Another "snake" experience

Well, this has turned out to be the summer of snakes for our family. Cory was weed-eating on Saturday and came upon a "creature". Rafe and I were in the house and he came to get us to look at it. We walked outside to find a snake right at our basement door. After looking at it Cory determined it was indeed another copperhead. This one was not nearly as big as the one they had seen in Charleston, but the thought of it trying to get into our basement scared me to death. Rafe enjoyed looking at it and of course wanted to touch it. I am now trying to convince Cory to get us a cat to help with this situation. We will see how that goes :(

Beach Vacation!

We spent last week at the beach with my parents. As always we had a wonderful time. Rafe loves where we stay because they have a pond FULL of turtles. We had to buy an extra loaf of bread just for the turtles. The weather was beautiful and we stayed busy playing putt-putt, riding rides at the Pavilion, and of course shopping! Rafe LOVES the ocean and would stay out there all day if we would let him. He never wanted to stop to take a break and it finally caught up with him the last night. He slept until 8:40 the day we left which is a new record. Now we are home and he is back up at 6:00!! Oh well, we enjoyed it one day. Thank you Pop and Gram for a great vacation!

Rafe and Cory with their new haircut!

Cory doesn't remember having this much hair!

Feeding the turtles

Riding at the Pavilion

Rafe managed to get me on the teacups!

"Look how high I can jump!"

Rafe and Pop on the teacups.

Pop regretted his decision!

Playing putt-putt. About two holes later he threw

his club and "had enough!" I don't think we have

a future Tiger Woods.

Playing in the waves

Rafe and Pop were buried alive

The alligator we fed about 100 hush puppies

This is all Rafe cared about on vacation. His

"grow and grow" snake and dinosaur.

4th of July!

We celebrated our first 4th of July in Greer since moving back. It was a fun, busy day. Rafe rode his new bike in a parade that morning in downtown Greer. He did great on his bike until he saw the big hill at the end and he decided he would just get off and walk. After the parade there were popsicles and Kool-Aid. Rafe dropped three popsicles as he was at the end of them. (I think he was just doing it on purpose to get another one!!) That night we went to our cousins house for a cookout. Rafe absolutely had a ball playing with Charlie. They swam, played on the swing set, rode bikes and ate homemade peach ice cream. It was really nice to be around all of our family for a fun night!

Rafe's New Bike

Rafe got a new bike yesterday from Pop and Gram. He has already ridden the wheels off of it. He was promised this bike when we moved back and it finally arrived yesterday. Rafe has a great place to ride it. He even took it for a spin around the neighborhood. Unfortunately he is already getting a little too comfortable on it. He starts going really fast and then freaks out when he can't work the brakes right away! I am amazed at how well he can ride it already. Thank you, Pop and Gram, for such a GREAT gift!

A Busy June!

"Spiderman" in his new room

Cory and Rafe trying to soak me on the bumper boats!

Rafe and Cory getting ready to take off.


Who's having more fun??!!

Rafe's "special" bag!

We have officially moved back to Greer!! It is hard to believe. The past two years in Charleston just flew by. So much has happened in the last 2 weeks. We are excited about our "rental" house and are already dreading the next move. Rafe keeps saying, "Are we going to live here forever?" Moving is not for him. However, he is really excited about his new bed. Poor thing, he was hanging out of his toddler bed but his room could not accommodate a bigger one. Rafe is also enjoying the hard wood floors. He puts socks on immediately each morning and slides all over the place.

Rafe (and myself for that matter) are not used to staying at home and it has been hard for him to sit in a house with five thousand boxes and NO television. So, we took a break from the action on Wednesday and went to Frankie's Fun Park. We all had a ball. Rafe and Cory SOAKED me on the bumper boats. I looked like I had been swimming. Then Rafe rode with Cory on the go-carts. They were going so fast one time all I could see was Rafe's head sticking out from behind the steering wheel. He had slid all the way under. Next Rafe and Cory rode the Drop Zone. It is still hard for me to believe he is old enough to ride such big rides. Now that he is able to ride Cory has decided he is too old!! It makes him sick :(.

