Squirrels, Ducks and Coconut Butts!!! A Wish Trip Report *LATEST UPDATE 05/2011**

[All7OfUs]

Holy Guacamole!! Those pictures are AMAZING!! I am awestruck!!

I love that one with the light coming out of the window!

I wonder if my mansion at Port Orleans will afford me such a "southern charm" experience!!



You probably made a good call on the late dinner back at the hotel.

 

[cantwaittoseemickey]

Beautiful pics. Thanks Melissa for sharing all of this with us. I love reading about your travels!

 

[kdzbear]

You took amazing photos! I love the two of Phoebe by herself. She is so beautiful! I am glad that Tessa did not escape again. Thank you for sharing the history of the city with us!

 

[yinyanggirls]

Holy Guacamole!! Those pictures are AMAZING!! I am awestruck!!

I love that one with the light coming out of the window!

Beautiful pics. Thanks Melissa for sharing all of this with us. I love reading about your travels!

You took amazing photos! I love the two of Phoebe by herself. She is so beautiful! I am glad that Tessa did not escape again. Thank you for sharing the history of the city with us!

Thanks guys! I love sharing it with you. I just wish I had nothing else to do. Phoebe is in her second week of school (hurray!) and loves it. I signed Tessa up for her first year of soccer (starting games in Sept) and we also found out Friday that she is able to attend Kindergarten this year and started TODAY! She isn't 5 until December but there is a new charter school in our area (thus the last minute notice, they are kind of unorganized still) that takes 4 yr olds. She only goes for 2 1/2 hrs but it is every day. There are only 9 kids in the class at the moment, but they are hoping to recruit some more. I guess as people learn more about the other schools (that started 2 weeks ago) they might want an alternative, or as word spreads about the 4 yr age limit. I would guess that half of the class is still 4 and that is why they are there.

So here are a couple of today to get you by until the dust settles and I can conclude the last few wonderful days of our travels.

 

[Charleston Princess]

How great for both you and Tessa that she is able to attend a couple of hours of school every day! She is so pretty in her first day of school dress!

 

[dawnbu40]

Wow school starts early! I don't think school starts here until the end of the month and the universities don't begin until after Labor Day.

Glad to hear Phoebe is happy in school and that you found a class for Tessa. I'm sure having a little downtime is good for you especially since you know the girls are happy!

Love the first day of school pics

 

[Applemomma]

Isn't amazing how grown up they suddenly look in their first day of school pictures!

 

[eyor44]

for school. Glad both girls are happy in their new classes. My kids went back on Aug 4. Where did the summer go?

 

[that's nice]

Enjoy that 2 1/2 hour break. It will go very fast.


I can't believe that schools are starting. Juliana still has 2 more weeks of vaca till school. She asks every day if it is time to go back.... she loves school.

 

[fulseasmama]

I just finished reading your TR and am all caught up. I am amazed at how wonderfully you all roll with the punches and continue to make amazing memories. I hope I can remember when things don't go exactly as planned on our MAW trip to just keep on making the best of everything. Thanks for sharing your trip. You have such an amazing family and you do such a great job of telling your trips story.

 

[yinyanggirls]

How great for both you and Tessa that she is able to attend a couple of hours of school every day! She is so pretty in her first day of school dress!

I love that dress. I had to milk the first day because soon they are handing out polos as a uniform. I hate uniforms. At least for kindergarten and the younger grades. I just don't see a point.

Wow school starts early! I don't think school starts here until the end of the month and the universities don't begin until after Labor Day.

I grew up in CA and school started after Labor Day, so it feels weird to me too.

Glad to hear Phoebe is happy in school and that you found a class for Tessa. I'm sure having a little downtime is good for you especially since you know the girls are happy!

Love the first day of school pics

Summer is too long in my opinion. I'd much rather have more breaks throughout the school year, than this very, very long one.

Isn't amazing how grown up they suddenly look in their first day of school pictures!

I was looking at some old pics the other day, and I'm always surprised that I'm surprised by how they grow.

for school. Glad both girls are happy in their new classes. My kids went back on Aug 4. Where did the summer go?

How can time go by so quickly, and yet drag at the same time?

Enjoy that 2 1/2 hour break. It will go very fast.

You aren't kidding! I'm getting more work lately so I guess it was fate that she was able to start when she did.

I can't believe that schools are starting. Juliana still has 2 more weeks of vaca till school. She asks every day if it is time to go back.... she loves school.

So one more week for you guys? Will she go every day?

