St. George Island (Copy Cat Trip)

Three times in a row to St. George Island didn't sound like too much when I made the reservations.  I chose three times because I wanted to be sure Amelia got in a camping trip to the beach since she loves it so much.  Our girls camping trip was great.  On July 10, Bubba and I headed back to SGI for three nights just us.

It was very similar to the outing with Amy and Amelia except this time I rented three Red Box movies for me to watch instead of Amelia.  The first one was "I Saw the Light".  It was the Hank Williams story and contained a lot of the old country music I listened to as a child.  I did not realize that he was only 29 years old when he died.  The next night I watched "The Lady in the Van" starring Maggie Smith.  I'm a fan of hers after "Downton Abbey".  It was a sweet, but sad mostly true story.  Then I watched "The Choice" which was a Nicholas Sparks book that I had read at least twice.  The book evoked copious tears but the movie didn't portray the angst of making the choice nearly as well as the book.  Not even a tear was shed for the movie.  As I've mentioned before, there is usually not any tv reception at SGI other than PBS.  Bubba can be happy with that, but I need more.

We had two really good days at the beach.  The umbrella worked great for Bubba and we were able to read under its shade when we weren't in the water cooling off.

We ate at the Blue Parrot which we both enjoyed and at BJ's where we had a good pizza.  So we enjoyed two good meals out, but I must say that when I did this trip with Amy and Amelia, we had ice cream.  When I mentioned ice cream this time, I got the looks that says, "How can you possibly hold anything else?"

Grouper Fingers

Popcorn Shrimp

While eating out on the deck at the Blue Parrot, Bubba said "Did you see that girl in the skimpy bikini?"  "The one with all the tattoos?" I asked.  "She had tattoos?" he responded. (He's all mine!)

While we were enjoying the pleasures of the beach, Amelia was attending volleyball camp at the high school where Amy teaches.  One of Amy's fellow teachers who helped with the camp told Amy that Amelia said, "I'm taking down my ponytail so I can have a great sweat."  (I'm recording all the funny Amelia stories until Amy resumes her blog.)

We were supposed to return to SGI this week for another three nights, but the weather didn't look favorable for spending time on the beach so we stayed home.

Amelia had her first piano lesson Monday.  Amy sent a video of Amelia playing her first piece.  It was precious.  She was counting by nodding her head.

Precious

Amy has been busy working on things for the writing lab at school which she will be starting this year.  Students complete with cute "writing" t-shirts will be helping other students perfect their writing skills.  This will require more time at school for Amy, but she seems to be excited about the potential for high school students to hone their writing abilities.  I'm excited for her and I wish her well in this endeavor.

Love their t-shirts!  School name is on back of shirt.

Girls Camping Trip (And Events Prior)

After a dream vacation everything else seems mundane.  But life goes on just not quite as thrilling.

First order of business after returning home was getting a new roof.  Our old roof should have lasted us a few more years, but there was a really bad leak on our back porch which was causing a great deal of unnecessary stress.  Bubba asked one roofer to give us an estimate for repairs and he did not even want to attempt it.  We then decided to go ahead and get the whole thing replaced.  We dealt with a contractor who showed up early for his appointment, called back when he said he would and started the job on the day he said.  His crew came in and took off two layers of shingles, repaired a number of rotten places that we didn't know about and put a composition roof on our back porch. The whole thing was done in one day.  He had a big crew and we had trucks parked in front and in back of our house.  They finished up just after dark and we now have a roof that should last longer than we do.  Hallelujah!!

Cooking up stuff to go on porch roof

3 of the 20 roofers

Household and yard chores were done.  We put some corn and peas in the freezer.  Then began the countdown until Amy and Amelia arrived for our planned Girls' Camping Trip at St. George Island.  Bubba was going to set us up at the St. George Island State Park in the travel trailer and then he was returning home.

Amy called and she had decided to come here via Baton Rouge.  Her friend, Samantha, had invited them to come for her daughter Grace's birthday party. Grace was Amelia's best friend when they lived in Baton Rouge.  They accepted the invitation and planned to surprise Grace with Amelia's attendance.

