Savannah trip

During the week of the 4th of July, we went to Savannah for the first time in years. This included us in our car, Grams and Aunt Caroline in another car (Uncle Charles was hiking in the Alaskan tundra at the time with his family), and Aunt EA, Uncle Scott, Charlie, and Max flying in from Texas. This was our first long road trip since Molly got her Nintendo Switch, and we created a very fancy system of holding up the Switch for the girls to see the screen involving the case she keeps it in, kitchen twine, and chip clips.

Car Nintendo

The cars decided to split the drive down into 2 days expecting traffic and delays (though it ended up being not too bad). We did most of the drive on the first day, and stayed in Florence, SC. We were very happy to find a Mellow Mushroom and a Bruster’s right across the street from our hotel.

Pit stop

The big reason for our trip to Savannah was to attend the revival of my extended family’s reunion gathering. My grandparents held this every year for decades. My aunt and uncle, who now live in the same house, revived the tradition this year. Of course, we had to get a picture on the dock right away. And, as you can possibly guess, Jen made all the clothes here except mine.

Happy Fourth

We sadly never took a picture of everyone who came, but there were lots of folks (we're talking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cousins, once, twice, and three times removed). Something like 50-80 people. We sang God Bless America, we ate a lot, and we enjoyed the beautiful bluff. This of course includes the hammock, which is still a huge hit. The girls are now asking if we can get a hammock on our back porch.

Hammock

One upgrade to this gathering was this giant water slide brought in for the occasion.

Water slide

The girls and I spent some time swimming in the river (and just hanging out on a tube).

In the river

We borrowed a boat for a ride. I haven’t driven a boat in probably 15 years, but we didn’t crash.

Boat ride

Boat ride

And there were sparklers.

Sparklers

Sparkler

Charlie sparkler

I wish I’d taken more pictures of the gathering of all the relatives, but I failed. It was good to see everyone there. Thanks Aunt Joyce and Uncle Jim for hosting the gathering.

We were in Savannah for 3 nights, and stayed in a hotel there for the first time ever. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in midtown Savannah, which was very nice. Molly liked to go overboard with her breakfasts there.

Breakfast

The day after the reunion, we went down to River Street and checked out the Savannah Candy Kitchen. It’s an awesome, huge candy store. Molly was excited about the wall of gummies.

Savannah Candy Kitchen

Leah was a bit perplexed by some of the more exotic treats, including these Sour Cream and Onion Crickets.

Yum?

We also checked out the UGA Marine Education Center and Aquarium. We walked through the little aquarium, and even got to touch some sea life. Leah was willing to touch the horseshoe crabs, but only barely.

Aquarium

Charlie was happy to get his hands wet, too.

Charlie too

Molly and Leah can easily fit in the lower jaw bone of a humpback whale. Molly said it seemed like there was plenty of room for Jonah, which made sense.

Whale jaw

Behind the aquarium they have nature trails on the bluff overlooking the water. Grams and Jen found a nice place to sit a while.

Outside

Out front of the aquarium is beautiful as well, so we had to take a picture (including Uncle Carl, who joined us at the aquarium).

Pretty

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