I just finished reading your TR and am all caught up. I am amazed at how wonderfully you all roll with the punches and continue to make amazing memories. I hope I can remember when things don't go exactly as planned on our MAW trip to just keep on making the best of everything. Thanks for sharing your trip. You have such an amazing family and you do such a great job of telling your trips story.

Thank you!!! It was a hard lesson to learn, but I was definitely happier when I let things happen.

 

[yinyanggirls]

Okay, it's been over 4 months since Phoebe's wish trip began, and exactly 4 months since we started our extended trip up the coast. I decided to sacrifice the old ticker in honor of a new one. It's not nearly as exciting as a wish trip (what is, really?) but it is something fun to countdown to. We are driving to CA on the 31st for a cousin's wedding. I am the hired photographer once again. We wanted to take advantage of the time we will be there and originally planned to do several amusement parks on our way there and during our stay. Now that Tessa has started school I hesitate to take her out so soon for too many days. So we are undecided on the return date and only planning on Disneyland for sure. Some relatives have expressed interest in Legoland and we are open to that if they are going, otherwise I think we will save the free tickets for another trip and just make sure we head west again before they expire in April.

Hopefully I can finish sharing this trip (or at least get close) before I leave so that I can just tag on some Disneyland pics at the end. Now that I have so much free time on my hands, it's totally doable right?

 

[Charleston Princess]

Oh, I would love uniforms for my kids! It would make getting ready in the morning so much easier.

Even if you just do Disneyland on your trip at the end of the month, you will still have a great time!

 

[dawnbu40]

I'll be looking forward to those DL pictures

 

[eyor44]

I love that dress. I had to milk the first day because soon they are handing out polos as a uniform. I hate uniforms. At least for kindergarten and the younger grades. I just don't see a point.

My kids wear uniforms (polos and dockers) and they hate them. Can't say I blame them as I wouldn't have wanted to wear them either. We are a public school, in a poor county, and the reason we were given is uniforms even the clothing field, as in the kids can't tell who has money and who doesn't. Yeah, that might work for the younger kids, but the older kids.... they know. So many of them are miserable now with what they have to wear. My DD actually asked if we could just move to a place where the kids don't wear uniforms.

 

[yinyanggirls]

Oh, I would love uniforms for my kids! It would make getting ready in the morning so much easier.

Even if you just do Disneyland on your trip at the end of the month, you will still have a great time!

It would make the decision easier, but I am horrible at doing laundry on a schedule, so I never know if I have a clean shirt or not. (They handed out tshirts for the interim, but they aren't required, yet)

I'll be looking forward to those DL pictures

It will be fun, even if it's not as big and exciting as WDW.

My kids wear uniforms (polos and dockers) and they hate them. Can't say I blame them as I wouldn't have wanted to wear them either. We are a public school, in a poor county, and the reason we were given is uniforms even the clothing field, as in the kids can't tell who has money and who doesn't. Yeah, that might work for the younger kids, but the older kids.... they know. So many of them are miserable now with what they have to wear. My DD actually asked if we could just move to a place where the kids don't wear uniforms.

I've heard the same reasoning before and I agree it's pointless. Kids can tell, and they will still single out the "weakest" of the herd. The director of her school said she insisted on uniforms here (they have another campus where they are letting parents vote) because we live in a dangerous area and they want to be able to tell "who belongs" at a glance. We are in the middle of the desert and there are many illegal immigrants who travel through our area on a daily basis, but they are hiding in washes, under bridges, next to the highway or along the train tracks. They aren't going to walk up onto a public campus and risk being seen and reports. And even if they DID, would it really be difficult to pick out an adult wearing dusty old clothes, carrying a jug of water and (if they are smugglers) a burlap sack on their back amongst the elementary school kids???? Whatever. They are getting polos made with the school logo, and we must purchase them for 15 each. If Tessa weren't so messy I'd only buy one shirt.

 

[yinyanggirls]

Monday, April 26th, was going to be spent visiting some of the area plantations but the question was which ones. We had our usual breakfast in the hotel, Phoebe took a nap and we had to pack the van because we were not staying another night in Charleston. As we emptied out the room Heather was getting agitated because she could not find her book. It was Kathy Griffin, not exactly a rare find, but she looked and looked and couldn't find it. The previous day we had asked the hotel to change the sofa bed sheets but not worry about the rest of the room, and they had cleaned the whole thing so she was starting to think they had stolen it. She talked to the front desk person and implied that maybe the staff had taken it and the person was in disbelief, said she knew the cleaning staff well and she did not think they would have taken it. On a final inspection of the room, I found her book in the desk drawer! She was embarrassed but relieved and I informed the front desk person that the staff's reputation was safe again.

