Day 13 - Thursday, September 11th - Last day in Fort Walton Beach, FL

Today is our last full day in Florida. Kinda sad, but kinda anxious to get home too. Today we took Asa and Lexi to this really great Play Park in Niceville. They also have a splash park there in the summer months, but it closed the last day in August so we missed it. The kids (especially Asa) had so much fun! There was so many things to do in the park that he didn't stay on one particular thing for very long.

I really liked this picture of Lexi. She's getting so big and really liked this dinosaur because she could grab the handle and rock back and forth with it which she LOVED!

Although we were pretty far away from Hurricane Ike here in Florida, here is just an example of how far away places can be impacted by it still. These pictures were taken in Destin, FL.

Mom and Lexi having fun while Daddy and Asa went into Walmart to buy Lexi a new outfit. "Silly mommy - don't you know that "accidents" happen and that is why you are supposed to have an extra outfit for me in the diaper bag?"

Last stop for the night. Visting with John's BFF - Kyle, his wife Lisa and their daughter. She is just the sweetest thing and very close in age to Asa. If I remember right, she is only a month younger than Asa. And they are pregnant with #2!!!! Congratulations!!!

John and Kyle. BFF's.

Day 12 - Wednesday, September, 10th - Savannah, GA to FWB, FL.

Other than a lot of driving today (Savannah down to Jacksonville, FL the I10 straight west to Fort Walton Beach) we really didn't do a whole lot. We did make stop on St. Simon's Island, GA to see the Lighthouse. This also gave us a chance to introduce Asa to the Atlantic Ocean.

Historic St. Simons Island Light Station. Built in 1872.


More of the Light Station.

Fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean off of St. Simon Island, GA.

Nope, still not liking the ocean! Asa leaves his hurried footprints in the beach/waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Bridge from St. Simon Island.

Pretty cool bridge, huh?

Day 11 - Tuesday, September 9th - Savannah, GA

Tried to convince myself for everyone else's sake that I was feeling better. Truth be told, I was feeling slightly better this morning, but got progressively worse as the day wore on. John and I took the kids downstairs for free breakfast at the hotel. Pretty nice continental breakfast! I didn't eat much, but John and Lexi did. Asa had a few bites of his peach yogurt and then became completely obsessed with his "muffin man" (just a muffin). After breakfast we took the kids (and "muffin man") down for a walk along River Street and the Savannah River. Now I was feeling pretty yucky most of the day, and unfortunately I didn't write down anything we saw like I should have been doing. So most of today's blog is going to be from memory.

Savannah River as seen from River Street.

Asa and his "Muffin Man".

Asa, Daddy and the 2 horses that took us on our carriage ride around Savannah. The white horse's name is 'Charlie'.

Not sure if this building is famous or not or if John just liked and it wanted to take a picture of it.

Here is the Juliette Gordon Low House. This was her birthplace. Juliette Gordon Low was the founder of the Girl Scouts.


Colonial Park Cemetery. The cities only non-active cemetery, meaning that no more burials take place on this historic plot of land. Many of Savannah's earliest settlers are buried here, whose gravestones date back to the 1700's.

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

Beautiful Moss covered trees outside of Colonial Park Cemetery.

After the horse carriage ride and an exhausting walk around Savannah anyway, we decided to cool us and the kids off by heading to the hotel pool. The pool is located on the top of the hotel and has a really awesome observation deck up there to and you can see all of Savannah. Unfortunately, I didn't bring the camera with me. The pool was nice though and the kids had a great time and I am sure appreciated the break from the heat and humidity. After the pool we headed back to the room for a nice nap.

After our nap we headed out for an early dinner at Paula Dean's Restaurant, The Lady & Son's. Wish I had been feeling better because the food looked really good. Just couldn't stomach anything yet at this point. John and Lexi and Asa ate well and John said he had some of the best Turnip Greens he's ever had there.


Asa at Paula Dean's Restaurant. Such a gentleman!

