No Time Like Tybee Time...

Well, swimming lessons are over. Both my water bees passed up one level and are now working on different strokes and endurance techniques. My child showing off her skills on the high dive the last day of class. My child has NO fear!!

Showing off her certificate.

Colt all smiles after getting his certificate.

Our summer is over. School sign ups are officially done and both kids are registered for classes which start bright and early Wednesday morning. Aizley got a long time friend of Jim Bob's as her homeroom teacher, Mrs. Raymond. She couldn't be any sweeter if she tried. A great match for Aizley! Colton ended up in Mr. Crockett's room. He is known as the "mean teacher" in 4th grade but he truly is as wonderful as can be! He expects you (as students) to mind your manners and always answer politely. I couldn't agree more!! Perhaps he can get rid of those red marks on Colt's progress reports.

Last week, before school got underway as promised, we headed off on our surprise vacation destination. After 8 hours of driving, the kids groggily awoke in the city of Savannah, GA. Papa and I have secretly always wanted to visit the city so this was more of a stop for us than them, but hey!! The city was gorgeous!!! We took a horse drawn carriage ride through the historic district as everyone was quite tired from the long car ride. There is so much history here!!

Aren't these home the cutest?! Most homes were build with the main entrance to the home on the 2nd floor to keep all the "untidiness" from the dirt streets and the horse drawn carriages off their floors. Makes sense.

This is the art museum (which was closed at the time we were there) that houses the famous "bird lady" statue from the movie "The Garden of Good and Evil". People tried stealing the statue shortly after the movie was made, so the city tried moving it several times until they decided to lock it up in the museum.

Beautiful streets of down town Savannah.


My southern belle walking through one of the many square in down town Savannah. The temperature instantly drops 5 degrees once you walk into these shaded squares.

I love these old trees! Can you imagine all that they have lived through and seen?

A quick stop off at Forsyth Park. The Park is a massive area devoted to those of the past. Below is the amazing fountain in the center of the park.

Colton taking a run through the fountain. Man, it was hot!

On the way back to the car, we stopped off at the cemetery. The roads in Savannah were actually bricked right over the graves here. Since many people died from Yellow Fever, and Yellow Fever was thought to be air born, people at the time thought they would start another plague by digging up the bodies so they simply bricked over the existing graves! Also, people used the fenced in area to let their horses fed while they rested from their trips. With horses being big and, wll a horse, they knocked over many of the headstones. Since the caretakers couldn't determine who's stone was who's, they laid them along the back wall of the cemetery.

After several hours of playing, we headed on to...

The kids got to visit a beach, well sort of...We were prepared for days of sitting by the beach with the sun beating down on us from above. We were prepared for amazing sea food and R-E-L-A-X-A-T-I-O-N!!!!

After a few hours of relaxation, a bath and a change in attitude, we headed out for dinner at the Crab Shack. A local favorite and now one of our favorites, too!!

Colton was in LOVE with the steamed mussels. Just look at him and those "mooosells"!

Tuesday, we all woke up with anticipation of the beach. However, the weather wasn't going to agree. There was a light drizzle out and the sky was overcast. Not to be outdone by the weather, we trudged on. We managed a couple hours at the beach in the increasing rain and the dropping temps. I believe the high reported on Tuesday was only 76!! The folks back home were jealous as they were in heat indexes of up to 106!! Despite the temps, we headed on.

Aizley was again very "interested" to see if the "america beach is like spain's".

I'm told it is not like the beach in Spain after her examination ;)
However, it is really fun!!

Colton tried to get this body boarding thing down. Look at the concentration on his face! Priceless!!

Papa tried showing him how it was done. Wipeout!!

Finally, Colton kinda got it.

Most of the next 2 days was more of the same. Highs in the low 80's with rain and overcast. Perfect weather for anywhere but the beach. We did manage to get out and see many of the sights of the island and the vacation was very relaxed. We went for breakfast late most days. Here's the gang at the Breakfast Club.

Lucky for us, Wednesday evening the weather cleared and we were able to visit Fort Pulaski. They kids really liked the moat.

Posing by a cannon actually used during the war.

The view from the outside. You could see the cannon ball holes still in the walls of the fort.

After the Fort visit, it was on to Captain Mike's Dolphin Tour. We saw many dolphins as they were pretty hungary and a shrimp boat graciously was close to the shore. However, my video camera decided to die completely. I only got two shots from the whole dolphin tour. Arrgghh. But they are pretty precious.
Colton looking on at the dolphins. I love this picture and my guy!!

The lighthouse at dusk. Picturesque!!

We really enjoyed our trip. The only way it could have been better would have been sunny days at the beach, but...

Everyone arrived home safely. To end out the week, we went to see the last Harry Potter movie (a tradition started in Ukraine). We made great memories on our trip. Hope everyone else enjoys their end of summer. Now, bring on the homework! Yikes!