This morning, we went to the beach for the last time (we might stop and say good-bye on the way out of town tomorrow). We hit the south end of the Island at low-tide, so we got to explore the sand-bar and tidal pools. Just as I was complaining that we hadn't seen much sea-life, I looked down and saw a sting-ray (skate to be more exact) swimming by, so we chased it a bit (chase is too strong of a word).

A few minutes later, we saw a horse-shoe crab walking the shallows, so I brought it up to the surface for the kids to see.

We also saw a few blue crabs, and a ghost crab that made it's home under my chair (I was protecting it from the nearby birds that kept trying to come get him).

The weather finally cooled off a bit and was only in the lower 90s... which is much more reasonable then the 103 in the shade a couple of days ago. Kinda too bad that 4-5 hours of the day is too hot to be outside!

This afternoon, we drove into Savannah and did a little shopping. A storm blew in and was amazing to watch. We were driving around town when it hit.. at time the wind and rain were blowing very hard and lots of tree branches were blowing down. When it was over, leaves and branches were everywhere (at one point, our van was getting pretty bashed up from flying debris). Very exciting!

We decided to eat out on our last night and went to the The Crab Shack. It is a very fun place and they have live alligators you can feed. The food was great and somewhat pricey, but still reasonable (6 of us was $100 including tip).

Tonight, we are packing up, preparing for the long drive home tomorrow! It'll be good to get home, but I am just starting to relax...

We got up somewhat early (8 AM) this morning and headed to the Lighthouse here on Tybee Island. Since we didn't get to go up the one on Hunting Island, SC, we were darn sure to go to this one.

It was made a little differently then Hunting Island, which is made out of metal instead of brick, it is much higher (150' instead of 95'), and it was a spectacular view (I got lots of pictures) and the kids really enjoyed it. They also have the lightkeeper's house restored and several other buildings. Next door was the Tybee Island museum built at Fort Screven which talks alot about the island's history.

We retreated inside for a few hours (a really hot day) and came back out around 3 and went swimming again. The waves were fun and as we were winding down, Bridget caught a jellyfish in her lap. :( SO we rushed home and put her in a bath of hot water (Amber had just sent us an article about using hot water for jellyfish stings as the most effective way to help the pain and swelling). It seems to have worked as 30 minutes later, she was fine with minumal signs of the sting.. still, not a fun experience for her.

Grandma Mary got knocked down twice by bigger waves as well, which she didn't appreciate much.. I suspect that it will be another couple of years before she goes back into the water again. :)

I started to read a Pat Conroy book (Beach Music) which was left here and I am really enjoying it... even being a fast reader, I doubt that I'll be able to finish it by tomorrow night.

Only 2 more nights and one full day left!

After seeing the big waves at the pier yesterday, we promised the kids to come back today and swim, which is what we did. We came as the tide was coming in (the kids were wanting to try to go out to the sandbar) and everyone (even Grandma Mary!) went out in the water up to our chest (to get past the breaking waves).

We played from 9:30 to 12:30 and came in for lunch, a nap for Holly & Grandma, and TV Xbox for the rest of us.

Then we decided to head into Beaufort for the day and shop downtown, walk around the water park, and eat dinner at Shrimp Shack. Unfortunately, we had a hard time getting out of Downtown Savannah, they don't tell you how to get to the highway.. so after 30 minutes driving around, we finally got out, but got to Beaufort at 5:10 and most of the stores closed at 5PM.

They are also rebuilding the water park, so we couldn't walk around. We did get into a couple of stores that were still open, and then headed out to the Shrimp Shack for dinner. YUMMM! I am so glad we don't live near that, because we would have even less money! The shrimp almost melts in your mouth (they literally have their own shrimp boats and serves daily caught shrimp.

Still feels like home when I go back to that area.

We also drove around Hunting Island Campground and visited the store. The campground has lost a total of two rows of campsites from erosion. Not a good thing. And the Icee machine was broken! The horrors!!

We got back to our beach house around 9:30 as we drove around and looked around my old stomping grounds before driving back.

Someday, I do hope to buy some land down here and build a house...

This morning, we decided to do some sight seeing in the morning before it got too hot, so we visited Fort Pulaski which is just off of Tybee Island. Pretty neat history, first fort that the rifled cannon was used on. The Southern forces thought they were safe as they were out of range from the older style Cannon balls... but the newer rifled shells were well in range.

The afternoon, after lunch, we went back to the beach and played in the sand. There is one hotel that allows you to buy a daily pool pass, but it is $10/person $5 for kids, which is pretty pricey.

The temps got up to about 97 today with the same forcasted for the next 3 days. We did a little shopping and walked out on their pier (which is pretty nice).

We are liked Tybee Island more and more, but really miss not having a pool. It is nice to have lots of restaurants and shops unlike Fripp Island, but it is more crowded. When you are used to paradise, anything else is hard! At Fripp, our place is right on the Ocean with its own pool... can't beat that!

Tomorrow, we are going to head down to the pier in the morning (they have a sea wall) and see if we can find any interesting tidal pools. The waves also look bigger down there.