road trip stops

Fresh Georgia peaches at a roadside stand.

The fort at St. Augustine

It was blazing hot, especially in a fort.

I love that Brian explains so much to them, making history real to them.

Our solution to rush hour in Atlanta...

pull off of the road and go to the World of Coke instead.

Probably the favorite part of the museum for the boys (maybe all of us)

the tasting room at the end.

The boys were so excited that they could taste as many sodas as they wanted.

Their stomachs did not thank them later, though.

The most memorable variety was from Italy and was called Beverly.

Just saying that if you're ever offered a glass of Beverly in Italy......don't be afraid to say no.

Horrible, nasty stuff.

Savannah

Savannah is so close to Jekyll and St. Simons that I couldn't pass up stopping there.

We decided to get reservations at Lady and Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant) for

lunch on our way back north.

We had heard mixed reviews about the place, but I will say that we were not disappointed.

I was expecting traditional southern food and I feel like that's what we got!

This was the best part for me.....

I believe this was the best sweet tea I've ever tasted, and I've tasted a lot.

Just looking at this makes me thirsty for more.

I won't say how many times my glass may or may not have been refilled.

There is something about this picture that I just really love.

Maybe it's that they look like they actually like each other and might be having a good time.

This was taken just a little bit after Ethan took a huge spoonful of the "cottage cheese" that 

Brian had put on his plate from the salad bar and said "this is really bad!"

Yes, Ethan, because your dad put a huge pool of blue cheese on your plate to eat.

You'll have to forgive him.  He doesn't eat cottage cheese.

Next time take the parent that can actually tolerate dairy :)

(side note:  Looking at this picture again, I'm noticing those fun schoolhouse/vintage looking 

pendant lights - I've been looking for those....wonder where they got them - I'm pretty

sure it wasn't Lowe's or Home Depot as I've already scoured those two places)

After lunch, we walked down to the riverfront and happened to see this on our way

Of course, a photo was necessary in such an important historical location.

And then Ethan realized what the sign said, and his orange and blue blood started to boil

as he hightailed it out of the picture :)

We walked just a bit more down on the river front.  Not nearly enough for me.

Savannah is such a pretty place.  I wish that we had enough time to really walk around and 

explore all the squares and enjoy the beauty of it.  Another time.  Grateful for the time that we did have.

Nana and PaPa

The reasons we spend so much time in Florida.

This was taken the morning we left Orlando.

Such a nice visit with them.

Missing them.

Driftwood Beach

At the north eastern tip of Jekyll is this very cool beach.

We drove up there the first night we were there, because I wanted to see it at sunset.

I'm not sure exactly why all the driftwood is there, but it is really a fascinating scene.

 The boys quickly found small crabs in these little pools on the beach.

Elliott was all about finding them and picking them up.

Ethan was all about watching his big brother do all the dirty work.

They found lots of cool shells, too.

This is the path that leads to the beach.

I'm sure it's a cool nature path.

I was too busy trying to reach the end of it before an alligator made an appearance to see

much more nature than a cool bird and the marsh.

St. Simons

During our stay at Jekyll we drove over to St. Simons Island also.

It's about a 20 minute drive at the most, but much different than Jekyll.

It's a bigger island with actual restaurants and shops.

Just more going on over there, so we would drive over there to eat at night

and to explore that island also.

We met this nice lady on the pier that was crab fishing.

Only this method looked way better than the Deadliest Catch version :)

She let the boys bring the cage up a couple of times, and

was so nice in explaining how to do it and telling stories about what all

she had caught.

Here was her catch for the first part of the evening

The boys begged and begged for us to buy them a cage and some bait so that they could

go crabbing also.  They were so enthralled with the whole process.

We didn't have any way to cook them and thought the boys would be all about it for a few

minutes and then be done, leaving us with a crab basket and raw chicken bait.

Now that I think about it we could have caught some and just given them to someone.

It really was cheap entertainment.  Next time we will do that.

This guy looked like he was the guardian of the pier.

Shopping.

The lighthouse on the island.

Another geocache find.

I had been waiting for shrimp and grits the entire trip.

