St. Simons 2011

Last Day at the Beach:

Everyone else was still taking it easy so I got dressed and packed up a cooler, my book and a chair and headed to my new favorite spot on St. Simons ... the veeeeeery end of East Beach.  There are only a few parking spots so there's plenty of beach to go around.  It's also pretty rocky so there aren't too many families with young children down at this end, especially at high tide when it's too rocky to play.  I pretty much had it all to myself.

Then, Will and the kids came to find me.  Like I said, it was too rocky to play where I was so we moved down to the 6th street beach access closer to the house.    The waves were great for boogie boarding.

And building drip castles with huge bunkers around it to keep the tide from knocking it down.

Pop and Cacoo came to join us for a while.

Then, per our typical afternoon, once we were done on the beach, we hit the pool for a little while.  Catherine's sweet puppy, Sam, loves to swim almost as much as Tex.

Then, after dinner, Olivia decorated the basement room so that we could surprise Cacoo and Pop with a little birthday celebration (late for Cacoo and early for Pop).

Tex was sad that his time in St. Simons had to come to an end ... but I think he's glad not to have to share the attention of three other dogs, too.

St. Simons 2011

Day:  I can't even remember because it has been so relaxing and wonderful!

Will started his days with coffee and the Vegas, Baby! puzzle.  Believe it or not, I didn't, it was actually finished by the end of the week.  (Well, all except for one piece that may or may not have ended up stuck to Marley's drool.)

Here's Olivia working on the 'kid puzzle' with some help from Marley.  

We spent Thursday at Summer Waves on Jekyll Island.  The kids had been looking forward to taking Will there ever since we went to the beach without him last year.  

McIver loved having Will dump him out of the inner tube in the "Frantic Atlantic" wave pool.

We had dinner at one of Pop's favorite places ... Frederica House, then took the dogs (some of them!) to the beach.  Olivia and McIver humored me with one more shot.

St. Simons 2011

Day Four: Our very own Shark Week

We met our captain, Jaybird, at one of the small docks near the marina on St. Simons Tuesday morning.  First, we headed out to catch some bait fish.

Olivia didn't actually drive the boat but she probably could have done a fine job.

No one else jumped at the chance to reel in the first bite, so I did.  Unfortunately, mine was the first one to get away.  According to Jaybird, my shark was probably the biggest (maybe based on the fact that it put up the biggest fight, I don't really know)... 7 1/2 feet long and 200 pounds.  We'll never know so that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  (Plus, this is the only picture we have of me during the entire shark fishing expedition so I had to post it!)

Will and McIver reeled in the next two sharks at the same time.  It was quite busy on the boat for a little while.

Jaybird estimated that Will's shark was almost 5 feet long and weighted about 90 pounds.

Jaybird was busy helping McIver with his catch while Will fought his shark.

Pop got in on the action with Mac so that Jaybird could get Will's shark close enough to the boat for a picture.

Those are some proud fishermen!

Olivia finally got the courage to put on the 'butt guard' to reel in her own shark.  (McIver loved having an excuse to say 'butt.')  Olivia actually had a bit of bad luck to begin with (her first two attempts got away) before she caught the biggest shark of the day.

Check this guy (or girl) out! Jaybird's guess was that this one measured 5 feet, 100+ pounds.  He was flailing all around and banging into the side of the boat so we didn't get any closer than this ... and this was plenty close!

My sweet boy loved our fishing trip.

Olivia was WIPED OUT from the heat of the middle of the day and she was a bit disappointed that our last three bites got away.

McIver had had just about enough of shark fishing ... good thing we were headed back to the dock.

Wait!  Jaybird asked the kids to empty the bait tank ... that perked them up a little bit.

Love this shot of Pop, Will and Mac.

St. Simons 2011

Day Three:

Nanoo and McIver broke out the magic science experiment kit.

The children and I bought a puzzle to bring to the beach to work on all week long.  Turns out, Nanoo and Will finished it within the first 24 hours we were here.  So, Will bought a grown-up puzzle ( - 200 pieces, Vegas, Baby!) and a 550 piece puzzle for the kids.  Olivia helped Will get the Vegas puzzle organized.

And, she got in on the magic action (disappearing ink).

We took a golf cart ride down to the pier.  McIver, of course, made friends and even was able to lift out someone's crab net.  

The pelican was a bit spooky.

His eyes followed us wherever we went.

Our 13th anniversary was July 25, but we waited to celebrate at the beach.  The kids spent the evening with Nanoo and Pop while we enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Halyard's.

St. Simons 2011

Day Two:
Will managed to push Marley (all 105 pounds of him) into the pool.  We think he's part Great Dane, part lab, so it seemed like he would love it...

...but he wanted OUT, ASAP.  Will had to drag him around the entire edge of the pool to get him to the steps.  It looked like he could have just stepped out, though, since he's so darn big.

(Sorry for the fuzzy pictures - my camera fogged up when I went outside.)

We found a much less crowded spot to park it on the beach on Sunday.

Can you say, "low tide?"  They had to hike 400 yards to get the boogie boards to the ocean.

Just hanging on the beach with Nanoo and Pop.

They buried me in the sand and turned me into a mermaid (those are supposed to be sea shells).

Mac takes a turn in the sand.

Dinner (and a video game) at The Shak.  Apparently, this place has been around for years, but I had never noticed it.  It's just off the island and looks like a great place to eat oysters and watch some football.

Pop, and Olivia humored me with a picture.

St. Simons 2011

Day One:

Olivia has decided she's ready for a two-piece bathing suit. (Lord, please help Will!)

Mac giving the skim board the old college try.  He took a few spills, but had a good time trying, too.

Will and Olivia took Tex down the beach to throw the ball because it was so crowded where we were.  Mac was glad to have a chance to ride in the front of the golf cart with Pop and then have a chance to drive once we got off the main road.

We met up with Will and Olivia walking back to the house.  What a view!?

A few late July pics

My family went to High Hampton and all I got was this t-shirt.

McIver had to explain the fun of the High Hampton balloons to Will.

We had to get Olivia a new bike before our beach trip.  This one is much more her size.

Can you see Tex and Skittles hanging out in the neighbor's window!?

McIver loves to ride his bike, too.