Sand & Surf

Until next year...

Last Thursday

This morning we had oatmeal and cocoa puffs for breakfast. The same thing we had last Thursday. But, last week there was an ocean out our window. An ocean view makes oatmeal and cocoa puffs even better.

Today after breakfast the boys headed to preschool. Last week, we spent the morning with our toes in the sand and surf.

So, if you caught me daydreaming today, I was probably thinking about the sounds of those waves crashing and my boys enjoying a Thursday morning at the beach.

A Perfect Break

While there was a true "fall break" from school a couple of weeks ago around here, our family of four had a break planned that coincided with the annual Georgia vs. Florida football game. Josh and I have been going to the game since college, and even though these days we have little ones in tow, we still enjoy making the trip. We've always joked that since the Dawgs haven't had the best luck with winning in Jacksonville in the last couple of decades, that we had to make a mini-vacation out of the trip to make the 6-7 hour drive worth it.

So, dashing out of Athens after Friday classes has turned into Wednesday morning departures from our home in Habersham. Reservations at the Omni hotel adjacent to the Jacksonville Landing (a.k.a. party central) have given way to condo rentals on the Plantation resort at Amelia Island. To visit Fernandina Beach, is to love Fernandina Beach.

With beautiful skies and warm breezes, this year's trip was a perfect break for our family of four...not to mention Saturday brought a Bulldog victory. Another great treat is that we get the opportunity to reconnect with old friends that we rarely get to see. Now that we all have children, it's always interesting when the crew gets together. (More photos of our trip here.)

Returning from a trip is always exhausting. The boys did pretty well both days we spent in the car. Unpacking and laundry filled our morning. So, although today was a sort of back to reality, that reality included escorting Superman and an adorable Giraffe to the post office, pharmacy, grocery and up and down our street. In other words..not entirely boring.

Evolving Traditions

So, I promised more on our beach trip from a couple of weeks ago...and so, here are a few images of our trip. We enjoyed the getaway more than I can remember in years past...despite the outcome of the game. On the way home, Josh and I were talking about how much this (mostly) annual pilgrimage has changed for us.

mid to late 90s - a fall break trip to catch a football game, fun with your buddies, the excitement of a new relationship, lodging just steps away from The Landing in downtown Jacksonville.

early 2000s - a quick getaway to support the team, dinner with other couples, lodging several miles from downtown in Jacksonville Beach.

mid to late 2000s - as long a weekend as schedule will allow (exceptions for pregnancies which led to skipping a year & a fly-in/fly-out wknd), shopping with old friends, golf with old buddies, halloween carnivals with costumed babies in tow, lodging dozens of miles away at Amelia Island Plantation....oh, yeah and a football game.

Anyone hungry?

Q: What's better than the park? A: A park at the beach!

He's got that wind-blown look, huh?

CHEESE!

A dog that can blow raspberries!! Impressive, huh?

Fireman Jack to the rescue!

Who doesn't love puppy dog kisses?!?

So, you see a trip that started as a college rite of passage, became a treasured getaway from the craziness of med school and residency and then finally a fall family vacation. Throwing a few polos and flip flops in a bag morphed into packing an SUV to the guild with pack 'n plays, strollers and golf clubs. And as I stated earlier, I can't remember a time when we enjoyed our trip so much. Who says change is bad?

Picking Back Up

I hate when I am unable to make time for the blog, because there is so much that passes through my brain each day that I think would make worthy blog topics. But, for lack of creativity at a late hour...we'll do a simple quick re-cap of what's happened in the last couple of weeks.

Just days after our night on the town to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live, we packed up and headed south to Amelia Island. The weather was beautiful, and I'm planning a post dedicated to our trip later this week.

Upon return from our fabulous fall vacation, we jumped head first into the madness that was the week of Judgment House at church. Spending hours each afternoon and evening at the church was rough on the kiddos and mom and dad too! We were thankful for some reinforcements when grandparents arrived Friday to help keep Jack and Sam distracted.

