Feeling Beachy

We took some time this weekend to squeeze in one last hurrah before summer ends. My daughter starts 2nd grade in a week! A week, people! I’m not ready for that. So, no house projects to report on today. I need to get back in the swing of things soon!

Anyway, we headed down to Tybee Island, Georgia. It was our first time there and we thoroughly enjoyed it. What’s not to love about this view?

We collected sea shells!

We learned how to boogie board. The kids and the hubby did a great job riding the waves. Me? Well, it’s possible I might have cracked the board. In my defense, there was a huge wave and I had to choose between the board and my swim bottoms. In case you are wondering, I chose my swim bottoms. You’re welcome.

By the way, you see those shorts my son is wearing? I got smart after our last beach trip, which ended with him having a horrible rash on his inner thighs where the sand was rubbing on his swim trunks. These tight fitting shorts kept the sand out and our trip rash-free, thank goodness.

We ate ice cream and walked out on the pier.

At the end of the pier, we found some fishermen who had caught Atlantic Stingrays. The stingrays were dead and just sitting on the pier, but the nice man let my kids hold the dead stingray. Wasn’t that nice? And gross. Thankfully there was a sink nearby. They loved it though.

The hubby wasn’t too thrilled about the dead stingray. This is his “I can’t believe you let the kids do that” look. It’s also his “don’t take my picture” look. Unfortunately for him, I think it’s kinda hot. 🙂

We went to a super cool restaurant called The Crab Shack. The low country boil with shrimp, sausage and potatoes was fantastic. However, the highlight of the restaurant was outside. Don’t worry, that’s just my son hanging over a pit of alligators!

Yep! There was a whole lagoon of alligators outside and you could feed them pellets on the end of a makeshift fishing pole. It was a super cool experience to see the alligators up close.

We also visited Fort Pulaski, which was my favorite part of the trip. I have a whole post planned around it and the one million pictures I took of the fort.

We wrapped the trip up with more beach time. Tybee Island has the ocean side, where the waves crash hard on the shore. It also has a river side where there is still beach, but the water is much calmer. The kids enjoyed swimming in the calm water. We were even visited by a few jellyfish and hermit crabs!

We also went to Savannah on Saturday night. Hooboy! That was quite an experience. I haven’t finished editing those photos yet, but the downtown area was full of historic character. I’d love to go back when we have more time to explore.

It makes me ridiculously happy that we can explore new places together as a family. I hope we are encouraging our kids to be curious about the world around them. Most of all, I hope they learn the importance of sharing time together as a family and come to value the memories we create.

Now it is time to get into back-to-school mode. Sigh.