St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Savannah and Cumberland Island

Garrett looking at the wild horses

Tybee Island Lighthouse

On the Riverwalk in Savannah

Garrett was looking at the horses while we rode

The storm (tornado!) rolling in...

We just got back from our last trip to Brunswick. This time Mom, Dad and Cory went down with us. I was very glad to have them along, so I didn't have the drive the whole way by myself! David will be done in Brunswick the end of the month and will be moving to Maryland till the end of January.

On Sunday, we went to St. Augustine, Florida and had a full day there. While we were there, we saw the Fountain of Youth, one of the oldest Catholic churches in the country, a fort that the Spanish used to defend the coast and the oldest wooden school house. It was very hot, but we enjoyed ourselves. After the day there, we drove back through Jacksonville and went to a minor league baseball game between the Jacksonville Suns and Huntsville.

On Monday, we went to Savannah and took a horse and buggy ride throughout the historic part of the city. We went to lunch at Paula Deen's Lady and Sons restaurant. It was much more enjoyable for me this time around. Garrett behaved much better than the first time I went. I definitely enjoyed the chocolate chip ooey gooey butter cake, yum!

While in Savannah, we went to Tybee Island. We didn't get to see much because it came a monsoon. We did get to go to the Tybee Island Lighthouse. While we were there, the Disney cast and crew was there filming the new Miley Cyrus movie.

On Tuesday, we just hung around Jekyll and St. Simon Island. Mom took some family pictures of David, Garrett and I. Needless to say, Garrett is going through a phase were he didn't want his picture made and it didn't go so great.

On Wednesday, we went to Cumberland Island. It is part of the National Park Service about 30 miles from Brunswick. You have to get to the island by ferry and have to have reservations for the ride over and back. The reason we wanted to go to the island is because it is home to about 150 wild horses. The horses have been running wild for about 100 years. The island was home to the Carnegie family (of the Carnegie steel family from Pittsburgh). They owned about 90% of the island. They had 4 mansions on the island and in the late 1890's the main mansion had 300 workers, a tennis court, private golf course, a indoor heated pool, electricity and running water. The mansion burned by arson later on, but some of the house is still standing. Another fact about the island is that JFK, Jr. and his wife were married on the island in a church that held 18 people.

You have to walk everywhere on the island, so we didn't get too far pushing a stroller in 95 degree weather, but we did get to see a lot. We didn't get to go to the beach because it started storming and did it storm. We decided to walk to the ranger station to cool off and see about the weather. We had been waiting there about 45 mintues for the storm to pass and the ranger came out and told us all the get in the building quick. We were under a tornado warning! Of course, I would imagine the last place you wanted to be in a tornado is on a small island. It was an aweful storm, but no tornado. While we were under the tornado warning, Brunswick was also under a warning (where David was at), but all is well.

Enjoy the new pictures, our next adventure is to Maryland (and back to Atlanta) sometime in the Fall :)

Good Friends and Southern Sun

We just got back from another trip to Georgia to see David, but also to see our friends Tina and Chase. Our other friends we knew in Kansas, Katrina and Cade were able to come up for a few days to see us from Alabama. We had a great time, but we are exhausted. Our days were very full and having three kids in tow is somewhat of a challenge :)

Garrett and I went down on Wednesday and then on Thursday we picked Tina and Chase up from the airport in Jacksonville. Garrett's first time in Florida (his 12th state). Then Katrina and Cade made it to Brunswick. We went over the islands and ate at one of our favorite restaurants Iguanas on St. Simon's. We had been looking forward to going to Savannah for our tour and to eat at Paula Deen's place and made it there on Friday.

We took a two hour walking tour of Savannah! After pushing a stroller on cobblestone and brick streets, you can only imagine. We went to the Savannah riverwalk and found out that the town is actually 10 miles from the ocean (a history lesson for today). We had to be at Paula Deen's at 8:30 to get reservations for the rest of the day! We got lunch reservations and enjoyed a great Southern meal :)

On Saturday, Tina and I carried our kids up 129 stairs to the top of the St. Simon's lighthouse. Never again! We were exhausted! We did finish the day off with a relaxing afternoon on the beach.

