Coastal Georgia

A couple of years ago I wrote this post while we were vacationing down in Nicaragua. In short, it describes the peacefulness of living life moment to moment and not having much else to do. Quite by chance and without setting out to do so, we have created that life here in the US. Back then I didn't think that was possible.

We are currently in the Golden Isles of Georgia. Warm weather, miles of trails and a couple of lakes surround us as at a camp in a regional campground (which I highly recommend). The town of Brunswick is not huge, but it offers a public library with a large children's section and a couple of great places to eat (Tipsy McSways, Indigo Shanty and The Southern Table have all been fantastic). The time change happened last weekend and it is nice to say that it didn't have much of an effect on us this time around as our lives are already inline with the sun, not the clock. We wake later and go to bed later and there is no stress over the fact that we will not be up until 8 as there is no place to go, no schedule to follow. I speak, of course, for the kids and myself. Chris is still operating on Colorado's time zone which time change or not, is just a hassle, but one that allows for this life on the road and one that doesn't seem to bother him all that much.

We have made it out to some of the great places to see around here such as the Turtle Hospital on Jekyll Island, the lighthouse on St. Simons Island and the Okefenokee Swamp. The kids have enrolled in a homeschool gymnastics class and we had visitors which kept us happily entertained with stories and coffee and of course, we've been doing home school.

It is safe to say that our homeschool these days looks quite a bit different than it did at the beginning of this trip. Today for example had the kids start off the day with a new craft kit that kept them busy from 9 until around 11:30 which is when they turned to their toys and have created villages across the camper of Iroquois families as they are loving the series of The Indian in the Cupboard. Playtime lasted until 1:30 when we came together for their writing assignments. Oliver dictates to me a journal and we talk about the different parts of writing...the who's, what's, where's and why's and Austin is doing a standard 5 sentence paragraph on sea turtles.  The loggerhead's for accuracy's sake. After that we got our Main Lesson Books and studied the differences between the Iroquois nation and their enemies, the Algonquins. They are back to playing and we will get together in a bit to focus on math.

My friend from home set me up on a date with one of her girlfriends that lives out here and I had a (much needed) night out with a funny charming southerner that left me laughing all night and looking forward to the weeks that are coming up. We have about another week here in southern Georgia before we head North to SC where we will be camping with some of our close friends who we haven't seen in a long time due to their move out East and we can't wait to have all the kids together. That will kick off a couple of months being surrounded by friends and family and in fact we will not be on our own again until the middle of June thanks to some friends who love to travel and our upcoming Dominican Republic trip in May! It is exciting to think about having friends around and a social life that exists outside of our little group of 4. It will be the best of both worlds, the life of simplicity and enjoying each day for what it brings as well as evenings gathered with others to celebrate what has been going on.