Friday, June 29, 2007

Vacation Journal - Day 5

Wednesday 6/20

I slept late again today. It was between 9:30 and 10:00 before I got up; crazy long for me. Walked out onto the dock this morning, and I saw a dolphin really close up. He was close enough for me to hear him breath out when he surfaced. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera, so no pictures.

Later, my wife and I went for a walk. We saw what might have been a hawk. I’m not really sure what it was, but it made a noise I’ve never really heard before. He was smart whatever it was, as we positioned ourselves to see it better, it moved, so I never could get a good view with either the camera or binoculars.

After my in-laws came back from their jaunt downtown, my wife and I decided to head out (without our boy) and do a little shopping out on Tybee Island again. We really like that little island. We did some shopping, had a light lunch, walked out onto the fishing pier, did some more fishing and even played a game of pool. Afterward, we decided to go back to the North Beach Grill from yesterday, and have a drink and look at the ocean. We might have stayed where we were at, but between the rain and the crowds of tourists, we decided the other place would be better. Plus, it would give me a chance to take a good picture of the lighthouse.

We took our time there, and just sorta soaked it all in. It was really nice, and the time was all too quickly slipping away, and we will have to get back in the van, and leave, back to Oklahoma, back to the daily grind, the jobs, responsibilities, and everything else. So, we took some time taking pictures to help us remember.


We came back, and I got probably the best view of a shrimp boat so far as it was anchored not far from our dock.

It was then time for dinner. We had some good shrimp, red potatoes, corn on the cob, summer sausage, and some crabs I caught today (about 7 or so). It was good, scratch that, it was real good!

We sat down, and then planned out route home. We decided not to go back the way we came, so the plan now is to head down to Jacksonville, Florida and then over to New Orleans. Then head home from there. We’ll spend the night somewhere on the way back. But at this moment, not sure where that somewhere will be.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Vacation Journal - Day 4

Tuesday 6/19

What a day! We got up and around, and headed to the Pirate’s House Restaurant for lunch, where we knew that we would meet, Captain Jack Sparrow. We wouldn’t tell my boy that he was going to be there, that was our surprise, but we did say we were headed to the Pirate’s House to eat. And there were all sorts of real pirates that have once been in that place. He was intrigued. Well, he noticed the Captain, and was excited, but kept his excitement down. Anyway, Captain Jack stopped by and chatted with us, and that was wonderful. I couldn’t tell if me or my boy was having a better time. When he found out we were from Oklahoma, he said, “Ahhh, foreigners then. If I’d known that, I’d not’ve sat down.” In the way that only Captain Jack could do, then he stood up, and left.

He came back, sat down, and chatted with us for a while. It was excellent!

Later, when we got back to the house, he was talking to his Nanny, and said, “I didn’t know Captain Jack was real.” Too good!

After dinner, we went down the river front and did a little site seeing and some shopping. Except the fact my boy wanted to come back here so he could play the silly PS2 that was here (we didn’t bring it), it was really nice. I finally threatened him that if he brought up the PS2 again, he’d not play it for the week, or be able to even watch the other kids. The complaining stopped!

Today, we also did some crabbin’. We managed to catch at least 12 crabs. Tomorrow, there is supposed to be some sort of crab stew/soup, or something. We’ll see how that goes.

On one of the tips out to the dock to check on our traps, I FINALLY saw the dolphins that I’ve heard everyone talk about. Seems they come into the river and eat the shrimp that have come out of the marsh. It was cool!

As I sit here and write this, it is raining. I like the rain. Always have. There is a good chance of thunderstorm tomorrow, so we’ll have to see if we’ll get to go to the ocean again tomorrow or not.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Vacation Journal - Day 3

Monday 6/18

Today, my wife and father-in-law made breakfast! It was so good! Scrambled eggs, home made biscuits, and sausage! That’s how every day should start out I really think!

My wife and I went for a walk, and looked around, and here are a few more pictures.

We spent the rest of the morning, trying to figure out what we should do. We finally decided we’d go to the ocean and play today. So, we got around, and headed to Dollar General for the things you forget to pack. You know, beach towels, sun screen, beach toys, that sort of thing. We then head to a grocery store (next door to save time) and buy drinks. Next stop, Payless to buy me some beach going shoes. Didn’t get the (payless version of ) Crock flip-flops since they were not in my size, but did get a cool pair. And my wife got the black pair of crock-flops that she really wanted for Mother’s day. (I got here the white ones cause I didn’t realize she specifically asked for black.

Anyway, we are now done shopping, so it’s off to the beach!

We have a great time! Shoot, saying we had a great time is an understatement! The sand was a fine grain sand, so it was nice. There were people around, but not so many you couldn’t have fun. My boy even found a few kids to play with.

We all got to play together, and that was what mattered. I even got a chance to get out and take some pictures. I wished we were there at sun-up instead of sun set cause some of the pictures I wanted to take were backlit. But I still had some wonderful pictures!








After we finally left, we decided to find a place to eat, and have some sea food. I mean, we ARE at the beach. We ended up eating at a little place right next to where we parked, the North Beach Grill.

