It's A Haigood Life!: State #5 (South Carolina) and State #6 (North Carolina)

After staying in Florida for 2 months, we headed up north. We stopped one night in South Carolina on our way to Wilmington, North Carolina. We crossed over this neat bridge on our way there.

State #5 - South Carolina - One more sticker added to the map! It was Nathanael's turn:)

We were actually supposed to be in South Carolina during the whole month of March, and then North Carolina in April, however, a church in Wilmington asked if we could come a different weekend for a seminar. The weekend we originally planned to be in Wilmington was during their North Carolina Azalea Festival- the busiest weekend all year! It wasn't too out of the way, so we agreed to come earlier. I am SO glad we did:) The Preschool Director told us she had been praying for a parenting conference/seminar for their church. Shortly afterwards, she received Alan's email about our seminars with NCBP. YAY!

We had a wonderful time visiting Wilmington and the very friendly people during the seminar at Pine Valley Baptist Church. This was the first time we were able to park our RV on a church parking lot for the weekend, which was very convenient and gave us the opportunity to attend church there on Sunday as well. The seminar went very smoothly. We could tell they had worked hard to make it a special weekend. They had greeters and plenty of volunteers for registration and others to teach and care for the children. They had a secure checkout system too. The boys really enjoyed the children's activities. It was great to have the chance to go to the worship service on Sunday too. We were so blessed by their church family. We felt very comfortable with our children going to children's church since we knew the workers from the seminar. The pastor even brought us forward at the end of the service to pray over our ministry. What a blessing! Thank you Pine Valley, for encouraging us as we travel along the road!

During our stay at Wilmington, we visited the Cape Fear Museum, which was free with our museum pass. We also stopped by to see the outside of the U.S.S. Carolina.

The Cape Fear Museum had an exhibit on natural wildlife and habitats in the area. There was a fun little play area with a beaver house. Joshua loved the Venus Flytrap game. Throw in a bean bag, pull the rope, and it swallows it up!

Hello?? Do you remember the days of pay phones??? Now there are phone booths in a museum!!! Talk about feeling old! HA!

In 1991, the remains of a giant sloth were found in Wilmington! The museum has a replica of the sloth skeleton. The original was donated to The NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship

One afternoon, I took three of the boys to Fort Fisher on Kure Beach about 25 miles away from Wilmington. This fort was used during the civil war to keep the port of Wilmington open to blockade-runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies.

The weather was pretty cold while we were there in Wilmington. The lows were in the upper 20s, the highs around 50 degrees. While we were walking along the beach that afternoon at Fort Fisher, we noticed two people surfing! Crazy! It was REALLY chilly that day! They must be dedicated surfers!

After a wonderful week in Wilmington, NC, we hit the road and drove to Florence, South Carolina for our next seminar which was held at Southside Baptist Church. I'll post on that next:)