Looks like fun, huh?

In addition, mid-week a little surprise was assembled in the backyard. Despite the hectic schedules and less than ideal weather we managed to arrange a lunchtime reveal last Friday. Jack was uber excited and keep saying, "I like this!" except for when Josh had him climb up to try the monkey bars, "I don't like this yet," he explained as he climbed back down.

We've managed to squeeze in some park time with our friends and celebrated some recent and upcoming birthdays too! A busy couple of weeks, but thankful for the blessings of a bit of fun, relaxation, service, friendship and most of all FALL!

Beach Trip

We had such a wonderful time at the beach last week. I've finally gotten some of the best of the week posted online, so take a look at how we filled our week!

Want a Ride?

Enjoying the Sand & Shore

Here are a few photos from day one at the beach. Taken by dear old dad. We just finished breakfast and are about to go hit the shore again. (Sam's still asleep!!) Might have to go wake him up so we can get our ocean enjoying started.

Anyway, Josh & I won the first game of golfshoes in dramatic fashion Saturday evening. Yesterday was full of beach time, picnics by the pool, shopping, seafood, homemade ice cream on the beach followed (eventually) by fireworks. Jack couldn't wait up :(

Beach Bound

We're beach bound on Saturday, and we can hardly wait. Jack has been talking about it for weeks (thanks, mema!) "I go beach," he says at some point almost every day. All last week we would tell him that we are going next Saturday. A couple of days ago Josh said, "we are going to the beach next week." Jack practically yelled, "No, next week! Saturday!"

So needless to say, we are all excited about being away for a week. I always look forward to vacation, but for some reason I've really been looking forward to this one. I guess things have just been super busy for Josh and the thought of leaving town and obligations for one week seems blissful for the whole family. With his partner out of town this week, Josh is swamped. Maybe we'll all appreciate this getaway a little more than previous ones? Either way, I don't think we'll have any internet access so I'm thinking I'll be unplugged from everything for a week. I'll try to take some notes throughout the week and fill you in on the highlights!

I've been spending the last few days making lists and getting things together. I'm turning our dining room into a staging area for items that will be packed up into the car in a couple of days. Hopefully, the car ride will go smoothly with our two little ones. Either way, I'm thinking it will be worth it! This time next week, we'll have our toes in the sand and crashing waves as the soundtrack for our dreams.

Back home

We are back from the beach and had such a wonderful trip. There is so much to share, but I will most likely recall it in bits and pieces and share a lot of photos. We returned home to very chilly temperatures and a basement that is practically complete. Since we have been waiting so long, Josh & I were eager to get some furniture (that had been sitting wrapped up) into its proper place. Before that, some cleaning had to be done. We got one room sort of in place Saturday night and another Sunday night. There is still much to be done, but I'm sort of seeing a light and thinking we may actually enjoy a football game or two down there soon.

The beach was so much fun; and the weather was fabulous. I had my doubts about whether we would be able to set foot in the ocean or the pool outback, but we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was overcast a couple of days, which translates to longer beach time with little ones. We rented a house with some great friends, the Shaws and Yorks and our boys had a grand time swimming, running, jumping, singing and just being boys! When Jack and Andrew weren't plunging into the pool they were in the shadow of the "big boys" Tate & Brit. I took so many pictures, which I will eventually upload, but there is still so much catching up to do they will have to wait. So, here are just a few to wet your appetite!

If you're happy and you know it...

Clap your hands, right? In the last two weeks Jack has really taken to clapping. I think I mentioned he learned it, but he does it all the time now. It really is cute. Here's a picture of him and his friend Naomi at the beach this weekend. He's too busy to hold her hand because he's clapping his hands!

Jack is such a busy boy these days. Although I know he enjoyed himself during our trip, he was so happy to be home. Last night, he played and played crawling all around the floor and pulling up on the couch and ottoman as if he had missed them while we were gone. He hasn't really figured out this whole time change thing, but we're working on it. He's been up at 5 the last two mornings, which is not my preferred waking hour. I'm hoping an early nap today will help encourage a longer slumber tonight.

