God gives and takes away! Mark was really upset that Flo would not be able to swim this summer due to bacteria in all types of water that people enjoy in the summer. Gross if you think about it. Due to the graft the doctor put water off limits for the summer. Mark had hoped and prayed that we would be able to take Flo on a mini-vaca before the big surgery. I did not see it in the money cards, but on the last day of school I got paid twice. Two paychecks. Crazy right. They went ahead and paid us for June. This has never happened to us and Mark saw it as a gift from God. So, I had 3 days to plan our little mini-vaca and he had that same amount of time to see if he could get a day off. Sunday he got the news he was off and I started searching for a place to stay. We needed something close, something cheap, and something with beach and pool amenities. If anyone out there reading this blog knows me, know that I am cheap and a huge planner and this was way out of my comfort zone. I like to plan for everything and I had no time for that. I went to the Internet and prayed that I would find a spot that was cheap and covered all of our criteria. My husband really wanted to go to Jekyll. One of our most favorite spots. We just love it there. I scored and Wednesday morning our journey began. It was a pretty easy drive. The kids did great and we only made a few stops. I have to admit that we made the kids think we were staying in a tent. They were very surprised to find out we were actually staying in a hotel with two pools on the BEACH! That was a little bonus. I had found a coupon online. I had already scored some cheap rates at booking.com, but the coupon would not work online, so it said to give it to the clerk at check-in. When I gave it to the clerk it would not work and so the clerk called someone who informed him that the coupon was third party and had to be used when booking. The consolation prize a room on the beach. Momma scored a 205.00 a night room for 118.00 and free breakfast to boot. Yeah! Love this hotel and we will stay there again.
We had a great evening. We went to the beach first thing and it was just awesome. Beautiful as always. We then went to the pool and let the girls swim. We had a picnic in the room and went to bed. Thursday morning we woke up to some clouds, but it was not too bad. Then we went to breakfast and the entire room was abuzz with chatter and the weather channel was on with the news of Andrea and the direction she will take. As we sat and enjoyed our breakfast the weather channel gave us a grim description of what our day would be like. The wind started to pick up some as we sat. We decided to go down and check things out before we headed out for the day. We went to the beach and then to the pool. The rain started and we decided to get dressed and head out. We went to the little village of shops on Jekyll. Mark went to the post office and we went to the shop next door. It was sprinkling but no big deal. Flo fell in love with the Hermit Crabs. She had brought the remainder of her money to the beach and she was itching to spend it. Hermit Crab was her goal. She walked around the store and told me all the reasons why a Hermit Crab would make a great pet. It would keep her from being board, etc., etc. I explained to her that we would go to Walmart and see if they had a cage cheaper than $25.00. We got back to the car and informed Daddy of our purchase plan. He agreed to take us to Walmart since our day at the beach looked to be a wash. I know at this point many people are wondering why getting wet would be an issue at the beach, but the winds kept picking up and the water was very choppy. The mom in me said a trip to Walmart might be a safer bet, plus Daddy was craving Mexican and since little Miss Flo would not be able to eat chips for 3 months Mexican one the family vote for lunch. We went to Walmart and it started sprinkling rain. The hurricane was close to touching down in Florida at this point. Momma was right and the $25.00 cage was a mere $6.00 at Walmart. Whoo Hoo! When we made it to the Mexican restaurant for lunch it was pouring down rain and when we got inside the Weather Channel was on every television and again it was the main topic of conversation for the lunch time rush. We sat and watched the footage of it hitting Florida and then going full speed ahead across the state. We then saw the path the hurricane was taking and it was heading to Jacksonville, Florida. We were only one hour and fifteen minutes north of Jacksonville. We decided to stop on the way back to the island to get some extra snacks and other supplies just in case. We got to island and we were in a torrential down pour. We had to get to the little island shop to pick up our Hermit crab before heading back to our room for the night. When we got back to the room we decided to put our crab friend down and walk down to the beach. Everyone had their televisions on the Weather Channel and their windows open. You could feel the wind as you walked out and the rain was coming down in an angle. We walked down to the beach and water was