Mrs. O's Kindergarten and Family Blog: Wedding Vacation...Savannah and Tybee Island!

(Kindergarten families signing in to view last week's activities,

please scroll down a bit for the archive on the right...you should find Week 30...

feel free to enjoy the wedding blog as well!)

Here is a very happy blog!

A very long, very picture heavy,

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY blog!

Our family trip for our son's destination wedding was finally here!

Fionn and I could not sleep at the park and fly hotel

in Egan the night before...

Our flight left bright and early Wednesday morning.

Sorcha and Fionn had never flown before! What fun!

Fionn got stopped at security...they told him he did not have to take off his jacket or shoes, but apparently the new fangeled body imaging machine could not "see" through his sweatshirt.

Poor guy!

The security guy was very nice to him, though!

We had a lay over in Charlotte NC...great rockers!

We arrived at Savannah and drove 30 minutes to the coast

to our hotel on Tybee Island!

WOW!!!

Everything was perfect....the view, the room, the hotel!

We had our first meal across the street at STINGRAY's...

real coastal seafood....MMMMM!!!!

We all had a fruity non-alcoholic drink...tasty and tropical!

My mom and stepdad, Bob, look sooo happy!

It is so exciting to see the kids' names on the sign!

Graham Brasic and Melissa Carlberg

As soon as we could, we were in the Atlantic Ocean!

We all brought suits but not once put them on...

we just went in with our clothes on

every.single.time!

Yep, a bit cold...someone told us they could always tell the

NORTHERNERS..."cuz ya'll go in the ocean in April!"

We found tons of sand dollars...at first we threw them back in the ocean. Then someone told us the reason they were washing up was they were either dead or dying. So we kept a few!

Also had fun poking at the jellyfish!

See that great pier?

That is where the reception is!

Maeve and Sorcha

John and I

went on a Haunted Savannah tour based on this book

that Sorcha and I read prior to our trip:

The tour started at the gate to the Colonial Cemetery!

There are many haunted tours of Savannah...you could even ride in a hearse or a shuttle lit up with ghost buster green!

Crazy!

We walked for an hour and a half...nice history of Savannah but not too creepy...stay tuned for the next tour....

John and Lee and I woke up early Thursday just to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic! So beautiful...right out our window!

Then we met up with my Mom and

all 4 of us took a mile beach walk!

For lunch we all drove back to Savannah for lunch and shopping!

Savannah is designed around "squares"

which are beautiful parks...they are patterned everywhere

throughout the city!

It was such a beautiful city that General Sherman presented it to

Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas gift rather than burning it down

like he did all the other cities from Atlanta to the ocean.

Whew!

After lunch we did some serious shopping...cookies!

Yep, I sampled every single one!

Melissa suggested the "Pete the Cat" art gallery.

The illustrator of the beloved Pete books lives in Savannah.

Before James Dean drew Pete, he started putting a little blue cat in some of his illustrations. The paintings with the little blue cats in them sold like hot cakes!

I even bought a small one!

My first "real" art purchase!

No, It's none of these...these all went for over $3000!

Yikes!

Here's mine! A small small small print...

but I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

Here is Graham and sibs acting goofy at the gallery...

and then not so goofy to make mama happy!

The happy couple, Graham and Melissa!

One of our last stops was a candy factory!!!!

Yes, please!

mmmmm!

Those are rice crispie treats dunked in chololate!

Success! Only two bags of goodies!

I just cannot get over the loveliness of this city!

The live oaks and spanish moss are surreal!

Meanwhile, back at the beach...

Our daughter, Shae, and her family waited for us!

It was tough to keep little Calla out of the ocean!

Hugs all around! We haven't seen this happy little family
(and growing...grandbaby #3 due in October!)
since summer!

and she's off again....

Wren loves the sand and sea, too!

All she wanted was to find a sea star...

Grandpa O' might have helped out a little ....

Oh, my goodness...the fishermen caught a shark right off the pier where we were just swimming!
Still couldn't keep Maeve and John out of the water, though!

Shae and Chris

3 happy beach bums!

3 happy beach bums rinsing sand off in the shower...

Because Sorch and I were not sufficiently creeped out
by last night's haunted tour,
we signed up for a tour INSIDE one of the most active paranormal houses in Savannah...yep, that will do it!

Only 5 of us were on the tour.
I was always last...yikes, you know what happens to the last person in all the horror movies...gulp!

The veil between the seen and unseen world is thin in Savannah for some reason...creepy!

Noisy, boisterous dinner parties are heard going on in this room.

But it is always empty upon inspection of the sounds...

Official ghost viewing equipment....

How cool it that?

Yep, I was totally freaked out in this picture...
the room was dark, it was cold and spooky...

used to be a surgery...a little kid calls out to his mom here...

we were encouraged to take tons of pics...
orbs are NOT what we are looking for, those are usually dust..
but do you see that streak on the right? That is what they are looking for! Crazy I got one!

In the carriage house, Sorcha's magnetic field reader went crazy...

I got a "poke" on my thigh...remember I was the last one...no one behind me?
OH.MY.GOODNESS.
GET.ME.OUT.OF.HERE!!!!
I only made sure Sorch was ahead of me and I got out of that place!
The lady behind me had her earring "flicked" as we tore down the stairs!
Creepy Fun!

We continued with another hour midnight walking tour.
Lots and lots of history...I like that, too!
I caught a cemetery cat on video...

Meanwhile back on Tybee Island....I love the sign in the dark, as well!

Friday was a busy day helping with hauling tables and chairs from Savannah to Tybee!
Afterwards, Graham hung out with us for awhile.

We headed back to the beach to watch Graham's team play beach volleyball...

but wait, there's the ocean....let's go back in!

Body surfing with Maeve and John!

Lewiston boys!

Next stop for Sorch and John and I...Tybee Light House!

a million steps later...
(alright maybe only 200)

Nope, he's saying...not going on the catwalk!

But I did! Kind of freaky....especially on the windy side!

But the view was spectacular!

Heading back down....

The rehearsal supper was informal but set in
ICONIC and BEAUTIFUL Forsythe Park
(another one of those squares...perhaps the most photographed one)

It was a pizza party!
Pizza and Bocci Ball in a world famous park!
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

Our kids!

We also had a mini birthday celebration for Wren who would turn 3
(wait...too fast!)
on Monday!

Finally the day of the wedding was here!
I was so excited and emotional!!!!!

The table clothes needed ironing...13 total!
Each took 30 minutes...yikes!
We grabbed 6 to tackle...everyone got in on the action...
ironing is a skill the kids needed to learn anyway!

What a view, though!
Wish we could have ironed them all for Melissa!

No more ironing, Mom!!!!

My mom and I had our hair done in a little southern beauty parlor...
man, I think I still have hairspray residue in my hair!
But, oh, how nice our locks looked!
So what do we do to keep our hair nice?
Go letterboxing in the bushes!

She found it!

Selfie with my mama!

see, my hair still looks OK..maybe a few leaves in it...

We couldn't shop Tybee without posing in the shark...

Oh it is almost time!
First pictures on the beach...
(don't be surprised if I repost these poses when the professional pics are ready for viewing!)

Wren looks like an angel!

ALL OF US!!!!!!

Gosh, I love my silly family!

Yes, they can be serious....but I like them better silly!

Just the girls....

Welcome!

Four Generations....

Love Love Love!!!!!

This is such a nice touch....

Here we are waiting to walk down the "aisle"

There are no pics just yet of our journey across the beach to the lovely wedding area that John, Lee, Graham, James set up...

This is Melissa's beautiful mom and handsome brother!