer paying the farm to do their work for them, like Tom Sawyer's pals trading marbles for the privilege of whitewashing Aunt Polly's fence. I suppose there is an element of that - but to me the fresh fruit, the fun, and the memories for the boys are well worth it. Chris: thank you, Sweetheart, for making this memory with us!


We have never picked blueberries at Butler's before, so we were surprised to learn that a long tractor ride to the blueberry bushes was part of the deal. A bonus!


Joshua asked me in the car, referencing Robert McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal, "Mom, do you want me to run along and pick my own berries?"

It was jammed - pun intended - but we found plenty of berries nonetheless.

They were delicious, and huge!

And we got plenty - "a whole pail of blueberries and three more besides." Or more exactly, 6 quarts, which we have already been putting to good use. YUM!

Happy Fourth of July!!

I know it's the 3rd, but since it's the federal holiday, we're doing a lot of our celebrating today.

Wishing you peace as we reflect with gratitude on our Independence Day.
Love,
the Kinsingers

A few more pics

This is the freecycled dresser I am currently refinishing by hand. Today I went out for my usual sanding during the boys' nap and no sooner had I undone the tarp than it started to rain. All the finish is off the top, front, and left side by this time, so once I get the right side done then I can apply the wood filler where needed and then sand again with a finer grit sandpaper. Then finally I can stain! And then varnish varnish varnish. I only hope the rain didn't do any damage I can't sand away. I haven't sanded down the wood that goes behind the mirror yet. Maybe I can do that now that the rain has stopped.

This was our preferred way of traveling to and from the Apple Ridge pool for swimming lessons.

And one more water shot, just because I like it. Hope you enjoy it too!

Swimming Lessons

At Joshua's last swimming lesson this morning, parents were finally allowed on the pool deck to snap pictures. Now, if you recall, these lessons didn't seem like such a good idea on day 1. He bolted screaming from the pool back to the safety of mama's arms.

The next day, he bravely went in. Overall, he seemed to enjoy the class, but he always moved timidly in the water. He trusted his teacher, Miss Becca, especially after he accidentally went all the way under one day and she calmed him down. It was almost miraculous to me that he stayed in the pool that day and actually recovered from that little shock.

Practicing a crawl stroke motion with Miss Becca.

David patiently watched 8 lessons. He wasn't supposed to be on the pool deck today but how could I leave him behind the fence all alone? Besides, he probably would have gone into the kiddie pool. So I kept him with me, but he didn't stay in that chair the whole time like I was hoping he would. Thankfully, it all worked out okay.

"Ring around a rosy, pocket full of posy, ashes, ashes, we all..."
Blow bubbles! or
Put our chin in! or
Put our ear in! or
You get the idea.

Grandpa Kinsinger has turned us off to this little ditty by explaining how the words seem to indicate it originated as a chant to scorn people with bubonic plague. If anyone has a similar type of song for short circle games, I'm looking for alternatives. Until then, this one seems far enough removed from the plague days to be harmless, and it definitely has its uses, particularly at the beginning and end of swimming class.


Here is a rare moment of good form with his chin close to the water. Miss Becca had to really coax him to put his head down. You can see his knees are still very bent, but at least his feet are
on the surface. Usually his back is arched like a seal to keep his head a foot out of the water, which means his legs are under water like he's riding a unicycle. But, this is evidence of progress!



Back float? No problem! As long as Miss Becca's holding me.

Two days ago they practiced wearing life vests, and some of the kids floated independently while they were wearing their life jacket. Joshua would on no account take such a risk and instead chose to float on his stomach, with help from Miss Becca.


These next two show the kids getting ready for the "treasure hunt" game. Miss Becca scattered floating toys about and they had to wade over to them and pick them up when she said go. I noticed that not only was Joshua the slowest wader (being ultra-cautious), he was also the only one who played by the rules! Those two factors gave him a decided disadvantage.
See the other children peeking?

Fortunately, Miss Becca wasn't blind to this situation, and once I saw her save a coveted boat for Joshua to capture.

All in all, Joshua grew from this learning experience. And would he do it again? He said he would! So maybe we'll sign him up for the August session. In terms of combatting his fear, he's come a long way so far this year. Way to go, Joshua!