A riddle for you, dear reader

I must give credit to my awesome friend Laura, this is her favorite riddle ;-)

Who

has

4
thumbs

and
is

ready

to

go

to

the

beach??????

Any ideas??

Yep,

THESE GUYS!!!!!!!!

A few days ago, we all went to our local Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for our upcoming trip to the BEACH! We figured that we could get some cool stuff to take with us, and it would be a lot cheaper than buying it at the beach. We got kick boards and beach balls and sand pails and shovels and lots of sunscreen and snacks and juice.

And what else?

Hmmm, wait, I can't think of the other things that we picked up.

Oh, this is embarrassing, it is right on the tip of my tongue. . .

Oh yeah, that's right!

Goggles and snorkels!

We have never had a proper beach vacation as a family. When we were at Ft. Stewart, we spent lots of afternoons at the beach. But we never spent the night - much less a few. And my babies think that a trip to any hotel is a vacation. Now they get to sleep in a hotel AND go to the beach. Oh my! And we are headed to Jekyll Island - my most favorite beach in the whole entire world! It was our favorite vacation spot when I was small. It is not very commercial because it is a State Park, and it is so dog friendly that if they see a dog in your car as go through the gates, they give you a treat for your furry friend. That is my kinda place! And I love the Atlantic Coast - especially my beloved Georgia Golden Isles. (In case you did not know already, I love love love Georgia. As far as I am concerned, we have it all. Mountains, beaches, Coca-Cola!)

We are all getting so excited.

We're almost on our way!!!

Stay tuned for MORE beach themed posts!

The best restaurant in the whole entire world.

Last weekend, I was cleaning out the van and getting organized to pack for our big trip to GA. We live in the van, so it is always a disaster. BUT we usually have everything we need at any given time.

Water? check. Bandaid? check. Snacks? check. 27 stuffed animals? check. Trash? check.

I digress. I was vacuuming and using very liberal amounts of Febreeze (the van also smells like we live in it. . .) The kids were playing in the front yard. Of course, as usual, we have several kiddos from the street come on down to hang out. I am busy, but I can hear snippits of conversations. My ears perked up when I heard Jessa start talking about our trip. I LOVE to hear them talk when they have no idea I am listening.

Jess: Yeah, my mom's getting the car ready to go to GA.

Friend: Oh really.

Jess: My grandma, May, she lives in GA and we are going to see her. I was also born in GA.

Friend: Yeah, my brother was, too.

Jess: While we are at my Grandma's house, we get to go out to eat at the best restaurant in the whole entire world.

Friend: Oh yeah, where?

Jess: The Varsity.

Friend: I have been there. Did you know that Coca Cola was invented in Georgia?

Jess: Yes! And we love Coke!

I got so tickled. We do love The Varsity in Atlanta. And we do eat there every time we come to visit. I am glad that she loves it, and I am sure that many would argue it is the best fast food restaurant in the world. And when you are 6, I guess fast food is the best type of food, so I see her point!!

So last night, we made her dream a reality and went to The Varsity!

Nikki always likes to eat there when she visits, too, so we were all happy. We always sit in the same place, so Mimi and Poppy know where to meet us. And last night was no different. Usually the "guys" go and get the food and the ladies say with the kids to save our table. But last night, the only "guys" were Poppy and Spencer, so I went with them. I smiled when I heard a man behind us in line say, "I have never even heard of this place. I was in town on business and someone at the hotel said I had to try it." Yep. It is sort of a must when you travel to Atlanta!

We had a wonderful time. We laughed. We ate lots of greasy food.

And Jessa was beaming to be in "the best restaurant in the whole entire world!"

We even took a ton of pictures. I laughed because I am sure that people thought we were tourists taking 1,000 pictures!!

