Our lil' gymnast!

Hey everyone...look at our lil'gymnast!!! She started gymnastics 3 weeks ago and she LOVES it! She did her 1st flip on the bar today (with help of course!). Her favorite is playing in the pit with the blocks and getting stamps and a lollipop at the end. But, she's already walking across the balance beam and doing summersaults...front and back (again with help!) She's starting to get the hang of it now.
Georg and Collette asked for an update on life here in Carolina...so here it goes:
Yes, ours schools are wonderful! (Although you can't say that about the state as a whole!) We actually have the best district and even the best high school in the whole state! Scores are good, but even more importantly to us is the conservativeness and the fact that most teachers are Christians and can even express that. I guess this is the Bible belt, but what a difference from the public schools in California. One of Josh's teachers played Christian music and made everyone listen to the words, his football team prays before each practice and game, the elementary canned food box says "Sharing God's Love", and Josh said that all the kids that he knows at his school (which is most if not all of his grade being a smaller school) are Christians or at least go to church. So that aspect is great. But, I really like the organization of the elem. school also. The boys don't like the fact that they only have 1 recess, but they like everything else. They have p.e. twice a week, and they also have art class, Spanish class, Music class, and computer lab...each once a week. They do a lot more Social Studies and Science here also. Bottom line...yes, we are really happy with our schools.
The weather here is actually very similar to So. Cal., today is suppose to be 69 degrees but the average in winter is 40's-50's. We get a lot more rain (but not too much!). Spring and Fall are pretty, lots of beautiful blue skies and blooming flowers and trees. Summer definitely gets more humid but the temp is usually 80's so it's really no worse than 100 -110 degrees in Cali. We get most rain in the summer as thunderstorms roll through, usually in late afternoon. Probably why it's so humid. Kinda' fun though. We have to quickly jump out of the pool many times.
People are friendly, same stores and restaurants for the most part. There is definitely more fried foods (oh my goodness...I think everything was fried at the fair) but people are definitely getting more health conscious like Cali., we also have the wraps and smoothies and organic sections in the stores. I have to admit I've gotten hooked on the sweet tea though. When you order tea here it is automatically sweet tea unless you specify other. Can't stand the grits though!
All in all, we really do like it here. I will admit I have a hard time missing all of you in Cali. If we could just get you all to move out here with us, it would be perfect!!!
Keep in touch!

Josh's birthday weekend...

Hi Everyone!
I've decided to start blogging to make it easier to send pics and messages to our family and friends we left back in Cali.!!!! I'm new at this so bear with me while I get the hang of it! Seems simple enough...
We just got home from a weekend get-away in Myrtle Beach to celebrate Josh's 15th birthday! We stayed at a hotel on the coast that had a little indoor waterpark. Kids had fun! Of course it was too cold to play on the beach (40's-50's outside!), although Josh and dad took a stroll. We mostly played in the indoor pools and slides and lazy river. We had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe' (Josh's pick!) And we strolled through this outdoor shopping mall this morning and Hannah decided she wanted a Dumbo elephant from the Disney store. I realized this as we were walking around outside and she leans over her stroller and yanks it out from underneath!! Our daughter...the shoplifter!!! (Of course we walked right back into Disney Store and made her put it back!) How embarrassing! Otherwise...a nice weekend!