St.George Vacation 2010

Our “summer vacation” this year was quite different from any other one we’ve ever taken. We rented a house at St.George Island since Grandmama told us that when she was at her beach house in Gulf Shores it “smelled fishy” and “clumps of oil” lined the shores. We went with Katie & Andrew & Mary Frances, Karen & Jeremy & their 18 month old, Caroline, and Summer & Scott & Kennedy!  You can imagine the business of the house with four kids under 18 months old! We packed for what seemed like days….and had to bag everything in trash bags so it wouldn’t get wet on the back of D’s truck if it rained….and the bagging the bags part just seems to make packing that much more involved….

Thomas did pretty well on the car ride. It was long…and since it’s December 1st when I’m typing this and this vacation was back in September, I don’t quite remember exactly how long it was. It felt like about ten hours, but in reality, I think it was more like five…BUT!! We survived, and we arrived at our house, Almost Heaven.

We stopped in Eufala, AL, and ate some lunch at a little cafe in their downtown district. We stopped a couple more times along the way to give Thomas some interaction and milk.

 

Kennedy was still obsessed with her bouncy seat at this point in time. I have never seen a child spend so much time in one chair!!

 

The house was one road off of the beach, but it came with a golf cart so it was not bad at all…and much cheaper since it wasn’t sitting directly on the beach. Since every couple there had a young child, none of us were ever on the beach together at the same time except for me and Summer, and that little trip to the sand and ocean lasted all of 10 minutes. I have no idea why we thought it was a good idea to take my 6.5 month old down to the ocean. By the time we got him all lathered up in sun screen and the beach bags packed and everyone out the door, it was time to come back in for a nap or nursing. Consequently, we spent a lot of time at the pool and indoors playing, which was just as fun in our opinion. Anyway, the golf cart provided not only transportation, but also a lot of entertainment for the babies and the adults, too. Thomas and Mary Frances love (love, love, love, love, love!!!) golf cart rides! It is a great way to entertain a baby when the afternoon-after-nap-but-not-quite-bedtime-crankies appear. Trust me, when it is warm enough outside, we spend almost every evening riding our golf cart! Anyways, Summer and I were complete heifers rode the golf cart to town one evening after Thomas was asleep to get ice cream, and it splattered all over that heifer’s her shirt, hair, and face as we rode back and she tried to eat it while we were in motion. And if you know Summer, you know why this is funny. Just picture it!!

 

Andrew dropped the golf cart off at the beach and walked back….reading his case notes. I don’t know why I thought it was so funny to see him walking down the sidewalk reading his lawyer paperwork stuff, but it was to me.  But a lot of things that Andrew does are funny to me.

Some other things we did were model Mary Frances’s hair bows…..

Play nicely in our pajamas…..

and eat!!  Daniel and I went out on a date night with Summer and Scott one evening once we put Thomas to bed. Have I mentioned that I love the fact that my child goes to bed at 7:00p.m….it brings a whole new meaning to freedom!! We ate at the same restaurant that my family ate at when we vacationed at St.George Island in 2007. In fact, the night before I left for that family vacation was the night of mine and Daniel’s first real date….the only other time I had ever seen/met Daniel was a few weeks before when he and Scott, my brother-in-law, came to town and took me out to dinner at Longhorn’s. I spent most of the evenings of this family vacation downstairs in the bedroom when Jenna and I were staying talking on the phone and falling in love with Daniel. My family kept telling me that I wasn’t playing “hard to get” very well, but at that point in time, I think I realized this one wasn’t a game to be played. This One was my forever.

 

And don’t let these pictures below fool you. It may look like we were leisurely playing and relaxing on the beach, but rest assured, there was nothing easy or uncomplicated about getting our toes in water. However, as short lived as it may have been, Thomas did enjoy his time in the ocean water.

   

I was so busy trying to take pictures of Thomas’s reactions to the water and waves that I was waist deep in the ocean with my camera and swim suit cover up on and all the while dragging Thomas’s paci through the ocean water before I realized it. So, like any other mother who is obsessed with taking pictures of her child, I did not take a time-out to adjust my wardrobe. The show must go on! I hope you all appreciate how much of a martyr I am in order to bring you these family photos….even if they are three months old and two seasons ago:)  Speaking of which, now that it is December, I’m guessing that it is officially “winter” which means that I need to get around to posting all of my “fall” photos from our trip to Dahlonega, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and May Fray’s birthday party. This post is about to be concluded with all pictures! Enjoy!!

