Happy Day

Today Morgan and I were making cookies for our new neighbors (because Tom thinks you can't introduce yourselves without taking a treat) and she wanted a few M&M's. I put a small handful on her high chair and she excitedly shouted, "Happy Day!" The girl loves her chocolate.

So Are The Days Of Our Lives

I went to the dentist today and they had a TV with closed caption so I could watch and read and get my teeth cleaned at the same time. I sat down sometime just after 1:00 and NBC was on. That means that Days of Our Lives was the featured show. Now, I don't normally watch Days (or any other daytime TV), but I sure used to. When I was in high school I was a Days addict. I mean, I still get a little nostalgic when I hear about John and Marlena.

Anyway, back to the point. Days today. So, Stephano had some dude locked up in the dungeon in the basement of his house and I thought, "Really? I think someone was locked in the basement dungeon when I stopped watching in 1998." If you were the Salem P.D., wouldn't the first place you ever checked for a missing person be Stephano's basement dungeon? Because it's not a secret. And wouldn't you just do a random check once in a while just to make sure he didn't hire a look-alike to pose as the person he kidnapped? Because how often has that happened, people of Salem? I'm just saying.

Disclaimer -- I'm not serious. I completely understand that Days of Our Lives is a fictional soap opera. This post is only meant for the amusement of people who understand it.

Shemen

The last couple of days Morgan has been saying "sheman" and we've had no idea what she's been talking about. It's funny though because when Tom was little and would hear the song Love One Another, the part that says "by this shall men know," and think it was saying "by this shemeno" and he thought a shemeno was a pimento... so you can imagine the little child mind thinking about some sort of pepper while singing Love One Another. And we thought it was interesting that she was using the same word.

Anyway, today she was looking out the window at the back yard and she kept saying it. Well, the pool is there so I thought maybe she wanted to go swimming. That turned out not to be it. Finally she said it again and said "tall, tall, tall" and did the little motions for Once There Was A Snowman. Shemen = Snowman! I asked her if she wanted to go build a snowman and, alas, that's what she wanted. So we went outside and built some Morgan sized shemen.

Happy Valentines Day!

We spent the day making a craft and playing at the park before we went to dinner with our friends for the last time this trip.

Happy Valentines Day!

Savannah

Yesterday we were able to take the day and drive to Savannah, Georgia. Since I've been here I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It's a story that takes place in Savannah. I don't recommend it for the conservative readers because surprise, the main guy is gay (and you don't find out until the middle of the book) and he kills his lover. Yeah, not usually the type of book I read but I have a hard time quitting in the middle. I'm not very good at walking out of movies either, don't judge (or do... whatever). So we went on our own little driving tour of the city. It's so cute! The Mercer house was the house of the book I read so I had to take a picture of that (I don't know why since I googled it when we got home and found a thousand of the same picture).

Anyway, we got there early to get our names on the reservation list for

Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons. We concluded that it was probably once a very good place to eat but since she has taken off professionally and the place is constantly booked, they are trying to keep up with the numbers over making it a true Paula Deen type of meal. I will say, though, that the fried chicken was the best. So was the creamed corn. Over all I'd say it was an average place to eat. Not bad, not the best.

We walked along the river and bought a few pounds of Savannah pralines to give away to certain people (and eat).

We went to a park and put a dollar in a bucket for a man playing the saxophone and flute. Then he played Twinkle, Twinkle and some other songs for Morgan.

Before we left we had to go across the river to the South Carolina side so Tom could check it off his list of states. I made him pull over for a picture at the state sign. That's our rental car. Morgan calls it a bus. Pardon my snobbery but I'm a little embarrassed to be seen in it. Who buys the Cube anyway? Don't even get me started on the aerodynamics. But at least it has done its job for the month. I will be happy to get my SUV back when we get home.

Fun day!

River Road

There is this park in Jacksonville that I like to take Morgan to. It is close to the river and on the same street as some amazing houses. When I think of Florida real estate I have to admit that the stereotype is a yellow house with a glossy blue tile roof. Throw in some awnings over the windows and doors, maybe a couple of fake geckos on the walls and some plastic flamingos on the lawn and there you go. Well, there are definitely those kinds of houses.

