FEELS LIKE HOME TO ME: August 2015

Scalloping 101

Drew's parents recently bought a house in Keaton Beach, FL.

"Where is that?" you ask (because I asked the same thing.) It's right here...

It's below Georgia and south of Perry, FL. I had never been there before our trip in July. We spent 4.5 days there over the July 4th weekend and we had a great time!

The community of Keaton Beach is small but it's very busy during scalloping season, which runs July - September.

The first morning we loaded the boat in search of the perfect spot.

You have to snorkel in shallow water and look in grassy spots to find the scallops. After we got all our gear on (goggles, snorkel, water shoes, sunscreen, net...whew!) we were ready.

Libby put on her gear and splashed around the water.

She helped Drew find scallops, but she wasn't ready to dive under the water just yet. The more she goes with us the more comfortable she'll get.

Georgia Kate helped my father-in-law keep things in order on the boat while we snorkeled. She and Libby helped unload the nets as we brought them to the boat. They were also were in charge icing the buckets. Gotta keep the fresh catch cold!

I had never scalloped before, so I had no idea what I was doing. But it was easy to learn - swim, spot a scallop, dive down to grab it and stick them in your net. We went out three days in a row and we all found LOTS of scallops! We got our limit each day in 45 minutes or less.

Shortly after we got back to the beach house, we set up an assembly line to clean the scallops. Everyone pitched in to make cleaning go quickly.

When we weren't snorkeling or cleaning scallops, we had plenty of fun and friends to keep us busy.

We took boat rides, ate great food and the kids launched water balloons at boats traveling up and down the channel.

We really enjoyed the long, holiday weekend in Keaton Beach.

We loved scalloping have already been back again since our first trip in July. We have a new hobby and will look forward to scallop season every year!

12:19 PM
0 Comments

Summer on Rewind

We may be back to school, but I'm slow to let summer go completely. Here are some more great moments from Summer Break 2015.

Like last year, we made a bucket list of things we wanted to accomplish.

*****************************************************************************

We made several trips to our local library. They offered special activities for kids on Wednesdays. So the weeks that we weren't traveling, I took the girls for reading time, music and snacks. Libby got her very own library card this summer. She enjoyed checking out books and reading over the break.

Making silly faces and chowing down on snacks.

********************************************************************************

Coop invited us to spend the day on her boat on Lake Harding. It was hot and we swam a lot to keep cool.

A selfie with my friends

The whole gang.

Jackson, Allie and Libby showing off their headless body skills. These kids are funny!

****************************************************************************

One morning I was looking get out of the house (it keeps you sane, am I right fellow moms?) I remembered our local museum has an interactive kids area. And most importantly AIR CONDITIONING!

We loaded up and headed to the museum.

And these two LOVED IT!

There were tons of games, creative nooks and activities for the girls to run, play and interact. As soon as we loaded up to leave, Libby asked when we were planning to come back.

**************************************************************

And no summer is complete with out swimming. We swam A LOT. Some times four or five times a week. It was too hot to do much else.

When we weren't swimming in our own pool, we met up with friends to swim.

***************************************************************************

One evening the family was outside playing when Georgia Kate asked (the inevitable) question about going swimming. Drew and I made eyes at each other (parent translation: I cannot take one more dip in the pool.) The sprinklers were running, so we quickly agreed to let the girls run loose.

They had an absolute ball! It was such simple fun, but they were thrilled. Drew and I enjoyed watching them run free.

It was one of those moments I thought, "This is what being a kid in the summer is all about!" It was a sweet memory I hope I never forget.

*********************************************************************************

We also had a lunch/play date with Papa. The girls were so excited to have lunch with him!

Summer fun was in full swing.

Check back soon as I have a few more trips and adventures to share from the summer in future blog posts.

10:58 AM
0 Comments

New Bed and a Fun Wedding

Pretty awesome title, right? I'm not sure how to meld the two totally unrelated topics together. But thanks to my outstanding creative writing skills I feel like I nailed it. ;)

We'll start with the new bed. It's not actually new, it's just different. We finally bit the bullet and converted Georgia Kate's bed into a toddler bed. She's three-years-old. I'm pretty sure we converted to a toddler bed much earlier for Libby. But GK loved her crib and has really never tried to escape. We didn't really have to make any changes. It was just time.

She was THRILLED when we asked her if she was ready for a big girl bed - again same bed, same height, same sheets, same pillows - just a new name. She was wildly excited and Libby was, too. I guess GK's excitement was contagious.

Big girl status. Makes me a little sad.

After Drew had it ready to go both girls did lots of jumping, diving and rolling on the new bed. Who knows why, but they were over the moon about the bed.

**************************************************************

The weekend before the Great Bed Transition Libby and I were invited to join in some wedding fun.

One of Libby's PE coaches, Coach Roberts, got married in early August. Libby absolutely loved her and ~~stalked her~~ stuck by her side every day at PE. So Robbie (Libby's nickname for her) was kind enough to invite us to her wedding.

Libby was ECSTATIC!

The wedding was very pretty and we had a great time at the reception. We ate good food, drank some wine (me, not Libby), jumped in the photo booth and danced the night away with the band.

The girls partied hard and we stayed until they kicked us out. We saw the bride and groom off after a great night with friends. Congrats, Hollee and Zack! Thanks for including us in your celebration.

12:00 PM
0 Comments