Wild Oyster

This past weekend was the Wild Oyster Regatta for the International Lightning Fleet (results).  It is sailed here in Charleston, hosted by Carolina Yacht Club.

It was a great weekend for it!  Perfect temperatures for an oyster roast and good sailing.  We finished 8th out of 65 sailing boats with the oldest boat in the top ten, thank you very much.  We had one over early and a couple of bad starts (Joe thinks we are sailing 420's, the lightnings are just a tad bit heavier) but we are fast, fast, fast and our consistency is getting much better which is great!  We missed being the top local boat by one point.

Joe and I are really excited about our lightning sailing!

Our boat is the one at the other end winning the pin.  Unfortunately instead of us, it was the boat to windward that one the race.

Curb Appeal

Apparently, the previous owner, not the people who we bought the house from, but the lady before had a planting philosophy, "just plant wherever the plant looks good and don't worry about silly little details like growth, sunlight or food needs, etc".  Needless to say we are a lot more picky than the people we bought the house from and we are working hard on our entire lot, to make it what we think, is more attractive, functional and hopefully helping some sad, sad, plants.

We are working on the whole front yard, as you can see a border on the after photo, but we have only installed new plantings around the front of the house so far.  Right now is the time to plant, the risk of immediately killing something is very low.

Also, I just want to throw out some appreciation to Joe, who pulled all of the bushes, except the orange tree, out of the front of the house.  He also tilled and prepped the soil, he did a great job!

Before

After

What Else Did We Do In October?

We went to the Riverbanks Zoo!

Caroline Roberts making bird friends

Joe and Anna on this huge climbing structure

Emily Roberts, Anna Pitcavage, Olivia Smith, Madeleine Pitcavage, Gracie Pitcavage, Caroline Roberts, Henry Smith, Elise Roberts

Train Ride!

Gracie

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!
Maddie = Kitty, Gracie = flower girl, Anna = Hermione from Harry Potter

What Did We Do This Weekend?

What didn't we do?

 Joe took the girls shrimping and they had a blast!  Grace loved picking up the shrimp and throwing them into the bucket.  She also helped out a few stuck fish and threw them back into the ocean.

Anna wasn't quite as enthusiastic about touching the shrimp and fish, but still had a great, great time.  Both girls keep asking to go again.

They also had a Halloween party with some of their friends and had so much fun!  The girls call it their "annual" party, even though we have only had it once before, and look forward to the party each year!



We also had a group of people over from our old neighborhood, Shemwood II.  It was really great to see everyone and have them over to visit and see our new house.  We love our new house and neighborhood, we definitely miss the people in our old neighborhood.

Shrimping

Mandy throwing the net

Last week I went shrimping with Joe,  Anne and Dave Dabney.  We did pretty good.  After the heads were popped off (curtesy of Joe) we had almost a gallon freezer bag full, which is what Joe pretty much has been catching all season.  We had a lot of fun.  It was my first time shrimping.  Joe didn't think I would be able to throw the big net, but I did pretty good and even caught a few shrimp myself!

Three more weeks of shrimping left.

Gryffindor

Gryffindor - 10 weeks

This is our new cat Gryffindor.  His is almost 11 weeks old in this picture.  He is really, really sweet and little.

He is named Gryffindor "Gryffin", yes, after Harry Potter's house at Hogwarts.  Anna and I are big Harry Potter fans.

I did think Tiger Lilly would be a cute name if we named radar Captain Hook and if Gryffin was a girl, but he is not.  Although Gracie constantly calls him "she" (which is understandable because he is small and dainty).

Or if we had named Radar Midnight we could call him Twilight, but again, Radar is Radar, so that won't work.

Anyway, speaking of Radar he is kind of mad at us, but at least isn't trying to eliminate Gryffin anymore.  Radar might not be speaking to us, but he will at least let us feed him three times a day.

Gryffin is scared of Max, but seems to be doing better.  As you can see, he is starting to snuggle with Max.

The girls are doing well with the Gryffin.  He certainly still gets LOTS of attention, but they are getting better about sharing him.  And Gryffin is VERY tolerant of the girls and amazingly doesn't hid very often.  He actually seems to really enjoy being held all the time by Gracie, Maddie is another matter, and Gracie is a kitty hog, so poor Anna really doesn't get much kitty time.  But I will say, Gracie is very good at carrying him.

Will Gryffindor survive kittyhood?