Coastal Trip Day 5

 So our 5th day of our venture had us waking up in Hilton Head. We woke up to some stormy weather. Austin and the kids decided they would go ahead though and try to beat the rain and get out to the pool and beach. Austin had also rented us chairs. We had a lot of laundry already by this point of the trip so since it was raining I decided I would go ahead and do our laundry while they swam and played. We also just had a light breakfast in the room of breakfast and granola bars. Well Austin and the kids helped get me set up in the laundry room and I had my book and phone and was pretty content. Well lightening chased them in about an hour later. So the kids went back to the room to get cleaned up and Austin sat with me while we waited on the clothes to dry. Once we got it all done we brought everything back to the room and organized it. Since the rain wasn't letting up we decided it would be a good time to go grab lunch. So we all got dressed and ready. We ended up at Zaxby's. We didn't think the lobby was open so we brought it back to the hotel. This actually ended up being a sweet memory. We ate our chicken on the balcony and just enjoyed being together. After lunch it had cleared off enough I knew we all needed to get out and enjoy the beach chairs. I decided I wasn't going to put on my swimsuit so I just went out in my shorts and raincoat. It was actually really cool so I was happy to have my jacket with me. The kids had the best time playing though. Austin and I were able to just sit and watch them. We stayed out there a couple hours. It was nice because hardly anyone else was out. The weather did start to get better so more people were coming out, but still not crowded at all. They decided they wanted to rent bikes and ride along the beach. During this part I decided I would go back up to the room. I needed to finish organizing the laundry. So I mostly sat out on the balcony and read my book. Sometimes on vacation I just enjoy the quiet time. The got back upstairs about an hour or so later. We rested and got cleaned up for dinner. We decided to go to Salty Dog. It seemed like a very family friendly place. We got there and it was super busy and crowded, but the weather was nice and they had a lot of waiting space. We had told them first available for seating. We went into the shops and got a few souvenirs then we just sat at a table and enjoyed the atmosphere. We ended up waiting about an hour I believe. Our table was outside near the water and the singer they had. It was super nice. We had the best time and the food was really good too. After dinner we decided to go play putt-putt. We found this cute, family owned putt-putt place. It was super busy though so it took us about 3 hours to finish. We were 10 that night getting back to the hotel. It was fun though. We were all ready for bed that night though! 

Coastal Trip Day 4

 So our 4th day of this venture we were able to sleep in a bit again. We found a breakfast place near our hotel we wanted to try. We walked there and had a delicious breakfast. I had a fried chicken biscuit. We enjoyed that then we walked around the City Market for a bit before heading back to our hotel to pack up and continue our journey to Hilton Head. We knew we would most likely skip lunch after having a big breakfast. The drive to Hilton Head was only about an hour and was a nice scenic drive through the South Carolina country. We arrived in Hilton Head around 12. We stopped at a McDonald's b/c I desperately needed coffee. I had had a mimosa with my breakfast and was dragging a bit. We got to the hotel and of course our room wasn't ready. We walked the grounds for a bit and tried to get a lay of the land. The kids and Austin went ahead to change into swimsuits. I didn't...1) I was on my period and 2) I wasn't crazy about changing in a public bathroom and dragging my clothes around. Anyway we tried to head out and find me a place to sit, but there were no chairs to be found on the beach or by the pool. I finally decided to just wait in the lobby and told them to go have fun. I had my book and iced coffee. I also ended up texting back and forth with Wendy a bit. I was perfectly fine. Finally after they swam/played for about and hour and a half they came back to check on me and our room was ready. I had decided that we should go eat a mid-afternoon meal then come back and swim when the pool was less crowded. We got up to our room and it was so nice. It was plenty spacious and had a balcony. Also since it was a Sonesta they left us treats when we got there. We dug into the fruit and cheese right away. We then headed out to find this place Hudson's we had heard about. We got there around 4. There was already a line. We found out they closed between lunch/dinner, but we decided to wait it out. They would open back up at 4:30. Once they opened we walked right in. We really enjoyed our meal and the scenery. It was a great experience. Afterwards we drove back to the hotel for some more beach/pool time. We went to the beach first. It was super windy by that point and the beach had cleared out a lot. I just sat on a towel and read my book. We did that for about an hour before they decided to go swim in the pool. I sat contentedly by the pool too. We finally went up to our room and everyone got cleaned up and ready for bed. It was a great day. I hated the homeless feeling, but overall it was a wonderful day! 

