I talked about this a bit in our recent adoption summary post but when we had the rough week of “nos” in early August Zach and I had a long talk and decided to book a trip for Labor Day. At that time we were both feeling down and thought it was silly to be putting our lives on hold while waiting for news of a match, that at that time felt like it could be AWHILE. Of course it wasn’t long after we paid for the non-refundable room we booked that we ended up getting our YES! Financially we would have loved to have canceled the room so we could have saved that money, but it was already spent and was non-refundable. So we rolled with it 😉
While we thought it’d be a weekend away to keep our mind off the waiting, it was instead a weekend away that showed us what life will be like being done with the baby phase of parenting. Y’all this trip was SO AWESOME. We chose Savannah because it’s a place Zach and I have loved visiting together and we thought it’d be a fun place to take the kids as we’ve never been as a family. We also thought it’d be a great pre-baby trip because all of our kids are the oldest we’ve ever had kids be without having a baby! Why not enjoy these “easy” days while we still can, right? It truly was such a wonderful weekend together with so much laughter and such a great glimpse into the future. When I get weepy over being done with babies I can remember this trip and be reminded of the fun to come! Life without a stroller or diaper bag? Flexible kids who can go and do? I’m pumped for the trips we can plan as a family once we are really out of the baby stage!
Packing up 🙂
On our way we stopped to go potty and it’s so funny b/c Britt always has to REALLY go in the public bathrooms. So Tess and I play while we wait 😉
Daddy declared a slushie snack break!
I tried to find a place to stay on a pretty last minute booking during Labor Day weekend…it was no easy task but I found this awesome loft with two bedrooms and pretty close to everything for a decent price! It was probably the nicest place we’ve ever stayed as a family! (You can see it here)!
It’s hard to get pics but Kye helped out by doing a tour: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6!
We had planned for the older two kids to share a room and Tess to be in with us but when we got into their room there were little “sleep cubbies” they could make work. Tess wanted to sleep in a wardrobe space and Kye wanted to sleep in a loft type storage area. Being the totally cool parents that we are, we let it happen. We both assumed Tess would never last. I mean look how tiny the space was for her! But she loved it and she never had issues getting out or anything either.
Kye’s area was bigger but couldn’t have been very comfortable. We used every extra blanket we could find to create a pallet for him. He never complained either!
If he was annoying to Britt she could just shut the doors and lock him in 😉
Don’t report us haha she CHOSE to sleep in a cupboard space ha!
Kids played hide and seek and Kye hid in this hamper and then said it smelled super funky!
We felt so fancy 😉
The room was in a loft area…so it was the top floor of this building.
It even had a great deck!
I appreciate ALL the awesome Savannah recommendations! For night one Zach picked up pizza from Vinnie Van Go Go’s and it did NOT disappoint. Super yummy!
Ready for bed! She LOVED being with the older kids and getting to participate in their “talking time” before bed 🙂
Zach and I recently finished How I Met Your Mother (good riddance) so we started a new show…It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I had a lot of people message me warning me that it’s super vulgar and that we may not like it. Um. Maybe this says a lot about our entertainment choices but y’all we LOVE IT. We LOVE how un-polically correct it is. It’s hilarious. A perfect show for vacations and we both laugh out loud a good bit! Not family friendly AT ALL but seriously funny.
I left my glasses in the car so my sweet husband rigged up the tv situation in the bedroom so we could watch in bed 😉
We had two full days in Savannah and I wanted to do as many fun family things as possible! We kicked things off with breakfast at Clary’s and y’all it’s a MUST DO. When I asked for recommendations it was the most popular place people suggested. It was affordable and super yummy! We all loved it! We got there right at opening and it was zero percent crowded. Advantage to having young kids and always starting the day at 7 am 😉
Supposedly the story that the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was based on was told to the author in Clary’s and that’s why it’s world famous?
After breakfast we headed over to the railroad and children’s museum. We purchased a three museum pass and it worked out great! The train museum and the children’s museum are located on the same property so we knocked both of those out on Saturday morning.
We went to the Children’s Museum first (you pass the railroad museum on your way). Kids of ALL ages will LOVE this museum and I’m so glad someone recommended it to us! Kye loved it, Britt loved it and Tess loved it…which isn’t always possible with three kids varying so widely in ages and differences!