unbelievable. It was dark everywhere in the sky and the wind was just unreal. I have never felt so scared and amazed at the same time. It was just hard to describe. I will say that the power of these storms lets you know that you are very small and powerless. After about 15 minutes we decided to go back to our room and bunker down for the night. We stayed glued to the weather channel and about 5:45pm a waterspout was seen near the sub station next to Cumberland Island. Not far from us. Also a tornado was seen forming near St. Mary's just south of us. Then the alert came on for us to go to the bathroom. The girls grabbed pillows and the crab and headed in. Mark and I stayed near the television waiting. Mark went to the window and was just speechless at the water and storm surge. The wind was unreal. Earlier the wind was about 20 to 25 miles per hour but now it was closer to 35 or 40 mph. At one point we told the girls to stay inside the bathroom and not leave. Mark then told me to come out on the balcony. We took pictures of what we thought might have been a waterspout forming. I stayed as long as I could taking pictures but then fear came over me and I went back inside. It was just so unreal and real at the same time. We were in the middle of a real tropical storm and we had no place to go. At one point we heard the causeway to Amelia Island was closed. I was concerned about the one to Jekyll. By 7:00 the first wave of storms was over, but another band was due to hit around 9:00pm. I could not sleep until after midnight. The wind was so strong it was hitting the building and causing the over hang to move and make this awful sound like it was about to blow off. It did that all night long so I continued to wake up and look outside to see if the entire pool area was flooded. The next morning we awoke to broken clouds and Mr. Sunshine. There were palms from the palm trees everywhere. We found out at breakfast that the parking lot did flood briefly in the night. We were excited about a day of fun in the sun and we spent the entire day out in the sun. Good and bad. Good because we had a blast on the beach. We walked about 2 miles on the beach checking out all the good things the storm brought in. It was bad for mating Horseshoe crabs. They were dead all over the beach. We also saw driftwood, huge pieces that came in. Hermit beach crabs were among our many treasures to pick up and release. AG and I saw our favorite Welks strewn along the beach edge and we also threw some Welk eggs back into the ocean. Mark and AG got ahead of us and headed back to the pool. Flo and I decided to take our time and look for shark's teeth. We were right at the edge of the water when we saw a couple looking out at the water. We looked and we saw a crew of Dolphins. One of them was less than 5 feet from us. They were just swimming along. We could see their noses and everything. It was amazing. We stood still not saying a word until they were out of sight. This is big for Flo and I. We are talkers. God is amazing and His creatures are impressive. I have never honestly been that close to a wild dolphin. Watching one on a boat is one thing but for it just be that up close and personal was truly amazing for both us. Flo will never forget it. We hurried back to the pool to let AG and Mark know what we saw. I think AG was a little sad she missed it. With a day of sun and fun came a little sunburn, but it was so worth it. Sunblock used and reapplied, but we still got burned. I, of course, got the worst of it. Everybody else just got burned around their bathing suit lines. We did have a great day though and we added a new family member, "Hurricane" the Hermit crab. Evidently, Hermit crabs need to live with a friend. They get lonely. So "Hermie" got a friend. We went to St. Simon's for a late lunch and prepared for our trip home. It was so much fun and we are glad that Flo got this last mini-vacation before surgery. We had breakfast Saturday morning and headed for home. We had two days until surgery.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Bucket List - Wild HORSES done!
Have you really embraced the idea that God is amazing by just looking at the beauty in Nature? Seriously, take a time out and check out the world around you for just a second. God is amazing and the creatures He has placed on this earth for us to enjoy are astounding. There is so much detail and planning into each one. Each time you learn about a creature you have to say, "God is in this!" No way anything else could accomplish so much detail in so many things. Big bang, I don't think so!
In May my oldest daughter had a field trip in coastal Georgia. For years I have been trying to convince my beloved husband to take us to Cumberland Island and it was just not anything he was interested in. The field trip included a day trip to Cumberland Island. I was not expecting a great deal from this experience because Wild Horses are myth in my small little world. There was no way we would actually see one and every person I have ever talked about this with said sometimes you see them and sometimes you don't.