Coastal Trip Day 3

So Sunday was our first full day of our trip that we weren't traveling. We slept in a bit.  We knew the first thing we wanted to do was catch a Trolley Ride. We first had breakfast in the van. We had packed a lot of snacks and breakfast bars to get us through the many days away. I wasn't crazy about eating 3 meals out a day for 10 days. So we had our little breakfast bars and then we ran in McDonald's for some coffee. We then made our way back to the hotel so we could purchase trolley tickets. It worked out amazingly well b/c by the time we purchased our tickets within 5 minutes the trolley was pulling up. We picked up a few more passengers from various hotels then it brought us to the Visitor Center to catch another Trolley. This one would take us on an hour and a half ride through the city. It was nice to just sit back and enjoy the sights. I will say it was a tad long though...Lindsay was definitely over it by the time we got off. I thoroughly enjoyed it though and I think Colby and Austin did too. The last stop was by the River so we hopped off and walked to a restaurant we had heard about that we wanted to go to for lunch. We put our name in and they told us it would be about an hour wait. Well we walked a block down to a hotel so we could potty. By the time we walked out of there and we were nearing the restaurant they texted and said our table was ready. The restaurant was called Treylor Park. We were hoping for a wonderful meal after the disappointment from the night before. It turned out it was great. We all 4 enjoyed what we had. It was fun just enjoying a lunch like that the 4 of us. After lunch we decided we wanted to see some more sights so we called the Trolley shuttle to come get us and take us to the park where Forest Gump was filmed. We got there and we walked around that area for about an hour. It was interesting just being in the midst of where such a big movie was filmed. Austin then said there was a Cemetery a few blocks away so we headed there. Had it not been so hot by that point...I wore jeans b/c we woke up to what we thought would be a rainy forecast and I hate wearing shorts and being cold in the rain. Anyway it was super hot and the kids were kinda over it...especially Lindsay. So we just made a quick pass through then headed back to the hotel. It took us about 30 min of walking back. It was nice though to just enjoy the scenery while we walked. We got back to our room and cooled off a bit then we wanted to get out and drive around a bit. We had heard about this place called the Moon Light District. So we decided to check it out. We went to this old plantation sight and toured the grounds. It was really interesting because the history there dates back to the late 1600s. We spent about an hour just walking around. It nice and shady with a breeze. I just enjoyed taking in the sight. We saw the oldest standing structure in Georgia as well as a typical colonial house. Once we finished there we hopped in the car....stopped for some cokes as an afternoon pick me up then headed to a place called Black Rifle Coffee to buy some souvenirs. We spent a little bit walking around there and stocked up on coffee for everyone. We then went back to our hotel so we could figure out dinner. We finally decided on Mexican. We found this little mexican place called jalepenos and it was so good. It reminded us of our favorite mexican place here. We enjoyed our meal. We had heard about this famous ice-cream place there so we knew we needed to try that as well. I was worried the line would be long but it really wasn't at all. We only had to wait about 10 min to get in. It was the BEST icecream. I was so glad we checked it out. So after that it was beginning to rain so we set off back to our hotel. It was a busy day...we saw a lot and walked over 6 miles. The most we would do the entire trip but it was a lot of fun! 

