Amelia Island Anniversary Trip

Jonathan and I celebrated our ninth anniversary on Thursday. Janice came up to Gainesville for a few days to watch the kids so that we could sneak away to Amelia Island for a few days to celebrate.
We left Wednesday morning and headed straight for Main Beach. We picked up Publix subs on the way then found our spot and enjoyed our lunch.

Pretty calm water and not too crowded at first.

We noticed some dark clouds rolling in as we finished up lunch.

But after snapping a few photos, it started drizzling. We took our stuff up to the car, but since it wasn’t raining hard or lightning, we decided to go for a walk on the beach. While walking, the rain stopped and the sun came back out so Jonathan got to go out boogie boarding and I read some Middlemarch.
A little after 3, we packed up and headed to our hotel in downtown Fernandina. We were staying right in the city so once we parked our car Wednesday, we didn’t need to move it again until we left on Friday. Everything was within walking distance of the Hampton Inn where we stayed.
We got cleaned up then headed to dinner at Espana in downtown Fernandina.

We went with Paella Valencia. Neither of us had tried paella before.

Needless to say, we both thoroughly enjoyed the meal. :-)

From there we walked down to the marina to watch the sunset.

The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast then headed to the Amelia Island Museum of History. We took the tour and learned a lot about the island. We both enjoyed it.

After the tour, we walked up to each lunch at T-Rays.

This is Jonathan outside of T-Rays. Kinda hard to tell it’s a restaurant.

We enjoyed hamburgers and fries inside this old converted gas station.

The décor was eclectic, but the food was really good.

On our way back, we stopped in several antique stores. I found a September Furber print to go with our November print, I just need to get it reframed.

When we made it back to the hotel, I rested and Jonathan took a bike ride up to the north end of the island. When he got back, we called the kids to check on how they were doing and got ready for our anniversary dinner at Le Clos.

The restaurant was directly across the street from our hotel.

Jonathan’s garden salad

Vichyssoise – it was a new experience for me since it was cold, but really good.

My grouper – it was amazing

Jonathan’s duck

The restaurant is very quaint. We guessed that at the most it could hold 50 people. We were thankful that we had reservations.


Once again, after dinner we walked over to watch the sunset.



A little cloudy, but still a beautiful sight.
The next morning, we worked out in the gym before grabbing some breakfast and packing up. After checking out, we walked down Centre Street one more time for some photos and to find an ornament.

Argh, mateys!

On our way out of town, we decided to drive north to see Old Town. From the north tip, you could see Cumberland Island, Georgia.

Looking across to Georgia.

From there, we drove all the way south to Amelia Island Plantation. It was a nice little drive.

On our way out of town, we stopped at Moon River Pizza for some calzones. Another great meal.

We headed home after lunch. It was such a relaxing and enjoyable getaway. We came home refreshed. I love trips like this with Jonathan.

9th Anniversary Present

When it comes to gift giving, Jonathan always does a better job than I do. This year was no exception. We don’t exchange gifts every year. We’ll do cards or buy something for both of us, but we don’t always get the other a big gift so this year was a bit of a surprise.

At the homeschool convention in May, there was a rare and used book vendor in the exhibit hall. There were hundreds of books, but the LM Montgomery shelf caught my eye and I found a copy of Anne of Avonlea. We didn’t get it then and while I had hoped that Jonathan might go back and get it for me (I had noticed later in the conference that it was no longer on the shelf), I didn’t let my hopes get too high, but I hadn’t forgotten about it.

But alas, he had gone back and on Thursday morning, our anniversary, I opened this treasure.

A first impression copy of Anne of Avonlea, printed in September of 1909.

It smells wonderful. I love the smell of an old book.

It pairs nicely with my 12th impression Anne of Green Gables. In fact, both books were printed in September, 1909. Green Gables was first printed in 1908, but first editions of those are super expensive and hard to find. I love that they’re from the same month and year. It’s like they belong together.

