Brookgreen Gardens

We spent Saturday afternoon at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, SC (seafood capital of SC). The weather was beautiful and the kids loved walking through the sculpture gardens. The wildlife park was also really neat. I took tons of pictures of the flowers, sculptures and butterflies.

Our Ballerina

We've never had a ballerina before. This is new territory. Territory best traversed in pink tights, a tutu and tiny slippers. She was so excited about her new class today. She tried on her leotard yesterday and I almost didn't get it off again!

We couldn't see what they actually did in class today but she reported that they did the hot potato song and Mickey Mouse. Whatever that means....

Like Mother, Like Daughter

This is a picture of Miss Natalie (aka Missy) sitting beside a painting of me at about the same age. My uncle Harvey had a picture of me in his wallet when he went to Vietnam. He had a Vietnamese man paint this picture of me.

Old Poinsett Bridge

We found the Old Poinsett Bridge today and had fun playing in the creek. It was a beautiful spot to spend the afternoon. The bridge was built in 1820 and was part of the highway connecting Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC. The kids found crawdads, tadpoles, salamanders and a bullfrog. The water was ice cold!

Hollywild Animal Park

A Zonkey

Three kids on safari
Horse with spots
Horse with stripes :)



The kids were invited to a birthday party at Hollywild Animal Park today. (Happy 6th birthday, Eric!) What a great party place! We saw all kinds of animals and had a wonderful time. Our favorite part was the safari ride.

My First Grader

Off to school with Kershaw tagging along
You can really see his missing bottom tooth in this one

Key was very excited to start school this year. He met his teacher and all the kids in his class at the end of last year and has been ready to go since that day. He has already impressed his art teacher by telling her he knew who painted the picture of sunflowers on her wall - Vincent Van Gogh. He got three high fives for knowing. He memorized his lunchroom number and is waiting impatiently for next week so he can get a treat for remembering it.

Here's hoping for a great year!

Meet Chin Chin

We've added to the madness here at the Goodson zoo. Please help us welcome our newest member, Chin Chin. He (she?) already had that name when we adopted him/her so it is subject to change. The boys have been trying out different names but none have stuck so for now he/she is still Chin Chin.

It all started when we found out that Petco would take our sucker fish back. Andy had asked for an aquarium for his 4th birthday in February. He got a 2" sucker fish to help keep the tank clean. That sucker fish is now at least 8" long! He had completely outgrown our tank. I was pleasantly surprised that Andy was okay with taking him back. So, we scooped him up and put him in a big ziplock and returned him to Petco. I was feeling pretty good about the visit on our way out.

We didn't make it out alone though. Right before we got to the door, there was Chin Chin. A FREE dwarf Chinese hamster. Did I mention FREE? He was ours for FREE! Well, if you overlook the fact that he needed a cage and food and an igloo to sleep in and lots of soft bedding to climb around on.

And we've actually figured out why Chin Chin was free. I bet it is because he BITES! I've been nipped. Robbie has been bitten. Twice. Makes you think before you grab him up for some out of the cage time, that's for sure!

Andy was ecstatic to have him. So much so that he has promised not to bug us for a snake now. We'll see how long that lasts.