Magnolia Beach

It's been years and years...decades, really, since I've been at Magnolia Beach.  I was a teenager...probably in my early teens...so, at least 50 years ago.  [Gasp!]  But,  Carolyn had talked to a friend who had been there recently and she wanted to take her family there.  So, earlier this month we arrived at Port Alto on Thursday so that we could spend Friday at Magnolia Beach.

As usual, when we're on bay-time, we don't get a big jump on the day, so it was probably close to eleven before we got to Magnolia Beach.  Brent parked the car near a restroom facility and then started transferring all our "stuff" to the beach.  We brought a gazebo-type tent, some beach chairs, water toys, sand toys, (yes! there's real sand on that beach!), towels, a cooler full of snacks, lunch, and drinks, and probably other items that I'm forgetting.  There are lots of covered tables off the beach, in case you don't have an umbrella or gazebo.  They even have grills and trash bins at each table.

As soon as we got the wagon on the ground, Jax climbed in and almost went to sleep.

It must have been close to high noon, judging from the shade cast by the gazebo.

Busy bees, playing in the sand.

Carlee

Kate and Jax collaborate on a project.

Time for a little snack.

Look at this long stretch of beach!

The kids enjoyed being buried in the sand.

Jax was very cooperative during the process.

It was a very nice outing...one that I hope we do again.  Maybe we can get the Garners' to come with us.

S.I.L.I. (Signs I'm Losing It)

You can pronounce that "silly".  I thought I would start chronicling my lapses so that my family could look back and say, "Oh, THAT'S when the onset of dementia started!"

• At least four times in the last couple of months I have put my top on backwards. 
• A few days ago I forgot I was already dressed and started to put my underwear on over my pants.
• Twice in the last week or so, I have forgotten the order of events in the shower.

I'm just going to ignore that first one.  Surely everyone does that occasionally...although several times in a few weeks strikes me as excessive.

The second one was odd, I'll admit.  Even odder, I sat down in a chair to do it.  But, to my credit, I noticed almost immediately that I was already dressed.  I laughed about it then and am still laughing.  Hmmm.

About the shower...here's the order of events:  wash my hair, first with a really sudsy shampoo then with the shampoo to make it shiny, rinsing after each shampoo.  Then, apply conditioner, work it in and let it stay while I wash myself.  Rinse off body and conditioner.  Exit shower.

The first time I did it wrong I forgot to apply the conditioner and went straight to washing myself.  When I was ready to rinse I remembered about the conditioner, so I applied it then.  Then I needed to find something to do in the shower for the couple of minutes the conditioner needed to do its magic.  So, I grabbed the razor.  Then I rinsed my body, exited the shower, dressed and then dried my hair.  But, I noticed that my hair didn't feel clean.  Even after drying it felt heavy and...just wrong.  Later in the day I realized that I probably had forgotten to rinse the conditioner out of it.

This morning I mowed the yard and immediately afterwards took a shower and washed my hair.  I did the two shampoos and then started washing my body.  Halfway through that process, I retraced my steps and said to myself, "Hold on...I don't think I put the conditioner on."  I felt my hair and realized that I hadn't even rinsed the second shampoo out!  Geez!!!  So, again.  Rinse hair, apply conditioner and find something to do.  Grab the razor, etc.  This time, however, I did remember to rinse the conditioner out. 

I haven't noticed anything else very odd about my behavior.  I hope this is as weird as I get.

The Lion King

Eleven of us piled into two cars Sunday to go to the Hobby Center in downtown Houston to see The Lion King.  The group included Dee, Wendy, Gage, Zane, Carolyn, Kate, Carlee, Robin, Carolyn's friend Sandie and her daughter Anna and me. 

We had called the day before and got lunch reservations at The Aquarium for 11 AM, because the play was to start at 1 PM.  We planned to drop most of the group at The Aquarium and then take the cars to the Hobby Center to valet parking...about $20 per car.  The drivers would then walk back to the restaurant (about 5 minutes) where we would eat and then walk back to the theater.  However, when we arrived at The Aquarium, we found that we could valet park there for only $9 per car and leave the cars there while we were at the play.  It was a no-brainer.  

Gage, Robin & Carlee

Kate and Anna

Sandie and Carolyn

Gage, Zane and Wendy

The kids enjoyed viewing the various fish in the huge tanks.  They all ordered pizzas for lunch, while the rest of us ordered entrees that we shared.  Dark clouds started building, so we didn't linger over lunch.  We got to the theater just ahead of the rain.  I don't think the rain was particularly hard or lasted very long, but I was glad we were inside, especially since we forgot to get most of the umbrellas from the car before the valet service took them away.

