Our weekend getaway...part 1

I'm going to post about our trip in stages, since there are sooooo many pictures!

I took my three oldest boys, Isaac, Micah and Andrew, to the Georgia coast this past weekend.  We left early Friday morning and got back Sunday afternoon.  I have been wanting to go to the Georgia coast for a while now and I thought it would make an easy trip if I just took the older boys.  Apparently I thought wrong!  There was a lot to do in preparing for the trip because I packed all of our food, minus one meal eaten at Chick-fil-et.  So by the time I was ready to go I was exhausted!  The drive I did notice to be quite easier without Benjamin screaming...  So I have to admit that it was pretty nice :)

We went to Tybee Island first and drove around a bit, getting lost, and such.  All the boys wanted to do was go to the beach but I dragged them to the Tybee Island Lighthouse and Museum first.  I thought this was super cool!  The lighthouse was built in 1772, if I'm remembering correctly.  We walked up to the top and then skipped all the small buildings that were open for exploration, such as the Lighthouse keepers house, because the boys were only interested in getting to the beach.  So I bought an ornament for our Christmas tree (which is a tradition we have) and we headed for the beach which was just across the street.

Honestly, after being at the beach for a few hours, I was relieved that we were only doing that once.  The whole aspect of the boys and our stuff being covered in wet sand and having no place to clean anything off, and having to put all that and all of us, into the van is just exhausting to me!  There was a bathroom and I confess, I picked up the boys and put their feet in the sink and rinsed them off at least a little bit.  I even hiked my own feet up into that sink to rinse them off.  I'm telling you, we were nasty!

Wooh!  Okay, so here are the pictures from the Light House and Beach.

Andrew was adorably cautious going up the Lighthouse stairs!  His hand didn't leave that rail!

He took one look out....

And then stared back with the cutest look of "WOW!"

I think Micah was a little bit scared!

We were really high!

We weren't able to go in the tip-top where the light is, but we were able to see in a little bit.  All the glass surrounding the tiny bulb magnify the light so that it can be seen 20 miles out at sea!  Amazing!  (The historian at the bottom of the Lighthouse told my boys to not run and to use quiet voices.  She said that shouting could shatter the glass lenses that magnify the light.  Micah said, "Yeah, we usually shout."  It was a cute confession :)

Now to the beach!

The boys absolutely LOVE the beach...  It was worth all that sandy mess to give them at least two hours of delight at the beach this year!  Hopefully we can go back to the beach when we visit Steve's parents in November for Thanksgiving...

I love these birds!  I watched them diving into the water catching fish in amazement!  They are just so cool!