This was the first place that actually had them on the menu, but it was more like
shrimp and grits-cake.  I wasn't too sure about it, but I went ahead and
ordered it and was not disappointed.  So so good.
This was at Iguana's if you're ever on the island.

And the best food, hands-down, was at Southern Soul Barbeque.

They had been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network,
and we were in the market for some Brunswick stew so we thought we would try this place.
It's actually in a tiny building that looks like it might have been a gas station in its former days.
And the food was so so good.  The boys got a Soul Burger (crazy non-BBQ eaters) and
declared it to be the best burger evahhhh.
So I'm assuming all the food choices are excellent.
I would definitely go back and have some more!

Jekyll Island

After a few days in Orlando we drove up to Jekyll Island, GA for a little beach getaway.

Of all the years we lived in Georgia we never visited Jekyll.

I don't know why.  

I guess we were always traveling to see family anytime we had vacation time.

Jekyll Island is very quiet.

Very very quiet.

It was the perfect place to really get away.

These turtle crossing signs were on the roadway entering the island.

Nearing sunset on the beach right outside our hotel 

The boys, of course, could not wait to get in the water.

This is the same beach, right outside our hotel.

You can see its roof in the background if you look closely.

One of the things we really liked about this place was that it definitely was not commercialized.

This was what you saw as you went up and down the beach.

Probably the coolest thing that happened was that a dolphin swam by us

while we were in the water one morning.

It was only about 20 feet from us!

So neat to see that.

So, we forgot to pack the cooler, but lucky for us they had the perfect replacement

at the convenience store.

We spent most of the mornings (until high tide rolled in and water engulfed most of the beach)

at the beach either in the water or on this blanket.

One morning we did get up early and go bike riding before heading to the shore.

There are trails all across the island.

This one runs along the beach and the convention center.

We hit several others, and I will warn you that at least one of the trails sends you right into the midst of a marshy alligator area.

We were just riding along, when we come to a pond in the wooded marshy area.

My alligator radar is pretty good so my protective instincts set in pretty quickly.

Of course, I was the caboose on our bike ride, and happened to catch a glimpse of 

a small sign (it wasn't all that small, but really, it should have been HUGE) that

said not to feed the alligators.

The rest of my crew thought it was cool, but not me.

I wanted to turn around and ride as fast as we could back the way we came.

In fact, I begged to do that, but my Florida-born husband gave me that "seriously?" look because he thought that idea was ridiculous and just kept on riding.

Now, at this point I would have just turned around myself and texted him my whereabouts later.

But in the split seconds that all of this was happening, I happened to remember that

the boys were with us and I couldn't leave them out there in that marsh to be eaten

by an alligator.

So I did what any mom would do.

I pedaled ahead like crazy with tunnel vision to the nearest glimpse of civilization.

I didn't dare look left or right for fear of seeing a hungry gator.

Ethan was beside me and totally confused.

He thought the creepy marshy area was cool and was actually waiting to see a gator.

He couldn't understand why we had to move NOW and QUICKLY,

like we were running from a wildfire.

I didn't take the time to explain.

As we got closer to the main road, I could hear Brian laughing.

He had probably been laughing the entire time, but I was too focused on

getting out of there to notice any earlier.

I don't care.  I don't like gators and don't want to meet one face to face.

Not on Jekyll Island or any other location.  Ever.

After the almost alligator sighting, we decided to try our hand at geocaching.

There were geocaches all over the island, and it was fun to hunt for them.

The boys found this awesome tree at The Jekyll Island Club during one of the hunts.

They were all about climbing it.

Another geocache find.

This one was pretty difficult, but Brian finally managed to figure it out.

This has actually turned into a fun new hobby for us.

It's fun.  It's free.  It gets you out exploring.

Thanks for the fun days, Jekyll!

did someone say 20 years??

We took another trip to Florida this summer.

This time to celebrate Brian's 20 year class reunion.

I think it was a difficult realization that it had been 20 years since graduation.

I know it was for me, and it wasn't even my reunion!

Somehow, time flies, and 20 years seems like a LONG time.

On the flip side, 20 years of friendship is a LONG time, and I'm so glad that 

we have some of those.

These are some of Brian's closest friends from his high school days.

