We had a lot of fun seeing our friends again. Jim & Chris moved to Tybee from San Diego a few years back; I hit it off with Chris, and Rod & Jim were fast friends... we miss them! They are busybusy with their own company: www.sayitright.org. It's a nifty website, check it out!

















Rod & Jim feelin' the love (or maybe the beer)


















Me & Chris


























Three little Indians

Dolphin tour. We've done this every year since we moved away. Funny how we never did it when we lived there!


















We got a sitter & went out for date night. We went downtown & went to dinner at Moon River, one of our fave restaurants, and had a yummy beer sampler and appetizers. Afterwards we hitched a ride on the ferry going across the river to the Westin, then came right back. Hey, it was free! We know how to be cheap tourists.



















Benji and Rod went fishing with our neighbor, Craig, where Benji caught his first fish! He was so proud, and of course we were, too.

















We went with our good friends to Cafe' Loco for dinner on our last night. Matt, Johnny & Benji were all mesmerized by crabs crawling around the bottom of the trash can.

Tybee - cont.

More pics to come, but...

I have to mention how much I am in LOVE with our new DVR. Seriously, besides the fact that we no longer get our local channels (which is *not* cool), it's the best thing ever & I don't see how we lived so long without it. So far I've recorded several episodes of Pop-Up Video, Twin Peaks, Big Love, and Seinfeld. Yeah, I'm all about the quality tv programs. I did also record some yoga classes, isn't that somewhat redeeming?

Tybee Island

Ok, trust me when I say I have TONS of pics to post from our trip! So this will be the first bunch, then I'll be back with more. It was a fun trip, we had a list of activities we all wanted to do... Benji: fishing, Rod: bike rides, Sophie: Applebees (???), me: restaurants (as in, not having to cook!) and working out at the very lovely YMCA on Wilmington Island. I do like our Y here in OS, but MAN does the Savannah one have it beat! Walking trails, rockin' exercise classes, huge locker rooms, ahhhh... Anyway, here are some pics from the first part of our week. Still so strange being in our 'old' house, very surreal!

4th of July!

We spent the 4th in Thomasville, on our way to Tybee. It was good to be back & even see a few old friends! We went to a festival where the kids had a blast jumping on bouncehouses & coloring. We stayed for the fireworks later & oohed and ahhed over them. Bebe' and Papa gave Sophie the cute outfit she's wearing. Below shows how Sophie & Benji took over Papa's chair with their toys - while he was still in it!

Impromptu "Camping" Trip

A few weekends ago we were headed to our friends' place for the weekend, but D got *very* sick & had to spend the weekend recuperating instead (I'm so sorry, girl!). We headed over to Flint Creek, a state park about 1.5 hours north, for a night we could pretend to camp in a shack (with electricity & running water). It was pretty fun, I guess; I got out of cooking because Rod did everything over the fire. So I liked that part. I did not, however, like sleeping on a mattress that was as old as me and I also didn't enjoy crossing a parade of water ants on my way to the bathroom the next morning. The kids were entertained with the lake right outside the front door & we had a decent hike on Saturday, so all in all I'd call it a great trip.

Dr. B

Dr. B in the house! Aunt Connie is a rockin' seamstress & makes the kids stuff whenever she can. For a long time we called Benji "Mr. B" (or B, Beans, etc.) so she made him a jacket and Aunt Dine embroidered "Dr. B" on it. The kids are always doctoring their stuffed animals, so this prop comes in handy. I've got to remember to let him wear it to his next checkup.

From Blah to Voilà!

So my requested Mother's Day gift this year was a decorating session with Angie Simms from The Very Thing, a cool shop downtown. I saw a Katrina cottage that she decorated in a Coastal Living issue a few months back & since I'm pretty much obsessed with all things CL, that cemented my decision. It was awesome; I took the kids to a bday party & to the mall, so this is what the living area was like when we left:




















And when we came back it was like this:

























They also changed a few things in the breakfast nook & kitchen area, but the LR was by far the most rearranged. And they only ended up spending a grand total of $17 for a few items, so 99% of it was stuff we already had (Rod was pretty excited about that part). When they left I was kind of like, well duh, I should have *known* that would look better there. Because I was actually fairly happy with the house pre-Angie, but I was pretty much in love with it afterwards! I kept wandering around discovering 'new' things that I hadn't noticed previously. It was the best Mother's Day gift I could imagine... thanks Rod, Ben & Sophie!

VBS & Al Fresco

Ben went to his preschool's VBS this week & they had a performance the last night. It was very cute (he's in the middle, white shirt, in the pic below), I always love watching the kids get up & perform in front of a ton of people & it doesn't even faze them. He did a great job! Afterwards we walked down to our fave Italian restaurant with our friends, Jim & Marian, and kids Patrick & Ronan. The kids amused themselves with throwing pennies in the fountain & benefited from Marian's mad paper-airplane-making skills. It was just a really nice, relatively mild night that makes me lucky to live in Ocean Springs... I might revisit that thought when the temps begin to stick at 98 degrees or more consistently in July/August. Sophie declined to be photographed this evening.