Jags Football

Last Thursday night was a Jaguar preseason game.  For the past couple of years, Brody has gone with Jason for the preseason game.  This year (and I think last year) Trevor and I were also able to go because Mike and Christi who sit behind us weren't going so we used their tickets - thanks guys.

The game started at 6:30 so thankfully Brody got a good nap when he got home from school or it would have been a brutal night.

 The boys were so excited because of course Ava was going to be there and our seats are right next to her.  Within 5 minutes Brody asked if it was half time which told us he was not ready for us to buy an extra seat for him - we'll just keep our 2.

I guess they thought it was a little loud.

Trevor did so well during the game.  Now he didn't really pay too much attention but that was ok.

They enjoyed looking through Ava's binoculars.

It didn't take long for the kids to ask for our phones.  This kept them busy for awhile and we never knew who had whose phones - they were passed all between the three of them.

When they weren't playing on the phones, they were chowing down on some peanuts.  Thankfully this was the only thing we had to buy.  You are able to bring some food in as long as it's in small ziploc bags.  We had pretzels and a few other snacks that occupied them for awhile.

 Now since Stephanie wasn't there for this game, I had bathroom duty because if you are a guy you know you would NEVER want your girl going in the guys' bathroom at the stadium.  First trip was just with Ava, then not too long later Trevor AND Ava - yes this was an experience taking a boy and a girl to the bathroom, but we survived.  Not too long after they all THREE wanted to go - NO way was this happening, so thankfully Jason took Brody and I told Trevor and Ava that this was the last time no more trips.  Of course it wasn't too long afterwards that Trevor told me he needed to go again - no way.  He then tells me that he could go by himself - oh yeah that's my independent child.  We didn't go to the bathroom - he could learn to hold it :)

A long drive to the Dollar Tree

When Jason got home from work a week ago this past Wednesday the boys were all ready to go to the Dollar Store.  Brody had some money saved up and really wanted to go to the Dollar Store.  Well, I used this as a great way to get the boys bathed and ready by the time Jason got home.  There was a small detail the boys didn't know is that the vehicle was packed for a 3 night weekend away.  They had NO clue.  I love surprises.

The boys on our way to the "dollar store"

Thank goodness for dvd players because this occupied the boys time for most of the trip to Orlando.  It wasn't until we arrived in Orlando (3 hours after we left) that Brody asked "when are we going to be at the Dollar Store?.  We said keep looking for it, and not much longer.  Trevor thought we were going to New York, but Brody knew that wasn't true since you have to be on a plane to get there.

When we arrived at our hotel, Brody still didn't have too much of a clue of what was going on and didn't believe us that we were staying here.  We showed him the trunk area and ohh the look on his face was priceless and then the questions "how in the world did we do all that?"  I loved it and so off we were on our little vacation.

We stayed in a Comfort Suites near Disney that had a free breakfast.  The room was a king bed with a sofa that laid out to a bed for the boys.  Yes, the boys would be sleeping together - for the first time.  Not sure what I was thinking.  By the time we got them down for bed it was about 11:00 and you would have thought they were tired, but oh no they were too excited to sleep and were bouncing off the walls.  After a lot of talking and telling yelling them to get to sleep, we put Trevor in our bed to fall asleep and later returned him over to Brody.  Much better idea.  They still weren't really sure where we were going over the next couple of days, but just liked the idea we were in a hotel room away from home.

11 years and counting!!

And I can still remember the details like it was yesterday.  Like most brides our wedding day was one the happiest days of my life – I was marrying my best friend after dating for almost 6 years.  Now 11 years later, 2 boys and we are still so very happy and can’t believe how God has blessed us so much.

For our anniversary last weekend, we packed up and headed to The Cloister at Sea Island for one night.  We had never been there but we had a gift card for a one night stay, so what a great time to use it for our anniversary – NO KIDS!!!

After dropping the boys off with my parents on Saturday morning (they were pretty excited to be headed to Nini and Papa’s) we were off for a couple of days of relaxation.  They were ready for us to leave - all packed at the door.

 The weather was not participating that day – the clouds were dark and 70% chance of rain for that day – thunderstorms and all, but we were determined to make the best of it.  Since we were so early before check in we decided we would look around the downtown area of St Simons Island first, but as soon as we parked the bottom fell so we decided to go find lunch first – Bubba Garcia’s a little Mexican place.  Let me just say what would we have ever done before our smart phones.  These things helped find our way as well find places to eat.

Well, the rain continued so we decided to go ahead to the hotel in hopes we could check in early.  Well, that didn’t happen so we walked all around this beautiful historical resort and took it in since this might be our only time there.  We really had no idea what this place was all about until we saw pictures dating back to 1928 hanging in one of the many halls of presidents and other famous people visiting The Cloister and planting trees.  Their trees were all around the property.  It was pretty amazing to see such history with this place.  We were pretty blown away.

Inside The Cloister

Jason checking out one of the atriums

This is a tree that President Carter planted.

More trees planted by famous people.

Check out the roads - they are made out of brick pavers.  The entire Cloister Grounds are made like this.

This is the hot tub in the fitness area - it's kind of hard to see but the water goes off into a waterfall to a hot tub down below.

Here are the steps to the hot tub down below.

Yes, this is in the bathroom

The back of The Cloister

While we waited on our room to be ready, we played ping pong and I guess I must have beat him pretty bad because he looks pretty tired here - not really, Jason is VERY good at ping pong - those college years paid off :)

Our room was in the Beach Club, which had the pools and of course the beach. Our room was quite impressive – no ocean view or anything – but it was actually a suite, which I didn’t think I reserved, but we would take it.  One huge king bed, a very nice living room, and 2 FULL BATHROOMS!! 

We headed out to dinner that night at Crabdaddy’s, which was a very good seafood restaurant. 

One great thing about going off with no kids is that we weren’t woken up at 7AM or earlier so we were able to sleep as long as we wanted – no special agenda except to check out by noon. 

Once we checked out we headed back to the downtown area of St. Simons Island since it was a much nicer day.  We had one of the best breakfasts I have ever eaten.  These pancakes were the biggest, thickest and best I have ever eaten.  Jason finished his meal and had to help me finish them, but we didn’t and hated to waste them.  

Downtown St Simons Island is of course right on the water and has a very nice park and playground area with huge trees.  

Around 2:00 we started to head home, which was very sad because we had enjoyed our weekend getaway.  Hopefully we will be able to enjoy more of these quick getaways.  It’s amazing how refreshing a quick night away is and I feel it is a great way to keep our marriage strong – so hopefully the boys were good for Nini and Papa.