Oyster Roast - YUCK!

Wow - Saturday, March 10th just keeps going and going!  We first started out @ EdVenture for Storyland; then Guignard Park; then the Columbia Marionette Theatre for "The Wizard of OZ"; and then we decided to stop-in and see Daddy @ work.  And T H E N, we went to a neighborhood Oyster Roast...

Girls @ Daddy's desk

An awesome fleet of Mercedes'!

I'm trying to be the "winner" with this move...and MAN, it is hard

Staying with my husband's Aunt Velma means we're part of her neighborhood family -- at least that's what her neighbor, Mr. Bill said, who invited us to his annual Oyster Roast on Saturday. So, after everything we had already packed into our Saturday, we added the Oyster Roast too, and holy moly - it was a roast! 

Neighbors and friends just a'shuckin' away.

Somehow, someone (Mr. Ted - towards the end of the table on the right w/glasses and brown hat, & Michael - end of table on right w/blue jacket) convinced me that I need to eat an oyster.  Nope.  No way. I'm good.

These were just some of the fixin's: Shrimp Boil; chicken wings; homemade mac'n'cheese (you mean it doesn't always come in a blue box?); potato salad; macaroni salad with crab meat...

Michael cutting the muscle...doesn't it sort of look like there's a millworm on top of it?

Well, after taking pictures of a "real live oyster roast" and pictures of "what real Southern people eat" I got a LOT of ribbing from everyone that if I wanted to be a "real live Southern" person, I needed to eat an oyster. I kindly reminded them that I used to live in Charleston, and had been to oyster roasts before.  But none of that mattered.  Short of everyone chanting, "Oyster! Oyster! Oyster!" I consented...

Mr. Ted (remember him from above?) picked out "a good one," shucked it, and dropped it in my mouth.  Now..., no one told me not to chew it; no one told me to just swallow - don't let the slimy muscle linger in your mouth.  OK.  That being said, here's how it went:

And that's it. I was gagging, and started to do the "puke convulsions" so I spit it out and then hurriedly ate some Salt & Vinegar potato chips.  Aunt Velma was hopeful that I could do it, but when I couldn't, she quickly admitted that she could never eat an oyster either - and she is born/raised/bred Columbia, South Carolina!

N A S T Y ! ! !



Marionette Theatre - Wizard of OZ!

Columbia has a Marionette Theatre!  I've never been to a marionette theatre, or a "real" puppet show before (do the hand puppets @ the library count?), so when I discovered this place, I knew we'd be coming back.

This month the Columbia Marionette Theatre is performing "The Wizard of OZ."  How exciting!  I checked out their site to view the puppets (particularly the puppet's faces.  Thanks to my bff, Jessica, I have become totally freaked by stuffed animals in particular, but this also extends to puppets).  CMT's website is pretty cool, AND although some of their puppets' eyes were scary, "The Wizard of OZ" puppets were not.

The first three rows are permanently reserved for children, making their viewing experience easier, but Becca & Mary-Gail wanted to sit with me instead. I was grateful, especially since I didn't know how the Wicked Witch was going to be performed

Pics w/iPod Touch - not great, but do-able

Dorothy and Toto: her house just landed on the Wicked Witch (on the far right).

The creators decided to follow the storyline from the books, rather than the Judy Garland picture.  So, I guess that's why the magic shoes are silver and not ruby red...?

Toto running towards 2 Munchkins (blue hair on far left)

Tin Man, Lion, OZ (green 1/2 circle), Dorothy, and Scarecrow

Wicked Witch and her flying-monkey cronies

The Emerald City & surrounding territories

Saturday proved to be a very fun, but extremely long day for Rebecca & Mary-Gail (especially).  We're still adjusting to our new life in South Carolina sans my family.  We are all so close and I miss them terribly.  Sob...sob...Rebecca overheard someone say South Carolina, and she exclaimed, "Mom, they said 'South Carolina!' That's where we're going!"  Oh, sweet baby, that's where we're at...and where we'll be staying for awhile.

At least until my gypsy blood starts calling...

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie & Guignard Park

We headed back to EdVenture's Storyland exhibit for the THIRD time last week.  I think I've burned my girls out by visiting this Children's Museum, but it really rocks.  Columbia, SC's Fire Chief, Aubrey Jenkins, was scheduled to read the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" on Saturday, March 10th, and we arrived just in time to listen to him AND to see the mouse come visit.  The mouse brought cookies and juice boxes too! Awesome!

Aubrey Jenkins, Columbia's Fire Chief, and scheduled "community leader reader"

Oh my goodness!!  It's the mouse!

Look @ these super-duper happy campers!

Seriously though, they were all smiles and laughter, until I said, "Smile!" and then I got the straightest, most solemn faces ever.  

The mouse brought cookies, juice boxes, and even set up tables for crafts so we could make our own "mouses" out of brown paper bags.  Loved him!