Wednesday night the drama started. Cory's friend and his little girl Rafe's age came over to visit. Rafe wanted to put on his Batman pajama's and show Hannah. He came flying through the house and stepped on the end of Cory's hammer. He sliced his heel open. Just the sight of blood alone freaks Rafe out and the pain was awful. Poor thing, he tried to be so tough in front of her. We cleaned it up and put a Batman band-aid on it and he ate a popsicle at 9:30!! Out next obstacle was to get him in the bath tub last night. He whined and whined about not wanting to get it wet! We tied a Spiderman ziploc bag around it and assured him no water would get on it. It made Rafe feel better and he jumped into the tub. As soon as he got in the tub it of course filled up with water but he did not even notice because he had that "special" bag on it. It's funny how you can trick kids and they don't even know it. It made him feel better and that is all that matters!

Rafe and Caroline

A Trip Down Memory Lane!

Rafe and Caroline's first picture together.

Rafe was 23 months, Caroline 2 years 4 months.

Rafe, Caroline and Owen on Rafe's 2nd Birthday.

Rafe and Caroline at the park. Notice the shoes!

Trick-or-treating at the Aquarium.

This is one of my favorite pictures of them.


Tired after trick-or-treating.

Riding the carousel at the Festival of Lights.

Everyone piled on at the Mt. Pleasant Christmas Parade.

Their first date in his Gator!

Dancing the night away with the Mariachi Band.

Hanging out at the Mt. Pleasant park.

Easter Egg Hunt at our house.

Caroline's 3rd Birthday Party.

Rafe's 3rd Birthday.

Rafe's 3rd Birthday party.

Festival of Lights

Kissing his sweetheart on Valentine's Day!

Rafe and Susanna. I LOVE this picture.

Rafe making Susanna play dress-up.
She was NOT happy with him.

And now... Rafe 3 years, 8 months, Caroline 4 years, 2 months.

It is SO hard to believe that our two years in Charleston are coming to a close. So much has changed in the last two years. When we moved to Charleston Rafe was only 21 months old and didn't really know what a "friend" was. Boy did that change when he met Caroline Fortney. I thank God everyday that he brought the Fortney family into our lives. Not just for Rafe, but for me. We are so blessed to be a part of this wonderful family. We have seen Lauren, Caroline, and Susanna most everyday since we moved to Charleston. Every special occasion or activity we did was with them. For as happy as I am about moving back to Greer to be closer to our family, I am that sad to be moving away from our most special friends. It is hard to imagine going to Chick Fil-A or Moes without them. Here are some of the special memories I will always remember about Rafe and Caroline:

• Rafe went to New Beginnings Community Church preschool with Caroline last year. This was good for both of us. Thank you Lauren for convincing me to send him to school. He learned to much from that experience.
  
• I love the way he calls Caroline's name.
  
• They have a brother/sister relationship AND a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. He will say to me, "But Mommy, I just LOVE her!"
  
• We eat lunch together everyday (even though they did not go to the same school this year). Our favorite places are Chick Fil-A, Moes, and Groucho's. After we eat Rafe and Caroline either race each other on the sidewalks, pick berries out of the bushes, or jump off of the curb. What excitement!
  
• Rafe learned to love TWO Fortney girls when precious Susanna was born last July. He cannot keep his hands off of her. He absolutely loves to baby-sit her and enjoys putting all of his costumes on her.

Rafe is VERY protective of Caroline. If anyone is messing with her, he quickly intervenes and put a "kung fu" move on them. I can only hope he will be that protective of her one day when they get married!!

• Rafe and Caroline made the cutest couple at Halloween. He has never trick-or-treated without her. They would hold hands and walk up to each door together.

• We had a tradition each year of going to see the Christmas lights at the James Island park. We will definitely be making a trip back this year for that. We roasted marshmallows, drank hot chocolate and rode the carousel.
• 
  We enjoyed eating at Senor Tequila's. Rafe and Caroline entertained everyone with their dancing to the Mariachi Band.

I could go on and on listing the things that I think about with the Fortney's, but there are just too many to list. I know we are moving next week, but I hope they keep their guest room open for us. We are coming back to Charleston often to visit.

John, Lauren, Caroline and Susanna, thank you so much for being such a special part of our lives. We love you dearly.