Vidalia and St. Simon's Island

I just finished checking all my friend's blogs and The Pioneer Woman (that was recommended by Julie for my farming connection, thanks Julie, I love it!). I just don't have the wit or the capability with the camera that she does, but I'll give you the scoop on our trip anyway!

We left on Friday and headed towards Atlanta to the new Georgia Aquarium. Matt's work gave all the employees and their families free tickets to the Aquarium as part of their family day. So, instead of spending about $80 for the tickets alone, we only spent about $50 for the visit - parking ($10), the 4D theatre ($19), and food ($20). Then, we headed south to Vidalia. We made it in time for the Street Dance to kick off the weekend of the Vidalia Onion Festival. We didn't actually dance, but the music was great. The kids got to slide down a giant inflatable slide, of course, it was CARS themed, so they had to go on it, for a price! We also got to see the Black Daggers, Army paratroopers, jump from a plane with flares on their shoes, it was pretty neat against the darkening sky. We were staying in Dad's new house, so the boys had a room and so did Matt and I (and Luke in his portacrib) .
Saturday morning, we headed to the local coffee shop and saw all the folks that had just finished the Onion Run, made me feel like a slacker! Just for the record, I have run one 5K, trying to keep up with the marathon women, Julie and Amanda. I also need to mention that I was bummed that we didn't get to see Laura and Patrick at Jennifer D's wedding Saturday, which was only about 1.5 hrs from where we live. Anyway, back to the story, after coffee, we went out to visit with Dad's mom, Mom Mitchell. She loves to smoke, so we sat with her on the front porch of the nursing home while she puffed a few (7 or 8, I think) when she was only supposed to have 2 (she's 93 and who am I to tell her that she had to quit after 2, I later learned the trick was to only take 2 cigarettes out with her when we pick them up from the nurses station). Matt enjoyed playing soccer with the boys on the front lawn while I sat with Mom Mitchell. Dad had given us tickets to the air show and t-shirts with his "executive committee" parking pass, so we headed to the best parking spot at the airport for the air show. We also got into the VIP tent with all the free cokes and water we could drink. It was hot, and I don't think we would have managed with the boys if we hadn't had the tent. Another freebie, so I was happy! Do you see a theme? Here is how Luke enjoyed the show...Danny, Kim, and Jake arrived near the end of the show, and Joshua was so excited to play with Jake. Dad had cleanup duty as part of his committee responsibilities, so he got the best trash picker uppers around to help him...They earned their keep for another day. We all had a cookout at Dad's that evening, including Mom Mitchell (where she smoked 8 more cigarettes, no wonder they gave her a breathing treatment at 2 a.m., which really made her mad!), 2 of Danny's HS friends, and Dad's friend, Kathy, her mom, and her son, Matthew.
Sunday, we went to church, visited with Mom Mitchell and basically relaxed the day away.
Monday, we visited Mom Mitchell again, and rode with Dad to Savannah where he had some business to do. Then, we visited Riverstreet and got free candy samples at the River Street Kitchen (yummy!). We took the boys to the Pirates House and let them see the tunnels that pirates supposedly used. The story has it that the pirates would drug able bodied men at the bar and then drag them down and through the tunnels to the dock on RiverStreet where they would put them on the boats and take off. The men would wake from their drug induced sleep and realize they were now workers on a pirate ship. The boys got to see a huge ship carrying cargo loads, the size of railroad cars, passing by. Here is a family pic with the cargo ship in the background...
Tuesday was spent visiting again with Mom Mitchell, feeding the ducks in the pond behind Dad's house, letting the boys play in the sprinkler system, doing laundry, and getting the boys in bed on time.
By Wednesday, I was ready to move on, so we headed towards St. Simon's Island. We had planned to stop at the Okefenokee Swamp Park, but due to the huge wildfires in the area, they were closed. We stopped instead at the Plant Hatch Nuclear Plant Visitor's Center. The boys got goody bags filled with stickers, pencils, erasers, and a coloring book. We drove on towards Brunswick and the Golden Isles. We saw a Starbuck's and decided that we had to have coffee. As I walked towards the building, I noticed that they weren't open yet, but a girl outside said that if I asked "real nice" they may make some for me. So, I placed my order and took Joshua to the bathroom. When I returned, the coffee was ready and I asked how much I owed. "No charge, mam, we don't have any money yet in the registers." Can you imagine my glee when I returned to the car and told Matt that we got Starbuck's for FREE??? So, on we drove to St. Simon's Island. We let the boys get out and play at the pier and beach. We saw a turtle on the beach returning to the ocean, found lots of crabs, dug a hole in the sand, played at the playground, climbed the lighthouse, and picked up Domino's pizza to eat at the hotel.
Thursday, Matt had to work, he was attending the Ga. EMC Engineer's meeting, so the boys and I were on our own. Since we had accidentally left our hanging clothes at Dad's, I had to go shopping. We ventured north to the outlet mall at Darien. Yes, I went shopping alone with 3 boys. They were good, I bribed them with a trip to Fort King George. They had a blast visiting the fort. They were even given wooden rifles to "protect us" during the visit, with the strict rule from the ranger that they couldn't hit each other with them. We were treated to dinner with a few folks that Matt had met during the conference, they were trying to get business from Matt's boss. The boys were relatively well-behaved, after a serious talk on the way to dinner that we were going to eat with Daddy's boss and some other business men. We survived anyway and got to eat most of our meal, between trips to the bathroom and to see the fish tank, etc. It was good practice for the boys anyway.
Friday, Matt had to work again, then we headed back to Vidalia where we spent the night.
Saturday, finally, we headed home. We made a quick stop to the Georgia Home Educators Convention at the Georgia International Convention Center near the airport in Atlanta. I finished up my shopping for next year's curriculum. I got RightStart Math, which was designed by an engineer who also studied the Montessori methods of teaching. It has lots of hands on activities which I am really excited about after this year of textbook teaching. I also bought La Clase Divertida, a early Spanish course in a box, comes with everything you need, including textbooks, DVD, CD, crafts, etc.
We got home about 7:00 last night, absolutely worn out.

Now, instead of cleaning up the house, I have sat here for an hour sharing all our adventures with you all. I hope that I didn't lose you half way through the post!