I LOVE Savannah!

I can't believe we have lived here for over 5 years and have not taken my Mom to Savannah, GA.

I Love Savannah!

So after our quick trip to San Francisco we loaded up the car for a quick FAMILY vacation to Savannah.

The four hour drive was a piece of (double chocolate gooey butter) cake.

(fyi: Paula Deen lives in Savannah!)

thanks to the iPad

and also the DS.

The weather was beautiful! in Savannah (70s) so we didn't waste any time. We unpacked our bags at the house and set out to enjoy and eat our way through the city.

Many thanks to Matt's co-worker who generously let us stay at his house!

(we need to get one of these 'vacation homes' asap)

b. Matthews

one of our favorite Savannah restaurants

River Street

touristy and cool at the same time

old buildings

big cargo ships

I mean BIG ships

oyster shell concrete and a cigarette butt
(I'm sure the smoker thought his Mom was going to come pick it up?)

awkward family photo
(not quite awkward enough for this website but close)
Savannah's Waving Girl
that would be Florence Martus

family photos at Forsyth Park

my Mommy and Me

her Mommy and her

While in Forsyth Park we happened upon a tree climbing competition.
If I were a tree climber I would love to climb the awesome live oaks in Savannah.

one of Savannah's big old fancy houses
goofing off at the house
(whoever cries first gets in trouble) Bonaventure Cemetary
beautiful, enormous and awesome
How can I be buried there?

Tybee Island for lunch

and Finally...
the BEACH!

love this!
(while my children in shorts and t-shirts play in the Ocean, check out the time stamp...February y'all!)

Grammy and I enjoy the view from the sandy beach.
...15 minutes after leaving the beach...
(love them!)
The day after we got home from Savannah Grammy had to leave. (tears)
Of course, she flew out "Grammy Style" and gave me a funny? story to share with you all.

To save some money she flew in and out of Birmingham, AL (about 2 1/2 hours away.)
While Matt was at work the kids and I drove her to the Birmingham airport so she could catch her flight home. (Birmingham to Atlanta! to Portland)
After dropping her off the kids and I drove the 2 1/2 hours back to Atlanta (many thanks to the inventors of the Wii and DS.)

A couple hours after getting home I got a call from Grammy saying there were some delays and she was stuck in Atlanta for the night and can I come get her.
Her plane in Birmingham was delayed due to maintenance issues and didn't arrive in Atlanta until after the last plane to Portland had departed. They offered her a hotel room but that would just be silly.

So I hopped in the car and drove 30 minutes to the Atlanta airport and 30 minutes back home.
It was worth it for that extra night with my Mama.
(she says she'll never fly into Birmingham again though)

Grammy's Busy Week

When Grammy arrived in Georgia it looked like this.
(It melted the next day.)
Interestingly, when Grammy went back to Oregon two weeks later the Georgia temps were in the 70s but there was an inch or two of snow in Oregon. Crazy!

While Matt and I were tasting our way through San Francisco and Napa Valley, Grammy and the kiddos had a whole week, a busy week, to themselves.

Tyler was his sweet little self

oh wait...this is the picture of Tyler being his sweet little self

I have a feeling they did A LOT of this

and A LOT of that.
("Screen Time" limits do not apply when Grammy is in charge.)

They also got to sleep in whatever bed they wanted.
(Mommy and Daddy's bed)

It may look all fun and games but we left Grammy with a busy to-do list for the weekend.

There was a birthday bowling party.

Tyler needed help with his "Z" homework.
The boy is supposed to cut out his own pictures but he talked Grammy into cutting them out for him. Gotta love those Grammys.

We left Grammy in charge of passing out the Valentine's Day gifts.

She did receive a special gift from Matt and I.
Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

She was also in charge of attending the children's school Valentine's Day parties.

Tyler's
(Happy Valentine's Day to my Snuggle Bug.)

and Lauren's
(I love you sweet girl.)

Tyler got to come to Lauren's party and they all had a blast making their own ice-cream sundaes.

They all had a big bite of fun with Grammy while Matt and I were in California for the weekend.

being the jet-setters we are

Grammy came to visit this week!!!! ...and being the jet-setters we are... we high-fived her at the door and then Matt and I flew off to warm and sunny California.

While Grammy spent Friday through Monday with the kiddos (which included a birthday party, t-ball practice and 2 school Valentine's day parties) Matt and I flew out to California to enjoy the beautiful Napa Valley and also one of my favorite cities, San Francisco. We met up with our good friends, Brad and Ashlie. (It was actually Brad's 'frequent flyer miles' that flew us out there. Thanks Brad!)

We spent our Saturday in Napa Valley and visited three wineries. The valley is Bea-u-tiful!

We could have seen more but we chose to take our time at each one.
Artesa
V. Sattui
and Peju

the happy wine tasters
Brad, Me, Ashlie, and Matt

here we are again
(Matt and I are the tall ones)

Look, Spring blossoms have arrived in California.
(Matt and I are looking off into the California Spring...can't you tell?)

Oh yeah, ...we did spend a whole perfect-weather-of-a-day in the city of San Fransisco but for some reason we didn't take any pictures except for this one.

ALCATRAZ!

Our day in SFO consisted of Cable Cars, Ghirardelli Square, the wharf, the beach, the Bart, China Town, the views from our 35th floor hotel room and also numerous restaurants we chose to dine in. It's impossible to fit San Francisco into a single day and I can't wait to go back!


We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend in California and now that we are back home we are thoroughly enjoying our week with Grammy. Being the jet-setters we are we'll be back on the road this weekend. This time we'll be taking the whole family, including Grammy, on a trip to beautiful Savannah, GA. I can't wait!

P.S. Thank you for all your comments, e-mails, "facebooks," and phone calls in response to my last post, "Her Mama's Daughter." They really do help me untangle this journey of life and they also encourage me to keep up with the blog. Keep them coming!