Casa de Slaton

It's always a fun and relaxing time, including pool, Mexican Train Wreck, movies, delicious food, daiquiris, and darts (for Jack), at Casa de Slaton resort, as we like to call my parents' house.  Thanks for having us, Nonni and Papa!  And thanks for hosting Olive!  It was so nice to not spend another full week away from our sweet pup after boarding her for 9 days for our trip to Beaufort and HHI.

Instagrammin' in July

We were living the high life in July!

more highlights from hhi week, including, of course, the beach, pool, and bike rides, but also seeing legally blonde with nonni and papa at the hhi community theatre, and ella and i played tennis at the harbour town courts. | jack had fun with friends at dave & buster's, coming away with some good loot. | more highlights from our time on tybee island, including some beautiful pictures by aunt jacqui of jack and noah cast netting during sunset. | olive enjoyed some pool time at nonni and papa's house. | thanks for having us, nonni and papa! | we explored the university of florida (my alma mater) campus with ella and jack and my how the reitz union has changed. | we ate lunch at my beloved el indio and their patio has been spiffed up since my day, too. | aunt jacqui, uncle randy, harper, and hudson met us at ginnie springs, my beloved watering hole from my college days.  i remember it a lot more quiet (even on summer weekends) and a lot less dirty.  (they've kind of spoiled it a bit--the beautiful blue and refreshing water is now over crowded, filled with floating huge speakers playing techno music, and with cigarette butts floating by because they allow people to smoke there...i was pretty disappointed with the changes, but we still had a very fun day with the horns.) | after several hours at ginnie springs, a huge storm chased us back to gainesville and, after drying off at our hotel, we met jacqui and fam at swamphead brewery, our first look at their new, bigger location. | on sunday, we rose early and made a stop to check out lake alice and the bat houses (more scenic uf campus) before picking olive up at her boarder and then heading back home to charlotte.  | and finally, at the end of july, my doubles partner, sally davidson, and i won the 3.5 terri's ladder doubles league championship for the summer season!  | and look how petite we look compared to the mother-daughter duo we beat in the finals.  

So Long, Tybee!

Thanks, Nana and PopPop, for bringing us all together on Tybee Island! Some stayed for a little more pool time on our last day on Tybee Island, but we headed out early on Wednesday to pick up Olive from a pet boarder just off the island and continue on south to my parent's house.  It had been a while since we'd visited my parents at their house and we figured we were half way there already, so we extended our vacation week for the rest of the week.  We also planned, after a few days at Casa de Slaton, to meet Jacqui and her fam in Gainesville the following Saturday before heading back home on Sunday.  So, goodbyes were sad, but at least it would just be a few more days before we saw some of these sweet faces again. 

Savannah: July 16

On Tuesday, our whole crew headed down to Savannah and signed up for a hop-on, hop-off historic trolley tour.  This was a great way to cover a lot of ground in Savannah.  We ended up riding the complete tour twice, getting off and on at several different stops.  We explored the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, walked through a few of the many squares in Savannah, checked out The Pirate's House (not worth the stop), snagged a couple of tables for our large group at Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons restaurant for lunch, and ooohed and aaahed at a lot of beautiful architecture along the way.  Jonathan and I had both just finished reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and my mother-in-law had read it many years earlier, so we wanted to explore the Mercer-Williams House while in Savannah.  Aunt Jacqui, Uncle Randy, and Uncle Chris took Ella and the younger kids to explore Forsyth Park while Jacob joined Jonathan, his parents, and I on our tour of the Mercer-Williams House (no pictures allowed).  It was interesting, but you don't get to see some of the more interesting spaces in the house, like the upstairs ballroom or basement where antiques were worked on to be restored, so it's a definitely one-and-done kind of tour. 

Savannah is a photographer's delight.  I hope to return one day and slowly walk the streets, toting my camera and taking in all of the details--and preferably in the spring or fall when it's not so dang hot and humid!

Tybee Island: July 15

On Monday, July 15th, we were up early and out of the house to explore a little more of Tybee Island.  We headed to downtown Tybee and walked out on the Tybee Beach Pier.  It was fun to see some of fishing off of the pier and seeing the crowded beach near the peer made us thankful for our quiet North Beach, but it was H-O-T hot out there.  After stopping for some ice cream on our way back to the north side of the island, we went to the Tybee Island Light Station and Museum.  Most of us just explored the grounds, but Aunt Jacqui, Uncle Randy, Harper, Hundson, and Ella were all brave enough to climb to the top of the lighthouse.  That's them at the top of the lighthouse in the last three pictures I posted of the lighthouse below!

A few of us (Uncle Chris, Ella, Jack, Jacob, Noah, and I) spent some time in the afternoon at the public tennis courts.  Ella enjoyed playing with former collegiate player Uncle Chris while the boys all mostly goofed off.  That evening, another group of us (PopPop, Jonathan, Aunt Jacqui, Uncle Randy, Harper, Hudson, Jack, Noah, Ella, and I) headed to the Savannah River side of the beach which is apparently the place to go for fishing and cast netting.  We saw one gentleman pull in a shark and Jack caught his biggest fish yet in his cast net.  Jack enjoyed this part of the trip so much he went back a few more times with Noah for more cast netting over the next few days.

Tybee Island: July 14

Just a little over a week after returning home from HHI, we headed to Tybee Island with Jonathan's extended family where his parents had rented a beautiful house near the North Beach, where the Savannah River meets the Atlantic Ocean.  On our first full day on Tybee we spent a lot of day on the Atlantic Ocean side of the beach, but the best part of our day was probably the parts I didn't photograph--card games, cousins hanging out, adults having a beer tasting contest (for two of our four nights, although there was plenty of drinking the other nights), and delicious food.  Unfortunately Aunt Chrissy couldn't join us on the trip, but we're so thankful for our time spent with the Williams clan this summer.  Thanks, Nana and PopPop, for bringing us all together! 

HHI Week: July 5

This year's HHI week taught me an important lesson--don't save the beach portraits/group picture for the last night!  Oh, and also don't forget to pack your tripod.  Oops. 

A huge storm was moving in by the time we made it out the beach and I set up a make-shift stand for my camera for our group shots.  We got the shots, smiling and goofy, but in all of the rush and looking at the ever-graying skies I had an aunt fail.  I forgot to get a portrait shot of Drew.  :(  I don't think he minded all that much, but it's nice to have pictures of the kids each year to compare how much they've grown through the years.  Luckily he's in many group shots.  I'll do better next year!  ....but, the moment we stepped back in the house after coming back from the beach the torrential rain began.  So, I guess I'm glad we captured them at all.  

The next morning, we were up early to pack our cars and double check the house was clear and then headed to Stack's for a filling breakfast thanks to Nonni and Papa.  They do spoil us!  Tracy and I hit the jackpot with them as parents and as our kids' grandparents.