In Memory of Grandpa Davis

The reason we had to cut our vacation a little short was due to the passing of Lynne's Grandpa, Maurice "Abie" Davis last Tuesday. The occassion was more a celebration than a sad event, as Maurice lived to the ripe old age of 101! It was nice to see Lynne's family in town and spend time with them. The service was beautiful, and he certainly will be missed. I enjoyed visiting him the last few years for his birthday as he would forget how old he was about every five minutes, and every time you reminded him, he acted astonished that he was so old :) Below are pics from his last 3 birthdays.

99!

100!

101!

Vacation - Part 3

Wednesday, we started the day with a nice walk on the beach. It was finally warm and sunny (like it was on Sunday). We had lunch at a cute little thai restaurant and then hopped aboard for a Gullah Tour, the only one in Charleston. Gullah is the language spoken by the African population in Charlestown since the original days of slavery. It's a combination of West African, English, and almost Creole. The tour was really fun and educational, and it showed a completely different side of Charleston and its history. It also included a visit to the home of the greatest living ironworker in the region, Phillip Simmons. Many of the most beautiful gates and iron fences around the city are his doing, and he has pieces all over the world and in museums. Unfortunately he is over 90 and now in a home, so we didn't get to meet him, but we saw his workshop and meet his nephew who is taking over the trade.








After the tour, we spent some time walking around Charleston some more and even got stopped by some people who thought we were locals! We had eaten so much heavy food that for dinner we ate at a little local pizzeria and had some delicious cupcakes.

Thursday was our big day in Savannah! A two-hour drive from our island, we got in at about 10:30 and hopped aboard a trolley tour to see the city. Our first stop, The Lady and Sons, Paula Dean's restaurant. Lynne is a big fan. Unfortunately, we couldn't eat there since they wouldn't take reservations and instead people line up around the block at 7am to put there name in for lunch and dinner. At 10:30am, the best we could do was dinner at 9:45pm! We were back to Edisto by 9:45 that night! We spent the rest of the day seeing the city, shopping, and had dinner at Paula's brother's place, Uncle Bubba's Oyster Shack. Oysters and scallops, oh my! Overall, Savannah was our favorite place to visit. It was very laid back, not too busy, and simply gorgeous. Many blocks have grassy squares that keep traffic slow and are jewels among the rich architecture. We saw so many great homes and really enoyed strolling around the city.

On Friday we played tennis, hung out at the pool, and packed for our return trip home, which got us home at about 3am Saturday morning. Overall, it was a great trip, but we were glad to get home and see Otis!

Vacation - Part 2

Monday was our day to relax and unwind on the island. Unfortunately, it was overcast and kind of cold. We spent the morning walking on the beach and finding shells (along with many beached jellyfish). We had a nice lunch (fish tacos) and dinner (ribs) while laying around, playing cards, and (happily) not driving anywhere.




On Tuesday, we headed off to Magnolia plantation outside Charleston to see the beatiful grounds, tour a plantation home, and meet some new animal friends in an empty petting zoo (not many kids at the plantation at 10am, just us and the retirees :)

Later that day, we took a boat tour from Charleston to Fort Sumter, which was really cool. We got to learn a lot about the Civil War, and it was fun to be out on the water (even though it was still kind of cool).

We ended the day with dinner at Hyman's Seafood, known for the best seafood in Charleston, and it was delicious. Crab dip, boiled peanuts, fried oysters, buffalo shrimp, and crab cakes with no filler...mmmm....the good eats continue. Driving back to the island at night was an adventure, but beatiful as the headlights shine on the live oaks stretched out over the road.

Last Week's Vacation - Part 1

So, we didn't post about our vacation during it (hey, we were relaxing!), so I'm catching up now. We were able to spend about 7 days on a road trip to and around South Carolina. Leaving Saturday afternoon, we began the 12.5 hour drive to Charleston, stopping somewhere south of Asheville, NC for a little sleep. We rolled into Charleston at about 12:30pm on Sunday, just in time to catch brunch at the Hominy Grill on the northside of historic Charleston. This local tradition, which we learned about on an Anthony Bourdain "No Reservations" special, lived up to expectations, especially with the "big nasty" I ate, which consisted of a giant biscuit, fried chicken breast, sausage gravy, and shredded white cheddar cheese. Oh, it was good, and it started the wonderful trend of eating well (and way too much) on our trip.

After that, we headed to the heart of the downtown to walk around the beautiful streets, admire the architecture, visit and old graveyard, and take a horse-drawn carriage around the city on a tour.

For dinner, Kirk was excited to get some seafood, and he enjoyed 14 raw oysters, she-crab soup, and hush puppies, while Lynne dined on a shrimp and scallop casserole. Mmmmmm...

After that, we headed to our condo on Edisto Island, about one hour southwest of the city. Thanks mom and dad for the timeshare!

Kirk on the News

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to be interviewed for a story that ran on Indianapolis CBS affiliate WISH-TV on DonorsChoose.org. The reporter, Leslie Olsen, was wonderful, and we had spent a couple months trying to setup the story. It went very well, and we got to watch as an IPS teacher opened some new materials (books, a human body model w/ removable organs, and geodes galore) got to open new materials for her 3rd grade students. Hopefully this will draw more Indiana donors and teachers to use DonorsChoose.org! To read the story click here, and you'll also see a link to watch the video segment. They all did a great job, and the kids were so cute!