The start of our day trip was just amazing. We went to St. Mary's and got on the ferry. A boat trip was what I was expecting. It included so much more. It was one of the most beautiful rides I have every taken. Just gorgeous views of wild life and scenery. The Marshes may be full of mosquitoes, but they are beautiful. Just amazingly beautiful. My oldest and I just looked at this beauty in awe. Just amazing. Before the trip ended we were being followed by dolphins. A little bonus. We left the boat and traveled up a small dock to a museum and some beautiful live oak trees. It was just like something in a book. I was in awe of it all. As we started our 7 mile trek, we were engulfed in these beautiful and majestic trees. Then we traveled through a small forest area. All along we kept seeing signs of those illustrious wild horses but none presented themselves to us. We continued to on our journey to the Carnegie's "Dungeness". The grounds themselves are quite breathtaking. As we entered the gardens we realized we were not alone, we saw a huge wild turkey. He did not seem to be bothered by us and just kept on doing his thing as we walked by. We walked past the beautiful "Dungeness" to a trail and we once again saw signs of the ever illusive wild horses. We came to a clearing with dampness and under our feet were thousands maybe more teeny, tiny crabs. They were every where and upon silence you could here them crawling across the sand. It was just amazing. As we crossed they would just separate and make room for us. We also learned that the ones with the large white claw were the boys. So you could look at the thousands of them and tell which ones were boys and which were the girls. Just amazing. A sea of crabs that went on forever. They were about 3 inches wide. Just little bitty guys, but still amazing. We continued on our path and once again signs of the wild horses, but no horses. Then our guide just stopped us. She said, "listen." We could here horses. They were right there in the woods near us. She made us stop and back up to give them an opportunity to cross. There they were in all of their beauty. They came from the woods beside us and traveled across the path and just ate grass in front of us as we stood in awe. They were large, majestic, beautiful, and in the mix were two amazing miracles. One was a little foal born in the spring and one was a solid white yearling. They were absolutely amazing. The story of these horses is mythical and takes many twists and turns. Some believe they were left by the Spanish, others believe other Europeans brought them to the island, and others believe they were brought later to the island. They are mixed with many breeds due to the Carnegie's and others mixing domestic breeds in with the herds. They are beautiful and look like no other horses I have ever seen.
The entire trip was a memory I will never forget. The nightly exhaustion and painful sunburn were just a small price to pay for memories with my daughter we will never forget. It was just awesome. And the fact that God created it all makes me just continue to be in awe of what He can do in all things.
In May my oldest daughter had a field trip in coastal Georgia. For years I have been trying to convince my beloved husband to take us to Cumberland Island and it was just not anything he was interested in. The field trip included a day trip to Cumberland Island. I was not expecting a great deal from this experience because Wild Horses are myth in my small little world. There was no way we would actually see one and every person I have ever talked about this with said sometimes you see them and sometimes you don't.
The start of our day trip was just amazing. We went to St. Mary's and got on the ferry. A boat trip was what I was expecting. It included so much more. It was one of the most beautiful rides I have every taken. Just gorgeous views of wild life and scenery. The Marshes may be full of mosquitoes, but they are beautiful. Just amazingly beautiful. My oldest and I just looked at this beauty in awe. Just amazing. Before the trip ended we were being followed by dolphins. A little bonus. We left the boat and traveled up a small dock to a museum and some beautiful live oak trees. It was just like something in a book. I was in awe of it all. As we started our 7 mile trek, we were engulfed in these beautiful and majestic trees. Then we traveled through a small forest area. All along we kept seeing signs of those illustrious wild horses but none presented themselves to us. We continued to on our journey to the Carnegie's "Dungeness". The grounds themselves are quite breathtaking. As we entered the gardens we realized we were not alone, we saw a huge wild turkey. He did not seem to be bothered by us and just kept on doing his thing as we walked by. We walked past the beautiful "Dungeness" to a trail and we once again saw signs of the ever illusive wild horses. We came to a clearing with dampness and under our feet were thousands maybe more teeny, tiny crabs. They were every where and upon silence you could here them crawling across the sand. It was just amazing. As we crossed they would just separate and make room for us. We also learned that the ones with the large white claw were the boys. So you could look at the thousands of them and tell which ones were boys and which were the girls. Just amazing. A sea of crabs that went on forever. They were about 3 inches wide. Just little bitty guys, but still amazing. We continued on our path and once again signs of the wild horses, but no horses. Then our guide just stopped us. She said, "listen." We could here horses. They were right there in the woods near us. She made us stop and back up to give them an opportunity to cross. There they were in all of their beauty. They came from the woods beside us and traveled across the path and just ate grass in front of us as we stood in awe. They were large, majestic, beautiful, and in the mix were two amazing miracles. One was a little foal born in the spring and one was a solid white yearling. They were absolutely amazing. The story of these horses is mythical and takes many twists and turns. Some believe they were left by the Spanish, others believe other Europeans brought them to the island, and others believe they were brought later to the island. They are mixed with many breeds due to the Carnegie's and others mixing domestic breeds in with the herds. They are beautiful and look like no other horses I have ever seen.
The entire trip was a memory I will never forget. The nightly exhaustion and painful sunburn were just a small price to pay for memories with my daughter we will never forget. It was just awesome. And the fact that God created it all makes me just continue to be in awe of what He can do in all things.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)