 

Hold on, I can’t leave you with these pictures and no explanation! “The Fray” as she is appropriately and lovingly referred to, pooped in our pool and shut it down for a full 24 hours. We spent lots of quality time inside playing during those 24 hours seeing as how taking the babies to the beach was a load of work that neither Daniel nor I (or Scott and Summer for that matter) cared to take on.

     

My final thoughts on St.George Island is that it is a wonderful, safe, quiet, private, family-friendly place to vacation! It was the absolute perfect location for our family this year. However, if you are looking for a place with a lot of entertainment and restaurants and surf shops, this is definitely not the place. It worked out great for us thought because all we needed was a pool, some open floor space to throw down a blanket and T’s toys, and some great sisters and friends to share it with. Now that I think about it, I think we could have gotten all that and more at the Holiday Inn….and don’t they provide a free continental breakfast?!?…..

Summertime Babble

We spent July 4th in Statesboro this year. We did have a tradition of going to the beach with Heather and Kelby, but we decided last year that the holiday weekend was not a good weekend to spend at Grandmama’s beach house in Gulf Shores because there were so many people there on that weekend. Plus, the traffic is awful when it’s that crowded and adds almost an hour to the already long trip. Not to mention, Daniel’s Grandmama was just there this past week and said there was oil washing up….and it smelled bad…

 

….and there were dead fish. Enough said.

 

Bye-bye Gulf Shores…at least for now. Thanks to BP, we will be spending Labor Day weekend at St.George Island with the sisters! We are renting a house with a private pool! Everyone going has a young baby, so it will be perfect to be at the beach and have a pool for the kiddos!

 

This summer has been a very long, hot one. We haven’t had a chance to go to the beach or the lake yet, and we are itching to get our toes in some water. We have had several visitors this summer, including this little fella that showed up on our bedroom window. 

And this sister and this adorable little niece of mine showed up at our door for a weekend visit. We had such a good time with Katie, Andrew, and Mary Frances.

 

Well, most of us did. I think if Thomas could talk, he might would have told me that he did not find this play time with Mary Frances enjoyable seeing as how she clawed his eye balls out and chewed on his head.

 

This was Mary Frances looking very innocently at Thomas as he screamed from her “playing”….

Anyways, the blueberries are on their way out, and this makes my heart very, very sad. I love them, especially when they grow in your own back yard!! Daniel and I picked some pears and blueberries last night once Thomas was in bed, and I ended up eating all the blueberries as soon as we came in.

The garden is also making its way out. We had too much rain too fast this Summer, and so a lot of our cantaloupes and watermelons are rotting. A lot, but not all. We did have one good watermelon so far, and it was sweet and tasted like summer time.

 

I ate a lot of salads this summer because our garden had tons and tons of cherry tomatoes! They were so delicious! And all of our squash is in the deep freezer either in the form of baby food or sliced up waiting to be sautéed.

Here is Thomas posing on his Father’s Day gifts to his Daddy. He was anxious and excited in this picture because we were waiting for Daddy to come in and find his surprises!!

 

I am not sure why I even attempt to take Thomas out and snap a few photos in the late evening. I know his bedtime is 8:00. I know he starts getting really cranky at 7:30. I know he does not like to pose and be out in the heat this late in the day. But the photo freak in me just can’t help it. The sun is perfect at this time in the evening….

 

But Thomas’s attitude is not!!!

Daniel and I are still working on developing a green thumb. We are so far from it but so much closer than what we used to be.

Have you ever met such a manly-man?!? I love it, and I love him…

And now, meet Lightening. He is our friend and newest family member. Daniel found him at the farm and brought him home to me. Lightening took residence in the shade under our Azalea bushes and under the gutter where the water dripped constantly and made the ground cool..That is, until we dug them out (as pictured above). So, like any good parent, we found Lightening a new home. He now lives in our Mama T and Papa Joe’s pond across the street. At least, we hope he lives there. We haven’t spotted Lightening since the day we dropped him off. We have, however, seen two more turtles at our house since then. I think Lightening must have spread the word that the wacko woman with the baby will take in any stray. Speaking of stray animals, we wondered what Lady would do if we put Lightening in her back yard to live with her. So, we set poor little Lightening down on the back patio in front of Lady, and with one paw, she took a big swipe at Lightening and sent him spinning across the concrete. Oh well, it was worth a try….

