More Vacation Tidbits and Pictures...

If you haven't seen the first post of our recent trip to Savannah, Georgia you will want to start here.
The first couple of days Tori would ask every couple of hours, "Are we going back to the Inn yet?". Just staying in the hotel was great fun as far as the girls were concerned. I'm not entirely sure why, they do this at home all of the time ;)...

 

We took our new "Moody Family books", a series written by Sarah Maxwell, to start while Lee was in his meeting (As an aside, these books are great!). The plan was to spend the day relaxing and recouping in the room and having nearly nothing to do all day but read aloud. At least that was the plan until everyone woke up and I realized that the jumbo package of diapers was still in the van, thirty minutes away! After the initial feeling of panic I thought, "OK, no big deal. We'll just walk over to the gas station right next to us and pay way too much for a very small package of diapers. Now remember, Savannah didn't appear to be too keen on children ;). Had I thought of that before we left I would have figured that this would be the first gas station I have ever been to that didn't carry diapers. Still not panicing too badly I remembered seeing a CVS *just* down the road so we started out. Everyone was hot, barely awake and we hadn't even had breakfast yet because I had thought we were just running over to the gas station. We finally get all the way down to the CVS only to find that they weren't open...as in just built, looked completely functional, but apparently it wasn't quite yet. Now, I panic ;). Frustratingly enough, there are other gas stations in view but I wasn't quite desperate enough to drag all four little people across the interstate. The only thing to do was to go back to the room without the coveted diapers and try to figure something out. We stopped back in the gas station on the way back by and I got everyone a chocolate milk and myself a cappuccino because, trust me, we needed it. Upon arriving back at the room I surveyed our meager belongings keeping an eye out for anything that could be fashioned into a "nappie" and my eyes fell upon the flannel blankets. Remembering this post from Tammy of Tammy's Recipes I thought what a great chance to try it out ;). Worked great by the way, even without diaper covers and safety pins, the little sewing kit in my purse came in mighty handy though ;) I now have a whole new appreciation for my diaper pins! I may even start a little collection of old blankets to make diapers out of. We were down to one more blanket when Lee got back to the room. As soon as he arrived I double stocked the diaper bag and even put a couple in my purse ;)... Then we headed back to the beach to redeem the day. As we trudged through the sand we discussed the necessity of being sure that..."On Christ the solid rock I stand", because, "all other ground is sinking sand...". Lee got some precious pictures of the little ones while we were there but they are all on his camera so I have to wait to share. Lee took the girls out into the water, skirts and all ;)...it was the first time being out in the water for Tori and Bethi and Bri was too little last time to remember. We really need to look into more efficient and modest swim wear. You should have seen Bri's face later that night when Lee reminded her that there are sharks in the ocean ;). When he mentioned it to Tori she said, "I know.". When he asked how she knew she said, "Mommy told me they live in salty water and I tasted the salty.". Eeew. A couple of the shells we picked up were still occupied, oops. We named them Pearl and Oceanus ;). 

Among other things during our time there, we saw the church that the writer of Jingle Bells was employed at as the music minister when he wrote the well known carol, we saw the church President George Washington went to when he went to Savannah and cannons that he gifted Chatham county with after the Revolutionary War. We saw a lot that John Wesley preached in and walked for a while in the path of Sherman and his troops during his famous "March to the Sea". On the last day we took a picnic lunch to Forsyth Park and Lee and Bethani chased the girls around with Spanish Moss ;). 

I had told them this story behind the saying, "Good night neighbor, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!", so they were doing their best to stay away from the stuff ;).
Andrew is becoming such a little boy :)! He kept running off to go play in the dirt...

and he was trying so hard to come to his big sister's rescue ;)...

While strolling through the park I pointed out to the girls that we were pushing our baby though a park that has seen generation after generation of mothers pushing babies in strollers (or "prams"). That struck me as neat.
Just before we left for home we stopped at Old Fort Jackson, the oldest standing brick fort in Georgia that was in use from 1808 to 1865.

 

I would greatly recommend you make this a stop if you are ever in Savannah! They are just now really trying to build up this piece of history so in a few years it may become more tourist centered but when we were there we were able to amble around at our own pace. If we hadn't known better we could have reached right out and touched many of the artifacts! It was just wonderful. There is an ironclad ship sunk just off of the banks (the Confederates sunk it on purpose to keep it out of the hands of the Union soldiers) and several of the exhibits in the museum were artifacts brought back up from the ship. There were plaques hanging in many places and they took quotes out of letters written by soldiers who had been stationed there during the Civil War. One plaque that was hanging on a bunk in the holding cell said that the baker had been incarcerated for selling liquor. A quote from a letter written a few days later mentioned that the baker had been let go because they just "couldn't get along without him" in the kitchen. Sooo funny! The moral of that story? If you want to get away with anything, be the cook ;). After a quick peek in the gift shop where we picked up really neat realistic looking copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States, we hopped in the car and headed home. The children and I slept most of the way ;).
The whole next day we were all kind of dragging...

And I think we are still in recovery mode. I finally caught up the laundry last night and we'll be back to school tomorrow. It was such a sweet blessed time of togetherness and memory making. Lee and I celebrated our birthdays last Sunday and this trip was a great birthday present :). 

Thank you Sweetheart :)!!! We love you!