Summer Fun 2013

Well, summer is over and school is back in full swing around these parts. I really hate to say good-bye to summer! I love the lazy, laid-back days of just doing much of nothing :).

Of course, I do enjoy the fall. The nice mild-weather days. The structure and habit of daily routines. Well... we eventually get there!

I've been looking back through my pictures from our summer travels and I thought I'd share some of our highlights.

Family Getaway

We went to Panama City Beach, Florida recently. We had a couple days off for fall break, so we accompanied my husband's sister and her family on a mini-vacation. I'm not sure what it is about the beach, but we seem drawn to it, for sure.

Myrtle Beach, SC

 

Have I mentioned before how much we like the beach?

Yes, of course I have. We like it so much, we went twice this summer. I mentioned earlier that we have had an extremely busy summer, going more than usual. In fact, we'll be going to Panama City Beach for a fall break with my husband's sister and her family later this month.

Fernandina Beach, FL

 

We have some friends who rent a beach house for the summer, and they invited us to spend a few days with them in July.

 

There's nothing our family enjoys more than spending time at the beach. Especially my husband.

 

That's him, out for a morning stroll, looking for shark's teeth.

Beach Vacation and Father's Day

~ Beach Vacation ~

This year we vacationed in Miami, Florida ~ actually Surfside Beach, one of Miami's beaches.

Jekyll Island Field Trip

We have several fall field trips scheduled for this month. This past Thursday we went to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and the 4H Tidelands Nature Center on Jekyll Island. My daughter was out of school the last half of this week, and my husband took off work so we were able to go on this field trip as a family (minus our son at college).

the group

Here is our guide, about to feed Amy, an injured loggerhead sea turtle. Amy has trouble swimming down to feed, so for now she lives at the Center and serves as an ambassador for her species. They expect her to overcome her injuries and be released in the wild soon.

We were able to meet the patients at the Center and our guide shared with us about the injuries these turtles have suffered. This one was injured by a boat propeller. One of the turtles even had a stroke! He is currently unable to dive down to feed, and he is in rehabilitation where he is relearning to swim!

friends

We even saw one of the patients having some sort of procedure performed.

It was fun learning all about sea turtles, about their journey from hatchling to adulthood. I thought it was neat that no matter how far they migrate, females will always return to the same beach where they were hatched in order to lay their eggs. Wow! Only God can get the glory for that! And males will spend their entire lives in the ocean, never going ashore.

Our next stop was at the 4H Tidelands Nature Center where we participated in a herpetology program and learned much about the reptiles and amphibians native to our area.

getting started

We learned that this terrapin lives in the salt water marshes of Jekyll Island.

petting a yellow rat snake

father and daughter, enjoying the program

These next photos are of some of the inhabitants of the Nature Center:

yellow-bellied sliders

I forgot what kind of snake this is, but I thought it was so cool to see it drinking from its water dish!

soft-shelled turtle

hermit crab

watching the starfish move about in their habitat

It was such a nice day, we decided to finish up our trip with a stop at the beach! Some of the kids swam, but most just waded in the surf. The water was definitely a little chilly! Even we adults decided to take off our shoes and roll up our pants legs and walk on the shore. A fun ending to a fun day!

I do believe a fun time was had by all!

The Last Days of Summer

Although it is still HOT down here in south Georgia, our summer break has officially come to an end. I thought I'd share what we've been up to these last couple of weeks of our summer...

My dh's sister and her two daughters came to visit and stayed with us for a few days the last week in July. We absolutely LOVE them and we had so much fun!

Here they are with 2 of my kiddos in the pool

Kate & Will, with their Aunt Debbie

on our evening walk down our dirt road... the doggies

always join us!

We made one last day trip to the islands off the coast of Georgia. I say "last" but I really hope we can make a trip back in the fall, when the weather cools off... maybe to bike ride around the island. I have some friends who spent a few days there recently and they really enjoyed biking there.

on the beach at St. Simons Island

supper at Spanky's Seafood Restaurant after a day of touring the islands

I feel like the older I get, the faster these seasons of life seem to whirl by. It seems as if we hardly had a summer break at all :) But we made lots of memories, and that's so important. Especially now that we are going in different directions this fall (one off to college, one off to school, and one still at home with me).

...Thanking God for these days with my family.

Vacation

We were on vacation from May 21st until May 28th... we went to Panama City Beach, Florida. It was just beautiful! There are no other beaches, imo, that can compare with those in the Gulf of Mexico! And I'm so thankful that there was no oil from the BP catastrophe there. The beach and the water were just perfect! We went with some friends. This was a first for us; we usually either go alone or sometimes with family.

Ryan (on the right) with his friends, Christina and Truss

Kate with her friend Lauren

Will and his friend Bennie

We enjoyed playing miniature golf. We went to the movies together. Some of us saw Shrek 4, and others saw How To Train Your Dragon. I saw Shrek, and I thought it was a really good movie. It had a really good moral to teach.

We tried a few new restaurants while there, one of them being Five Guys Burgers and Fries. We don't have one of those near where I live, and I thought the food was pretty good. They have an outdoor mall with lots of stores, restaurants, and even a small amusement park type place at Panama City Beach, called Pier Park. That's where we ate at Five Guys. Kate climbed the Rock Climbing Wall and Will jumped on the Super Bungee there.

Mike and Kate decided to try parasailing while we were there. Another first! They enjoyed it, but Mike said it wasn't worth the price they charged!

Mike and Kate way up there!

view from our balcony

me and my sweet hubby

We saw so much more sea life than we have ever seen before!

From our balcony, we watched these dolphins jumping and playing.

It was so cool!

sting rays

Ryan found more than just sea shells while snorkeling.

a rainbow at Pier Park

We spent one afternoon at St. Andrews State Park. Mike wanted to take the kids snorkeling on the jetties there. We saw lots of different types of fish there. We even saw some jellyfish. And I was able to get some great shots of my kids on those rocks.

seahorse we found

We had fun on vacation, but on Sunday night, the family we were on vacation with received heartbreaking news. My friend's sister's daughter was killed in a car accident. She was only 16. She and another friend were on their way home from a high school graduation when an oncoming car swerved into their lane and hit them head-on. So our friends left early Monday morning. The next few days for us were blue. It was hard (and still is) to believe this actually happened. We know the family very well; they were members of our church for years. Our kids have grown up together. They moved away a few years ago, so we haven't seen them much except for the occasional visit when they are back in town to see their family.  I know these next weeks and months are going to be very difficult for them, so I ask you to join me in lifting them up to our heavenly Father.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor. 12:9

This is what I am praying for them.