It’s all outdoors so we were a bit nervous about the rain forecast but it worked out to our advantage because NO ONE was there at opening and it wasn’t super hot!
The kids built a tower to climb in order to ring a bell at the top (Kye and Britt)
Story about what the museum used to be!
They have TONS of hands on activities and games and organized events too. It’s all super fun and interactive!
Painting fun!
The water table area was the favorite spot for Kye and Tess
We left there to head over to the train museum to make sure we had time to be on the first train ride of the day. It was also really neat. Very simple and a quick place to look around while waiting for the train ride.
Exploring!
Seeing all the equipment. Zach is always really into everything and is so great at explaining it all to the kids!
Tess found a rock that someone from Michigan hid!
The train museum even had a play area for the kids…and this one was indoors in AC and also empty!
The girls loved the purple train cart!
This train was the one we were able to ride for the tour! How neat is that? It was just a short train ride but still really neat!
We were able to go on the turn station and everything!
Yay for a rare family photo where everyone is looking!
We packed lunches and set up a spot to eat before our trolley tour, which also happened to be located in the same area as the train station and children’s museum #planningskills
Daddy and Mommy got their own table…which totally constitutes as a date, right?
We walked around the tour area for a bit and found my favorite kind of history: the history of ice cream!
We had a bit of time before the trolley so we headed back to the Children’s Museum to let the kids play a little longer!
Kye and Tess spent the ENTIRE time at the water table! They just loved it!
On our way to the trolley tour!
We booked our trolley ride with Old Savannah Tours
I purposely booked it with plans to ride during nap time in hopes that Tess might sleep and that it’d be a good rest for the older kids. I was pretty dead on in my plan making except I didn’t anticipate Kye finding it so boring and Britt loving it so much! She was REALLY into it which surprised me and Kye enjoyed it for probably half of the tour and then was over it. Personally I’m not super into facts, I’m a hit the highlights kinda girl but it was a nice rest and a fun experience!
It was nice seeing the police officers at the squares guarding the monuments and statues from being messed with.
Daddy enjoyed those sleepy snuggles! She napped HARD!
Taking tour notes!
The oldest building in Georgia! (Part of Pirate’s House)
Where they would line up to have their cotton checked!
The waving girl!
Duh. The highlight of the tour…A REAL UNICORN!!!
I loved sitting with Britt and talking on the tour. She was so into it and never said she was bored!
Part of the tour included stops where visitors would come aboard and give facts about their character. It was cute and entertaining, but a bit of a letdown as the website made it seem like a LOT of that would be happening…in our 90 min tour we only had 3 characters come aboard and none of them were ones we recognized.
After the tour we went back to the room for some downtime. We let the kids snuggle up in our bed for a movie for a bit while we rested before early dinner!
Britt loved all the squares during the tour and requested for us to visit some while we walked to dinner.
Soda Pop Shop was a favorite for Zach and I on our trip and we thought it’d make for a cheap dinner. Well…they close VERY early so we had to eat super fast and they have a very limited menu so I don’t know that we’d do that again with the kids. It is a great spot though!
The guy that works there is awesome. Hilarious sign about using phones!
After dinner we walked around downtown a bit to find some ice cream!
Several people recommended having rolled ice cream and y’all Below Zero was SO YUMMY
YUM
To keep it cheap we all shared and of course BOTH girls wanted to share with me. Ugh. It was a fight to the death over who got to take bites of ice cream haha
On our way back we took our time to go through more squares. It was fun checking things out together and Too-Chi-Chi is totally our favorite. He was a SUPER tall Indian Chief who helped in founding Georgia. We created an Indian chant using his name and the kids will still randomly say it 😉
Savannah is SO beautiful!
Tess is the world’s slowest eater and Daddy is a freak when it comes to getting messy. He fed her like a little bird ha!
Random rant but I don’t understand church signs like this. All churches welcome all? God welcomes all? I don’t get why this point needs to be made? God loves everyone. Sin is sin but it doesn’t mean God, or the people who follow Him, love anyone any less? Or say people aren’t welcome to worship?
Britt is the smartest kid in our bunch because she CHOSE to sleep in an ACTUAL BED haha!
Day 1 was super, super fun! Very chill and very easy going and just a great time together as a family!
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