To the Pier!

We have just returned from our annual vacation to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. This year's beach vacation turned out to be one of the best that we have had in several years. I think that this is mostly due to the age that the kids are at now. We didn't really have to worry about diapers or bottles this year- which made life much easier for us. I took tons of pictures, so I'm going to do several posts.







This year, the first thing that we did after unpacking was to walk down the pier. Brian loves to fish and spends a fair amount of time on the condo's private pier every year. Wouldn't you know that Brian didn't have his pole in the water for five minutes when he caught his first fish. I swear, he has a gift. Anyway, Olivia helped him reel the fish in, so I guess it was her first fish of the vacation, too. Olivia actually caught a couple of fish during our time at the beach, and she named them all. Brian usually throws back most fish because, well, no one likes to eat fish at our house. Olivia didn't mind the fish being thrown back, but she was really upset about throwing back the snail that she had caught. She even kissed it (on the slimy part) before parting with it. I think Olivia enjoyed being able to go fishing some with her dad this year. Owen was still a little too immature for it this year, but maybe he'll be able to fish some next year.

Mulan on Stage

Yesterday Olivia, Granny Mel, and I went to see "Mulan"- part of the Peach State Summer Theatre Series at Valdosta State University. Olivia has been watching Mulan on DVD for over a week in anticipation of the play. The play itself was really well done. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. The guy who played "Mushu" was especially good. We couldn't take pictures during the performance, but after the play the characters were available for pictures and autographs. Olivia met several characters- including Mulan and Mushu. Granny Mel gave Olivia her playbill so that she could get the characters to sign it. It was so cute watching her meet them. She was so excited. She even ran up and hugged a couple of the actors. I think that everyone had a great time, and I will definitely be interested to see what plays are part of the series next year.

Fireworks on the Fifth

I do not know why Waycross decided to do their fireworks on the fifth of July instead of the fourth- but they did. So, we did not see fireworks on Independence Day- we saw them the day after. Papa Charlie and Granny Mel came to visit for the day and watched fireworks with the kids. The show wasn't scheduled to begin until 9:30, but people began staking out their "spot" about two hours beforehand. Even our "usual" location was close to being full when we got there. Luckily, my dad had arrived a little early and claimed a great spot for us. We sat in the back of his truck to watch the show. Last year, I learned a few tricks from Mr. and Mrs. Murray about the important of having snacks at an event like this, so this year I popped some popcorn and carried some drinks to enjoy. It was a very nice evening. The fireworks were pretty good, and the kids had a great time.

High Seas Expedition at VBS

Our church held its annual Vacation Bible School this past week. The church really goes all out for VBS every year, so I'm thrilled to say that it was a huge success! The theme was "High Seas Expedition", and all of the Bible lessons and activities involved sailing or the sea. The kids had a great time. I must confess, that I had a great time, too. I volunteered as one of the teachers in the Pre-K class. We had between 10 and 17 kids (ages 2-5) in that class each night. It was a lot of work (especially on the nights when we had 17 kids). But, the work was worth it because the kids had fun and really got a lot out of it. We ate, sang, did crafts, played games, and learned about God. One of the coolest things that we did was to make a blanket that is going to be sent to a kid in Africa. Here are some pictures that I took on the last night. You may even recognize some of the members of the class (Olivia, Ava, Claire).

The Swinging Medallions

This weekend, I took the kids to see The Swinging Medallions- aka "party band of the South"- at the Spirit of Liberty Festival in Patterson. The Swinging Medallions is a band based out of South Carolina that travels around playing beach music and golden oldies. Aunt Quincy came to the festival and helped me out with the kids (thanks, sis), and of course my dad was there. I mean, this event had "Sam Walker" written all over it. We saw him on occasion as he made his rounds talking to everyone there. Anyway, the kids had a great time. We were at the festival from 7:00 until 9:15, and they danced from the time we arrived until the time we left. I guess that Olivia has been watching too many break-dancing movies, because when she dances she gets on the floor and tries to do spins and stuff like that. She did this at the festival- which I think tickled some of the people around us. Whenever the band would finish a song, the audience would clap for the band. Olivia thought that they were clapping for her and her brilliant dance moves, so she started bowing. She was a real hoot. When we finally got home (after a "lost keys" episode that was just exhausting), the kids went straight to bed. I guess the tiredness was worth it, though, because Olivia woke up this morning and told me that she thought we should either go to a concert or a parade today. What a mess she is!

Olivia's T-ball Season

For the past month and a half, we have been spending our Saturday mornings at the ball field watching Olivia play t-ball. This is the first sports team (or any type of extracurricular activity) that Olivia

has done. I have to say that the overall experience was a positive one. For her age division, there are no winners or losers. Everyone gets to bat and run the bases. The focus is on teaching sportsmanship, teamwork, and the fundamentals of baseball ( like throwing to first base after fielding the ball). Of course, there were some days where Olivia would have rather dug in the dirt than play ball, and there was one particularlly frustrating day where she refused to run the bases so everyone had to wait while she strolled leisurely from one to the next. Even though she got in a funk sometimes, she enjoyed it. I could really see growth in her skills and in her confidence from the first game to the last one. After the last game, all of the players were presented with a trophy- Olivia's first. I laughed when I saw it because it was a bobblehead trophy. I didn't know they made those. Here are some of the pictures that I took of her playing during the season.

Wild Adventures

Brian was on vacation this week, so we decided to take the kids to Wild Adventures. We spent the first part of our day riding the rides. Owen and Olivia take after their parents in that they like to ride. The height requirement for most of the children's rides was 36 inches. Olivia easily met this height. Poor Owen, though, was right at the 36 inch mark. We tried to get him on the 36 inch rides, but he always had to be measured- and the outcome was not always the same. You could see the conflict in the workers' eyes because Owen's height could really go either way. After an internal debate, most of the workers decided to err on the side of caution. So, Owen only had a 33% success rate at getting on the 36-inch rides. I think it upset Owen a little to watch Olivia ride when he had been turned away. He carried on though. We tried to hit all of the little-kid rides so that both kids could participate, and Owen was tall enough to ride on his first rollercoaster (which he loved).

Around one o'clock it was starting to get really, really hot. The park even started giving out free cups of iced water because it was so hot. We decided that we would go to Splash Island Waterpark (which is attached to Wild Adventures) to cool off. Owen was standoffish and would not get in the water. Brian, who did not bring a bathing suit, spent his time with Owen. Olivia was my responsibilty, and she turned out to be a handful. She literally ran away from me and Brian so that she could get to the water-play structure. She was all over that thing, and she LOVED it! Keeping up with her turned out to be a real workout. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay in the waterpark for about 40 minutes because lightening was spotted in the distance, and they had to shut down the water rides. Since we didn't know how long we would have to wait to get back in the water, we decided to try the waterpark another day, and we headed back to the theme park.

After leaving the waterpark, we rode some rides (those that weren't shut down due to weather) and we spent some time looking at the animals. I really liked the tiger show and was happy that we had a chance to see that. The petting zoo was a big hit with the kids (as always). It's always fun watching those kids try to pet the animals. Some of those animals today just didn't want to be petted. That didn't stop Owen and Olivia from trying. It was like watching two border collies herd sheep. The kids would come, and the animals would run. They did manage to get their hands on several of slower ones, though.

We had a great day at the park. The kids are at the perfect age to enjoy it. I'm thinking that we might get season passes- but we'll wait til next year when Owen is a little taller.