A Visit From E-I-E-O Baba and Grandpa

Little Mr.'s maternal cousins call their grandparents names according to what they are associated with. For example, my mother who lives on a farm is called "Farm Grandma" and my Grandma who has a porch swing is "Swing Grandma" to them. So when I explained this to Little Mr., he chose to call my mom "E-I-E-O Baba", which if it isn't obvious, comes from the beginning part of the song Old MacDonald's Farm, and the Baba part is just his toddler-talk for "Grandma."   Most of the time he calls her just plain "Baba", but when trying to differentiate between his grandmas, he always calls my mom E-I-E-O Baba, and when he is old enough to think this is silly, I will be sad. :)

Little Mr. loves listening to songs sung from the Sunday School book and here he is putting my dad to work.

The boys received gifts from my parents during their visit, and Little Mr.'s big gift was this ark, which is great for his motor skills development and for independent play time.  If you have kids that like puzzles and small animals and such, you should check out that Amazon link for this ark (and no, I do not get a cut...) and the other neat stackable toys that this company makes.  They have a castle, barn, dog house, sea explorer boat etc. that all look like a lot of fun!

My Mom and Little Mr. having fun with water paint books from my Grandma.

Wearing Grandpa's hat.

Putting my dad to work.  Both of my parents were such a huge help with the boys while they were here!

The magazine at Fort Frederica. We spent part of a day touring the grounds and learning all sorts of neat history.

Lots of cool history here!

Little Brother all cozy and warm.

Old bricks in the arched doorway of the magazine.

Towering live oak and a tiny 2 year old.

One of the touch tanks at the 4-H Tidelands Nature Center.  We spent a whole day on Jekyll island hopping from one tourist destination to the next, and even hitting up the Jekyll BBQ Beach Bash for lunch.

I decided y'all didn't need an extra large version of this one. ;)

On our way to the BBQ Beach Bash we stopped at a little park and caught a glimpse of this sign.  Shudder!

Dunes and walkways on the unprotected side of the island.

Historic District

The historic Jekyll Island Club Hotel.

A bunch of really famous, really rich guys lived here.  Back in the day, (1886) the whole island was bought, and then it was turned into an "exclusive winter retreat" called the Jekyll Island Club.  It soon became what was called "the richest most inaccessible club in the world."  You can read more here.  But basically these guys spent their days hunting, horseback riding, skeet shooting, golfing, playing tennis, biking, playing croquet, lawn bowling and taking picnics, and carriage rides.What's left of it now is 34 historic buildings and 240 beautiful acres to explore.

Out on the pier nearby, we spotted a lot of oyster beds.  I never knew they stood on end this way.

A very photogenic pelican.

One of the many beautiful historic buildings.

My dad taking a turn carrying Little Brother, who was tired of the stroller.  These two got along swell!

We also visited a beach on Jekyll island called Driftwood beach.  It is such a sight to see and I hope we go back and visit again!

  Our family. :)  (And no I do not make a habit of using the Moby backwards, I know this is really bad support for his hips!)

My favorite piece of "driftwood" on the beach.  The driftwood on this beach has not come from the sea... the sea has come to the trees and claimed them instead!  It is a very strange thing.

 The fog started rolling in just as we were making our way back to the car.  The whole visit we were keeping our eyes open for a fishing float, and never found one.  It was rumored that at least one was hidden in this area that day.  Four of these locally made glass blown "fishing floats" are hidden on the island every day in Jan. and Feb. and if you find one, you get to keep it! They are very beautiful (and expensive to buy!)

Heading home we were rewarded by a beautiful sunny view of the salt marsh.

We also took my parents to the village pier area of Saint Simons.  It was a nice clear day,  however when we got to the waterfront, unfortunately the pier and the view were ensconced in fog!

Although I was disapointed for my parents sake, the fog did lend a bit of excitement to the visit, as we could hear massive fog horns blasting from afar and it was weird that the visibility was so bad.  A couple of times the fog horns were so close they even made us jump.  It is kind of creepy to know that a ginormous ship is passing by, and the only clues are a fog horn and eventually waves breaking on the shore after it has passed.

As the sun lowered, it was eery to see its reflection on the water.  You couldn't see much of the water otherwise.

My favorite shot from our foggy beach stroll.

Neptune Park's live oak trees.