Lazy SC Weekend

This weekend we decided to head down to Florence for a long overdue visit with Phillip's family. Brandy, my college suite mate was able to meet us there on Saturday morning since Will was on call for the night (we missed you Will). She brought their new puppy, Sydney. Oh poor Sydney had little hands pulling at him all weekend. :-) He's precious.

Logan and Taylor, our nieces, meeting Sydney for the first time.
Obviously, Sydney is teething.
Logan loves animals!
Sydney went for his first swim in the pond. Mason wouldn't get out.
Something Brandy enjoys when she visits Florence. :-)
Sydney looks like he's praying for mercy.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend.
I've always asserted that this is, by far, the best way to handle Taylor.
I'm an aunt.
This is going on the fridge soon. Love it!
Cheesing before the festival.
Spider Taylor...blue undies showing and all!
Phillip helping the short one with a little boost.
She wanted a blue flower on her face.
Brandy was trying to show Taylor how to make bubbles...she's an expert aunt.
Brandy and Phillip have a special bond (emphasis on "special").
Typical Taylor
She didn't realize it, but there was no way she was going to win this battle. Mason loves his bottles.
Logan being all goofy.

Uncle Phillip and Taylor with their "necklaces."
Taylor wanted to take a picture, so I gave her something to document.

Savannah - Last Day

We said goodbye to Savannah with a wonderful lunch at Leopold's. It was the only place we dined at twice during our trip.

Not sure what he was attempting to do with this face, but it was funny.

Sign on the jukeboxSaid jukebox
My "walking" shoes that are completely not made for walking.

Phillip's Coke in the classic cup. I loved this place.

The sign we saw leaving Savannah. We both laughed. Slightly ambiguous, don't ya say?

Phillip playing with a game at his aunt's house. We stopped by to say hello on our way home. His mom was so pleased with his "Save a life, grope your wife" shirt from Save the Tatas. He was just supporting Breast Cancer Awareness month (sadly, we missed the Race for the Cure in Charlotte this year).

Savannah - Day 4

This is us waiting on our walking tour guide, Savannah Dan. By far, this was the best aspect of our trip. If we ever go back to Savannah, even if it is just for a day, we will be calling Savannah Dan again.
Phillip had a decadent candy apple from a cute shop in City Market.

Meredith, we found a vineyard just for you!
Some of the pretty horses (their smell doesn't match their visual appeal).
Oh precious Paula!
City Hall

This was our little entertainment friend while we were waiting. Completely not afraid of us.
I want this job!
On the other side of this bench is where Forrest Gump was filmed.
This statue is of William Jasper, a brazen crazy man that died after running head first into several battles to regain the colors of his regiment. This eventually landed him six feet under, but it wasn't during the first several times he tried this maneuver.
I forget why this statue was erected, but I know that the middle banner was put on upside down. No one has bothered to correct this error. (Click on picture and you can see the three stars are upside down.)
The Mercer House - scene for the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Jewish temple
Apparently if you paint the ceilings of your porches this sky-blue color wasps won't make their nests there. Interest, yes?
Pretty gate along our tour.
I believe this is the Methodist church. (We saw a lot that day.) It's the neighbor of the Jewish church. They previously shared facilities.
John Wesley's statue
We had dinner here after we told our tour guide that we were surprised by the lack of truly great Southern food we had experienced. He said everywhere else catered to "Yankees" and that we should have dinner here. He was right! So very, very nice and the food was delish, to say the very least.
This is why Savannah is a hazardous city for ladies that enjoy wearing heels. :-)
James Oglethorpe stayed in a tent at this location when establishing the colony. I have no clue why he didn't just check into the Hyatt right behind the bench.

River boats
Tug boat!
Phillip made us sit down just to watch this massive freight carrier come by. It took up the entire River Street view for several moments.

Savannah - Day 3

We decided to try our hand at exploring Savannah on our own. We started with the Telfair Academy and the Jepson Center.


This is the Telfair Academy. We completely forgot to take pictures of the Jepson Center. There were quite a few amazing painting and sculptures in this place!

Next, we visited the Owens-Thomas House and got a tour around the only example of English Regency architecture in Savannah (and one of the few in the country).


The colors are a mixture of the remnants of the two colors that the Richardsons and the Owens had painted the residence (gray and a peachy-orange color).

This is the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. A two year renovation was completed in 2000 after amassing the cost of over $12 million dollars. However due to donations and fund raising balls, the church only owes $300,000 today (amazing).
Part of the ceiling.
Looking at the front (sorry about the glare).
The Hamilton-Turner Inn - one of the many "haunted" places in Savannah

I wish there weren't people in this picture, but it's still pretty. This is the fountain in Forsyth Square.
The fountain again.
These were carriages in our square for the movie. The horses had just left for the day.
The house where all the filming took place.
We found an awesome honey shop. Phillip got Tupelo honey (the flower only blooms 8 days a year). He was really excited about this.

My vino tinto...compliments of the owners of the B&B. Phillip tried it, but of course hated it.

Savannah - Day 2

Day 2 of our trip began with an excursion to Tybee Island. We spent a lot of time at the lighthouse and the fort. Below are some pictures.

Us at the top of the tallest lighthouse in Georgia. Obviously, the sun was in Phillip's eyes.

View from the top (part of the fort is visible as well).

Phillip hung over the edge to catch this picture. Not I!

The light from the inside. I wasn't afraid to get this one!

Our legs were some kind of tired after this trip, but most especially after this hike up the lighthouse.

View from the ground.

This is proof that God knew what he was doing by creating me in 1983. :-)

Pretty cool stove (no pun intended).

Apparently, the lighthouse keeper didn't need numbers on his phone.

The whole ground right behind the fort.

I'll just take this home as a souvenir.

This company is less than a mile from our house. Phillip was more than amused that their products were in the fort.

We found Cuba Gooding Jr.!

I found this ironic. Wouldn't it be placed on "STOP" instead of "FULL"? Obviously, it's not going anywhere.

Phillip protecting the fort. He's a natural!

His weapon of choice. We couldn't leave without a picture of this thing.

The only place in Savannah that we visited twice. Love it!

Like your butter pecan, dear? I'll take that as a yes.