Dee and Zane watch while a Hobby Center volunteer entertains Kate.  Notice that the volunteer is just a little taller than Kate, who will turn 7 later this month.

Dee and I sat a couple of rows in front of this group.  Sandie and Anna were in another section.

 The kids all enjoyed the play very much.  Carolyn, Kate, Carlee, Sandie and Anna had been to the Hobby Center earlier this year to see Annie, but I think this was Gage and Zane's first experience at this theater.  We have taken them to some productions at the Plaza Theatre in Wharton, but I doubt if they realized how spectacular The Lion King would be. 

After the play, we made the short walk back to the Aquarium to pick up the cars.  We also took a few more pictures to help us remember the wonderful day.

A Walk on the Beach

On Wednesday afternoon, after a nice lunch at the hotel and a short rest, we hauled ourselves downstairs and took a shuttle to the beach, on the Atlantic Ocean. It was as calm and beautiful as a calm day at Port Alto. Dolphins were visible as we drove up, but by the time we had walked across the dunes and the wide beach we didn't see them anymore. 

Instead, we concentrated on looking for sand dollars. And we found plenty of them!  We had been cautioned by a shop lady to leave the live ones,so we examined them for fuzzy bits. Any with fuzzy bits would live to see another day! 

We were quite interested in their habits and vowed to look it up...but I don't that anyone has done that yet. 

After a nice time on the beach, we made our way back to the pavilion and used the courtesy phone to call for the shuttle to pick us up. 

Back at the hotel, we cleaned up a bit and then walked to the wharf across the road where we had wonderful seafood dinners. The Latitude restaurant overlooks the eastern end of the intercostal canal where it meets the Atlantic. The canal is called the Jekyll River locally. 

A Walkabout on Jekyll Island

This was our first full day at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. We have lovely rooms in this old, elegant hotel. You can probably google it to find out about the history. It's too late and I'm too tired to spend much time typing that on my phone for you!

But, from a brochure, "Founded in 1886, the original Jekyll Island Club was a private retreat for a select group of America's wealthiest families. A number of them built spacious "cottages," some of which now make up the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. 

Wanda, Dee, and Carole posed for me as we began our walk around the hotel property. 

Magnificent, moss hung trees are every where you look. It really is beautiful here. 

One of our stops on the property was the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. You can visit the website at: http://georgiaseaturtlecenter.org

We visited a number of shops while walking about the property. I think Wanda and Dee plan to ride bikes in the morning. I think Carole and I do not plan to participate in that activity.  

A walkabout on Jekyll Island

Subject: A walkabout on Jekyll Island

This was our first full day at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. We have lovely rooms in this old, elegant hotel. You can probably google it to find out about the history. It's too late and I'm too tired to spend much time typing that on my phone for you!

But, from a brochure, "Founded in 1886, the original Jekyll Island Club was a private retreat for a select group of America's wealthiest families. A number of them built spacious "cottages," some of which now make up the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.

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Wanda, Dee, and Carole posed for me as we began our walk around the hotel property.

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Magnificent, moss hung trees are every where you look. It really is beautiful here.

One of our stops on the property was the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. You can visit the website at: http://georgiaseaturtlecenter.org

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This is the information about Caton, one of the turtles in the rehab center. He weighed 70 pounds when he went into rehab nearly 3 years ago. I think his current weight is listed on the chart.

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We visited a number of shops while walking about the property. I think Wanda and Dee plan to ride bikes in the morning. I think Carole and I do not plan to participate in that activity.

From Houston to Jekyll Island

This morning Dee woke up with a very puffy area on the inside corner of her eye. It really bothered her...I thought she was going to need an eye patch to hide it from view even though I kept trying to reassure her that unless she pointed it out, no one else would notice it. I kept offering to lance it for her, but she declined...and thank goodness for that as we had a fairly bumpy ride most of the way.

A driver met us at the airport and drove us to Jekyll Island, about an hour from the Jacksonville airport. We will stay here at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel for three nights. We're on our own for tonight and Wednesday night. On Thursday we meet the rest of the tour group and then have dinner with them. The actual tour will begin on Thursday morning.

There are a few photos of our afternoon somewhere in this post. The photo of Wanda, Carole, and Dee busily photographing in all different directions is a favorite of mine, so far. I'm sure there will be more.