I've uploaded several photos from our trip. You can view them on our Picasa site. They are in the October & November albums. Don't forget to vote, if you haven't already.

Bloggin from the beach

So, I'm bloggin from the beach...okay, I'm not literally on the beach right this moment (sand and a laptop probably don't mix...especially when it's not your laptop!), but I can see the ocean from where I'm sitting. We're here at Amelia Island in North Florida for the big Georgia/Florida showdown. Some old friends of ours have joined us and we've got a big condo on the Plantation. Jack's napping and everyone is getting ready to head downtown for some shopping.

Last night we enjoyed some great food at Barbara Jean's. If you've never heard of it...they have them in a couple of places down here. They have fabulous crabcakes! We ate at the one at St. Simons earlier this summer. It was delicious. We're all looking forward to halloween festivities here tomorrow. The kids have costumes and we hear there is a hayride. I hope to have some great photos to share once we return on Sunday.

In the meantime, Go Dawgs!

Busy Beach Bums

Not sure anyone has ever used the words busy and beach bums in the same sentence, but that's what I feel like we have been for the last several days. Last Tuesday afternoon we left town and headed to St. Simons Island for a few days of relaxation. Jack did okay the first couple of hours in the car, but the last couple of hours was pretty rough! Here's a picture of him enjoying a pickle while Josh and I eat a quick dinner during our road trip. He loves pickles!

We got in and got settled just in time to watch the women's olympics gymnastics coverage to begin. The next morning we set out for a hearty breakfast and had heard some good things about the Fourth of May Cafe in the village. It was great. I had blueberry pancakes. Josh had eggs, sausage and home fries. Jack tried his first grapefruit. It was pretty comical. The day was pretty rainy and cloudy. So, after some driving around, we headed to the pool. As always, Jack enjoyed his swim. Before long another downpour arrived. So, we all did some napping, reading and more olympics viewing. Dinner was at Barbara Jean's, which has the best crab cakes ever! It was growing dark once we got back to our condo, but not raining so we took Jack down to see the ocean real quick. It was neat, and his hair was blowing everywhere!

Thursday was still a bit overcast, but decided to introduce Jack to the beach. We started him out in the wet sand then moved him close enough to have a bit of water rise around him. He explored the sand extensively, which included tasting it. He was a little unsure about the ocean and wet sand. Later he tried some drier sand, which still didn't taste all that great. He did enjoy playing with his ball on the beach. In fact, later when we went and had some family pictures made he got pretty cranky since his afternoon nap was so short (I just had to go to the Bailey Boys store!). Anyway, the ball was the only thing that cheered him up. You can look at the whole mess of photos from our sitting (but, I'll warn you there are a quite a few!) Needless to say, the ball appears in several photos. Later at dinner, Jack wailed through our entire meal...not a happy boy!

Friday was our final full day at the beach before heading home and it was great! We started by renting bikes in the morning and touring the south end of the island. We biked to the lighthouse, village and Avenue of Oaks. It was great fun, although Jack didn't enjoy getting in and out of the seat on the bike. He didn't mind the ride too much...in fact on the way back to our condo he fell asleep on the bike. I'm not sure how this was even remotely comfortable.

Later we headed back to the beach for our final afternoon. The sun was finally out, but the breeze kept us comfortable. Jack just played with his ball most of the time, but did enjoy watching Josh chase a crab. We went to Chelsea for dinner. They consider themselves casual gourmet, and Josh and I agreed. It was comfortable casual dress (the waiters even wore shorts), but the food was 4-star. Josh tried the crab and/or shrimp bisque just about everywhere we dined and this was the best of the week! He had mahi mahi and I had salmon. It was fantastic...even our salads were great! It was a perfect way to end our trip! On Saturday we got up early and traveled back. Jack did a little better on the trip back. We got back in time to get started on the mound of laundry and get Jack off island time!