We asked for their specials, and they started rolling off steak specials. We informed the waiter that we were from Oklahoma. We have cattle. What do they have in the seafood category? He chuckled and proceeded with other specials. We started out with some chips and salsa. And after just that, my boy said we should eat here for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I couldn’t really blame him, cause it was good. We ordered our food. And while waiting on it, my boy got up to go to the bathroom, took about 3 steps, stopped, and projectile vomited!!! It was so gross, and I felt so bad! Luckily, the people closest to it (which was on the far side of us) had a little one, so I’m sure it wasn’t the worse they had ever seen. I felt so bad though. I carried my boy to the restroom, and checked on him. He said he was fine, and wanted to stay and eat (our food hadn’t even gotten there yet) so I had him wash his hands and face and to finish using it. Everyone there was excellent, especially our waiter who donned on some rubber gloves, got a bucked of water, and proceeded to clean up the mess! We had at least 2 of the staff stop by and check on our boy. That really impressed me. We still have not clue what caused it. My guess is some sea water in the belly, followed by sweet tea and chips and HOT salsa.

Dinner came, and it was wonderful! My boy had a burger and fries. I had a crab cake sandwich, and my beautiful wife had a sautéed shrimp dinner. There isn’t much to say about dinner. It was just excellent. Like my son, I would love to go back there before we leave and have more, but part of the fun and exciting part of vacations, is going and doing things you’ve not done before. (Second vacations are for repeat visits!!!)

As we left, I turned, and the moon, mars/Venus and the lighthouse on Tybee Island were all there a-glow! It was too cool. I tried taking a picture of it, but I’m not real happy with they way they turned out, but this one isn’t too bad.

As we left, we made sure we had our camera out, cause we saw a sign coming into the island that is unlike any sign us land-lovers have ever seen, and we just HAD to get it’s picture.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Vacation Journal - Day 2

Sunday 6/17

When we finally stopped for breakfast in Alabama and I was ready! When the guy asked me what I wanted to drink, I just sat there looking at him like he was speaking a foreign language.

Later, after my 3 hours of sleep, I was riding along, and we kept seeing what looked like the arms that come down in front of train tracks. We couldn’t figure out what they were for, well, at one of the stops we took I asked. They use it to block traffic when evacuating for hurricanes. Made since, just not something you see in Oklahoma.

We got here around 5:30ish or so on Sunday evening. Just in time for dinner. First, I’d like to say thanks to Dave for loaning me his GPS system; we had very little problems finding this place with it (just a bit but that was because of road construction that it didn’t know about, which was around the town we ate breakfast in).

Anyway, off that tangent. We ate, and then I walked around the plantation a bit. Here is where we are at.






Monday, June 25, 2007

Vacation Journal - Day 1

Saturday 6/16

My boy was up with a coughing fit Friday night/Saturday morning, so we were up with that. Then he woke up around 8:30 on Saturday feeling what seemed refreshed. I got some packing done, and went with my mother-in-law to get the van. My boy and I did some shopping, hit the library, and had some lunch (not necessarily in that order). I got a chance to bake some chocolate chip cookies, and then my wonderful wife and I loaded up the van with the majority of our stuff, and I took it over to my mother-in-laws so she could load her stuff and come and get us after Vacation Bible School. Then home I went and laid down for about an hour. Managed about a 30 minute sleep out of that hour of lying down, then it was time to get around and ready for VBS.

After VBS, we called my in-laws, and I got a shower and cleaned up by the time they got to the house. We finished loading up the van and we got off around 8:30-9:00 or so. Our first stop was the airport. My wife had to fill out some papers to be added as an additional driver to the van. I took her license earlier in the day, but without here signature, that didn’t do any good. After that, QT for some caffeine, cause I’m going to have a very long night ahead of me, and I didn’t get as much sleep Friday night as I liked or as long of a nap as I would have liked.

For the most part, I didn’t have as much trouble as I was afraid of, especially considering how tired I was feeling at only 11:30 as everyone else was starting to dose off.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Back from Vacation

We're back from vacation.

We had a really good time. I've written posts while I was away, but didn't have access to post them, so I'll be posting them each day (two posts at most).

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Happy Anniversary my Love

Today is my 9th wedding anniversary, and I love my wife more today than when we were married!

I love our anniversaries. It's cool to look back. As I was telling my dearest love it's hard to believe we have been married for 9 years.

She is such a wonderful woman! I'm so blessed to have her as my wife.

wedding picture


picture taken a couple weeks ago at our daughters graduation.

Happy Anniversary my Love! I love you.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Cheap Movies

I found out that some movie theaters have specials during the summer.

The Owasso 10 is one of those theaters. For $9/person, you can get a season pass. The run the same movie every wed-fri, and there are 10 movies scheduled. If you don't want to go every week, you can buy tickets there for $2/person.
Click the link for movies and times.


The AMC 20 has a free movie, every wednesday from June 27 to August 15 (except for July 4th)
Click the link for movies and times.

To see more theaters, check out this.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

YEA!

We voted today on a new pastor at church.

I'll give more details later. Just excited.

Friday, June 01, 2007

picasa flickr


100_5546.JPG
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net
Today, I found a plug-in for Picasa that lets you upload pictures to Flickr.

http://picasa2flickr.sourceforge.net/

If you like Flickr and Picasa you'll probably love this!