FYI:

If you have never been to this wonderful place, we think that you MUST eat onion rings and drink a P.C. (that is a Plain Chocolate milk poured over ice). AND if you want to impress them, I can help you with some lingo. Don't be shocked if they start yelling at you "What'll ya have!?" And if you want a plain hot dog, that is a "naked dog." AND going with Poppy is always fun - he has stories! When he was a student at GA Tech in Atlanta, The Varsity closed at 1 AM. Which meant that students, like Poppy went to the back door at 2 AM to get free food that they would be throwing away.

And we saw this in the parking lot:

Poppy said it must have come from the Athens Varsity because it looked like it came from the UGA library! Gotta love an in-state rivalry!! (No offense, Lucas and Bay!!)

We all got so tickled.

See, I told you Poppy was fun to bring along!

Pinch me

Y'all it's summer. It really is. Now, I have not been able to tell it for the first few weeks because we were pretty darn busy. We had dress rehearsals and dance recitals and soccer camp and VBS. All of these things were SUPER fun, but we never had the chance to really relax, you know?

Well, that is all about to change because we are in GA! Yep. I packed up my van with 2 precious angle babies and my 2 sweet and patient Westies and we headed SOUTH! I must pause her for a moment to tell you that I have been blessed with the BEST traveling family in the world. Now, I think a part if it is that I have never much given anyone a choice. Being the military family that we are, many hours of travel sort of come with the territory. But, y'all, for real. We had the best trip! Now, I am not going to tell you we did not have a few sibling moments. Or that Jessa was not supremely unhappy because I did not pack one drink that she wanted AND I did not pack her dry erase markers the right way. Heaven forbid! (Silly child, at least I packed fun things for you to do and things for you to drink!) Both babies stayed awake the whole trip for the first time EVER. We left our house in Illinois at 10 AM CDT (11 AM EDT) and arrived at May's house at 8:30 EDT (7:30 CDT). AND we only stopped 3 times! Yep, they rock.

The kids were just content and awesome. We looked at rivers and bridges and signs and "nature," as Jessa called it. They watched several movies that they actually agreed on!

Jessa choosing movies during one stop

Spencer: "No flash photography!"

And the dogs, well, just look at them:

Who wouldn't love those faces??
Now we are here and we are so happy. Well, the kids have driven us partly nuts because they want to do everything RIGHT NOW. We are working on our patience, but we are still loving being at May's!

The most exciting part for my kiddos is that our awesome cousin from Hawaii is visiting. Our sweet Nikki comes to May's house almost every summer. She loves hanging with May and my babies love hanging with their Nikki. When I told Jessa how long she would get to spend with Nik, she grinned and said, "Pinch me, I'm dreaming!" I love how much they love family time.

AND it gets better. Yes, I said EVEN better!
Next week, my David will take leave.

This concept is foreign to him in his current job. Since it has been so long, I did some research.

According to Wikipedia,

"In the United States Military, leave is permission to be away from one's unit for a specific period of time."

Good to know.

He will get to see if he still remembers how to do it. Because he is coming to May's, too, then we are headed to the beach! Yay! AND then, Bay is coming to May's house for the 4th of July weekend. He's gotta run the Peachtree, dontchaknow? IF he can find another number, David wants to run it, too. (Anyone out there have an extra one?? Just checking. . .

On the way to May's, I asked Spencer and Jessa is we should bring supper to May and Nikki. My sweet Jessa said, "Nah, let's just wait and see what May is fixing." Love it!

(May fixed her favorite chicken and rice and green beans, thank you very much.)

And on our second night here, we met Mimi and Poppy and Roy and Peggy at their favorite restaurant for Mexican food and Mariachi music. The babies LOVE the band and call it "The Band Restaurant." They each gave them a tip and requested a song. Nikki: Devil Went Down to Georgia. Spencer: Old McDonald Had a Farm. Jessa: Feliz Navidad. Cracked us AND them up! But they sang it. AND even though they played lots of songs more than once, I am pretty sure that in JUNE Jessa's was the only request for Feliz Navidad!!

I LOVE VACATION!

Stay tuned for more fun summer vacation posts!

Yay, GA!

Yay, SLEEPING LATE!

Yay, Family!

Yay, good travelers!!