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!

Out with the Yellow!

Last week was Spring Break for the local schools, so we decided to take off for 3 days also. With SS in "regular" school, we often find it easier to follow the school calendar. Kind of a bummer sometimes, but... Anyway, I decided to take care of some projects. When hubby added the pantry to the study, he had used a yellow paint which he thought matched the existing paint in the computer room. It didn't. My soft, soothing yellow was suddenly paired with the vibrant yellow that we used in the toy room. Rather than fixing the yellow since hubby doesn't like yellow paint anyway, I decided to carry the beige from the kitchen into the computer room in hopes that the rather random space would flow more smoothly. It does, and we just love it!

This is the view from the kitchen. I painted the area around the doorway in the kitchen too; it had been wallpapered in a periwinkle blue. The colors in the two rooms look different in this picture, but they are the same.


This is the view of the other side of the room. We painted the hallway area as well. (The paint color looks great with my sepia collage!) A and Co-Co helped with the painting project. A painted the corners, and Co-Co helped with the edging. They actually did a very good job, even though I was initially a little stressed about having them help.

One last picture to share right now. This one is of the snow that is currently falling - unbelievable!

Reason #736

Hubby and I have a little joke (though we're half-serious) about the reasons we homeschool. So here is reason #736 - school outside on a sunny day while listening to the birds, and a nice cup of coffee for mommy to enjoy while basking in the morning sunshine!

Big Kid

Neil-Te (while practicing piano): My teacher says he only teaches scales to big kids.
Me (puzzled): Well, aren't you playing the C scale right now?
Neil-Te: Yes, I said that he only teaches them to big kids.

Guess we're all clear on that now. :-)

Creepy Crawlies

There are about a million posts to catch up on; but since I am currently disgusted to see snow falling from the sky, I figured I'd catch up on this post from last week. (Notice the shorts and sunshine?!)Here is the first snake who was unfortunate enough to be basking on a day that the boys were out for a walk. As you can see, KiKi wasn't so sure about handling a snake; but CoCo is just feeling like the world is back to what it should be - a critter-catching place. This little snake has a new home under our shed in hopes that he will keep down the mouse population in the woodpile. I voted for throwing it into the camper to eat the mice in there, but...

Two Years in America!

Today, SS has officially been in America and a part of our family for two years.

We love you and thank God for you, SS!

College Education

So...today I was educated in a meeting with SS' guidance counselor. Some things were old information, and some things were new. This is what I learned. SS needs to take a TESLOF and an ACT and fill out FAFSAs claiming EOP status in preparation for college. Hmmm... Do you feel educated too?