October 2011

October for us was a fun month also. About 6 months previously I made us camping reservations on Edisto Beach State Park. I made the reservations 6 months in advanced so we could actually get a "beach site" camp spot. We were not literally on the sandy beach, but all there was dividing us from the sandy beach was a little fence made of beach reeds and sticks. We could see the ocean from our table and hear it while we were sleeping and see Grace playing on the beach from our site as well.

I have never seen so many seashells! Edisto is known for the seashells, but there really were just tons everywhere you looked! We woke up early and watched the sunrise, and then Grace and I went to town collecting seashells. Later on, Topher dug his requisite tunnel. It seems we can't go to the beach anymore without him building some sort of tunnel. This one was pretty cool I thought. I don't know if you can tell but he built it up on a ledge of sand, and down onto the next level of sand, so it was almost like a slide/tunnel. You can see his legs hanging out up top and Grace sitting at the bottom.

It was a lot of fun, and the only regret we had was that we didn't make the reservation for 2 nights instead of 1.

The only other thing of note for the month was all the Halloween festivities. We went to Boone Hall Plantation to go to their pumpkin patch. Let's just say it was probably the most pathetic pumpkin patch we have ever seen. Evidently, pumpkins don't grow very well in South Carolina. The vast majority of the pumpkins were small, green and pretty soft. They told us that any pumpkins that looked good hadn't been grown there but imported from Virginia! Not only was their selection just sad, but it started to rain while we were there, and within 15 minutes of our arrival it was a complete downpour. We got soaked! But, at the least, it was very memorable and we all still had a ton of fun. Well, at least Grace and I did, after all, we were the ones with umbrellas. Topher was the one hauling Grace and the pumpkins around the field getting wet. :)

Aside from pumpkins, Grace was still in gymnastics at the time as well as a pre-school swap in our ward and her regular pre-school, so she got a lot of opportunities to dress up once it was Halloween time. We also had a ward trunk or treat, a neighbor had a Halloween party and then she went trick or treating with Topher around the neighborhood! So much candy! Well, we had so many dress up outfits that she liked wearing and so she wore a different costume for every event. I thought that made for a lot of fun! The only costume I didn't get a picture of was her costume for Gymnastics. I had wanted to put her in one of her cute costumes, but she wanted to be Vector, from Despicable Me. So, she wore her 'warm up suit', and went in to gymnastics telling everyone she was "committing crimes! wis bof direcson and mag-itude!". Too funny.