November 2014 part 2

Here are the finished horses of Ellia, Quincy and Ashlyn.  All the girls seemed to really enjoy making them and playing with them at Ash's party.

 

Just love her.

We decided to sign up for a fun run with the girls.  It was a freezing morning!!  They were troopers though and Ashlyn even ran the entire mile!  They especially loved the refreshments afterward.

oh, and playing on the playground.

Beautiful clouds.

This girl pretty much helps herself to anything at any height.

She has also discovered the cd player and wants to listen to the Frozen soundtrack or Christmas music all the time.

I got to go to Ellia's Thanksgiving feast at school.

I also made Quincy a little skirt for fall that she wants to wear every day!  It is pretty cute if I do say so myself!

Ashlyn's school did a little performance before they had their feast. She actually did some of the hand motions and knew some words, but I had a hard time seeing between chasing Quincy and peeking through feathers.

Ashlyn is so proud of her school, no matter how many times I go there she want's to show me the rooms, "but have you seen the rooms?"

A little tent hideout under the table...sneaking snacks.

A trail Ashlyn made one day that made me smile.

Vacation time!  Our first stop was Panama City beach.  We had a condo style room with a great view, and despite the chilly air the girls enjoyed the beach and the pool.

Unfortunately I thought I was taking lot's of pictures of them and it turned out they were all selfies...I blame the blaring sun.

They loved the heated pool.

View from our room.

Quincy wanted to see how tall she was. 

A bit of fall color in the neighborhood.

Enjoying the view from the balcony.

A drive by - Florida State University.

It was getting dark but we also made a stop at the University of Florida.

Our home while we enjoyed Orlando.

Ashlyn made herself right at home with the hotel stationary.

Up bright and early for our day at Disneyworld.  We were like the second or third car in the parking lot and the first in line for tickets. It was definitely worth it.  We had done everything we really wanted to by 11 am, a few things twice! Plus we never waited more than 15 or 20 minutes for anything, well 30 minutes to see Belle and Ariel.

Both girls ended up going on Splash mountain with a little bribing.

The jungle cruise was kindof fun because they had Christmas presents and Santa costumes in the scenery.

When we rode It's a Small World, Quincy kept trying to get Jeremy's attention by tapping him repeatedly and then pointing at something.

A little lunch break.

When we saw Belle, Ellia got picked to play Maurice. I was so proud that she volunteered and went through with it! 

It rained a little in the early afternoon and I think that sent a lot of people home so we got to ride some of the girls favorites again with little or no wait.

When we stopped here the game had been over for a few hours but there were gates open so Jeremy just acted like he was supposed to be there and got to take some great pictures of the field.

DW

Dinner at Cosmic Rays, Ellia asked me to take her picture.

It was fun that we had watched Swiss Family Robinson with the girls and then they got to see the tree house.

The next morning we weren't as rushed and got to Lego land at a decent time.  We went straight to the cars because that was supposed to be the busy ride. Both Ashlyn and Ellia were able to ride, but only Ellia enjoyed it.  I think Ashlyn was too stressed. They watched a little rules video before and they made it like you were getting your driver's license.  Ellia took it very seriously and was really proud when they handed her a card at the end.  She even said later it was her favorite ride between both parks.  She also mentioned that since she knew all the rules she could tell if we were driving right.

One of the downfalls of LEGOLAND was that the rides and workers just aren't efficient like Disneyworld.  We waited 20-30 minutes for almost every ride, and loading was like one kid at a time.  This boat ride one was super fun though!  We were trying to squirt each other and laughing and steering the wrong way. I couldn't stop laughing.

Always one of my favorite parts of LEGOLAND...miniature land.  They had San Francisco.

Panama City Beach (how ironic!)

Another one of the girls favorite rides, and the one that took the longest wait.  Especially since they both wanted to ride a white horse. Oh. My. Gosh.

Ellia was brave enough to come on the Dragon rollercoaster this time. In San Diego Ashlyn has wanted to ride it twice but after Jeremy took her on a wooden rollercoaster here she was done with rollercoasters for the day. Ellia said she liked it but didn't want to go again.

Flight school ride, also one of our first. Not such a great idea, it kindof scared the girls for anything big after that.

Las Vegas.

Stennis Space Center in Florida.

Ellia showing off her driver's license.  They were bummed they didn't get to ride the second story on this carousal but again, the wait was long and the park was nearly closed.

Building cars to test.

Duplo Land!  I feel bad we didn't spend longer there, Quincy had so much fun.

 

We got back to the hotel at a decent time and used some of my new toys to hook my phone up to the TV and watch Christmas movies from Netflix. It was nice to enjoy the room and not have the kids bouncing off the walls. We definitely needed that relaxation! One night we chose Ernest Saves Christmas and I fell asleep pretty quick but Jeremy said the girls loved it.

 

 

Ashlyn got to try a new swimsuit and it made her cute little body look even cuter! She is getting so big!

 

A little morning swim before we head to colder territory.

The view from our room. As it began to storm on this particular night I started getting the feeling of the Christmas season because they had some trees decorated with lights outside and we were cozy in our hotel room.

It also helped that they were transforming the lobby during our stay.

I guess the last few days wore her out.

