New Acolytes

 Olivia has reached the age where she is old enough to serve as acolyte in church.  February was her first month.  She did a great job.  Her jobs include lighting the candle at the beginning and extinguishing it at the end of the service.  Later in the year she'll start assisting with communion.

Acolyte training took place in January.  Owen and I were just going to sit and wait while Olivia completed the training. Since we were there anyway, the preacher said the Owen could go ahead a be trained.  So, Owen is now an acolyte as well.  His first week of service was last week.  Like Olivia, he did a great job.  He got a little upset toward the end because he had to sit on the front pew by himself, but he pulled it together and made it through. 

Wild West Railroad

 After years of being a good sport about doing "girly" things, Owen finally got a day trip that was tailored toward his interests.  The St. Mary's Railroad hosted a "Wild West" train excursion in late February, and we booked passage.  This trip featured an old-timey steam engine, and a wild west shoot-out.  

The train ride itself was a pleasant experience.  The weather was beautiful, which is good because we were in open-air train cars.  I enjoyed listening to the whistle of the steam engine and taking in the coastal scenery.

At the turn-around point, we were treated to a re-enactment of the shootout at the OK Corral.  There were two "wild west" clubs that played the parts of old west heroes and villains.  After the shootout, "Wyatt Earp" spoke to the crowd about the history of the OK Corral.

The actors / cowboys boarded the train for the return trip.  They circulated through the cars and spoke with the kids.  Several of the cowboys commented on Owen's cowboy boots.  They also passed out shotgun shells for the kids to have as souvenirs.

Back at the station, we were able to check out replicas of relics from the old West.  There was also an Indian Village set up.

The Native Americans invited the kids to do the "Candy Dance".  Olivia had her camera bag and was able to stuff a lot of candy into it.  Our outing ended after the candy dance.  It was fun to experience a piece of the old west in south Georgia.

Cumberland Island

The kids and I recently took a day trip to Cumberland Island National Seashore with some friends of ours.  I cannot believe that we live so close to this gem and have never visited.  It is amazingly beautiful.  The majority of the island is designated a national seashore.  It is pretty much wilderness- you have to bring all food and drink with you because once you get on the island nothing is sold.  The only cars on the island are the few that are used by national park personnel.

The island can only be reached by boat, so we booked passage on the ferry in advance.  We arrived at the main land visitor's center about 30 minutes prior to sailing and enjoyed checking out the few exhibits that they had.

Before boarding the ferry, we listened to the ranger's orientation speech.  We had five hours on the island and we had to be at the dock for our return trip (or we'd be stuck on the island). There were two docks where we could re-board.  The ranger suggested that we get off at the southern most dock, explore the island, and then re-board at the Sea Camp dock for the return trip.  We decided to follow his advice.  It was a little chilly on the ferry ride, so we sat inside and ate our picnic lunch.

Upon reaching the island, we disembarked to find a dirt road lined with live oak trees.  The main thing that we wanted to see on the island was the wild horses.  We had hyped the horses up so much to the kids that not seeing them would have probably been a disaster.  As we walked down the road, the kids kept their eyes peeled for horse tracks.  These were not hard to find.

After a short hike we reached the Dungeness Ruins.  Dungeness was a large estate built by the Carnagies (Cumberland was a private retreat for the wealthy back in the day).

We continued walking until we reached the old cemetery.  We had seen lots of horse tracks and manure, but no horses.

As we set out over the marsh, we finally spotted 5 feral horses grazing in the distance.  The kids were super excited.

We got off of the boardwalk and tried to get as close as we could to these wild animals.  They were out in the marsh, so we had to stop once the ground got muddy.

After taking several pictures of the grazing horses, we returned to the marked path and started making our way over the dunes toward the beach.

As we were walking toward the beach, we heard a rustling in the brush.  A young horse popped out about 20 feet from us.  I think we startled him (and he certainly surprised us).  He stood there and looked at us for a minute and then walked away.  We were all standing there with our mouths hanging open.  This was the highlight of the trip.

After our wild horse encounter, we continued to the beach.  I know I am usually hard on the beaches of Georgia  (because they suck), but the beach at Cumberland was actually quite nice.  It reminded me a lot of Fernandina but it was wider and there was hardly anyone on it.  It was too cold to get in the water, so we walked down the beach and tried to identify the shells and creatures that we came across.

 

We exited the beach near the Sea Camp dock.  We crossed the dunes to find ourselves in a beautiful maritime forest with live oaks trees.  These trees had large, low-hanging branches.  They were practically begging to be climbed, and the kids were happy to oblige.

After a snack and short break we made our way to the Sea Camp area so that we could board the ferry.  We got there a little early and were able to hear a ranger program about identifying shells and wildlife on the beaches of Georgia.  It was interesting,  Our day ended with a ferry ride back to the mainland.  I was really very impressed with this island and am looking forward to a return trip.

Bikes

 I am pleased to announce that we have two bike riders.  Last weekend something clicked for Owen and he started riding.  Olivia learned how to ride this past summer, so both kids are now good to go. I foresee us being on our bikes more and more as the weather improves.  

Breast Cancer Half Marathon

 So the way that these races work is that the longer you wait to sign up, the more expensive the race becomes.  I'm pretty cheap and tend to sign up as early as possible.  I signed up last summer to run my favorite marathon- the 26.2 w/ Donna (national breast cancer marathon) the following February.  Unfortunately, my stress fracture put a dent in my training plans, and I knew that there was no way I could complete a full marathon.  As the race date approached, I debated over if I should run at all because I haven't had enough time to get my speed or mileage back up.  In the end I decided to switch my race to the half marathon and give it a go.  I'm so glad that I did.  This was the most beautiful running day that I've ever seen.  The weather was perfect.

I didn't have high hopes for a great finish time and I was a little concerned about not getting injured again, so I ran the whole race at an easy pace.  Quincy usually runs this race w/ me but she couldn't this year because she had to work.  I pulled out my phone at several points along the course to take selfie of me running and send it to her so that she could see what she was missing.  I know she appreciated that (haha).  I ended w/ a time of 2:12:21.  I was hoping to finish around 2:15, so I was happy to beat my goal.  Have I mentioned how happy I am to be running again?