Hanging Out in Georgia

After staying with Felicia (some of you read her blog Stare if You Must) for many days, we headed back home, but we stopped at my son Adam's house in Georgia on the way. Since it's "all about the journey" with us, we also stopped in Augusta, GA, and I previously posted about that.

We were really excited to swim in Adam's pool because we figured it would be much warmer than Felicia's. Swimming did not happen!

Both of Adam's houses were hit. The one in Panama City by Michael at Category 5 winds and the one in Albany, GA by Category 3 winds. He had to leave for Norway before he had time to deal with it.

We drove to the Zoo, but it was closed due to hurricane damage, so we went to the Riverquarium instead. I don't have pictures because it was mostly tanks of fish that live in the river.

Ray Charles plaza was nearby.

The next day we went to Pirate's Cove Nature Trails, but it was more like an obstacle course.

The following day we went to a small science museum.

Then it was time to go home and face real life.

This is what real life looks like now:

House

Side of the house

Two of three of our sheds survived.

Our back yard
These pictures don't really show the damage well, but in some areas there are too many trees blocking the way.I also think some of my pictures are on my newer computer that is getting some work done on it.

The flea market where our shop was at.

And this is what it looks like in general down here. But these are right after the hurricane. It still looks like this, but imagine mountains of trees and furniture piled so high along the road that you no longer know where you are, and you can't even see the entrances to the smaller side roads.

Most of the students here have been out of school since October 8th.Jessica started back in her nursing program today. My twins started back at their own middle school starting today. Jasmine starts next Tuesday. Her high school will meet at a middle school from 7-12 and the middle school students from that school will go 1-6. It's not ideal, but it will work for now.

We are looking at housing option. We are having issues with the insurance company. They want us to fix a double wide with holes in the roof, siding off and black mold everywhere. I want a real house on a foundation not in a flood area. I had wanted to live on the water, but housing is in short supply now and people can charge whatever they want. We looked at the "perfect" house for us yesterday, but competition is strong. I don't know if we can finance it.

I hope I'll have happier news in my next post.

Day Off School

Wednesday was a teacher workday, so we decided to swim/sun/eat/shop our way down the panhandle.

To make things better, we have two new-to-us vehicles, and I chose to drive Rick's because mine was full of merchandise for the shop. Due to finances, this had to be a low budget trip.

First stop was Taco Bell. Everyone got one item off the cheap menu.

A while later, everyone got one thing from the Dollar Tree for snack and we  drove on to find a good place to eat the snacks. We ran across Eden Gardens State Park.

 Part of the purpose of the trip was to find merchandise for our flea market shop, we we stopped at three Goodwill stores and a thrift shop. Sometimes Goodwill can be really expensive. We stopped at one that was a Home Decor store and things were $20-$60!! 

We planned to go to the beach, and we chose Henderson Beach State Park Beach.

 From Henderson Beach, I called the closest Cracker Barrel and ordered one meal with three sides. My kids know we have to share if we are going to eat somewhere like Cracker Barrel. Unfortunately I left my phone at the state park and didn't realize it until we got to Cracker Barrel. We went back and it was right where I left it.

We took the food to Destin Commons play area to eat. Then I let the kids wander around for 30 minutes on their own. They decided these stores cost too much and they liked Dollar Tree better.

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After another stop, we ended up at Dave and Busters which is a large and expensive video arcade, but I had points on my card from going with the adult children the Saturday night before. And Wednesday turned out to be half price day.

My points, my rules, and I said whatever we did, we all had to do it together. They didn't mind. In fact this day everyone was getting along great. Sometimes the twins shut Jasmine out and are pretty hateful to her, but today they all did great together. I think they are also starting to understand that as they earn trust, they earn privileges (like this day out) but that she has more privileges because she is four years older. And really she never takes advantage of any of them other than staying up later.

Jasmine and I also have a lot of history before the twins arrived. I've her her since birth and have taken her through at least ten surgeries. Those times were hard, but they were also bonding experiences as she realized she could totally trust me to look out for her.

They are already talking about the fun they are going to have on their next Wednesday off of school together.

Here are a few pictures from last Saturday night.

There were 12 of us in all, but we never got everyone in the same photo. Jessica had to work, so we all went to the restaurant where she works, but we were 8 minutes too late, we went to TGIF and she got there right as we were getting ready to leave .

 Unfortunately, Adam and Tara are not together anymore. It's been very off and on, and with Adam moving away for active reserves, things totally feel apart.

 Adam knocked his water cup over and into his pants. Not to be out done, Ty not only knocked his soda over toward me and my phone and camera, but the glass hit the pepper shaker and broke very dramatically.