It's too bad we were only in our next hotel in Savannah, Georgia for one night because it was awesome!  A nice size kitchen and two separate rooms and bathrooms.

Quincy went ahead and staked her claim to the master bedroom.

We did a little driving around the night we arrived and found the spot where they filmed Forest Gump on the bus stop bench.  They had to move the bench to a museum because so many people were taking bits and pieces of it.

 Leopold's ice cream. Famous for their Tutti-Frutti ice cream.   "Famed lyricist Johnny Mercer grew up a block away from Leopold’s and was a faithful customer when he was home from Hollywood.  He even told Peter he would write a song about Leopold’s famous “Tutti-Frutti” ice cream, which had become a Leopold’s hallmark and Savannah’s favorite.    Stratton Leopold, Peter’s youngest child learned the art of making premium ice cream as a child.   Upon his father’s passing, Stratton took over the business, continuing his family’s legacy.  He later left Savannah to pursue his dream of working in Hollywood.  Today, Stratton is an active member of the Hollywood motion picture community, serving as a Producer on films such as Mission Impossible 3, The Sum of All Fears, The General’s Daughter and Parker.  Stratton has worked on many other blockbuster hits during his career in the film industry including The Big Chill and John Carpenter’s They Live.  Props and posters from these films can be found in the shop today.

Too bad I had no idea about the tutti fuitti until later. I think I had cookies n cream.

 

There were so many beautiful "squares" in Savannah, it was so fun walking around down town and seeing them all surrounded by beautiful southern homes and quaint businesses.

This was the birthplace of Girl Scouts and we got to see a lot of the buildings and homes that were part of that.

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

We rode the streetcar here, a nice chance to warm up.

 

Cobblestone streets along the river.

The Waving Girl.  Florence Martus, aka "the Waving Girl", took it upon herself to be the unofficial greeter of all ships that entered and left the Port of Savannah, Georgia, between 1887 and 1931.

 

 

Riding the ferry

Such a charming riverfront.

Taking a break while I shopped in a honey store! 

I love this stretch.  It's a working road with walkways over head and a road above it too!  The alcoves are some kind of storage. one even had a chandelier in it. I thought the bricks, iron, moss and growth were so beautiful.

Loved this sign. Ha, never I've never heard of historic steps before, but man those things were steep, they definitely warranted a risk sign.

 On our way to dinner at Paula Deen's restaurant we came across a movie being filmed.  It was car crash and it took FOREVER.  Ashlyn was really interested of I probably wouldn't have gotten my way to stay and watch.  The cars were old and barely running. When they were finally ready to film they took a shot at it but had to stop to adjust something. Well after that the blue car wouldn't run anymore so they had to push it just to get it rolling to the crash site! I think its a sort of series called Left Behind.

 Jeremy drove me like 2o miles outside of the city to see the Tybee island lighthouse.  I was so tired and slept the whole way and then it was closed.  What a nice husband to try to do that for me though!

 

Tybee Island Light is a lighthouse next to the Savannah River Entrance, on the northeast end of Tybee Island, Georgia. It is one of seven surviving colonial era lighthouse towers, though highly modified in the mid 1800s.

Our final destination spot. Charleston, South Carolina.  We stayed on Isle of the Palms in a resort called Wild Dunes. This place was HUGE.  All of it situated on the ocean front.

Our room over looked a hoard of condos and we weren't quite lined up with a row so we couldn't see the beach but could see the ocean. 

We could see the boardwalks that lead to the beach..this place is crazy.

 

 

Despite the cold, we took some great walks on the beach and found TONS of shells, and a lot of starfish to throw back in too! 

 

Exploring Downtown Charleston.

Working up our appetites.

Rainbow Row

Thanksgiving dinner at Saffron Buffet.

Dessert was the best! little pumpkin pie squares, even though it was a buffet we ended up having to  limit the girls :)

They each made place mats at school and were excited to use them at dinner.

Feeling full.

Citadel Military University

Working off the big dinner.

 

 Ready for some Christmas spirit!  This was such a fun drive through lights and a cute little village to walk around in the center.

Huge sand sculpture.

Fires for s'mores.

This display was my favorite, The lights would come on in sequence, and the bridge was so pretty.

Isles of Palms. Wild Dunes

As an anniversary present, Jeremy bought me an hour massage...pure bliss.

Touring Charles Town Landing.

There was a little "zoo" that the girls enjoyed. I think the cool weather helped all the animals feel more active.

Quincy really likes to walk lately, and NOT hold hands.  She walked with her hands out like this for quite awhile.

The bobcats were especially fun to watch, as they wrestled each other.

If we weren't careful we could've lost Quincy to one of the animal enclosures.

Charles Towne Landing preserves the original site of the first permanent English settlement in Carolina. They had rebuilt some of the suspected means of protection...the girls could have played on these "hills" the rest of the day.

A replica of a supply ship.

A more complete replica of a supply ship.  We got to go in the bottom and they quoted some huge numbers of supplies that would be crammed into a boat this size and transported up and down the river.

Live Oak walkway, always love these.

One of our last stops was called the Angel Oak Tree. I was pleasantly surprised by how cool  a tree could be!  "Angel Oak Tree is perhaps the Oldest Live Oak in North America if not the World. Dated at 1500+ years this Tree is truly majestic."