Savannah has 22 Squares throughout the city. This is just one of them. I don't remember what the name of this square was, but I think it is the one that they filmed Forrest Gump in.

Just a pretty picture of the cobblestone drive leading to River St.

Another picture of the Savannah River.

Day 10 - Monday, September 8th - Montgomery, AL to Savannah, GA

We saw Jenna and Nana again this morning. This is the part of the trip where I started getting really sick. Had a nice visit with Jenna and Nana until Jenna had to head off to work. Despite me being sick, we decided to continue our trip to Savannah. I slept in the back of the Yukon most of the way. On the way to Savannah, John drove through Warner Robbins, GA where Jenna used to live and showed Asa Sissy Jenna's old house. Half way between there and Savannah, Lexi started getting sick and threw up all over her car seat. Did the best we could to clean her off and clean her car seat off. Trust me... the lingering smell on her car seat was doing nothing for helping me feel any better. Got to Savannah safe, checked into the hotel (very nice - Holiday Inn Express Historic District), gave the kids a bath, took myself a shower, cleaned Lexi's car seat with soap and water (the best I could do) and pretty much just crashed after that. Needless to say, no photo's taken today.

Day 9 - Sunday, September 7th - FWB, FL to Montgomery, AL

A good portion of this morning was spend re-packing the Yukon for our trip up to Alabama and then to Savannah, Georgia. Daddy had to get pretty creative, but he did it and did a really good job! Today we finally got to go to the beach! Woo Hoo! Asa was so excited.

Here is Asa (shoes off) walking on the white sandy beach. He loved walking in the sand!


Lexi and Mommy.

He loved the sand, but DID NOT like the water one bit!

Nope, don't like it!

Lexi on the other hand, LOVED it!




Cute little huggy moment between Asa and Lexi. I love the way she looks at him sometimes. Like Asa is her everything.

"Come on, Mommy!"

Here is a pic of John's old house in Crestview, Florida. It's back on the market, but we don't know how much for though. Wouldn't be a bad investment property. John bought it in 1988 for only $42k.

Here we are in Montgomery, Alabama with Sissy Jenna. She loved meeting Lexi for the first time and hasn't seen Asa since he was 7 months old.


Sissy Jenna and Lexi.

Nana (Jenna's maternal grandmother) and Lexi.

John, Asa, Sissy Jenna and Lexi.

Lexi and Sissy Jenna.

Jenna is doing really great. She is living with Nana right now and has a really great job at a fabric store. She is enrolled and will be starting Cosmetology School very soon. Jenna wants to be a Colorist. I personally think she will do awesome and I am so proud of her! Keep up the great work Jenna ~ we love you!

Day 8 - Saturday, September 6th

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, ALEXANDRA!!

Today is Lexi's big day and we are ready to celebrate! Today we are going over to Grandma Dot's house to have a wonderful birthday party for Lexi. It's not all that often that John's family can get together like this so we are also going to be having a mini-Thanksgiving meal as well.

Asa, Lexi and Aunt Lisa.

Asa, Uncle Richard, Aunt Lisa and Lexi.

Birthday Girl!!

Having fun with Cousin Mandy!

Lexi's Birthday Cake.


Guess who likes birthday cake?

A lot!

Guess who else likes birthday cake?

Yep - still going!

Time to wash off.

Okay Asa, I know that Mommy just washed me all off, but I am still really, really hungry. Please, please, please give me some of your cake!?!

And like a good brother - he feeds her more cake! Ugh!

Time to open presents!

Okay -maybe I'll just sit back and watch Asa open them up for me.

I really liked my Bat and Wobble Penguin Cousin Mandy got for me!

Time to take a nap! And yes, here it is... this is the baby blanket my mom made for Lexi. She finished it the weekend before we left on this trip. It is absolutely amazing! We love it mom! Thank you!

Aunt Lisa showing Asa how to root for the Gators. Daddy not to happy as he is a die-hard FSU Seminoles fan! Cute watching Asa do the gator "chomp" though.