Christmas Photos and Saturday on the Playground

We've had a great weekend so far!  Last night, we joined our Sunday School class for a Thanksgiving dinner.  The food was wonderful and the friendship even better!
This morning, we met Santa on the beach for photos and then later took some photos of our own.  We went to Driftwood Beach on Jekyll.  The girls loved playing in all the trees!  Stephen had plans to shoot skeet this afternoon with a friend so the girls and I came home so that they could rest.  Early this evening, we went to the playground at Mary Grace's school.  It's a wonderful playground with a big field and sidewalk all the way around. It's become sort of a meeting place for all the kids in town.  We went there last Sunday afternoon and ran into many friends.  Today, we planned to meet Stella and her family there.  The gnats were bad so we parents got on the swings while the kids biked and ran around the field.  I had forgotten how fun it is to swing!  I felt like I was back in 5th grade.  It was so fun that I decided to try out the jungle gym after that.  Mary Grace impressed us all with her endurance as she ran around the field two times for a total of a half mile after pedaling her Big Wheel around twice!  And, in Mary Grace style, she did all that in ballet flats and a dress.  Elsie biked around the field several times.  We already have plans to go back tomorrow afternoon. 

Mary Grace's Soccer Party

Mary Grace also had her last soccer game on Saturday morning.  I didn't get any photos of that.  I coach her team so I couldn't coach and shoot photos at the same time!  We had her party that afternoon at the clubhouse at Winding River.  It was a joint party with U8 Team Spain.  Our team is in blue.  The weather was beautiful and the kids couldn't  resist dipping their feet in the pool.
Mary Grace had a great season.  She scored her first goal and is really starting to go after the ball and enjoy the game more.  I'm going to coach her team again in the Spring.  It will be my last season as her coach.  After that, she'll move up to U8 and Elsie will be at the U6 level.  I'm going to continue coaching U6.

Elsie's Soccer Party and Last Game

 Here are some photos from Elsie's last soccer game and her team party.  We had the party last Thursday night at the Moody's home.  The last game was on Saturday morning.  She had a great season and really enjoyed getting out and running around.  We're looking forward to Spring season!

Girls and Guys Weekends

Stephen and several of his friends planned a trip to Jay's cabin in Blackshear last weekend to hunt.  This trip is something that they do a few times a year.  While Stephen enjoyed a guys weekend, the girls and I had a little retreat of our own to Caswell Beach.  We met Nana and Dr. Danks and Aunt Chatham and Uncle Johnathan up there for a quick weekend getaway.  It was fairly cold, but we managed to get in plenty of time outside.
We enjoyed a Christmas craft fair in Southport, time on the playground, and dinner at the club on Saturday.  We went back into Southport for brunch before heading back home on Sunday.
Here are some photos of our trip:

Leadership Camden Trip to Cumberland Island

I traveled to Cumberland Island yesterday with my Leadership Camden class.  We took the NPS's "Loggerhead" boat to the island, docked at the Ice House and rode in vans to Dungeness, Plum Orchard, and the First African Baptist Church.  We toured the dorms where volunteers are housed and ate lunch on the lawn at Plum Orchard.
Cumberland Island is Georgia's only National Park.  A small portion of the island is privately-owned but most of it belongs to the National Park Service or will revert to NPS ownership once the current owners die.  You can read all about Cumberland on National Park Service website.  It's only accessible by boat.  Once you get over there, you have to walk or ride a bike to get around.  Only the NPS and private land owners can operate motor vehicles there.  So to be driven in a van to the north end of the island to see the First African Baptist Church, which is more than 10 miles north of the Sea Camp dock, was a true privilege.  This church is best known as the location of JFK, Jr.'s marriage to Carolyn Bessette.  The NPS is working on a transportation plan to make the island more accessible to all people.  There won't be a bridge to Cumberland, but there are going to be either trams or vans to take all visitors to the North End soon.
I hope you enjoy the photos.
On another note, you'll notice that the last few photos are of the St. Marys waterfront.  Does it look like a hurricane just hit?  A movie, "Eye of the Hurricane", is filming in our sweet little town.  They are almost finished and are currently filming their last scenes at the waterfront so the debris, torn awnings, etc. are part of the set.  I met the producer yesterday.  You can read more about movies in Coastal Georgia here.

Halloween!

Between two school parties and a Halloween party with friends, Elsie managed to squeeze in three different costumes last week and weekend!  For her Purple Apple party, she was a munchkin.  For that, she wore the same costume that she wore last year.  I don't have any photos of that party because I was working.  Stephen went to the party but forgot his camera.  For her Red Apple party, she was a fairy.  For trick-or-treating on Saturday night, she was Dorothy.
Mary Grace picked out a Southern Belle dress for her costume but when the time came for trick-or-treating she wanted to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
We had the Moody girls over on Saturday afternoon to play and eat supper before trick-or-treating.  Later that afternoon, we went to watch the game at the home of some friends.  They projected the game onto a screen in their front yard.  It was a fun time for the adults but our girls were ready to go trick-or-treating before long.  So we loaded up in the back of a pick-up and trick-or-treated around downtown St. Marys.  The actual trick-or-treating didn't last long because the kids got tired but we saw some great lawn decorations and spooky scenes at some homes.  Hope you enjoy the slideshow!