Not everyone could make it.

Not everyone actually went to school together.

Paul, on the right of Brian, has been a close friend since elementary school.

So awesome that they still get together and now we get to know their families, too.

(Jim, Bob, Brian, Paul)

We met up with these guys and their families at a fun spot in Gotha, FL called Yellow Dog Cafe.

Really, if you're ever there, it's a fun place to eat with great food.

We got to meet Jim and Angie's sweet daughter, Kenna, and she and the boys found a cute puppy to adore while we were eating.  And Kenna is getting twin brothers soon! 

We also got to hang out with cute baby Sam and Paul's wife, Jenni, but for some reason

do not have a picture.  Such a bad photog!

(Kenna, Elliott, Ethan)

Meeting up with some classmates on Friday night.

I knew one soul.

If you know me well, you know how uncomfortable I was.

It was fun to meet people though and hear stories from high school.

And I got to wear a fun shirt and hang out with adults so it was all good :)

The big party Saturday night.

Brian had an awesome time catching up with friends and classmates.

I loved talking to Jim's wife, Angie.  I don't get to do that often so I was very grateful for that.

Fun music and fun people watching.

(Angie, Jim, Bob, Brian, me)

One of Brian's friends had a great camera and captured this shot of us.

Both of us even have our eyes open and everything!

Fun and exhausting weekend.

Congratulations Evans High Class of '92!

ten

Elliott turned 10 yesterday.

TEN.

I really cannot believe that we have a child in the double digits now.

Where did the time go?

The usual suspects - breakfast pancakes.

He wanted his to look like Mickey Mouse this time.

I forgot to get the whipped cream in a can, so he was a bit disappointed about that,

but was happy with the M&Ms, chocolate chips and marshmallow.

I'm sure the boys' teachers were excited about the sugar highs :)

Brian had to be at work early, so he buttered Elliott's nose, ate a pancake and headed to Wally World.

That left Ethan and I to actually sing "Happy Birthday".

One of us sang the traditional version.

One of us sang a funny version.

One of us almost got punched by the birthday boy.

I'll let you figure out which of us filled those roles.

We prayed, thanking God for another year of life and for Elliott's role in our family.

He was so thankful for us making pancakes and celebrating his birthday.

He gave hugs and said thank you I don't know how many times.

Love these times when they are beyond sweet.

I took Taco Bell to him at lunch time.

His request.

He gave me another huge hug when he saw me and thanked me for coming.

I could tell he was a little sad about something when we sat down.

I don't think he was having the best school day.

And he said he was hoping that Brian was going to get to be there, too.

But he perked up and was more cheerful halfway through lunch.

At one point he looked me in the eye and said to me in such a sincere grateful tone,

"Thanks for coming here and bringing me this lunch, Mom.  That was really

nice that you did that."

and gave me another hug.

Seriously. melt. my. heart.

Showing such gratitude.

And maturity.

I stayed while he passed out birthday snacks in his room.

He enjoyed getting to share something special with the friends in his class.

It was fun to watch him be generous as well as be excited to celebrate his birthday in a special way.

He didn't want to go out to eat for dinner (they always get to choose a special meal or a special place to go).  He wanted to eat at home and do smores around the fire pit with the kids on our street.

So that's what we did.

We even sang "Happy Birthday" and embarrassed him :)

His original request was to grill cheeseburgers for dinner.

It was too late after the smores, so we ended up having leftover hotdogs instead (thank you Nyla).

Ethan offered to pray.

Usually these before-dinner prayers consist of "thanks for the good day, for the food, let us have a good night and day tomorrow".

Apparently they are in a hurry to eat or something.

But this time it went something like this:

Dear God,

Thank you for a good day.

Thank you for Elliott and his birthday.

That he gets to be 10.

Thank you for his "funniness".....

Amen.

He said some other things after "funniness" but I can't remember them.

I was so struck that he would really be that grateful for his brother that I didn't process anything else.

I love these boys so much!!

Happy Birthday Elliott!!!

We love you always and are so proud of the man you are becoming (even though it hurts to say "man")

late summer adventures

The very last of our summer days.

The Magic House

Festival of the Little Hills

Wabash Days