Fishing

 It is known that if you want to find Brian during our week at the beach then the first place you should check is the pier.  He is there pretty much all the time.  There were several nights this year where he stayed out so late that he saw the sun rise the next day.  The kids took an unprecedented interest in fishing this year and stayed out late (like 12 or 1 a.m.-ish) with their daddy.  Brian said that if they were going to be out there then they had to do all of the work themselves (baiting the hook, casting, dealing with the fish once it was caught, etc...).  This was not a problem for them.  They were practically begging to go out to the pier every night.  I think Brian enjoyed their company and they enjoyed spending time with their daddy.

On the Beach

We were fortunate to have really good weather during our vacation, so we spent a lot of time on the beach. Boogie boarding continued to be a favorite activity for the kids.  The adults enjoyed reading and playing beach games (like cornhole).

Beach Vacation

We have just returned from a wonderful week at the beach.  It always seems to fly by so quickly.  

 We arrived on the 4th of July.  This is the first time that we've been in Fernandina for Independence Day.  From the pier we could see the fireworks that people were shooting off all up and down the beach.  It was a non-stop display in both directions. There were even people shooting them off from right next to the pier. These were amazing because they exploded right above us.  We could also see the fireworks from downtown Fernandina, from the Ritz Carlton, and from Jacksonville (in the distance).  The view from the pier was spectacular.

One evening we had cake and ice cream to celebrate all of those with summer birthdays.

 The kids had a great time hanging out together.

 Downtown Fernandina has tons of great restaurants, so we made it a point to visit a few of them.  We had a great week.

Swim Team

 This summer Olivia swam with the local aquatics club.  Every week we attended swim meets with other teams in our area.  She really improved a lot over the course of the summer.  Her greatest improvement has been the backstroke (16.31 second improvement from first to last meet). This was our first year of swimming, so it has definitely been a learning experience.  We have enjoyed this experience and look forward to doing it all again next summer.

Spirit of Liberty

 Last weekend the kids and I attended the Spirit of Liberty festival.  We went in the evening to enjoy the band and then we stayed for the fireworks.  The kids had a great time listening to the music and eating boiled peanuts.  We ran into my friend Anna and visited with her for a bit.  It was a fun evening.

Drive-in Movie

For the past two years, I have heard countless tales about how awesome the Jesup Drive-in is.  The kids and I decided that we needed to check it out for ourselves.  The verdict is in- the Jesup Drive-in is the bomb.  This theater built in 1948 is the oldest operating drive-in in Georgia. From the car-hops to the black-and-white ads that run prior the movie, 1950s-era nostalgia is present in many aspects of the drive-in.  All of these things are great but they are not why I liked this place so much.  To begin with, the value is unbeatable.  All showings are double features, so for one low admission ($7 adult, $3 child) we got to see TWO newly released movies.  I spent $13 bucks total and we saw both Inside Out and Jurassic World.  While the price was my favorite part, the kids liked the playground.  The playground is right in front of the screen.  Kids are able to burn some energy while waiting on the movie to begin.  The playground even had a merry-go-round.  I have never really thought about this before, but the kids have never seen a merry-go-round as none of our local playgrounds have one.  They loved this and played on it more than any other piece of playground equipment.  The only draw-back is that the first movie can't begin until it's totally dark, so we didn't get home until after 1 a.m.  Poor Owen didn't make it through the second movie.  Even so, we all loved the drive-in and hope for many return trips.

Summer Waves

It has been soooo hot lately.  We have pretty much had to hide out indoors because of the sweltering weather.  Last week was exceptionally bad, so imagine how happy we were when my friends Anna and Krystial invited us to go to Summer Waves Waterpark with them.  A nice dip in the cool water is what was needed.  Olivia and Owen were excited to ride all of the slides, and they were equally as pleased to have other kids to play with (besides each other).  The slides that they rode the most were the two speed slides.  I don't know that they necessarily liked those the best, but those two slides never had much of a line- and they liked not having to wait.  We also enjoyed the lazy river and wave pool.  We were there pretty much all day and were super tired when we got home.  It was great to get out and spend time with friends.