jekyll island: the beach

The day after the 4th we packed up the car and headed to Jekyll Island for our summer vacation.  With all the other things going on this summer we could only get away for five days and they went by way too fast.

This was the first time any of us had ever been to Jekyll and we loved it.  It is a beautiful and quiet and non touristy island which is pretty perfect for us.  Our hotel had a board walk to the beach which we trekked down each morning laden down with all of our beach supplies.

Micah's favorite beach activity was taking the net into the waves and trying to catch sea creatures.  He caught tons of little shrimp and even got a small squid.

Connor's favorite was whatever got him the wettest and dirtiest.  He spent lots of time with Micah riding waves and even longer riding waves alone.  Other times he would just sit in the sand staring and contemplating while the water just rushed over him.

Logan went into the water with me several times but he preferred digging and building in the sand which is my favorite too so I didn't mind.

fourth of july

This was our second 4th of July in Oxford and it was even more fun that the first.  Mainly because we were able to watch the parade in the sunshine instead of a monsoon like last year.  The annual Oxford parade's route goes right in front of our house so we invited friends and neighbors to camp out in the front yard to watch.

We had one unfun moment when a friend of Connor's fell when climbing a tree.  While we knew he wasn't dangerously injured, his parents called an ambulance just in case under the suggestion of a neighbor friend who just happened to be a retired EMT.  Sweet Zach ended up having a broken collarbone and bounced back pretty quickly but bless all of our hearts for the fear we were each filling when we heard the tumble.

After the parade we had invited friends to spend the day swimming, playing yard games, and grilling out.  There ended up being a big crowd of 30+ folks and we all had a blast.  One dad taught the boys a game to play in the pool where you "hide" a toothpick on the bottom of the deep end and then wait for it to float up.  The first one to jump in and grab it from the surface gets to be the next hider.  They have played this game for hours since!

After a restful afternoon and lots of packing for our next day beach trip, we headed closer to The Square in Covington to watch the fireworks.  One of my favorite parts was seeing our main highway with parking lots filled with friends on blankets and chairs ready to watch plus the thousands crowded near the square the same way.  Seeing a community together in a shared experience gives a small town added charm.

God Bless America!

smyrna camp meeting

Zach had the opportunity to lead worship and assist with youth activities for a few days of Smyrna Presbyterian's week long annual camp meeting and the rest of the family got to tag along.  

They members there were very kind and hospitable and made sure the boys and us had plenty of snacks, food, and activities to join in on.  We were able to go fishing, be in a bicycle parade, and play plenty of frisbee golf and cornhole.  There was also a pool that the boys were more than willing to test out both during the day and at night.

Newton Green

This cutie was honored to be selected to be on one of the All-Star teams for the 5-6 year old division.  In his age group they choose players for four teams and have a tournament with just each other. 

 He practiced hard for three weeks and then spent five days in a row playing for Newton Green.  After the pool games they were ranked second and finished the tournament in the same place.  The two losses they had, one in pool games and one in tourney games, were to the same team and they both could have gone either way.  

We all had so much fun watching him "lock it up" at first base and "put 'em up and put 'em down" as he ran around the bases.  

It definitely made for a baseball filled June but my boys didn't seem to mind.