Happy Birthday, Zachary!

Zachary turned 18 on July 31, 2011, and we celebrated with the family and his friend, Lena, at Killearn Country Club's pool.

He really enjoyed the swimming, the food, and just hanging with everyone. We even got him a cookie cake decorated for the occasion.

I did not get a whole lot of pictures as we were swimming most of the time, but I did get a rare shot of siblings seated together deep in conversation.

After the party, Zachary took his cousins and Lena to the Circle K to buy his first official lottery tickets. Of course, the attendants did not believe him and questioned him thoroughly. Someday, he'll appreciate looking so young.

Happy Birthday, Zachary! We love you and are so proud of you!

Summer Saturdays

One of our favorite summer Saturday activities is to go up to Thomasville for a visit to two of our favorite places: The Bread Wagon and The Thomasville State Farmers Market.

The Bread Wagon is a Mennonite bakery on US 19, just north of Thomasville. They sell all sorts of baked goods like strawberry pies, blueberry coffee cakes, red velvets, pumpkin cream cheese logs and muffins, and pretty much any other southern specialty you can think of. Our favorite is the five flavor pound cake, a rich, dense and moist pound cake that tastes like no other you've ever tasted. Sooo good. Tip: get them to cut it in half unless you have a huge family or really like pound cake - the bundt pan they use is huge! You could also freeze some, I suppose.

The Thomasville State Farmers Market has a year-round produce area that sells seasonal, regional produce (and some that isn't - make sure you check) and sauces. One thing they have in July and August are green valencia peanuts (red spanish, not the big Virginia ones) that you can purchase in bulk at a cheaper rate than the grocery stores.

This year we've bought several pounds and spent a few weekends boiling them to eat and freeze. They are so easy, and all you need is peanuts, salt and water.

They are a Creamer family favorite, and we hope to save some for the winter. I've put money down that they won't last that long, but one can always hope!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the state...

While we dealt with the tick issue, the kids were off having a blast in Jacksonville with their grandparents. They went to the Zoo where they got soaked in the deluge, but really enjoyed seeing the animals. Don't they look like they're having fun?

They did things like go out for pizza at Al's

and go fishing where they got to see some men catching gators that were getting too close to the people on the shore.

Then, Grandma and Paw paw took them to SEA WORLD!

They had a great time, and I'm sure they would have loved staying for longer, but we were ready to see them when they came back on Saturday. We missed them so.  

Eeeeewwww!

So, on the Monday after the Savannah trip, I went to pick up Harley from the vet where she had boarded over the weekend. I got there at noon, closed everything out, and they receptionist told me I coudn't take her home yet as she had...

TICKS! Eeeewwwww! They asked me to come back at 5:30 to pick her up, and when I did, as she jumped in the van, I saw something dark hanging off her back leg. I pulled it off, and needless to say, marched her right back inside for another full body search. After the techs pulled off two more, and after I had an interesting conversation with a man in the waiting room whose house and dogs were infested with - you guessed it - ticks, I took Harley home and proceeded to pull 9 more ticks off of her, combing her with the flea comb every hour on the hour. Luckily, my vet's pest control company is owned by none other than my wonderful brother-in-law. He came and treated our house as a preventive measure, and luckily we have seen no more. I won't say I'm scarred for life, but it was pretty damaging.

One night in Savannah

We used our night in Savannah as a "getaway" without kids. We stayed at the Hamilton-Turner Inn,

a historic bed & breakfast that doesn't allow young children, so we'd never be able to stay there otherwise. We had made reservations a few days prior, and the only room available was a carriage house room. When we arrived, they had upgraded our room to one of the rooms in the main house, and it was beautiful!

We relaxed for an hour or so in the parlour where they served brownies with lemonade and sweet tea,

and then went out to find some dinner. On the way, we stopped into the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist - literally next door to the Inn.

It was lovely. Then we made our way to the Olde Pink House where they weren't serving dinner yet, but they placed us in the Arches lounge area. We ordered off the afternoon "snack" menu, and I'm kind of glad we chose that because the portions were just enough. We started with an appetizer of Fried Green Tomatoes with Applewood Bacon over Sweet Corn Cream

and moved on to Shrimp and Grits (George)

and the Applewood Bacon Cheeseburger (me)

with Peach Sorbet for dessert.

Can you say "delicious?" On the walk back, we passed by one of the historic fire stations just as the trucks were pulling out with lights flashing and sirens blaring. George's adrenaline spiked as only a first responder's can, and he got some good shots of the action.

Back at the Inn, wine and cheese were being served, so we stopped downstairs for a bit. The Inn was featured in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, so we decided to be little cheesy and rent that from the library downstairs. After the movie, the innkeepers again had a treat for us...after-dinner port! We had a glass, and then went back out to the streets to find Leopold's ice cream shop, a historic shop that actually serves old fashioned ice cream sodas. Between the awesome ice cream and the movie memorabilia inside, we spent a good amount of time there. We strolled back past all of the ghost tours stopped at the cemetery, and had another glass of port before collapsing on the best hotel bed ever.

The next morning, after taking a "shower" (read as dribble through the atique pipe attached to the clawfoot tub), we went downstairs for coffee and newspapers in the parlour. We then moved to breakfast in the dining room. It was such an experience that George ate zucchini and squash in the vegetable frittatta. AMAZING! 

After our stuff was packed, we headed out to meet the parents and kids for lunch in Jacksonville. Though the occasion was sad, it turned out to be an OK weekend after all.