Friday, June 30, 2017
Beach Hopping 2017: Savannah
On the day before we left Tybee, Michael and I took the boys into Savannah for some last minute sight-seeing. Savannah is a beautiful city, and I wouldn't mind if one of my kids ended up there for college so I can visit often.
Beach Hopping 2017: Tybee Island
From Tampa, we met my family on Tybee Island, GA (near Savannah) to celebrate my parents' 40th anniversary. My sister rented us a beautiful beach house, and we settled in for a week.
One of the first things we did there was visit Tybee's lighthouse, my first time going inside a lighthouse. There was a lot of singing about our "razzle dazzle" day. Some of the littler kids did not like how steep the stairs were, and some of the parents were freaked out by how easily a kid could climb over the railing and fall to their doom. Fun times!
The rest of the week, we toured Savannah (both during the day and at night on a ghost tour), rented bikes and rode on the beach (so fun!), went to a Savannah Bananas baseball game (with the most hilarious dancing first base coach), and just hung out and enjoyed each other. Photo dump starts now.
I also had an interview via Skype with Green Hope High School in Wake County, and apparently I come across better over Skype than in person because I was offered the job.
One of the first things we did there was visit Tybee's lighthouse, my first time going inside a lighthouse. There was a lot of singing about our "razzle dazzle" day. Some of the littler kids did not like how steep the stairs were, and some of the parents were freaked out by how easily a kid could climb over the railing and fall to their doom. Fun times!
The rest of the week, we toured Savannah (both during the day and at night on a ghost tour), rented bikes and rode on the beach (so fun!), went to a Savannah Bananas baseball game (with the most hilarious dancing first base coach), and just hung out and enjoyed each other. Photo dump starts now.
I also had an interview via Skype with Green Hope High School in Wake County, and apparently I come across better over Skype than in person because I was offered the job.
Friday, June 23, 2017
Beach-Hopping 2017: NASA and Tampa
Michael planned to fly down to Florida and meet us in Tampa, where his grandmother lives. On our way there, we stopped at the Kennedy Space Center so Rylan, our future astronomer, could revel in space exploration. I handed my camera to him and let him go crazy while we were there, so the photos are not up to my blog standards...I do really love this photo we had taken with an astronaut, though. Wish I could remember his name, but we listened to him speak and it was awesome. My favorite part of the Kennedy Space Center.
In Tampa, we had our first Airbnb experience. It was about the same price as a hotel, but we each got our own room, we had a kitchen for cooking meals (again keeping the costs down), and the boys got a few days to catch up on TV and video games. We would definitely do it again.
Michael's Grandma Lavers sends us THE BEST Christmas letter. It is one of my favorite parts of Christmas, and I look forward to it every year. She really knows how to work retirement, getting heavily involved in her senior living home and also helping out with dog shows. Going to see her in Florida has been on my to do list for the past few years. We took her out for dinner, which involved multiple trips in our one car between her house and the restaurant, so unfortunately, we goofed up the photo op and only got pictures with Michael and Rylan.
The next day, Michael took the boys to the beach in Tampa, our only Gulf Coast beach on the trip, while I went to the Salvador Dali museum. Some of his art was really cool, but my favorite part by far was the museum itself. Such cool architecture and fun gardens.
On the way out of town the next morning, we had breakfast with some old friends from Raleigh 4th ward, the Andersons. Again, I flaked on the photo ops, so I have no photographic evidence. But we did really enjoy seeing them!
In Tampa, we had our first Airbnb experience. It was about the same price as a hotel, but we each got our own room, we had a kitchen for cooking meals (again keeping the costs down), and the boys got a few days to catch up on TV and video games. We would definitely do it again.
Michael's Grandma Lavers sends us THE BEST Christmas letter. It is one of my favorite parts of Christmas, and I look forward to it every year. She really knows how to work retirement, getting heavily involved in her senior living home and also helping out with dog shows. Going to see her in Florida has been on my to do list for the past few years. We took her out for dinner, which involved multiple trips in our one car between her house and the restaurant, so unfortunately, we goofed up the photo op and only got pictures with Michael and Rylan.
The next day, Michael took the boys to the beach in Tampa, our only Gulf Coast beach on the trip, while I went to the Salvador Dali museum. Some of his art was really cool, but my favorite part by far was the museum itself. Such cool architecture and fun gardens.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Beach-Hopping 2017: Daytona Beach
Our next stop was Gamble Rogers State Park near Daytona Beach. The weather on this day was threatening storms, creating huge scary waves in the ocean, so we avoided the beach. Instead, we opted to rent a kayak and a canoe. The older two boys are pretty experienced canoers at this thanks to Boy Scouts, but I hadn't been canoeing since I was about 14 years old. Considering that, I probably should have split up Cole and Eli, matching one of each of them with me and Rylan, but instead I chose to keep my baby with myself. Rylan and I were a disaster; he was no help with steering, and I'm a wimp, so most of the time, I was freaking out: "We're stuck in the bushes! There are going to be alligators! Row, Rylan, row! We'll never get back to the shore!!!!"
But eventually, we figured it out, and we all really loved it. I would LOVE to buy a kayak.
This was also the day where I didn't apply enough sunscreen and got a third degree burn on my feet. It was like no sunburn I've ever seen before. I had blisters all over my feet; I thought for sure I'd have permanent scarring. Lesson learned! (Let's be honest...lesson probably not learned...)
But eventually, we figured it out, and we all really loved it. I would LOVE to buy a kayak.
This was also the day where I didn't apply enough sunscreen and got a third degree burn on my feet. It was like no sunburn I've ever seen before. I had blisters all over my feet; I thought for sure I'd have permanent scarring. Lesson learned! (Let's be honest...lesson probably not learned...)
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Beach-Hopping 2017: Jekyll Island
For our big summer vacation this year, the boys and I went beach-hopping down the coast from North Carolina to Florida and back again. Like we did on our U.S. Domination tour, we kept costs down by alternating camping with staying in hotels. Now I realize that you might be thinking, "Camping in July???" And believe me, I heard that same complaint about 50 billion times from my kids. It was definitely hot, and between that and the no-see-ums, we didn't sleep most of the trip. But...memories, people!
(No, seriously. As I've explained to my boys, the only reason we can afford these epic adventures is because we stuff ourselves into my tiny hybrid and camp as much as possible. So the choice is some pretty miserable..ahem, memorable nights of camping, or no adventures. I choose adventures.)
We camped the first night at a state park near Jekyll Island, GA. I would have liked to actually camp on the beach, but I booked our reservation too late. This place was amazing, though. I would love to go back. The water was placid like a large lake - rather than the huge waves we get in Wilmington - and the scenery was picturesque.
(No, seriously. As I've explained to my boys, the only reason we can afford these epic adventures is because we stuff ourselves into my tiny hybrid and camp as much as possible. So the choice is some pretty miserable..ahem, memorable nights of camping, or no adventures. I choose adventures.)
We camped the first night at a state park near Jekyll Island, GA. I would have liked to actually camp on the beach, but I booked our reservation too late. This place was amazing, though. I would love to go back. The water was placid like a large lake - rather than the huge waves we get in Wilmington - and the scenery was picturesque.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Massanutten 2017
We spent another spring break at our timeshare in Virginia. Mostly, we kept it real low key, watched a lot of HGTV and Cartoon Network, read some books, played some games, and slept. But we threw in a few other activities to spice up the week.
Fishing
Basketball
Eli's Birthday
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