Science Mishap

CoCo has been an avid rock collector for a few years, and my gardens are full of some really interesting and beautiful rocks. As he has gotten older, he has started to try to identify and experiment with some of his rocks. So when he picked up an igneous rock that was loaded with yellow and asked if he could boil it in some water to see what would happen, I said, "Sure!" Well, we boiled, the rock disintegrated into a million pieces, and the yellow was left behind in my pot and on my spoon. Unfortunately, this yellow stuff has adhered itself to my pot and spoon and refuses to budge. I tried reboiling, soap, vinegar, scraping... So, important lesson learned - stone soup needs a special pot reserved strictly for science experiments. It looks like I have one now if anyone needs a loan!(Wish I had taken a picture of the rock. It was too bright for sulfur, and we can't identify it despite lots of research. I'd be thrilled if anyone had any ideas.)

Elegant? Excited? Elated? Eighteen!

Though she plans to pretend that she is "sweet sixteen" this year, SS really turned eighteen today. She was a little disappointed that I don't let her have the day off of school on her birthday like the boys do, but such are the disadvantages of traditional school - the whole school just doesn't close for your birthday! However, she was pleasantly surprised to find that some of her friends had brought in a cake and a balloon, and her ESL teachers had given her cards and candy.

Here are the kids horsing around after SS opened her gifts.
SS decided that she wanted to go out for Chinese food for her birthday dinner. Rather than go to a traditional restaurant, she wanted to try a buffet. Oma and Opa and Grandma and Grandpa joined us for dinner, and we all had fun figuring out which animal we were. SS wasn't so thrilled to discover that she was a monkey, so she tried to trick her brothers into thinking that she was one of the more interesting animals - the tiger. (Actually my animal!)

The Dragon (the boys were soooo jealous!) and the Rabbit.

The Rat and the Boar. (Too funny!)

Here is our birthday girl with some cake. (I forgot to bring candles.) She was so stuffed that she couldn't eat any of it. Don't worry, there were lots of people to help her out!

Conversations with God

KiKi and I had the following conversation a few minutes ago after he had been sitting on the "throne"for a while.
KiKi: Mommy, I was just talking to God for a long time.
Me: Oh, did you have a lot of things to tell him?
KiKi: Yes. I told him that Satan is not my friend. Everyone else is my good friend, but not Satan. Now, stop listening and wipe my butt.

I guess that was back to basics of life after a brief spiritual moment.

Relaxed

Hubby was cuddling with the little two after dinner, taking a look at their new library books when I overheard the following conversation.
Daddy to Neil-Te: So, do you think you want to be a doctor or a lawyer when you grow up?
Neil-Te: (without any hesitation) No. I want to be just like you.
(Me: washing dishes, thinking, "Well, Neil-Te really does like computers.")
Daddy: What do you mean?
Neil-Te: I want to be a dad like you.
(Me: thinking, " how sweet is that?!")
Neil-Te: (continuing) You know, like that dad book I read. Where I can lay in a hammock and be laxed. A laxed dad. (relaxed)
(Me: thinking, "yep... laxed-until your kids flip you over or point the hose at you!)

Georgia Get-Away

When Mimi told me that she was taking me on a get-away weekend as my birthday gift this year, I was so excited that I barely processed, or cared, where we were going. I did feel a brief moment of surprise when she suggested Georgia, since Georgia never looks that interesting from I-95. Imagine my delight and surprise when when we drove into St. Mary's and saw this at the end of the main street!



Then we got to our fabulous, little vacation home, which was great on the inside, and even better on the front porch where we had a beautiful view of the marsh and a constant, refreshing breeze.

We took a ferry boat to Cumberland Island on our first full day. Mimi was so hoping that we would have the chance to see some of the wild horses. As soon as we got onto the island, this is what we saw.
We ate lunch with the ruins of Dungeness on one side and the marsh view on the other. Spectacular! We spent the rest of the day hiking on the trails and visiting the other historic sites. I could go on and on and load this up with pictures, but I'll spare you. Basically, the combination of history and the natural beauty on this island made every moment of our visit there a pleasure.

The day after Cumberland, we decided to tour St. Mary's. The town is quiet, quaint, and full of history. Here is a picture of the bikes my aunt let us use - loved mine!!! That is a closer view of the marshes behind Mimi.
We took a "doodlebug" tour during the afternoon, which was a tour around town in an over-sized golf cart. Our tour guide was funny and interesting and had grown up in St. Mary's. To our surprise, we had found many of the historic sites during our bike ride, but it was interesting to hear the stories connected with the different locations. Here is a picture of one of the historic churches.

We visited Jekyll Island on our last day. The contrast between this island and Cumberland was just amazing. The wealth and "club" atmosphere helped us to understand why Lucy Carnegie had worked so hard to ensure that Cumberland Island would not be over-developed and sold in parcels. On the other hand, it was fascinating to see and learn of the ways of some of the wealthiest Americans in the early 1900's.

This is one of the Jekyll Island "cottages" where we had our lunch. This is a U-shaped cottage, so there are two other sides that are equally impressive.

This is the "club" chapel, which I am posting a picture of because what I really want to post a picture of is the stained glass windows inside. The one that you can see from the front is a Tiffany, and there is another - even more spectacular- at the opposite side of the building. Unfortunately, they would not allow anyone to take pictures inside of the building.
To finish off a very long post, our Georgia get-away was relaxing, interesting and amazingly beautiful. Thanks for a wonderful trip, Mimi!