Focht Family Blog

Today we went to the South Carolina Aquarium. Our friend Chris Potter volunteers two Saturdays a month as a diver. He met us at the front and they had “Official Visitor” badges for all of us. Here is a picture of Chris with my mom and the kids. Chris went to college with my brother so my mom has known him for quite awhile.

Chris showed us around and walked with us for a bit until he had to go get dressed for the diving show. Once he was in the tank Nathan tried to take a picture of the kids with Chris behind them but the flash hit Chris’ mask so he is basically behind the flash.

While Chris was getting ready for the show we explored the Aquarium. In one spot there was a bald eagle. I think it is the closest we have been to one so far.

Yes it is real! They had a large touch tank area where they had workers educating about the different animals. Here is Josh looking at the underside of a horseshoe crab.

Here is Timmy next to one of the tanks. We spent quite a bit of time here because there was a Green Moray Eel that had his head sticking out of a rock.

Next we found a children’s play area where Josh was steering a boat and Samantha was matching animals up…

After the dive show Chris took us “behind the scenes”. He took us to the top of the tanks where the divers get in. He also showed us the quarantine tanks and the fish hospital tanks. Here is a picture of the main tank. The Loggerhead Turtle is on the top left portion of the picture.

Here is a picture of one of the quarantine tanks. They put the fish that they catch here to make sure they are not sick before adding them to the other tanks.

The last picture is of the filter system for one of the quarantine tanks. Nathan could not believe how big it was. We had two salt water tanks when we lived in Charleston and we had filter systems exactly like this but MUCH smaller. :)

We finished the day in Charleston with walking to a deli nearby and having lunch with Chris. Thanks Chris for a great day!! We are on the road again and should make it to Atlanta late this evening.

On Wednesday Nathan took the kids for a bike ride around the campground. On Thursday they found a path that took them to a large playground that we had seen driving in and out of the park. He didn’t take the camera but the kids had so much fun all of us went back on Friday since it was our last evening at James Island.

Here are pictures of Samantha, Timmy, and Joshua showing off their monkey skills.

At first Joshua found a small slide that he decided to go down…

After that he realized there were bigger slides. Samantha and Timmy joined him at the big slides…

While the boys were still playing on the slides, Samantha decided to go to the swings where grandma was resting…

The last two pictures are actually from the trip to the Aquarium but I have too many pictures from that day so I am putting them here. Timmy found a penny at lunch and had it balanced on his nose so I had to get a picture of him being silly. Also… Samantha got a penny from grandma to see if she could do it as well. Both of them had the pennies balanced on their noses the whole ride back to the campground.

Next up… the Aquarium!

I am trying to be a better mom. The kids haven’t had many outings lately because of my mom and I being under the weather. So today my mom and I took them to the Children’s Museum at Charleston. They had an art program for the boys so they spent the first hour of the morning painting. I snuck over to where they were painting and took a picture. This is Timmy. Josh is on the other side of the easel so you can’t see him.

While Timmy and Josh were painting Samantha spent her time on a shrimp boat and at the grocery store. The grocery stores are always her favorites at the children’s museums. She likes to pretend to shop and ring things out and prepare food. Here are pictures of Samantha.

Once the kids were back together again they found a room where they had golf balls that you could put into all kinds of different loops and twists. Here are two pictures of the kids on top of the mountain where they were launching some of the balls from.

One of the other golf ball items was a pole that had the golf ball run down in twists. Josh loved this one. He would start the golf ball and then try to race it to the bottom. Here is Josh running after the ball.

After this room the boys found their favorite… a water room! While they were playing Samantha talked my mom into taking her back to the grocery store. Here are two pictures of the boys playing in the water.

We had a lot of fun today. After lunch we had schooltime with all three kids and then Nathan took them for a bike ride around the campground. Tomorrow will be an indoor day for the kids so hopefully they blew off some energy today.

It is hard to believe that Timmy is 6 already. I decided that even if mom and I were not 100% that Timmy would have what he wanted for his birthday this year since last year his birthday is when the engine exploded. So… the other day I picked up one of those little craft cookbooks that was a Halloween book. Timmy loved it and decided to build a meal around that. So we had a swamp brew punch that had bug ice in it. Nathan found gummy eyeballs at the store so when we made cups for the kids each cup had a floating eyeball in it. :)

Next on the menu was mummy dogs followed by a spiderweb cake that we added bugs to. Here is a picture of the mummy dogs and the cake.

We had the party at the meeting room at the campground and invited the campground owners and their kids as well as Nathan’s parents. Here is Timmy blowing out his candles and opening one of his gifts.

One of the gifts that Timmy has been asking for was a skateboard. Nathan and I gave consent so his parents bought Timmy a skateboard and all of the safety equipment to go with it. Here is Timmy trying out his new toy.

Mom had a set back on her recovery this week. She ended up back in the hospital again for a couple of days because her incision opened up because of a secondary infection. She is back home again and we are hoping to leave Statesboro September 28 and spend a week in Charleston so I can have my return appointment with my surgeon and also an appointment with an endocrinologist there that the surgeon recommended. They will decide at that point if I need supplements for my thyroid or if the left half is supplying enough hormones. Mom is having a home nurse come once a day to change bandages and I change the bandages in the evening. I have to wonder what the nurses think when they pull up to a truck camper. :)

We have a friend who lives in Charleston who dives at the aquarium twice a month so we will stay in Charleston long enough to take the kids to the aquarium while he is working. He said if we came while he was working that he would give us a behind the scenes tour. :) So… I am hoping in the next few weeks that we will be back on the road and the blog updates will start getting more exciting again. :)

Well… Samantha should be partied out. We started out with going to Atlanta for her birthday weekend. Friday night, her birthday, we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. Here is her birthday dessert which she shared with her cousin Ashleigh.

The next day we went to American Girl a little bit early so we could buy Samantha a Nellie doll and get my nieces a set of Bitty Twins for their birthday gifts from us. Timmy also managed to talk grandma and I into an outfit each for his doll and Josh’s doll to share. Next we were sat at a large table with 3 adults, 5 kids, and 6 dolls!

Here is Samantha and Ashleigh with Samantha’s “Samantha” and “Nellie” dolls and Ashleigh’s “Ashleigh” doll.

After our lunch was finished they brought Samantha a beautiful cake that had pink and green dots on it. It had 9 candles on it and they sang to her. She let Ashleigh and Josh help her blow out the candles.

Josh enjoyed his dessert with his doll.

After lunch we drove to the local Michael’s craft store and bought Samantha and the boys boxes so they could better organize the doll clothes and accessories. Then we went back to our campsite at Sawnee Park. We were in a beautiful spot that had water on both sides. When you were inside with the windows open it looked like you were on an island. Here is a picture of the view.

That night everyone came to our campsite for pizza. We were planning on eating outside by the lake but somehow everyone ended up inside. I think it was because the kids wanted to play with all of the dolls and toys. Sunday we woke up late and headed home around lunchtime.

Of course this wasn’t the end of her parties. Nathan’s parents came home from NY on Monday and came over for a visit. Because they had driven the whole night before, we didn’t do much else but visit but Tuesday night they came over for dinner and yet more cake. :)

I think Samantha is still recovering. I know that I am! :)