We had seen three big plantations advertised everywhere in guide books and around town. I wanted to see Drayton Hall, the "most photographed" and the one that the movie Gone With the Wind used as a model. Heather suggested Magnolia Plantation, which advertised a cafe, petting zoo, train and boat tours. I admitted that it sounded like it had more to do for the kids so we headed there first. It cost my family about $40 just to set foot on the place. We decided to eat lunch right away but we were pretty disappointed in the food. Not horrible, mainly overpriced and boring. I don't remember the details but I remember some mac and cheese, some chips and salsa, and a sandwich in the mix. I think Heather got a sweet tea, which was pretty much her staple on the trip. While we were eating lunch on the patio the peacocks and pea hens walked around us and kept the kids entertained. There were horses in a pasture right next to us and Tessa ran around trying not to let us see her chase the peacocks.

After lunch we walked around the grounds, saw the house, the maze and some of the gardens. It was another $7 each to join either the home tour, the boat tour, the swamp garden tour and the slave cabin tour. We skipped all of those! We got to enjoy quite a bit of the grounds without paying extra. The house, while certainly beautiful, was not particularly grand or old. It is the third to be built on this family's land and the central part of it was built before the civil war but the areas around it were added to it later.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get away from Tessa!

After getting enough of the grounds we made our way to the petting zoo. The animals in there were extremely tame. Tessa got to pet Bambi.

Bambi got to lick Phoebe! Phoebe was not impressed.

One of the deer licked Tessa also and she thought it was hilarious! I guess they like the salt.

Heather thought it was funny (and yet strangely interesting) to see turtles mating.

More peacocks.

After the petting zoo we were pretty much done but I remember all the adults were separated at that point. I meandered over to the woman making and selling sweetgrass baskets and struck up a conversation with her. Her name was Rose Marie and she had grown up in the area. She had been making baskets all her life and when I mentioned my carpal tunnel she revealed she too had carpal tunnel! I don't know how she can do this. Sweetgrass baskets are a tradition brought to America by the African slaves and a talent handed down through the centuries.

She had some gorgeous baskets but I was surprised by the price tag on some of them. I don't know if they were marked up for the plantation to get a cut, or because she was ready to bargain. Tessa asked if she could have one and I asked Rose Marie if there was anything she could have for $40. (I had seen the price tag on even the smallest ones and it was more than 40). She motioned to a certain row and I showed Tessa, but she went for a slightly bigger and more intricate one, but as I was telling her she had the wrong one, Rose Marie said it was okay. I had her write down her address and promised to send her a copy of the pic they took together.

As the others found us and regrouped we headed towards the parking lot. Tessa saw this giant mailbox and said she wanted to get in it. She started being a pill about something or other and finally I just put her in the mailbox, which all of a sudden she decided she did NOT want to do. Heather and I laughed pretty hard.

On our way out to the road we saw the row of slave cabins. They are "preserved and restored" cabins, but they looked pretty much restored to me. I guess each one has a museum inside, showing different eras of the African slaves and the following generations. I would have liked to browse inside, but we just didn't want to spend the time and money.

 

[yinyanggirls]

It was getting late in the afternoon at this point and we weren't sure we would have enough time to spend at another plantation. Even if they let us in, would we want to pay the 40-50 dollars they all seemed to charge for our family? We drove up the road a bit and saw a sign for Middleton Place Equestrian, and saw some lessons going on in a nearby arena. We thought maybe we could find some horses for Phoebe to pet so we parked and explored. It seems they give formal riding lessons there, so no tourist rides for us, but we did find some stables with horses to say hello to. One horse in particular was making a lot of noise, trying to get our attention so Tim took Phoebe over to say hello. Thank goodness the huge horse was kind enough not to hurt Phoebe, but he was really being very ornery and tried to bite Tim! I'm not sure if he thought we would have treats or he just wanted out, but he was mean!

A close up because it is that funny! I caught him right before he snapped.

Tessa found a cat to bother and stayed with it the whole time.