Then I learned that Amy wanted to drive at least as far as Mobile on Friday the day before they were to be in BR.  (Sounded good to me.)  Then I heard that Amelia was in a play at the Fine Arts Camp she had been attending that week and the play didn't start until 3:00.  Amy said, "We'll be packed and ready to leave right after the play.  You know it doesn't get dark until late anyway."  So....I tried not to worry, but when it was really dark I called Amy to see if they were in for the night and they were going to be on the road another 45 minutes before they reached their motel.  I prayed and prayed.  (Bubba said he prayed too.)  I even texted Judy and asked her to pray.  I was really worried, but finally they arrived and were safe in their room for the night.

I think these are the cutest pictures!  What a great surprise for Grace!

Amelia was also reunited with Sophia this weekend!

Amy said that they were in the pool from 9:00 - 5:00 on Sunday.

Their weekend with old friends was great.  I'm truly glad they made that trip. They arrived here Monday evening in time for supper (Fried Chicken).

Tuesday we proceeded to St. George Island and Bubba set us up and left.  We were on our own.  We got on our bathing suits and went to the beach.  Conditions were perfect for swimming and Amelia stayed under the water as much as she stayed on top.  There were a lot of little fish bumping against our legs but eventually we all got used to that and quit jumping every time it happened.  After the beach we all showered (sort of) outside the camper and went across the bridge to the dollar store in East Point where we rented some Red Box movies for Amelia to watch.  Our plan was to eat at the Blue Parrot on SGI, but the line waiting was daunting and we decided to go with pizza at BJ's and return to Blue Parrot for a late lunch another day.

I fixed chocolate chip pancakes and bacon on Wednesday morning.  Then we set out to spend the whole day at the beach and were going to grill hot dogs and make s'mores for supper.  It was another beautiful day, but we soon developed problems with our umbrella. In fact, it turned inside out and died.  We went back into "town" where I bought another umbrella which blew over and Amy had to chase it down the beach.  So we spent the majority of our time in the water with Amelia.  I got too much sun and Amy was a little red, but Amelia, who already has a beautiful tan, was coated in sunscreen and did not have a pink spot on her.

Amy and Amelia - beautiful day!

The hot dogs turned out great.  I think I even impressed Amy (and myself) with my grilling ability.  Our s'mores had to be done in the microwave since it started raining about the time I took up the hot dogs.  

Later that evening we took flashlights and went down to the beach.  Amy thought Amelia would enjoy seeing the crabs scooting across the beach at night. Boy she was wrong about that!  Amelia, who is always so brave about things, began shrieking and crying to leave.  She was so afraid that a crab was going to get on her foot.

Thursday began with rain and it stayed that way all day.  We went to Apalachicola to look around in the various little stores there.  I was surprised at the number of people.  I guess that is all there is to do when the weather is not good enough to go to the beach.  We made it back to SGI in time to have a late lunch at the Blue Parrot.  We ate out back on the deck and it was very pleasant.  The food was delicious.  Amy got fried grouper fingers and I got fried popcorn shrimp.  Amelia, of course, got a grilled cheese.

Watching a movie and drinking her morning hot chocolate

Just before dark Amy talked Amelia into going for a walk on the beach with her.  I stayed behind and spent my time sweeping out all the sand that had accumulated in the trailer.

Our special girls!

Thankfully, it was too early for crabs!

I hope Amy and Amelia enjoyed the outing as much as I did.  We read and talked --- important topics like our favorite cake, pie, restaurant, etc.  We also enjoyed a variety of snacks.

I don't remember taking this picture, but I like it.

Bubba arrived the next morning to pull us back home.  Amy decided that she would go on back to Atlanta that afternoon since she was leaving for California on Sunday.  We had a quick lunch and they were on the road by 12:30.

Amelia's signature on Bubba's Father's Day Card

I've just got to tell this funny thing Amelia said from a few weeks ago.

Amelia:  "Nana, I have a Goosebumps book."
Nana:  "You do?"
Amelia:  "Yes, I read the first chapter.  It was real creepy.  Can you believe my                mom lets me buy stuff like that!?"

She is the funniest kid I've ever known!  Love her bunches!