The local news, WLTX, Channel 19, was there filming the event and interviewed me and my girls. The news guy said it would run that weekend and would even put the video online so I could send a link to my family back in Utah.  Sadly, I haven't seen it run, nor do I think it made the cut :{ BUT, it was sure fun talking to him about our adventures at Edventure! 

Completely captivated by a T.V. in Edventure.

Another reason NOT to have the T.V. on

We ate our sack lunches in the back of the 'burb, and then headed to Guignard Park (Gwee-nard Park) to explore and play some more.  Rebecca & Mary-Gail collected small pebbles and were throwing them into the water after making a wish.  Mary-Gail's wishes all came true!

Mary-Gail's exact words:

"THIS IS THE BEST DAY E V E R!!"

According to Mary-Gail, if you make a wish with flowers, your wishes will come true.  

(Which is exactly why Rebecca wants to know where the flowers are!)

I'm loving how Mary-Gail's tongue is launched and helping her cross the cold water.  Oh, I also love that she didn't want her skirt to get wet, so up it came!

I explained to Mary-Gail & Rebecca about the green slime (algae) that was covering the creek bed and rocks.  "EWE!"  and of course Rebecca could no longer stand the thought of her feet touching algae.  She she rinsed them off in the algae-infested water, and had to dry them.  Guess what she used to dry them?

Yes, Mary-Gail's skirt. Doesn't Rebecca have the nicest sister?

Mary-Gail said that they only way she could clean her feet off was to use a leaf to scrub them.  So, sadly this Magnolia Tree lost a few of its leaves as both Mary-Gail and Rebecca scrubbed their feet clean.

Lovely pair of little hands

Zoo again

Thursday we visited the zoo again. The weather was perfect - we're talking 74 degrees! - and my poor Becca & Mary-Gail were stuck wearing their long pants and long sleeves. I didn't pack them any short sleeves! Pitiful babies. I ending up cut off their sleeves, we were on our way.

Mary-Gail & Rebecca atop the King of the Jungle

I asked Becca & Mary-Gail to see if they could stand on one leg and sleep like the Flamingos. Here's their attempt

Have to tell you that I absolutely love this picture. Big sister, Becca, holding baby sister, Mary-Gail. Their faces are perfect

The penguins were swimming this time! Mary-Gail and Becca spent about 20 minutes in the stinky place where the penguins were

Rock Hopper Penguins

The Gentoo Penguins were hopping out of the water and jumping in the whole time we were there. The King Penguins were cheering them on.

Next, we moved onto the Giant Tortoises. They weren't out when we visited on Sunday because it was too cold. I was fascinated by these tortoises. Did you know they have toes? I always thought they had feet similar to elephant feet. Here's the proof.

She was fascinating. A little "ET" like, but so fascinating.

She thought the zoo keeper was going to feed her. But, on the contrary, she was picking up their poop!

See the duct-tape on this "baby's" shell? The zoo keeper said they get sores on their shells, so they have to apply ointment and cover with duct-tape. Oh, by the way, this "baby" is over 60-years old.

These two Giant Tortoises are OVER 100-years!

Even after this chart, I still have problems differentiating between reptiles and amphibians.

Hello pretty angel fishies

The elephants weren't out last time either. They were very territorial with their food

Meerkat - just like on the TV show

This poor Gorilla. She's the one that was sleeping last time with her bottom lip puckered out. She looks so depressed

Her feet - like big hands

The walkabout is where you can walk right through the Kangaroos & Wallabieys

Some delicious nourishment - Dippin' Dots ice cream.

Lovey introduced me to this when we first moved to Charleston in 2001. They are super yummy

Red-Tailed hawk

Black-headed Vulture

Great-horned Owl

Mary-Gail wanted to see the bird show, so we sat and waited for 10 minutes. I was so impressed with their patience. We learned about these South Carolina indigenous birds. Mary-Gail wants her daddy to build her a house for the owls to sleep in. She's sensitive like that

Reticulated tortoise. Clearly I am focused on tortoises

Two pictures for Aunt Velma, who LOVES llamas! Crazy - I've never met anyone who likes/loves llamas.

Mary-Gail sat and milked and milked and milked this cow. OK, she could work on a farm!

Koalas - we're listening to a book-on-tape about Australia, and so the girls just chatted up about how Koala's weren't "bears" and they like to sleep during the day, and their name means doesn't drink water because they get their "water" from the gum trees they eat...I think they stunned the out zoo patrons

This parrot was sneezing and sneezing. Mary-Gail was petting it and telling it "it's OK, it's OK"

More animal statues

I've gotta find out what this tree's name is. It is so beautiful with it's purple/fushia blooms

Again with the turtles!

Weird, very weird.

A "dwarf" something. With him standing upright like this, doesn't he look like a dinosaur?

Funky eyes

Good bye zoo. Thanks! We'll be back