Spring Break, Take TWO!!

Well, we cheated; that's what we did. The girls had their normal Spring Break in March (which we loved and was posted about previously), but then our awesome friends who are in Louisiana called and said their Spring Break was over Easter, could they come visit us en route to a family camping outing, and would we like to go camping too? How could we refuse?!? Not to mention the fact that Chris had just finished his schooling in Alabama and had the week off - perfect! (Oh, and just a sidenote: there were two cameras going during this trip, so get ready for lots of pictures!) It was a huge joyous event when the kids got together. We kicked it off with an Easter Egg Hunt in the front yard. . .

The dad's purposely made a "harder" egg hunt for the two older girls on the side of the house . . .

We tried to make Kylie part of the action by giving her a basket and an egg, but she preferred to eat the grass instead.

This is Kate, super happy with her loot until I told her that 3 of her eggs were pink, not purple . . .

The rest of the weekend was TONS of fun with the making of forts (above) - indoors and out, running through the golf course sprinklers, pizza and movies, game night, lots of good time to chat and catch up, and, of course, the beach . . .

This time when we went to the beach, the water was the roughest we'd seen it . . . which meant it was awesome for body boarding! There was also plenty of sand castle building and splashing in the waves. Above are Lise and Kate at our beach spot - love the umbrella and the shade it provides.

Here's Chris with the girls anxiously anticipating the next wave that's going to "get them". Kylie loved eating the sand on this trip - I know because I was the one who ended up cleaning it off her bum for the next two days when it came out the other end. Ew!

And the only way you're going to get a picture of Aly is in the water, because she never got out.

On Easter Sunday Chris and I spoke in Church. It went well and helped make my Easter much more meaningful as I was pondering it's message during the weeks prior. The Gordon's headed out early to meet their family on the Atlantic Coast side. We would be joining them Tuesday morning and then . . . Let the Camp Fest Begin!

We would be camping on Cumberland Island, just off the coast of the Georgia/Florida border, so first we met at the ferry with all our gear which we had to hand carry onto the boat. After a 45 minute "cruise" on the ferry, we arrived at the island where we had to hand carry our gear off the boat, load it into these hand carts (like the pioneers!) and tote it a 1/2 mile to our campsite. Then we had to set up camp. We were all a little tired after that. :)

* These carts were one of the best things that happened to us on this trip. The kids used them to "cart" each other around our campsite for the next few days. Hooray for kids self entertaining.

The camping itself, though, was a lot of fun. The island was BEAUTIFUL, with all the spanish moss, jungly plants, and TONS of wildlife: wild horses, armadillos, racoons, lizards (huge and small), etc. The food was scrumptious and of course there was the traditional hotdog/marshmallow roast.

We went for a hike one day to see some ruins and ended up seeing a bunch of wild horses and some wild turkeys as well. It was super hot and humid though. But the bonus of camping on an island is . . . you're surrounded by the beach!

This water was shallow for forever, so Kylie and I had fun just sitting and splashing our feet. Kylie got an entire wash down in the spigot afterwards because she was nasty this whole trip. Even when I'd just let her crawl inside the tent (where no shoes were allowed, supposedly) she would be covered with dirt. Yeah, I love camping, but I also love a nice warm shower when we're done!

Hooray for more boogie boarding. Aly was in the water for like 3 more hours.

Aly and Amanda chillin' on their boards.

The girls made lots of neat-o castles with moats and everything. They spent a lot hard effort trying to save those castles when the tide came in, but alas, it was not meant to be. :)

Unfortunately, the fun was cut short by the huge tornado creating storm that was sweeping across the South a couple of weeks ago. So we had to pack up and come home a day early. But it was still AWESOME! Thank you Gordon Family, for your friendship and for a wonderful trip! We loved it!