We Be Buggin'!

We've been so busy this week!

Tuesday was a picture-perfect beach day. Nearly all of our group ended up on the beach - with hardly any other people around us. It was sunny, the waves were a great size to play in, huge sand-buildings & fortresses were erected. Just lovely!

In the evening, we had a pot luck - we contributed a huge pasta salad with asparagus. shallots, garlic, carrots, red peppers & chives. Some of our group set up a music area & danced the night away. Phil & I went back out to the beach in the evening - there was so little light pollution that we could see the Milky Way above us. The moon wasn't out, but one of the planets was & it shined so brightly we could see it's reflection in the waves as walked along the shore. There was very little breeze so it was very comfortable and, yes, quite a bit romantic!

Wednesday was a rainier day - although that didn't stop Phil & I from going back to the beach for a long walk. We wore our rain gear & nylon bottoms, so even though we got wet we were still comfy. When we got back to our condo, the Lovejoys' place (which shares our entrance balcony) was filled with people playing Bananagrams. We joined in & had a lot of fun just hanging out.

Dinner was another group effort - BBQ! I have an unnatural attraction to Kelly's pulled pork. I'm comfortable saying that now. Add her homemade spicy sauce & I am out of my mind! There were also ribs & other fantastic meaty entrees. Other contributions included slaws, salads, scalloped potatoes & baked sweet potatoes. I made my famous maple-glazed roasted carrots, adding nutmeg, cinnamon & cloves to my usual recipe. We had 10 little baby carrots left over from 5 pounds of carrots!

Later that night, a bunch of us drove into Charleston to The Pour House to hear some live music. A group our friend Alice was familiar with was scheduled to play. Unfortunately, the start times listed apparently are really more like suggestions, so we had a lot of down time before the opening act. Fortunately, they were really good! The Two Man Gentlemen Band from NYC is an old-fashioned looking 2-man band - they play bass, guitar, banjo, cow bells & kazoos! They also dress in 1930-ish looking attire. Their music, if you just listened to the music, was solid old-time bluegrass/Americana folk style. But if you listened to their lyrics, well, let's just say they were quite humerous & witty! Most of what they said was totally clean, & yet of course it wasn't. That was the joke - they looked & sounded innocent, up to a point! We all enjoyed them immensely!

Alas, it was nearly 11:30 pm & the headliners hadn't appeared, so some of us, including Phil & me, left to go home (it was a 30 minute ride each way). Although we didn't see the group Alice wanted to share with us (who did start playing about 10 minutes after we left) we still had a fun night out.

Thursday was Seafood Day!

26 of my nearest & dearest (but no one else from my family!) went to lunch at RBs, a seafood restaurant in Mount Pleasant Kelly went to as a little girl. It was pretty place, with rooms overlooking the Shem Creek, so we could see boats passing by & lots of pelicans hanging out as we ate. The food was delicious. I had tuna sashimi with a seaweed salad, plus a bowl of she-crab soup (the "she" in she-crab means that the roe is used in the making of the soup - helps it taste richer). I also had Key Lime pie for dessert, with homemade whipped cream draped over it. Yummy!!

It was another beach day that afternoon - a good opportunity to walk off my lunch! Near dinner time I decided it was time to cook some of the maple bacon I had brought with me from home - & suddenly I heard the thunder of many feet coming up the stairs to our condo - my kids & their friends heard the call of the bacon & came to devour!

I used the drippings to cook up some garlic, onions & mushrooms, which Phil & I spooned over tortellini for supper. I'm definitely not starving here!

More to follow when I'm not racing the kids for the one shower!

BUG - Beach Unschoolers Gathering

We drove down to Isle of Palms, SC yesterday, joining 60+ others for a beach vacation. We've rented out an entire condo building, which has been quite nice. Our family has a two-bedroom apartment, with a fully-equiped kitchen & spacious living room. Other families have one or two bedroom apartments or studio apartments - different sizes for different needs. We're a short walk to the beach, which has been great. Lots of waves, lots of space - it's off season so it feels like we have the entire place almost to ourselves. The kids are having a blast hanging out with their friends at the beach, at the pool & in each other's "pads", as Shaun has been calling them.

Last night, our first night, was Italian night - everyone contributed something to a huge buffet we set up in the parking area behind the buildings. Delicious food, great music & wonderful company. Today many of us ended up at the nearby Whole Foods stocking up on yummies. A big rain storm drove us off the beach late in the afternoon, but after it passed everyone circulated around to each other's rooms, sharing food & drinks with whoever visits.

I'm now quite tired & Shaun just came in to get water before heading out to play live action World of Warcraft with friends. Another long night for the teens & tweens while we older folk try to catch some zzz's...

Tomorrow's forecast: Beach!