First Day of School 2012

It was pure bliss to send our girls back to the same school as last year. They weren't nervous, and I didn't boo-hoo. They both claim to have had a great day. I can tell you that we are all exhausted from our super early wake-up. The tardy bell rings at 7:30.

Posing for mom . . .

 First day of 5th grade! What the heck?

First day of second grade!

Wow!

Girl Scout Party, Church Picnic, Back to School Dessert

We saw absolutely not reason to sit around all weekend waiting for the first day of school!

The girls' Girl Scout Troop had a back-to-school swim party on Saturday night. Here are our bathing beauties . . .

And afterwards in the jeep. Yes, it was chilly!!

Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a church picnic. It was held at a lake, and both girls enjoyed swimming out to this dock. Mattie jumped off of that thing a million times, but Caroline was more cautious. She stood and watched the others jump. It was a good swim, so I'm proud both girls had the skills and courage to get out there.

We weren't yet exhausted enough, so after the church picnic, we went straight to Cold Stone to continue our family's back-to-school tradition - dessert on the night before school starts!!

We ALL enjoyed a treat.

Everybody raise your milkshakes to a great first day of school!

Meet Your Teacher 2012

Tonight, the girls met their teachers . . .  

Caroline has Mrs. Judge for her SECOND GRADE teacher. Caroline was really excited to see familiar faces in her classroom.

Mattie's teacher for FIFTH GRADE is Mrs. Reed. Mattie is so excited to get started with the school year, we can barely contain her!

Our Week at St. Simon's Island August 2012

We spent a fun week at St. Simon's Island with mom and dad, Cope, Tara and Ramsey. We went on a dolphin boat excursion, hauled stuff to and from the beach, played in the pool, ate a lot of yummy food and watched fabulously ridiculous (yet addictive) TV.

Here's a pic of Mattie at what well may be her favorite place on earth - St. Simon's Sweets. They have pretty much everything a sweet-tooth could want, need or dream. Of course we went there on the very first night.

We headed to another favorite spot, the bay-side playground, to watch the kids work off the calories . . .

The oak trees are perfect for climbing . . .

Grampy treated us to seafood one night . . . here are the kids sitting out front waiting for our table.

Weekend Excursion to VA

It's less than a year until we move, and I've really been feeling the pinch to get in some East-coast tourist attractions. This area is so rich with history. I asked Derick if he would be ok with a weekend trip north to mark a few things off of our list - he was in, so we took off.

We left home early Saturday morning and headed straight to Charolottesville, VA to Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. I had been as a child but remembered nothing more than how the outside of the main home looked. It was a great history lesson for all 4 of us.

We finished up the tour in the late-afternoon and headed to our hotel. We had dinner at a restaurant in The Corner at the University of Virginia. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for an evening swim and all crashed early.

Sunday morning we were up and out again before 8:00. Our first stop (after Waffle House) was the Appomattox Courthouse National Park. I was expecting an empty field, but we found an entire restored village. We watched a movie, meandered through the museum and walked around the grounds. Above the family is picture in front of the Appomattox Courthouse.

Here we are in front of the McLean house, sight of General Lee's surrender to General Grant in April, 1865. Wow. This was cool.


My favorite part of the trip (and our quickest stop) was the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. If you know anything at all about D-Day, this place will move you. I dare say if you don't know anything about D-Day, this place will inspire you to learn more. It was beautifully done with a huge area divided into 5 sections to represent the 5 beaches in Normandy.

Then, a marble landing craft was open into the water (below) with sculptures storming the beach. One is dead with an open Bible by his head, one is holding his gun over his head in chest deep water, and two are making their way up the beach. All the while, water is spraying up in the air to give an idea of how the soldiers were getting fired upon the whole time.

Also, there is a wall (cliff) with soldiers climbing it. It's truly incredible and thought-provoking. My description and pictures can't begin to do it justice.