South Carolina

We spent Thanksgiving week plus a couple days on a relaxing vacation to the Carolinas to visit Leif's cousins and their parents. For the first half of the trip, we were warmly welcomed in Aiken, SC, by Leif's Aunt Jessica, Uncle Mitch, and Cousin Rachel -- known in Leif-speak as Auntie Ess, Uncle Itch, and Ach ("H"). We relished the temperatures in the 70s and 80s while we were there, particularly since we had gotten our first winter snowfall in Minnesota the day before we left on our trip. Below are a few photos showing highlights from our time in SC.

Leif had brought a handful of his own Matchbox cars along on the trip, but he was happy to see Rachel had more (and was willing to let him play with them!).


The cousins hard at work on puzzles


Rachel's most common response when I asked her to smile for the camera was either to look away or to stick her tongue out, but I did catch a few nice smiles now and then :-) .


On Tuesday and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, we drove up to Columbia (SC) to visit several of their kid-friendly attractions, the Riverbanks Zoo and the EdVenture Children's Museum. Rachel seemed pretty enthused about having her car seat installed right next to Leif's and was very generous in sharing her Wheat Thins with him. With a bit of coaching, Leif quickly got the hang of saying "Thanks, Ach!" after each cracker gift.


Riverbanks Zoo


EdVenture




Back at Mitch and Jessica's house in Aiken, Rachel and Leif had a great time hanging out on the living room sofa, especially if Aaron was there to read books to them. There was a big basket of Rachel's books in the corner of the living room, but she always seemed more interested in checking out the books Leif had brought along on the trip. "Good Night, Little Bear" and "The Runaway Bunny" were particular hits.


Leif's other favorite activity at Jessica and Mitch's house was going for "rides" on the back of their very, very patient and tolerant golden retriever, Hunter. This activity (conceived by Aaron) consisted of Aaron holding Leif under the armpits to keep him more or less on Hunter's back for 5-10 seconds as Hunter tried to run away. As soon as each ride ended, Leif would immediately pipe up, "Ride dog again, please!" Hunter was an amazingly good sport about all this. Perhaps he felt he owed us after all the time Aaron and I spent petting him and scratching his ears each evening.


Thank you to Jessica, Mitch, Rachel, and Hunter for their hospitality. We had a great time!