Hofreyl-Broadfield Plantation

Our first stop was to the Hofreyl-Broadfield Plantation.  We found it by accident just driving the scenic way.  It was a beautiful find!  The whole area had Live Oaks covered in Spanish Moss.  The pictures never do these trees justice.  They are so big that you can't fit one in a photo without getting really far away, and then the tree looks small. 

 Most of the trees here are a couple hundred years old.

The plantation lay on the marsh coast.  It was a rice plantation in the 1800s.

 This is the plantation house.  We didn't go on the inside tour. . . well, we started to, but the tour guide rambled, and rambled, and rambled on the porch.  It was hot, and I am four, so we decided not to give the guide any more time.  The tree by the side of the house is over 800 years old!



Golden Isles of Georgia

We got stir crazy in our place, so we decided to take a trip to Georgia's Golden Isles.  We left Wednesday night and stayed in Macon.  Then on Thursday we finished our drive and visited St. Simon's Island.  On Friday we spent all day on Jekyll Island, and Saturday we split our time between St. Simon's and Jekyll's.  Sunday we drove home.

Picnics at the Beach

 The weather is starting to get nice in Georgia.  In fact, the trees are starting to blossom which is beautiful!  Mom is starting to feel better, so we have been going to the beach for a BBQ picnic every chance we get.

 Sand Angel

Fire Station

Today for playgroup we went to the Marietta Fire Station.

There is a museum hooked to the station that we went through first.

This is a thermal camera.  It was pretty neat.  I asked a lot of good questions about it.

I also asked tons of questions about the truck.  How do they put water in the truck?  Which levers do they need to push to get the water out?  How heavy are the hoses?

One of the firemen put on all the gear.  It was neat until the mask went on, then all the kids got scared.  But the fireman did a good job of making us not be so worried about how he looked.  We touched the equipment and gave him high fives.

Not the best picture, but it was the best part!  The firemen showed us how they come down the pole!

After the station tour, we walked to Marietta Square and had a picnic.

Grandma Goes Home

 Grandma stayed for a week and a half.  But Grandpa needed someone to take care of him, so she had to go home.  It was nice having her come visit.  But who is going to make dinner, do the dishes and the laundry, and go grocery shopping now?



Spoiled by Grandma

 Having Grandma around is the best!  While Mom is home sick, I get to go do fun things with her.  I suggested that we go get icecream.

We also went to the "sand" park.  It is right by tennis courts.  Grandma and I went on a tennis ball hunt around the park.  We found 24 tennis balls!  Hollie of course gets them.

Build A Bear

 Mom has been pretty sick because of the baby.   Good thing Grandma came to visit to help me take care of her.  Mom was having an especially rough time so we dropped her off at the emergency room.  Mom didn't want us to have to stay, so we went to the mall instead.

 Grandma bought me Mr. Brown Bear from Build-A-Bear.  It was fun putting the stuffing in.

 You have to hug the heart and rub it. 

 Then I gave Mr. Brown Bear a bath.  I picked out a Lightning McQueen outfit for him.  I also insisted that Yellow Dog get a new outfit.



Rocket Birthday

 I wanted a rocket for my birthday cake.

 Mom used a football cake mold to make this.

 It was kind of silly looking, but I appreciated it. 

Trapped in Ruby Falls Cave

 After the Southern Belle, we headed to Ruby Falls Cave.  You ride an elevator down 260 ft that has been cut out of limestone.  The elevator door is glass, so you can see that basically you are stuck between rocks.

 The cave tour lasts about an hour.  But it was a Saturday, so it was busy. Our official tour ended after about an hour and a half.  We would have to stop and let other groups pass, because in the cave there isn't room for people to walk side by side during most of it.

 I thought it was great being in a cave.  It was really neat and I was enjoying myself.

 At the end, there is a beautiful waterfall.  They don't even know where the water comes from!

 And then we started back..... We noticed that we weren't passing any other tours.

 When we got to the elevators, we found out they were broken.  No one was going up.  And it gets better, the tour guides had no communication with the top and there is no emergency plan.  And it gets even better, there are no bathrooms in the cave.  And even more, I am four, it's my birthday, and my mom is pregnant.  Luckily for all, Mom was feeling well that day, and no one had to go to the bathroom.  I was also behaving and was being really good.

After an hour, they let us out a secret passage that let out at the bottom of the mountain.  We had to wait another half hour for vans to shuttle us up the mountain ten people at a time.  Needless to say, by time we got done, I went and asked for our money back.