On Sunday, we went to Jekyll Island. It was the winter home island for people like the Rockefellers, the Astors, the Vanderbilts and the Goodyears' during the early 1900's. It is still pretty high class to this day. On that island there is the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, were they rehab injured turtles and I think the boys really enjoyed seeing that. We also went the beach on that island to watch the Space Shuttle launch, but it was delayed. We actually thought we saw the launch, but it was just a plane :(

Enjoy the pictures! We are going to rest and clean the 5 pounds of sand out of my car!

Summer Fun and Visiting Daddy!

Hey Everyone,

We just got back from a trip down to visit David in Brunswick, Georgia (an hour south of Savannah). He is down there doing training till the end of August and luckily it is very close to the beach and several islands. Garrett and I made the 8 hour drive last Thursday and drove back on Monday. Garrett was great during the drive and only had a few little breakdowns. Thank for the Lord for the DVD player! We are exhausted, but it was a great trip!

The islands there are called the Golden Isles. We visited St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island and tried to go to Sea Island, but found out that it is private island (wouldn't that be nice). On St. Simons there is a lighthouse and it was beautiful. We spend most of our time on that island. We spent as much time on the beach as we could despite the crazy temperatures. On Sunday it got up to 102 and was 91 at 10:00 at night! So we were at the beach early in the morning or late in the evening.

We saw dolphins off the coast about 100 yards and found some sand-dollars, but I broke the biggest and prettiest one! So I had to go and buy Garrett one just like it!

It was great seeing David and spending a couple of days just relaxing. The seafood down there is awesome and Garrett had his first bite of shrimp.

Enjoy all the new pictures!

Nashville Zoo and House Hunting

This is where Meriweather Lewis died and is buried

Nashville Zoo

David and Abe Lincoln

Garrett and Jakob

Collin and Garrett was exhausted from the day!

The picture I took of the storm

Hey Everyone,

We are finally enjoying a non-rainy day here in Tennessee we are finally seeing sunshine! We have been through a week of rain and storms. A small tornado touched down in Jamestown and I was able to take a picture of something that looked like a tornado. I sent the picture of the news in Knoxville and they thought it was a funnel cloud. And I thought I left all the tornados in Kansas!

We have been busy lately. We are preparing for David to start work (May 26th) and visiting family. We are saddened to report that David's grandmother passed away about 3 weeks ago. A lot of you knew that Bonnie had a brain tumor and it took her too soon. Thank you for everyone who was praying for her.

We spent 5 days in Jackson and then went on to Waynesboro to visit David's family there. On the way back we drove through the Natchez Trace Parkway and stopped to see where Meriweather Lewis died and is buried. We really like seeing historical stops and took this opportunity to see something we hadn't seen before. Did you all know that he supposedly killed himself and is buried in Tennessee?

We met Chad, Heather, Jakob and Collin at the zoo in Nashville and had a great day. It was very hot though! We are headed to Atlanta on Wednesday to look at a couple of houses and figure out which community we want to live in. If anyone has any suggestions please let us know. We aren't buying a house till probably November, but want to figure out exactly what we want. That is the most exciting part! There are tons of homes for sale down there!

Enjoy the pictures of the zoo and keep us in your thoughts as the make the transition for David to move. We won't know what to do because we have been together 24/7 since we moved :)!

Easter and Atlanta

Garrett's Easter basket

Hey Everyone,

It's been awhile since our last update. As most of you know, David finally got his job offer and we finally got our location. We are so excited to be moving to Atlanta in probably mid-November (or somewhere around that time). David has quite a bit of family in the area and we will only be four hours from our parents. We have already been looking at houses, schools, daycares and etc... We are so excited to be looking for a house! We are going to live probably 15-20 miles outside of the city. The other location they offered was Miami, FL, but it was to far!

David will be in training from June till mid-January. First in Brunswick, Georgia then in Maryland (right outside D.C.).

Garrett and I are staying in Tennessee until we buy a house, but are planning on visiting David a lot.

We had a great Easter and spent Sunday afternoon at my grandparents. Garrett doesn't quite grasp hunting Easter eggs, but had lots of fun none the less. We looked super cute in his new tie :)

Enjoy the Easter pictures and thanks for everyone keeping us in your prayers while we were waiting to hear on the job :)