FlorenceMom.com Blogs

LEGOLAND Florida is a great place to bring the builder side out of your kids. With a new waterpark, your children not only get to see magnificent LEGO structures but also have some fun in the water under the summer sun! 

Click here to see discounted tickets for LEGOLAND Florida. Save $20 each. You can print them at home and save time at the gate! Choose from 1 day or 2 day tickets. You can also choose whether to buy with the waterpark or not. 

Buy LEGOLAND Florida Tickets

We had a very eventful Easter Day in Florence this year. This is my fourth Easter here since moving from California and it has been the most meaningful to me.

In the early morning, we went to family service, followed by an Easter Egg hunt at church. My toddler son had such an exciting time because he was first in line for the Easter Egg hunt since he was the youngest in the group. He couldn't stop looking at his eggs while we were driving home! 

I had a couple hours to finish my cupcakes later that morning and frosted them with green vanilla cream with some Easter decorations to bring to an amazing Easter Brunch we got invited to this year. (Here is the picture of the cupcakes that I made on Easter Day below.) 


Even though it started raining earlier that afternoon, it didn't dampen our spirits. We left the brunch party around 3pm and still had some time to relax at home and watched some TV. If we can have an Easter just like this next year, I could not ask for more. What a blessed day!

It's been exactly 3 years since we've moved to South Carolina from Southern California and it's been quite an experience for me to adjust from a different lifestyle to an unknown territory with no friends nor family nearby. The truth is, moving to a new environment and knowing nobody is difficult, AT FIRST. It'll take time and patience to find new friends and get familiar with your surroundings. If you are a new mom who just moved here from a different place as well, the first year will probably be rough but it gets BETTER! Just hang in there. I believe in the natural courses of things. Making friends is something that should come naturally when you just "clique" with the right person. But you can't meet anyone by staying at home so it does take a bit of effort.

Here are some ways I've discovered in Florence that could help you find other moms to connect with:

• Take your little one to mommy and me classes. Babies and up, you get to meet other moms/guardians who have little ones within the same age group as your own baby, toddler or child
• Join a local Mom's Group. There's been a few mom's groups that have come and go on MeetUp.com for Florence. I've also seen moms groups being created on Facebook. There is a Florence Moms Network Facebook Group with thousands of members.
• Go to story time at the Florence County Library on. S Dargan St. with your kids. Your kids will enjoy it and you will also be able to meet other moms with kids around the same age. The bonus is it's free. They have different times for different age groups for your kids. Check out the different story times by going on the event page under "Story Times".
• Go to the Ebenezer Park in West Florence with your kids. They have different slides for toddlers and bigger kids and everything is padded on the playground. Every time I go there, there is always a family or another mom there with their kid(s). 
• Take time to get to know your husband's coworkers' wives. They might have wives who share the same interests and hobbies as you. I know this can be hard though, from personal experience. 
• Get to know your neighbors. More likely than not, there is a facebook group for the subdivision you are living in. People in Florence love facebook! While there is a big divide on thoughts on making connections through social media from people living in major cities, here in Florence, most people are big on it, especially Facebook! 
• Join Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce and/or Young Professionals of Florence as a member if you are also a working mom! They have great networking events after work hours and seasonal events. To see their websites, go to the "relocating" page here.

Located about 30 minutes from West Florence, Lynches Riverpark is a great place to visit seasonally. We recently discovered that they have an Environmental Discovery Center that is located right next to the playground. They are open everyday except for Mondays. You can see the hours I listed for this place on our event page.  It is free to visit and you get to see all sorts of reptiles there. When we went to the back exit to look outside, we discovered that they have a really neat canopy trail! It looks like something from a rainforest! My toddler was too afraid to walk on it with us but my husband and I were able to take turns to go to the first platform. There were about 4 to 5 platforms! 

 (Canopy Trail that is behind the back exit of the Environmental Discovery Center at Lynches Riverpark) 

Reptiles you can see there at the Environmental Discovery Center

 They let one of their turtles roamed around for a little bit for a free show & tell on that Saturday morning. We were lucky! 

Here is how the Discovery Environmental Center building looks like.

I know the way to get here was a little spooky but when you see this building, you are going to be amazed. The architecture is wonderful. If there are any upcoming events at Lynches River County Park, it will be listed on our 'Events' page.

Here are all the locations of the free trash dump sites in Florence, SC for all those just relocating here or moving to a different part in Florence: 

Locations:                                                                                        

Site 1	Greenwood	2325 Carnell Drive	Florence	29505
Site 2	Airport	708 South Stadium Road	Florence	29506
Site 3	Quinby	1508 East Marion Hwy.	Florence	29506
Site 4	Timmonsville	1840 S Warren Street	Timmonsville	29161
Site 5	Pamplico	411 South Oak Street	Pamplico	29583
Site 6	Coward	3315 US 52 Hwy.	Coward	29530
Site 7	Lake City	1228 E. Main Street	Lake City	29560
Site 8	Landfill	2616 Paper Mill Road	Florence	29506
Site 9	Effingham	6760 Friendfield Road	Effingham	29541
Site 10	Hannah	3648 Tree Haven	Pamplico	29583
Site 11	Paul Jones	4807 Buddy’s Lane	Effingham	29541
Site 12	Ebenezer	359 South Ebenezer Road	Florence	29501
Site 13	Olanta	4212 Chandler Road	Olanta	29114
Site 14	Johnsonville	230 West Egg Farm Road	Johnsonville	29555
Site 15	Cusaac	5169 Sardis Hwy.	Timmonsville	29161

The opening hours are: 7AM – 7PM, Monday - Saturday. They are CLOSED on Sundays.

Why does Florence Mom like to dump her own trash instead of paying monthly service? 
It's free to dump your trash and recyclables yourself here so why not? Plus you can clear your house trash more than just once in week! I hate it when trash accumulates and then it starts to smell from sitting out for too long. 

I think it's great that Florence and many parts of the Carolinas have dump sites where you can take out your own trash, especially around Christmas time when our trash bins are overflowing.