First Day of School

By now, William has been a Kindergartener for 2 months! These are some pics from his first day of school.

William insisted on getting a metal lunchbox. We finally found him a camo, army lunchbox which he is very proud of carrying.

William and his teacher, Mrs. Stokes. William gets to spend all year with Mrs. Stokes and is loving every minute. Mrs. Stokes is the mother of Sarah, Uncle Jason's soon-to-be wife. She is a great teacher and loves William.

William and Dad.

This is William getting called into line at the assembly. The teachers call each name and the kids get into line with the rest of their class. I happened to take the picture right as William looked back. :-)

Ballerina Lily

These are a little out of order, sorry! Today was Lily's first day of ballet. She is taking at The Alabama Dance Theatre in the 3 year-old class. We were just trying it out today to see if she could hang with the 3 year-olds, since she is still 2 until November. To my surprise, the teacher said she listened well and should do fine. The class seemed a little bit rowdy, so I was worried she didn't pay attention. She loved it and started to get into it toward the end of class.

You Are 1

You are a sweet boy who loves his family. You love to eat, especially meat! You seem much bigger than you actually are. You love to suck your left thumb. You love to go to sleep with your fuzzy bear and a blanket. You are not picky which blanket-any will do. You love to watch Lily and William. You love to try and dance when there's no music and occasionally when there is music. You ride in the car quietly. You do not like to be left in your playpen. Instead you love to be out exploring and being part of everyone's activities. You love to rip off your bibs. You are the only Givens' baby to be drinking out of only sippy cups by your 1 year-old doctor's appointment. You love your Mommy and want her a lot, but you also love your Daddy and want him a lot. You don't seem to prefer one over the other, generally. You grunt when you're out of food and want more. You love cookies and cake. You are a sweet baby with traits that remind us of both your brother and sister. We love you for who you are and there is no one quite like you! You are 1!

Joseph is 1!!!!

We had a little party for Joseph's birthday, and as you can see he thoroughly enjoyed himself! He loved his cake and ALL of his presents. In attendance at his party were Grammy, Pop, Mimi, Papa Bill, Jason, Sarah, and of course, Mom, Dad, Lily, and William. His cake was supposed to be a firetruck, but ended up a monstertruck-he didn't seem to care!

St. Simons Island- The End!

On our last day the tide came in later than usual and we got the beach right as it was at its' height. As we stayed, the water slowly went out and created an incredible playground for everyone. We could sit in inches of water comfortably and watch as Joseph and Lily rolled in the mud! William enjoyed digging holes and canals.
Three generations of Givens' men crawling on their hands and knees.


I do not know how I missed pictures of the kids riding the kayak with Uncle Jason, but I did!-SORRY!
We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation! Everything was so different from what we are used to and was truly a family adventure! We did miss the rest of the family that usually accompanies us to the beach. I hope you enjoy this chronicle of our week at St. Simons Island, Ga.

St. Simons Island- The Lighthouse!

The lighthouse on the island goes way back! I won't bore you with another history lesson, but this is not the only lighthouse ever built on the island. During the Civil War the troops had to abandon the island, so instead of leaving the lighthouse for enemy use, they destroyed it. After the war it was rebuilt. It is an impressive structure with a great view of the island. In the pictures you can see one of the disappearing beaches and the canopy of oaks, underneath which lies the village shaded from the hot sun!
That is Jekyll Island in the distance. Huge cargo ships would come in through the channel each day. This is the view to the South.
This is to the East.
There is a whole city underneath those trees.
This is the view to the West. The area's main pier is just at the edge of the picture. The awesome kiddy pool area and putt putt course are just below.
Not so great family picture, but know that we walked up the winding, old stairway like this. I held William's hand and steadied myself, while David toted Joseph on his back and Lily on his hip. They were very brave and it was quite an interesting climb!

St. Simons Island- Sand Toys!

We FINALLY remembered to take the sand toys with us to the beach toward the end of the week. Here are a few more shots of fun!
Mimi's boat.
Shells and nuts in Mom's bike basket.
The cuties in the wagon!
Sand Toys! You can see the dynamics of our family playing out! They did share most of the week!

St. Simons Island- Fort Fredericka!

St. Simons Island is gushing with historical sights of all kind. We tried to see as many as we could and I think we may have visited 1/4 of them. One of our favorite sights was Ft. Fredericka. It is a national monument preserving a part of American history few of us remember studying. The fort was built along one of the interior waterways leading to Savannah in the early 1700's. It's purpose was to protect the mainland from Spanish invasion. I know you may be getting bored, but this is really a fascinating area of history. James Edward Oglethorpe was put in charge of this operation and he was so successful at protecting the land, eventually no protection was needed. So there was a thriving village at the fort, complete with artisans and workers of every kind: everything necessary for making a settlement successful. The Wesley brothers, of Methodist fame, were even residents there for a while and preached in the upper level of the storehouse. The land and buildings changed hands many times and eventually all buildings were delapidated and all that was left were a few stone structures and underneath a little earth, the foundations of the homes and businesses of Ft. Fredericka. In the early 1900's the property came into the hands of the national park system and has been beautifully preserved through careful excavation and research.


This is a foundation of one of the homes along the main street.
This is also a foundation of a home. This was a duplex-notice the fireplace in the middle.
This is the view from the lane looking down to the old fort.

This is a cannon on the side of the fort looking over the river ad marshes. The cannon is from the era and another on the other side was found in the river and restored.



The old barrack ruins. They think it had no windows along the side. It had to be an oven!
Massive oaks beautifully line and cover most of the area. As massive as they are, they were not the oaks that were here in the 1700's.
These are our little colonists.

St. Simons Island- Fighting Crabs!

The following pictures are from the day of The Big Crab Fight. William and Papa Bill caught two live crabs and found out they did not like each other. They set them down and let them fight, which made for some really cool pictures. At the bottom you can see my lame attempt at making a cool picture of giant crabs attacking Papa and William-I failed, but it's still a funny picture. I wasn't willing to lay on the muddy sand to get the right shot.