My class this semester is over and the kids are still in school, so I finally have time to update the blog with the things we did last month—and April was quite a busy month for us. The first weekend, we hosted a picnic at our house featuring smoked pork sandwiches and pot-luck side dishes provided by our friends. We had a great time visiting with all our friends and the kids had fun playing games in the back yard.
The following weekend, thanks to Grandmother Norma’s suggestion, we accompanied her and the Spurlock family to the Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site in Camden, South Carolina for an military reenactment. The event featured re-enactors from all times in military history who engaged in a mock battle. Strangely enough, the World War II and beyond era soldiers were defeated by soldiers using different types of muskets. Perhaps the musketeers were given the edge because they had artillery support. The mortar created a perfect smoke ring that ascended for tens of feet above the battle.
The weekend of the 16th began the kid’s Spring Break and Grandma Sandi came up from Florida for a visit. When she arrived on Sunday we were in the midst of a pot-luck Easter picnic with our friends and their kids. The kids had a blast hiding and searching for Easter Eggs. I’m sure I’ll still be finding some of those eggs in the yard when next Easter rolls around. The next day we took the kids to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. It’s a great zoo because it has a good variety of animals in a compactly designed layout, so it is easy to get quickly from one area to another. The rest of the week we spent time with Grandma Sandi locally, except when a “short ride” took us out past Albemarle, NC to Morrow Mountain State Park. The park was a great discovery though, with plenty of campsites and cabin rentals, lake access, a swimming pool and scenic overlooks.
We finished the month with a Reimers/Spurlock campout at Davidson River Campground near Brevard, NC. This time of year there are plenty of walk-up sites and great weather—although it did get pretty cold at night. During the height of summer, the main attraction is inner-tubing down the Davidson River. However when we went, the water was frigid. In fact, there was a bit of an incident at the swimming hole because of the cold water. A teenage girl who had gotten too cold in the water was swept downstream by the current and sank below the surface a few times. A teen age boy, who first tried to reach her from the shore, jumped in to save her but only got pushed under water when the girl panicked. Andrea took a picture me swimming across the river during the event thinking that I was just jumping in for fun, but in the background the girl can be seen screaming and holding her would-be rescuer underwater. I swam over just in time to help push them to the shore as they both resurfaced. At the same time, Tristan, who was wearing a life vest dove in after me and had to be pulled out of the river by Andrea and Michelle. Boy was he surprised at how cold the water was—he instantly began crying. Luckily, the air temperature was warm so we all recovered rather quickly. Despite the scare, we will definitely be going back this summer when the water is warmer to do some tubing.
Well, that’s it for April. We attended Camden’s Spring chorus performance last Thursday, so I’ll post the video as soon as I get it uploaded. She wrote her own Haiku poems and read them at the performance. Also, you can look at Tristan’s Spring preschool pictures online at NormHillPhotograpy.com with the passsword: sharon. When I looked, Tristan was on page 9 and cousin Sam was on page 3.
The following weekend, thanks to Grandmother Norma’s suggestion, we accompanied her and the Spurlock family to the Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site in Camden, South Carolina for an military reenactment. The event featured re-enactors from all times in military history who engaged in a mock battle. Strangely enough, the World War II and beyond era soldiers were defeated by soldiers using different types of muskets. Perhaps the musketeers were given the edge because they had artillery support. The mortar created a perfect smoke ring that ascended for tens of feet above the battle.
The weekend of the 16th began the kid’s Spring Break and Grandma Sandi came up from Florida for a visit. When she arrived on Sunday we were in the midst of a pot-luck Easter picnic with our friends and their kids. The kids had a blast hiding and searching for Easter Eggs. I’m sure I’ll still be finding some of those eggs in the yard when next Easter rolls around. The next day we took the kids to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. It’s a great zoo because it has a good variety of animals in a compactly designed layout, so it is easy to get quickly from one area to another. The rest of the week we spent time with Grandma Sandi locally, except when a “short ride” took us out past Albemarle, NC to Morrow Mountain State Park. The park was a great discovery though, with plenty of campsites and cabin rentals, lake access, a swimming pool and scenic overlooks.
We finished the month with a Reimers/Spurlock campout at Davidson River Campground near Brevard, NC. This time of year there are plenty of walk-up sites and great weather—although it did get pretty cold at night. During the height of summer, the main attraction is inner-tubing down the Davidson River. However when we went, the water was frigid. In fact, there was a bit of an incident at the swimming hole because of the cold water. A teenage girl who had gotten too cold in the water was swept downstream by the current and sank below the surface a few times. A teen age boy, who first tried to reach her from the shore, jumped in to save her but only got pushed under water when the girl panicked. Andrea took a picture me swimming across the river during the event thinking that I was just jumping in for fun, but in the background the girl can be seen screaming and holding her would-be rescuer underwater. I swam over just in time to help push them to the shore as they both resurfaced. At the same time, Tristan, who was wearing a life vest dove in after me and had to be pulled out of the river by Andrea and Michelle. Boy was he surprised at how cold the water was—he instantly began crying. Luckily, the air temperature was warm so we all recovered rather quickly. Despite the scare, we will definitely be going back this summer when the water is warmer to do some tubing.
Well, that’s it for April. We attended Camden’s Spring chorus performance last Thursday, so I’ll post the video as soon as I get it uploaded. She wrote her own Haiku poems and read them at the performance. Also, you can look at Tristan’s Spring preschool pictures online at NormHillPhotograpy.com with the passsword: sharon. When I looked, Tristan was on page 9 and cousin Sam was on page 3.
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