I’ve paged through Avonlea these last few days and again have felt like I’m visiting an old friend. I first read Anne of Green Gables when I was in the fifth grade after seeing the PBS miniseries and instantly fell in love. I still have the paperback set that my parents bought me and look forward to one day reading through them with our children. I made my way through all eight of the books in the Anne series so whenever I read them, I not only enjoy re-living the story, I also enjoy the memories they bring back of my own childhood. I think that’s why this story will always be my favorite.

Birthday Parties

Last weekend we attended two birthday parties and a cookout over the course of the two days. It was a busy and fun weekend.

I only got pics at the first birthday party. It was for one of Rosemary’s ballet friends but all our kids got to come and enjoy the circus theme with the clown and the bounce house. So much fun! Even though we didn’t know many people at first, we got to know new people and found out that once again, we had several friends in common.

Charlotte walked around with this ball for awhile saying, “Ball, ball, ball,” to anyone that would listen.

Rosemary was the first of our kids to her face painted by Peaches the clown.

Charlotte played with Caroline a bit. I think she might have been saying something along the lines of, “Hands off my ball!”

Been happily showed off his lion face. He won the pin-the-nose-on-the-clown game and received a $5 McDonalds gift card. Thought that was fancy.

Charlotte was not interested in face painting, but she got a tiny little butterfly on her cheek. She did, however, thoroughly enjoy the can and ball game.

Such a fun weekend. We’re so thankful for the friends that we have here.

Janey’s Shower

A couple weekends ago, Rosemary and I drove down to Orlando for the day for a baby shower in honor of one of my roommates from college. I managed to only get pics before the party started. It was one of the least stressful showers that I’ve ever been a part of planning. Kristen kept us organized and Facebook kept us in touch.

I took this pic before the guests even arrived so she got quite a few more gifts!

All the delicious food by Kristen, Sarah, & Christi, beautifully rolled napkins by Sarah, and Kristen’s tissue paper balls

Sparkling punch and water bottles

Thank you notes and the fingerprint memory tree

Decorations and prizes

It was a very fun shower and exciting to see all the new baby stuff. Afterwards, Rosemary and I headed to Olive Garden (her choice) for dinner before heading home. Rosemary was a wonderful helper at the shower and delightful company. It was a special day together.

Independence Day 2012–At the beach

We finally got to the beach for the first time this year on July 4. While it was busy at St. Augustine Beach that day, it wasn’t too crowded and everyone had a great time. It was the first time that we stayed six hours. The kids just so enjoyed the water and the sand.

Little Charlotte had a great time too. This was her first trip to the beach where she actually was out and about. I don’t think I even put her in a swim suit for her last trip.

Our home base. We bought that tent shortly after we got married and it has been so handy to have a space with shade.

The kids got right to digging and playing. Ben did a great job keeping his hat on the entire day.

Playing together.

Fetching a pail of water.

There were several sandbars that were easy to get to as the tide went out so Jonathan took the older two out further throughout the day. They really enjoyed that.

Finishing up lunch.

Showing off the watering can

A kind man asked if we’d like a picture of our entire family. We have so few of all 5 of us.

I think they found a crab here.

Rosemary enjoyed body surfing and boogie boarding with Jonathan. Her confidence in the water increased exponentially after swim lessons this year.

Adorable baby girl…even with her eyes closed. Check out those lashes!

Charlotte enjoyed ‘talking’ with these kids. It was actually a bit hard to get her to keep walking with us.

We all had a great time. At about 4, we finally loaded up the car to head back towards home. We stopped in Palatka at Corky Bell’s for some dinner. So good. We all slept well that night!

Ben’s Fourth Birthday

We had a great family day celebrating Ben on his fourth birthday. Jonathan took the day off so we started with a relaxing morning at home.

Ben opened his presents from us.

The big gift this year was his bike.

We’ve yet to take him outside to ride it. It’s just so hot…and SO buggy this year!

Rosemary and Ben had swim lessons that day so we headed to the Y.

Waiting for lessons to start.

Ben had a substitute swim teacher that day so he was a little bit off. Rosemary had lessons too and the other little boy that was in her class didn’t come that entire week so she had private lessons.

After swimming a bit, we headed over to Las Margaritas for some lunch.

Ben enjoyed his fruit punch and cheese quesadilla.

Sweet Charlotte enjoyed the day too. And the donkey.