Fort George Island Segway Tour

It always happens that we are at the beach during Brian's birthday. For me, time doesn't really exist at the beach, which may explain why I forgot Brian's birthday last year. Yes, I felt terrible for forgetting and have continued feeling bad because Brian hasn't let me live it down. I thought that I should really try to do something special this year to make up for last year. After a lot of searching on the Internet, I came up with the perfect thing: a Segway tour on Fort George Island. I thought it would be neat, but "neat" doesn't quite do the experience justice- it was awesome! I never knew a Segway was so much fun. The tour lasted two hours and went off-road onto the paths of Fort George Island. We had earpieces on under our helmets so that we could hear the tour guide. The history of the island was pretty interesting, and I found myself acutally paying attention (a lot of times I don't on guided tours). About half-way through the tour, we stopped at the Kingsley Plantation, the oldest plantation still standing in Florida. We walked around for about twenty minutes, and saw the grounds- which were beautifully situated on the Fort George Inlet. After our visit to the plantation, we hopped back on the Segways and completed the last leg of the tour.



I was surprised by how easy the machines were to operate. Before the tour, we had to go through a 15-minute training course to learn how to ride them. It's funny because there is no button or pedal to make the Segway go- you have to use your body's center of gravity. So, you lean forward to go straight, and you lean backward to back up. There was one handle of side that made you turn and there was one button to turn the machine off and on. Other than that- operating it was all about your balance. Of course, the tour operators made sure that we could do the basic maneuvers- including weaving in and out of cones- before we began. I tended to be cautious; Brian- not so much. He was zipping around on that thing and leaving the rest of us trainees in a cloud of dust. I know that he had a lot of fun. Hopefully this will make up for me forgetting his birthday last year and he'll quit giving me grief about it.

Beach Vacation 09

We had a great time this year during our annual beach vacation. Like always, we stayed at Amelia-by-the-Sea. The kids enjoyed playing on the beach, pier, and in the pool. With five kids age 3 and under, there was never a dull moment. Owen spent most of his beach time digging in the sand and collecting seashells. It took him a while to get use to the ocean, but once he did, he spent hours playing in the shallows. Even though Olivia had loved the beach last year, it took her a day or two to adjust to it this year. As a matter of fact, for the first entire day she kept trying to leave and walk back up to the condo. I think that she was scared of the waves. After a few days she got used to it, and then she even started liking the ocean. By the end of the week she was playing and having a big time. Here are some of my favorite pictures of this year's trip.

Fireworks on the Fourth

This evening we went to Waycross to watch the fireworks. We met up with Hannah, Kelly, and the girls at our "usual" spot. Mr. and Mrs. Murray also came, and they were prepared. They brought drinks, popcorn, and boiled peanuts. I think that Owen and Olivia were more excited to have the snacks than they were to watch the fireworks. The show was pretty good this year, and the kids seemed to enjoy it. I am only posting a few of the many pictures that I took. I had to delete a lot of them because it is really hard to get a good picture of fireworks (for me anyway- Brian had better luck).