1st Goal Achieved! New adventures to come!

 
            I met my first weight loss goal so I got to treat myself to my first reward!

                          Cute, huh?  This should also help with the running as well.
   Jim and I also went for a bike ride along the beach again today and have scheduled our first camping trip! We are really excited to venture out to some new state parks. You can see how many there are here in South Carolina.

 

I am especially interested in:

Caesars Head State Park/ Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area  (#5)
Jones Gap State Park/ Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area (#23)
Paris Mountain State Park (#37)
Table Rock State Park (#45)
Those seem to be closer to the mountains and a little more "roughing it" than we do now, no water or electricity, and serious hiking! Unfortunately Tucker will not be going on those trips with us. I am excited for a new challenge.

Update

Sorry I have been a bad blogger lately. Getting back into the swing of things after the holidays was interesting, especially since this was my first weekend that wasn't three days long and my first 5 day work week. I was getting rather spoiled. Jim has slowed down somewhat, I have a feeling that it wont last long. He had been going through the process of testing for the new tactical medic program here which consisted of a written test, physical agility testing, & interview. The team is a pilot program that will be working with local law enforcement He found out last week that he did make the team, needless to say he is very excited. At the upcoming awards banquet the six firefighters that made the team will be pinned. I am looking forward to it very much, although it means I will be missing the 5k I had registered to run that evening. Who starts a 5k at 7pm on a Friday night anyway?!  I do plan to attend the expo on Thursday and Jim and I plan on running a 5k Saturday so that my training is not a waste. Hopefully the weather holds out as last year the marathon was canceled due to snow. You may remember this picture.

 Hopefully February will be more of an exciting month. The weather seems to be warming up. Proving this to be one of the more mild winters I have spent in SC. Although the weather has been anywhere from sunny and 68 on New Years day to  cold, snowy, icy, and in the 30's on the 10th.  We have already been plotting our next camping trip once the weather warms up more. 

Book Love

As I have already talked about I work with kids and have a love for books.... I am frequently buying books to use for work and definitely have favorites. So lately I have been looking at building a little library so by the time we have children I have plenty of reading options. Several years ago my Aunt Chelle gave me a copy of The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus which she remembers her grandmother reading to her and her brothers.




So far I have been collecting a few of my favorites. The first Caps For Sale in which a cap peddler loses all his caps to some mischievous monkeys, I distinctly remember the teacher making great motions when reading this to the class. The second was Olive the Other Reindeer, which I like as it is a play on the Christmas Carol line "All of the other reindeer"... I love when they use rhyming and plays on words.

Then the other day while at Kohls I noticed they had Eric Carle books as a part of their Kohls Cares for Kids program. This is where they offer popular books for $5 a piece and they have coordinating stuffed animals. If you didn't already know one of my all time FAVORITE children's books is The Very Hungry Caterpillar so I got the caterpillar as well! Isn't he cute? I also got The Foolish Tortoise, The Grouchy Ladybug, and The Mixed-Up Chameleon books.

Some of my other favorite books are The Christmas Tree That Grew.... about a family who buys a tree with a root ball to plant in the yard of the new home they will be moving into after Christmas and the tree grows and grows to amazing heights.

 

Then there is The Wuggie Norple Story. This is about a dad that brings a cat home to his family and as it grows he brings home other animals to compare to the growing cats size. My parents hated this story as the characters have very difficult and imaginative names. 

Jim has expressed a desire to have Corduroy as he remembers this story well.

I also like Harold and the Purple Crayon because it encourages imagination. 

I think Love You Forever is as much for the children as parents. I always tear up at the end. 

Jim also loves If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. 

A classic that I think everyone loves. 

What were your favorite/most memorable books from childhood or reading to your children? What would be on your "must have" children's library list? I know I have a lot of parents and educators as readers.