This area of buildings looked like it had plenty of history but I couldn't tell if it was formally part of a plantation, or ever was. We got back in the van and continued on to the next driveway which was for Middleton Place National Historic Landmark. This plantation was the birthplace of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and also has the oldest landscaped gardens in the US. I kind of laugh when they say stuff like "One of the most important families in America". According to who? I'm no history expert, but I've never heard of these people. And why is he described as a "signer" and not a fighter, drafter or leader? Not saying it isn't important or a little bit cool, but I did have to laugh at how everyone seemed to be full of self importance around these historical places. One place in Charleston brags "George Washington slept here, TWICE!". Anyway, we got here pretty late and wondered if maybe we could just do a drive by and catch a glimpse of some of it. The lady at the ticket booth was closing up and we asked if we could get a peek. She hesitated and then gave us the stickers that apparently show you have paid admission to get it. Tim and I went alone at first, not sure how much we could see and if it was worth getting the kids out for. After we got to the house, Tim decided he had a good idea of what there was to see and was willing to go give his sticker to Heather and he'd wait in the car with the kids. They had a snack and watched dvds and were surprisingly patient while I took pictures of all the gorgeous scenery and Heather explored a little pre civil war history.

The home was built in 1755 as three sections. Two of them were burned down by Union troops in the war and the third section was restored and made the only living quarters for the family from that point on.

A slave cabin, where the last remaining "native born" employee lived up until 1986! She worked for the foundation until she died.

Gate to the gardens. Taken facing the "front" lawn with the gardens behind me.

Facing the gardens, standing in front of the gate.

Alligator blocking my way. No way am I going down that path!

Inside the millhouse looking out.

It was definitely a more beautiful place than where we had been, and they had a shop that sold quilts and pottery plus a nursery selling plants that are found in the gardens. It was much classier, and it's probably a good thing that we didn't take the kids around this one. As the sun got lower we decided to get moving, as Savannah was waiting for us! We drove on a small highway for some time, stopping at a little Subway in Cottageville for dinner. This car ride was uneventful and we arrived in Savannah clean and calm two hours later.

We had reservations at the Holiday Inn Express on Bay St, pretty much on the water and smack dab in the middle of downtown. I had labored over the decision of where to stay and I think we were all happy with the hotel. The room was small and a bit crowded but we rearranged and made it work with a roll away crammed in beside one bed where Phoebe slept next to Tim and I (so she couldn't roll off), then Heather shared with Tessa in the other. Tessa liked riding on the luggage dolly and pretending to be a kitty in a cage. She also loved the little notepads and pens in each of our rooms and always wanted to draw and write letters or her name on them.

Heather was chomping at the bit to get out of the room and go have a girls' night out. I think this third full day of hanging out with the kids, and maybe the parents too, was taxing on this single girl. She had been doing really well, and was very helpful with the girls, but she wanted to relax now! We walked outside of our hotel onto the main thoroughfare. There is a riverfront area that you have to walk down to, on very steep stairs, and then a whole other row of restaurants bars and shops in down there. We walked up and down the street trying to decide where we wanted to hang out. Heather felt uncomfortable since we didn't know the area and didn't want to feel conspicuous walking into a place and have people stare. We walked into a Wet Willie's because it was loud and had lots of people in it and decided promptly to turn around as it was obviously a meat market. I saw these curvy ladies in a store window and decided to take a pic rather than buy one for $30 each!

We continued back and forth along River St trying to decide and finally ducked into a divey joint called the Warehouse Bar and Grill.

It had enough people that we didn't feel too obvious. The bouncer was a little creepy and kept trying to have a conversation with us when he was bored, but the bartender was nice and had several things in common with Heather that they laughed over. I remember Heather laughed that they had Pabst beer and took a pic of it to send to someone. I don't drink beer so I don't get it. We had a fun time chatting and relaxing with the "locals" and then made the very steep climb back up the stairs to our hotel for a good night's sleep.

 

[blessedmom4]

I am continuing to enjoy all of the wonderful details and gorgeous photos in your TR! The children are as beautiful as ever and the Plantation photos bring back lots of memories. I love to tour them; however, I am with you, the prices are beyond belief. I hold my breath now as I read about the hotels, wondering if Tessa escapes again. My oldest was SO busy like that! He is now a calm young man, although he still keeps us on our toes. I am so happy that horse didn't take a chunk out of anyone! Looking forward to another installment, it will be sad to see your trip come to a conclusion.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Gorgeous pictures of Magnolia Plantation and Middleton Place!!! That one of the peacock with all his feathers splayed out is just gorgeous! Looks like you had a lot of fun overall!

Ah, I love that Tessa picked out a sweetgrass basket. (I have a couple but they are small ones since they are so expensive.) It's the perfect souvenir from Charleston and will last forever! That's a very cute picture of Tessa with the maker. I am sure she will enjoy getting a copy of that!

Yes, we are a bit insanely proud of our history in Charleston and like to share it all with anyone who will listen or pay attention.