But there are also some beautiful, charming homes that I would expect to find more in New England -- yet another reason to NOT stereotype, I suppose.

I love the brick on this house. It looks worn and old but not dilapidated. There are a few different colors of brick that compliment each other and the whole thing just goes.

I love the detail around the door and windows on this house.

This one has 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, and is 6600 sq ft. How much would you expect to pay? Remember, the back yard borders the river. One million? Two million? If you think higher, you're right. This baby is on the market for 2.95 mil, and it is one of the smaller houses on the street.
What I like about this house doesn't really show well in the picture. It is castle like, obviously gated, and the entire thing is just fabulous.

I have always loved columns and one day I hope to have them on my dream house, which could be modeled after this one. I love the simplicity and the colonial charm of this. The style screams classic.
This one is a Cape Cod style with a detached garage. I don't like detached garages, but I do like this house.
Not a great pic, but still a charming house.
Then there are back yards. I don't love the back of this house except for the porch, but I do love the pool and the border on the inlet of the river.
This is magnificent. This is a small lake off of the river with houses surrounding it. Some of them had private docks with patios. I love it!One thing most of the houses had in common was a green sign that said "San Marco Presbyterian Society" and had what looked like a steeple and cross. After seeing house after house with this sign I was thinking, "wow, you must have to be Presbyterian to own one of these house or maybe once you buy one you just join the society." Finally I was showing them to Tom and actually read the sign to him. "Preservation!" Haha.

Cweem Good

I usually get Morgan a little treat if she behaves well while grocery shopping -- yeah bribery! (and to be honest, I always get a treat for her, even if it's just a 40 cent caramel, and tell her "thanks for..." after the shopping trip).

Today's trip treat was ice cream, which was what she was asking for and I was also wanting at Walgreens. While she was eating it with her left hand, holding a spoon in her right, she said to me, "mmm, cweem good." Melted my ice cream loving heart!

Something Everyone Should Try

Hi mom. Just brushing my teeth... in the sink. It's really comfortable here. You should try it.

Metro Diner

Yesterday we had breakfast at Metro Diner. It was featured on the show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Not bad.

Here's a little video that was supposed to be a picture but I forgot the camera was set to video.

Kingsley Plantation on Super Bowl Sunday

Church in Jax is at 9am so we had plenty of time after church and before the Super Bowl (understanding that those are two different ends of the spectrum) so we took a drive to Avery Island, found a dilapidated beach town, then left the island and went to Kingsley Plantation. It was your typical plantation where whites dominated and slaves' lives were subject to their owner's whim. However, I was surprised at the size of the plantation. It is dwarfed by other plantations I've seen in more slave focused states.

This is M in front of the main house where they would sit and watch human cargo ships port.

We walked down the nice cushy path that was made out of rubber (like you can sometimes find all over the floor at a kid's play place).

Across the path of an armadillo.

Then to the slave kitchen with the fabulous lighting.

This was the view of our drive out of the plantation. The trees have so much character with their vein like branches and moss growing an them. Love it!
Then we saw a peacock on the side of the road.

Sneaker

Morgan has learned how to sneak out of her crib. We finally got out the camera to catch her after the third or fourth time she had climbed out of her pack n play during nap time. This is just after she threw her doggy and blanket (which are respectably know to her as "doggy" and "blanket") out.

4th Anniversary

Tom worked most of the day but he was able to take some quality time for us in the middle of it all so we went to the beach. It was a cloudy day but the temperature was nice, around 70. We had a fun time. I'm so grateful for my family, especially my wonderful, hard working husband (who was slightly pessimistic about the temperature).Morgan ran around the whole time chasing birds or trying to go into the water.

Three Kisses

We have this little thing in our family called "three kisses." Normally when we individually ask Morgan to give us kisses she's not very keen on the idea, but when we say "three kisses," which means that all three of us give a kiss at the same time, she is excited to participate. We love "three kisses!"

Cut me some slack on the pics. I was taking them with the camera and it always has a delay that is hard to anticipate.