St. George Island

Our almost annual trip to the beach was last week.  It was probably one of my most eventful trips ever.  It started out as part of a bribe of Christopher not to try out for All Stars earlier this summer.  Part of the negotiation was a trip to the beach, the choice of beach and the choice of house at the beach.    There were some extras (see Six Flags discussion).  Not a bad negotiator for a 7-year-old.  (Now, before I proceed, just a couple of comments.  I know the pictures don't match the verbiage.  I started out making it match, but after an hour of having pictures disappear and letters suddenly becoming 10x the size they are supposed to be, you are stuck with just some pictures.  Deal with it.  When I become a master blogger you will be able to expect more.  Also, I don't normally put pictures of myself, but my dad liked this picture and it was at the beginning of the download so this one is for him.)

We were supposed to leave for St. George Island on Sunday to stay at Cut Bait.  We stayed in this house in 2004 - it has some wicked metal steps up to the roof, which Christopher was terrified of then.  He has been been on a kick this year of conquering his fears.  I think that had a lot to do with his choice.  That and the fact that it has a private pool.  My parents had  gone with us before and they decided they wanted to go with us.  Well.....on Friday night, we got an e-mail that the electricity on the island was "intermittent" and going was at "our own risk."  Now, what in the world did that mean?  It was virtually impossible to get additional information.  Furthermore, Fay was beginning to bear down on the coast.  It looked like she would landfall close to us around Tuesday.  We didn't know what to do.  Christopher really wanted to go to  Cut Bait so he prayed we would have  electricity and that we wouldn't be in a hurricane.

We had electricity and beautiful weather until Tuesday or so when a park ranger sighted a water spout just off the island and a tornado warning was issued.  We ushered the kids down into the stair area and waited it out for a few minutes.  That quick thunderstorm blew over and the next day we were back to beautiful skies.  Wednesday we had some great waves, but James and I also met up with a jellyfish.  In 43 years of playing in the Gulf I had never met one that close and personal and I hope to never do it again.  (I'm not sure which was worse, that jellyfish or the seemingly millions of mosquitoes.)  Honestly, it was probably time to go in any way.  Keith and I were trying to hold onto the boys to help them catch waves, but were getting the snot knocked out of us.

As we went into Thursday we began to see that Fay would eventually get to us with a lot of rain.  We didn't want to get back late Sunday and had already started talking about leaving Saturday.  If it were going to be raining any way, maybe we should go ahead a leave.  Then, as the rain began piling up, we got a little concerned about getting stuck there so we left Friday when it started to rain.  I have to say, though, God heard Christopher's sweet prayers.  We had power the entire week and we had great weather until Friday.

We stayed with my parents 2 nights trying to avoid the tornadoes and torrential rains - they had over 6 inches in the roughly 36 hours we were with them.  My sister and I ran to Wal-Mart and saw cart corrals blowing across the parking lot.  Very weird.  Finally, Sunday morning we decided to head back to Atlanta.  Not 20 miles out of Troy, our engine light came on.  Long story short....we made it to Opelika where my brother facilitated a repair.

All in all, we had fun in the waves, at the beach, in the pool, visiting with my parents, staying up well past midnight watching the Olympics, going on at least one very long walk, riding bikes, playing tennis - now I need a VACATION!!