St. Simons Island-More Beaches!

These pics are of our favorite afternoon spot. We could get there from several accesses that were cool in and of themselves. The beach was cool because it had a tidal pool or dune pond-not sure which. I am pretty sure the pond was on the map, so it was at least semi-permanent. It would fill and empty each day with the tide. William's favorite memory of the trip is the day we thought we could take a short cut across the pond at low tide. WOW were we wrong! He got stuck ankle deep in mucky organic material that looked like mud. I went to get him to hurry on out of it and sunk down to right below my knee. When my foot came out, a rotten smell filled the air around me-it was gross! I guess that mud was full of living and decomposing stuff! I learned my lesson, William wanted to do it again.




If you look closely you can see the point where the pond drains into the ocean. This is at low tide. At high tide, there is a huge area of water dividing the beach into two parts. At the lowest point we saw it reach, the canal was only a couple of inches deep and easily crossed.

St. Simons Island- Getting Around!

One of our favorite parts of the island was the way people get around. We all rode bikes. I hate that we neglected to get a picture of my bike, but all the rest are here. William rode behind David's bike on a co-pilot, which is the back wheel and seat of a bike his size connected to the back wheel of David's normal bike. It sounds a little confusing, but it basically turns an adult bike and the co-pilot into a tandem bike. It was a little scary for William to learn how to ride this, at first. We practiced for a couple of weeks in Montgomery, before our trip. He did great and it was a great way for him to feel independent, and still be able to keep up. When riding, William would say, "Hit it BugBand" and Dad would say, "Let's roll Jameson" and they would take off. It was their little thing. Papa Bill and Mimi went with us and also had their own ways of transportation. Mimi had a bike and Papa Bill had a scooter. I REALLY hate we didn't get a picture of the scooter. We all went in and bought it for him for father's day and his birthday. He was the only person on the island with a scooter. He rode alongside us as we rode our bikes.


Joseph and Lily rode behind me in a pull cart that doubles as a stroller. It was awesome. They sat beside each other and hugged and Lily sang and usually Joseph fell asleep before we got back to the house.


Each day we would wake up about 8:00 a.m. and eat a quick breakfast and get ready for the beach. We would load up on our bikes and go to one of the public beaches, about a 5-10 minute bike ride. Our favorite was Massengale Park. We would ride over the boardwalk and right onto the beach to our spot-so nice with 3 kids and stuff! We would stay until 11 or 12 and head back for lunch and naps. A couple of days William and Dad "snuck out" to go play on one of the playgrounds in the neighborhood. After nap, we would have a heavy snack and head back to the beach, this time a public access beach. These beaches had little paths that led to them through brush and forest. It was always an adventure just to see how exactly we were going to the beach! After a long afternoon on the beach, usually until 7 or 8 (it was still very much daylight at 8), we would head back to the house for dinner and bedtime. Each day was so much fun and varied a little, depending on sunburns, tiredness, and activities.

St. Simons Island- Fourth of July

We had lots of fun taking in all of the Island's festivities. Everyone was dressed in red, white, and blue. The island has a small village at the southern tip with restaurants, shops, etc. This is where we found an arts and crafts show under the oaks with lots of goodies for sale, including William's rubberband gun and Lily's hippy headband. This is also where we found a pizza place with a gluten-free pizza. It was delicious!
In the morning, the island has a golf cart parade, which we missed, but caught remnants of throughout the day. We ended the day by watching what we could see of the fireworks display over the ocean, from the pier. We only got within about a half a mile of the show. Lily is very afraid of the noise, so she sat in the van with one of us at a time, while the rest of us peeked at the fireworks through an opening in the trees. It was really fun and by the end of the show, Lily had even taken her hands off of her ears.

St. Simons Island- Beaches

You are going to get tired of reading the words "beautiful, amazing, awesome, best ever, etc." If you couldn't tell, we fell in love with the island and all we found there. The beaches were like none we had ever visited. They call them "disappearing beaches." You might say don't all beaches disappear with the tide? They do, but these are completely disappearing. The whole island is only about 20 ft. above sea level on average. they have had to build up the beaches to slow erosion, so that the tide comes up to a rocky cliff instead of a smooth beach. So at certain times of the day, the beach you may have played on in the morning will be under feet of ocean until later that evening. It was a pretty cool concept, once we got the hang of it and knew where to go and when.

St. Simons Island Vacation Begins!

After more than a month-here are the pictures!
This was our first clue that we were close (aside from the 8 hours we had driven, 2 more than we planned :-). This is the Sydney Lanier Bridge and was definately one of the largest I have ever driven over.

From the bridge, you could see marshlands in every direction. To a Smut Eye girl, this was very impressive. They were beautiful: tons of winding waterways through seas of grass.

When we crossed the bridge, we were greeted with ancient oaks hanging over every street, creating a thick canopy overhead.

The Avenue of the Oaks was breathtaking. As you can see, it was more like a tunnel of oaks and would have made an awesome family picture, had we taken the time out from all the fun to take one!

We stayed in a blue house back in the neighborhood. Mimi, Papa Bill, and Jason all went with us. We all stayed really busy exploring the island the whole week!

St. Simons Island, GA

We ALWAYS go to Ft. Morgan, near Gulf Shores, for our summer vacation. This year was different. With all the oil issues going on, we thought this might be just the opportunity to go somewhere new. After looking on one of my favorite websites VRBO, I found more and more about St. Simons Island. We decided it looked like fun and we would give it a shot!
So, following, are our days there and what adventures we found along the way.

Summer Camp at Bass Pro Shop

We saw the signs and wanted to try out the "Summer Camp" at Bass Pro Shop. We had a great time. We colored canvas tote bags and Lily and William had their pictures made holding their "catch."
ENJOY!