A Thanksgiving trip

We headed to Ohio for Thanksgiving this year.  I'm super late in posting these pictures because once we got back, I jumped right into Christmas.

Our drive up there wasn't so great.  It was so cloudy and nasty out.  This is a picture of us leaving Atlanta.  You can barely see the tops of the buildings for all the clouds.

Have Nemo, will travel.

We have made it a tradition to stop at Cracker Barrel going up and also coming home.  It always makes for a nice break.  We get some time to look at all the fun things they have in the store and we get so many options for eating.  I'm not kidding when I say there is a Cracker Barrel at every exit through every state.

I was hoping to get some nice photos of red, yellow and orange leaves.  I didn't!  All the leaves had fallen and all I got was photos of wet, naked trees.

Yes, we made it into Tennessee.

More wet, naked trees.

Check out those clouds.  Looks like some bad rain is on the way.

And on into Kentucky.  That's when the rain started.

And it rained...

and rained...

all the way into Ohio.

Some photos of Cincinnati

We were so happy to get to Grandma & Papa's house.  We actually made pretty good time getting there even with the rain.  Now lets just hope we don't get any snow while we are here.

You can also check out the slide show of all the photos of wet, naked trees our trip up North.

[slideshow]

Every year I bring a little bit of the beach back home with me

My absolute favorite place in the world is the beach.

I love the sand between my toes, the sun on my face and the sound of the waves washing ashore.

For the past 4 years we have been lucky enough to spend some time at St. Simons Island.  It's just off the coast of Georgia about 1 hour south of Savannah.

We just love it there.

Not only do we get a great beach to hang out at, they also have some great shops in what is known as the village.

The village is right next to the pier so we throw in some sightseeing.

I just love the idea of shopping with the ocean only a hundred yards from me.  Because we have been fortunate enough to return year after year, we have gotten familiar with several of the shops and the restaurants.  We know what we like, where we don't really want to go back again and the best stores to go to that will carry whatever we are looking for.

A couple of the stores carry Christmas ornaments and I have made it a tradition to get 1 ornament every year when we go.

I thought Beach Bum fit perfectly this year.

This sign fits me to a T!

Too bad reality is so darn far away.

I just love this bird.  I think he screams beach.

I had the frame in the basement and had hubby paint it for me.

It looks great on the mantle.

I found these glass starfish while I was looking for a spoon rest.

We found all the shells and the sand dollars while we were there.

This is my very small version of a shell lamp.  Until I can get a real one, that is.

Last year I got a photo album to put some of our favorite photos from our trip in.  I didn't see them this year until our last day.  They were hiding from me.

I just love this one and it's a little bigger, I can hold 4x6 photos in it.

The photos are held in with the string and each page has this thin paper keeping the photos safe.

In keeping with the beach theme throughtout the house, I added these shells to the kitchen table.  We didn't find them on the beach, I actually got them from WalMart (shhh... don't tell)

I think all of these things will help me stay in beach mode.  That is until it's time to decorate for fall.  I know it's approaching way too fast.



Is it too early to start counting down the days?

To get back to this?

And to this?

To get back to my favorite beach chair?

To dig my toes in the sand and watch the kids get along enjoy the beach?



29 days... less than a month and we are headed off to our favorite summer-get-away-destination.  We started going to St. Simons Island in 2008 and haven't missed some time there since. 

We love the small town feel and the great restaurants and quaint shopping in the village.  I love to go to the lighthouse and the pier.

The kids are all about the skim boarding.  It's so nice that they have so much fun they don't have time to fight with each other.

St. Simons Island, we are ready for you.... I hope you are ready for us.