🌴 Happy Summmerville 4th of July!

Hi there, Palmetto Parent!

Happy Fourth of July! 🇺🇸 🎇 

We hope you enjoy the day with your family. In our event section we highlight important information for the Freedom & Fireworks Festival tonight and give you information about the upcoming Cane Bay Independence Day Celebration on Saturday.

In other exciting news, Summerville is famous this week for an alligator sighting in an unexpected place. When I first moved here, I thought all the “alligators may live here” signs seemed like a bit of an overkill. But now that I have a few years under my belt I’ve learned they truly may be anywhere in the Charleston area. Last Tuesday patrons of Publix on Old Trolley Rd. were shocked to find an alligator hanging out under the carts. Click the image below to see the full video taken by Summerville resident Lisa Royal.

This week I visited that Publix and I definitely did a double take before I grabbed my cart. 🛒👀🐊 

To Do: Blueberry Picking at Myers Blueberries

Blueberry picking season is officially here!

Summerville residents are loving their experience at Myers Blueberries, located at 212 Twin Lakes Drive in the Knightsville area of Summerville. The blueberries are natural with no chemicals and absolutely delicious. For those that work a traditional 9-5, their hours accommodate picking on the evening and weekends.

They are open from 7:30am-1pm and 5pm-7:30pm Monday-Friday and from 7:30am-2:30pm on Saturdays. Prices are $15/gallon, payment in cash or check only. 

Wondering what to do with all those blueberries? A friend made this blueberry upside down cake with hers and said it was amazing.

Netflix’s Family Audio Experience

Fun Audio Experiences for the Whole Family

Limiting screen-time is often at odds with your kids enjoying their favorite films and series. But not with Popcorn Brainstorm! Jokes & Trivia for Kids, the chart-topping Kids & Family podcast from Netflix. Featuring trivia, games and jokes about Netflix films and series, Popcorn Brainstorm is an audio experience that keeps everyone in the family connected, entertained and having fun.

Listen to episodes about Leo, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, The Dragon Prince and many more!

If you want your Summerville business in front of over 1,500 Palmetto Parents, click here.

An Event: Our Local Fourth Festivals

The Fireworks & Freedom Festival is happening today from 5:30pm-9:30pm, with fireworks starting somewhere between 8:30-9pm. Here’s some important information for the festival:

• You should bring your own chairs, blankets, and water. Attendees are allowed to bring a lunch box sized cooler. Large coolers, tents, alcohol, grills, and personal fireworks are not allowed.

• Carolina Ale House will be selling alcohol to enjoy in a designated area.

• The parking is extremely limited (only in the parking lot, no street parking permitted on Boundary St). There will be shuttles running from 5pm-10pm between the park and the Town Hall parking lot (200 S. Main St). You can park anywhere downtown Summerville and walk to the shuttle.

Here is a link to the Facebook Event where any changes will be announced. Take a look at last week’s newsletter for a full list of food vendors and activities.

Want to celebrate this weekend? 

Cane Bay is throwing its own Independence Day Celebration on Saturday from 3:30-9:30pm. There will be food trucks, crafts vendors, gellyball, bounce houses, and a $20,000 fireworks show to end the night. (I linked gellyball if you, too, had no clue what that was). Randall Fowler Music will be performing as well. This event is free and open to the public.

Use the address 1655 Cane Bay Blvd, Summerville to get to the event. There is golf cart parking in front of the tennis courts and car parking at the YMCA.

Restaurant: Eva’s

If you’re looking for a small town diner with big sized portions in the heart of Summerville, Eva’s on Main is your place.

Their biscuits with sausage gravy is the recommended dish and you will get a delicious taste of Southern cooking. Our toddler enjoyed the giant kid’s pancake, 2 sausages, and some eggs (see below).

When you go into Eva’s you’ll realize there are locals that have been dining there for years. An elderly gentlemen stopped by our table to say hello to the two month old and looked at me to do some morning math. He asked, “If you take 2,100 and subtract this year, 2024, what do you get?” I starred at him blankly because I am terrible at math, desperate for him just to do it for me. “You get 76” he finally said. “And that’s how old this little guy will be in 2100. That will make you think.”

That’s exactly what it did, made me think.

He left with a wink. For now I am just trying to enjoy him as a two month old and not imagine him as a 76 year old. 😂

Palmetto Piece: It Takes a Village

That’s our motto at Palmetto Parents.

And it really does take a village.

Hey everyone, Daniel here. I traveled to Montreal last week for work and was gone for about 5 days. Naturally I felt a lot of pretrip anxiety about leaving my wife alone with a toddler and newborn that entire time.

So instead of flying out from Charleston I flew out from Asheville, and dropped my family off with my wife’s family for the week.

Massive win.

They went hiking, fishing, bike riding, played games, and more. My wife had several family members to help with the kiddos while I was gone, which meant I could be present for work knowing they were all okay in my absence.

A few things I wanted to share from the experience 👇

1. It’s okay to ask for help. My wife is a rockstar. She could have done it all without me while I was gone— no doubt. But why would I ask her to do that if I didn’t have to? I wanted her to have as much help (or more) as when I’m in town. So we asked her family for help and she had a blast while I was gone.

2. Build a village around your family. We have my family here in Summerville and her family in Asheville. We are blessed to have so much family nearby. But our village extends beyond our immediate family members, and yours can too (especially if your family lives out of state). We make it a weekly priority to spend quality time with other families with kids who get along with ours. Not only does this give us adults time to relax and connect with other parents, but it gives our kids important friends and other adults in their lives they can trust. This is monumental. The more adults in your kids lives that they know and trust the better. I think we all know this intuitively, but actually intentionally creating a life that invites this is something that requires forethought and action.

3. Make the most of the time you spend with your village. It’s always good to spend time with your friends without an agenda. I think we all need that. Just hang out. But there are also times Courtney and I will check in with each other before we meet with another family see if there is something specific we want to bring up. Could be a question for insight into how to discipline lovingly, or it might be something about our communication with each other to seek input on so we can improve. We’re always trying to be better parents and better spouses, and being on the same page about our needs before we hang with people from our village is huge.

Who’s in your village?

BONUS: Great Parenting Newsletters

We try our very best to include things in Palmetto Parents that you simply won’t find anywhere else. We sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed it these last several months.

That said, we’d be remiss not to also shout out some other awesome newsletters that we think you might be interested in. All you have to do is click the link of the newsletter you’re interested in exploring below and you’ll be subscribed to some awesome new newsletters.

• The Mommy - The Mommy is your warm cup of coffee before the little ones wake up, with a mix of practical, educational, and entertaining content designed just for mamas.

• Mom’s Morning Memo - Daily inspiration delivered right to your inbox with activities to do with your kids.

• Birdie - Birdie is a free email newsletter that touches on topics of women's health, beauty/self-care, nutrition, parenting, and shopping.

• FamilyMade - Your mid-week dose of love and support, wherever you are on your family journey!

• The Starglow Weekly - From the #1 Kids & Family podcast network comes The Starglow Weekly, a TLDR on all things purposeful parenting, lessening screentime, and helping you find that balance we're all seeking.

Links may be affiliate links, but content is still worth checking out.