Thanksgiving In Georgia!

It was hard being so far away from all of our families for Thanksgiving, but we were fortunate to be invited to spend it with some friends.  Our good friends, and almost neighbors, the Mackleprangs were so kind to include us with their family.  They moved in about the same time we did, and we actually live within walking distance...which is a big deal.  Our ward may cover a large area, but it's still a small world when you're a mormom.  Turns out he is from Springville, IL, and his parents know my uncle Paul really well, so although we weren't with family, we talked family, and they made us feel right at home.  Allan is big into smoking (his meat), so we had smoked turkey as well as fried turkey.  Both were delish, as was everything else.  I always forget to take pics...

The next morning we woke up and headed to the beach.  We spent Friday at Jekyll Island.  We had a picnic lunch at the wildlife observation beach, but we didn't see anything more than a bird or two.  Breah was so excited to look for sea shells, and didn't like passing anything up.  I love the curiosity and fascination of little kids.  She even allowed her feet to get a little dirty.  Tayven was interested in nothing but the water.  We couldn't keep him out of it.  (We also couldn't get him out of his Sponge Bob pajamas).  It wasn't long before he was soaked and covered in black clay, and then he was cold so we had to strip him and carry him around in a towel...but at least we were able to replace the pjs!  

We were able to take our bikes and the bike trailer so we found some bike trails around the island. (Did I ever mention I'm now a minivan mom?  Yeah, we bought a van, and we love it.  Especially after this trip)  It was such a beautiful day, and riding our bikes along the beach was wonderful!  We  biked over to the driftwood beaches and hung out there for a while, playing in the water, finding more shells, and climbing trees. 

                                                      AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

                                                                   Bouncing on the tree:

(I know this is dark, but I had to include this because this was seconds before he got top heavy and face planted into this puddle...it was hilarious!)

 

All this was good fun, but according to Breah, the best part of the whole trip was going to see the "hospital turtles in the turtle hospital."  It was pretty cool.  They are amazing animals, and it was quite fascinating to go and see them up close and personal, and to learn more about them.  For example, did you know the sex of a sea turtle is determined by the temperature at which it is incubated?  So when then they rescue eggs from a dying/dead mother, they incubate them all at a certain temp to creat females. 

We had some awesome southern BBQ at a local diner that had been featured on HGTV's Diners and Drive-Ins, but I can't remember the name of it.  Then we headed to our home away from home, a Holiday Inn for the night.  Now it's midnight, I'm beat, and the rest of my pictures are on my other computer...the one that's dead.  So I will have to continue at another time, but I think this should be enough pics for one day!