Coastal Trip Day 2

 So Saturday morning we got a very early start on our journey up to Savannah. I woke up at 5 and showered and we got the kids up by about 5:45. Mobile was in the midst of the worst weather though. The tropical storm had arrived there. We wondered how our day would go and really even if we should leave. We knew though it was best to just plow through and the weather would clear up the further we went East. So we bit the bullet and left. It was really bad for probably the first 2 hours of our trip. We stopped at a Bucees for the potty and breakfast treats. We quickly ate our breakfast in the car. We went on to Pensacola and thought we were ahead of the storm when we got stopped on the bridge and ended up being stuck there for an hour. During this time the storm caught up and we just had to sit and wait it out. We finally moved past the storm but it was off/on rain for the entire state of Florida. We stopped at a couple rest stops/gas stations for potty breaks. We also just went through a McDonald's drive thru for a light lunch in the car. Most places still didn't have their lobbies open. Anyway on we went...we even stopped at an Orange Place in Florida but it ended up being a tourist trap so we went on. We arrived in Savannah around 4 or 5 I think. By the time we got the car parked and our stuff up to the room and settled it was definitely after 5. We liked our hotel there in Savannah. It was a bit bigger then the one in Mobile and it had the bathroom split into 2 parts which is nice when traveling with a family of 4. We got cleaned up and decided to go to dinner at Lady and Sons. It was near our hotel and we figured we had to hit the Paula Dean restaurant. Well we arrived and first had to wait about an hour to be seated. The staff was less then desirable. We just weren't that impressed. The food was ok...fried chicken was excellent but everything else was just mediocre. We were really questioning what our Savannah experience would be like. Also not to mention the streets were really crowded and loud and dirty. Where we were felt like the French Quarter. After dinner we decided we should just walk and see some sights though. We walked down to the river. We quickly figured out this was the party scene. We snapped a few pics then headed back to our hotel. We were all pretty tired from the traveling anyway. 

Coastal Trip Day 1

So we just returned from a 10 day trip across the southern coastal states. We left mid-afternoon on Friday. There was a tropical storm headed for our area. This seems to be a pattern when we take a summer trip. We first had to drop Ruby off at our friends the Brubakers. We drove until we got to the MS Gulf Coast then stopped at Cracker Barrel for our first dinner on the road. It was yummy and a good experience. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs a bit. The weather was the worst getting out of NOLA then slacked up for the rest of our drive. After we drove straight to Mobile to our hotel. It was raining when we arrived there as well. We stayed at a Marriott hotel in the downtown area. We pretty much just brought our things up to the room and got settled with showers/baths and ready for bed. We knew the next day would be a long and early one. The hotel was nice and we got a good nights sleep! 

CoronaCation

 So we have finally been hit with the corona virus. Thankful we are all past it now and it honestly wasn't that bad. So Lindsay got sick over Thanksgiving. It was just a minor cold or so we thought..and honestly we aren't sure now. She had a stuffy nose and sore throat on Thanksgiving. She never ran fever or really seemed to feel terrible so we went on with our usual festivities. When we got back to school after Thanksgiving break many kids in my class had the snots and sniffles. By that Thursday/Friday I developed a sore throat. I was a little worn down, but it was Lindsay's birthday weekend so I went on. I felt a little bad, but never terrible. I tried to distance from people as well I as I possibly could, but we went on with our usual activities. By that Sunday I sounded stuffy and congested. My mom even commented. Anyway by that Monday, my friend Wendy commented about my stuffiness and I even joked that it was just a cold and not corona. By that Wednesday I felt completely fine. Well in the mean time...on Lindsay's birthday Austin found out that a co-worker had tested positive for the virus. This obviously put us in a tailspin, but again at this point we had no idea we might have already had it. 

A New Normal

So I am currently so over that phrase, but that is what it has become. This summer has truly been different. We haven't been able to have nearly as many playdates. We haven't had VBS or camp. We haven't even had normal church activities. All in all it hasn't been THAT bad though. We have learned to live life slow. Since school ended in mid May we have slowed down a lot. We have seen a few friends and for that I am thankful. The kids started swim team after our trip to Tennessee and again I am truly thankful for that bit of normalcy. Even though it hasn't looked all that normal. Practices are only twice a week and several have been rained out. We have also only had one "virtual" swim meet. Anyway that's getting out though and seeing people so that has been nice. We also started back to church when we got back from Tennessee. Lindsay was baptized on June 22nd. It was such a sweet moment to be back in church after months. That was also Father's Day. It has been great being back at church even though that's a lot different too. No children's activities or Lifegroup...we have to wear masks. But its nice just to have normalcy. 
Anyway our summer has been very low key. We have had a lot of fun...but its been a slower paced fun. We haven't been to the Zoo or any big things. I am thankful for our trip to Tennessee and what we got to do there. We've pretty much just stayed home, run errands, or gone swimming. My kids have seen friends a handful of times. 
Starting back to school I think will be nice....I mean I will miss the laziness, but I feel like we need some start to a routine again.