thankful for thanksgiving

My brother and sister-in-law moved to Savannah, Georgia earlier this year. From the moment they told us the news of their move, David and I have been excitedly planning our Thanksgiving trip to visit them.
Mostly because it means we get to see them.
But also, because it's Savannah...y'all...

Being in Savannah with all the beautiful people, southern hospitality, historically old buildings, and Paula Deen souvenir's made me just want to say, "y'all" after every phrase.
It was kind of obnoxious.
Even looking at the photos from our trip makes me want to bust out my Scarlett O'Hara accent. 

Our first day in Savannah, my brother and sister-in-law took us Downtown where we checked out beautifully ancient trees laden with Spanish Moss.

By the way - did you know that all that pretty moss is FULL OF MITES and whatnot? It's seriously a "look but not touch" situation - which is why, when Charlie tried to pick up a handful of it, I lost my ever-loving mind.

We watched the kids play for a little while before walking over to the fountain in Forsythe Park.

After walking around Forsythe Park, we took a tour of Downtown Savannah...y'all.

While downtown, we walked past the Mercer House which was used in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Look at the architecture on the building...

The next day, my brother and sister-in-law took us to Tybee Island where we spent some time playing on the beach.

And later that day, we went to see the 270 year-old Tybee Island Lighthouse.
Once we got there, we decided to just look at it.
You know, enjoy the beauty.
From outside the lighthouse.
Without walking up loads of stairs.
Because all the adults agreed that the only thing less appealing than paying tons of money to climb a million steps would be to climb a million steps while carrying 2 kids. 

Then we headed to The Crab Shack to eat seafood and check out some gators.

That night, we went to City Market in Savannah to visit the Savannah Candy Kitchen.

 

Charlie and Avery were in Heaven.
Evidently, Heaven has a gigantic pixie stixs dispenser and barrels of candy.

On Saturday, we decided to do a little shopping downtown.
One of the places I was dying to see was The Paris Market.
Everything in that store made me drool. The prices were kind of crazy, but loveliness and inspiration was everywhere.

(Can I just tell you what Charlie would do with those pretty books if I put them on my stairs? It would be anything but pretty)

After shopping a little, we headed to the roof of The Bohemian Hotel and watched boats on the Savannah River.

We took a stroll down the most beautiful streets ever...

...in order to get to our dinner destination: The Pirate's House. It's been serving people since 1763 and is the oldest house in the state of Georgia.

The Pirate's House's big gimmick is to have a "Pirate" walk around to greet it's guests. Which, I guess is cool.
If you're not 5.

If you are 5, and told that you were going to eat at a Pirate's House, you may be expecting something like these guys:

So, when the reality looked a little more like this guy:

Avery's 5 year-old reaction was...not good.
My brother had to literally tell the guy to leave the table because Avery was clinging to my neck in total fear.

The next day, we took a marathon of a trip home. An awesomely long, terribly extended, seriously arduous journey back. In the rain.
But our trip to Savannah was totally worth all of the travel inconveniences. I can't wait to go back to Savannah... y'all.