  

We were in Statesboro three times this July. Once, for July 4th, and twice to visit Daddy Tom. He got a Staph infection in his blood and was very sick. To know Daddy Tom is to love him, and to love him is to love his yard. He works very hard at keeping it up, and it is always perfectly manicured and beautiful. He has given me high expectations for Daniel (Just kidding, Honey!! Well, kind of…)

 
Things in Statesboro can be kind of predictable….like for instance, I can promise you that someone will be in the pool every afternoon…and this time it was Francie!!  I caught her reading the same book that she was reading this time LAST summer. Francie is averaging one book per year. Go, Georgia Southern, Go!! She did, however, finish it this time!

Another thing you can expect when is Statesboro is Daddy Tom being silly! He only gets funnier (if that’s a word?) as time goes on. Here he is mocking Thomas. We were wondering how in the world it could be comfortable for Thomas to lay on his back with his legs up in the air like that. So, Daddy Tom got on the floor and tried out the position himself! He even put something in his mouth like Thomas!

Here is my other favorite red head. We are starting to see her resemble her Big Boy Cousin sooo much! I love it!

 

Imagine that, another photo shoot with the babies!

Thomas wanted to know if we would get some shots of just he and KenKen, so we said, “Sure!” Here he was trying to figure out just how we wanted him to hold onto her…

Kennedy didn’t have much patience with him. She was worried that he was messing up her hair and no one was telling her!!

But her Momma made things all better.

Cousins:)

 

Kennedy thought it would be funny to let T-Bird in on the joke that the family calls him “Melon Head” behind his back…

Thomas did not see the humor in the joke! He was so ticked! All this time and no one has told him that he has a big head! Kennedy was just relieved that the secret was finally out…

Then, her conscious started to get the best of her, and she apologized to Thomas.

Thomas’s feelings were already really hurt, and he would not accept her apology. This upset Kennedy dearly. She never would have told him if she had known that he would hold a grudge against her for it!

Even with all of Mimi’s love, the tears continued to fall. The cousins needed a time-out from each other and everyone needed a little alone time:)

 

The next day, Thomas informed that he was over Kennedy’s insults, but would like to put his hat on his head to keep the sun off of his fair skin.  As a red head myself, I understood. Back to his happy little smiley self, we headed outside for a day at Daddy Tom’s pool.

 

Thomas loved the pool! He just laid back in my lap and was so relaxed the whole time.

Daddy Tom peeled peaches on the porch and watched everyone swim. Later, we had homemade peach ice cream! It’s no secret why we gain three pounds every time we go to Statesboro! Something about seeing that city limit sign just changes my appetite! Since he was sitting on the porch at the time, he got put on duty to bounce Kennedy. I have never seen a child love a bouncy seat so much!!

 

Thomas’s wrinkly little toes were a sure sign that he had enjoyed enough pool time:)

 

Kennedy was dressed for the 4th of July occasion in her red, white, and blue dress!

  

And Thomas was, too! Mimi made him a little red, white, and blue t-shirt with a dinosaur on it and some matching bloomers! I’m sure you don’t call them “bloomers” when a boy wears them, but y’all know what I’m talking about!

Kennedy took a break from the celebrations to do some tummy-time…en    

Kennedy has sooo much hair still! And a cute little neck roll, too:)

Is she not sure a Clark?? Kennedy looks so much like her Daddy that it’s not even funny! It’s a good thing he’s handsome!:)

 

Here are the three cousins lined up like little duckies…

Mary Frances is wondering what Thomas is doing in her pack-n-play, and Thomas is wondering how he can get out of it! MayFray is looking for a way to help him…

Andrew continued on with his normal quirky routines, and we all watched him  because he is quite entertaining! Here he is reading up on something to do with the law, I’m sure, as Tuff guards the porch.

We are officially those people who are in the pool by 9:00a.m. When you have a kid, you’ll understand.  It just works well that way.

And as the festivities in Statesboro were wrapping up, I did a last minute photo shoot of Mary Frances. She was ready for her morning nap, and so she was not quite as happy-go-lucky as she usually is, but she was still a doll! If you look closely, you can see her two first teeth in these pictures!

 

I think this might have been her first time ever sitting in the grass. She did not know what to think!

 

I can honestly say that I am ready to welcome the fall. I am not one to wish away any season of life, but I am ready for the change of pace that the fall brings. Not to mention my all time favorite activity of the year occurs during the fall: THE COUNTY FAIR!! Ahhh, don’t even get me started.