Last year was so hard ya’ll.  Yes, we had a ton of good, but surgeries, adoption trips, stresses were all in there.  When we capped it off with losing our twins, Mark and I both knew we needed a trip away.  Mark’s parents graciously agreed to watch the kiddos.  I begged for a relaxing getaway close by.  Mark agreed (he really wanted to do a cruise again but I really wanted to just rest).

We went to my favorite beach on the east coast, Jekyll Island.

Of course, a trip to the southern coast is not complete without a pit stop to Pineland.  Ya’ll, they have the absolute best pastries and breads!

Mark reluctantly agreed to my cheesy pose.

The rest of this blog post are pictures of the beach and our happy times!  It wound up raining and tornado warning like crazy on Saturday night and Sunday.  But, it was clear enough for us to go on a 17 mile bike ride around the island.  The thunderstorms meant we had a good deal of time to relax and rest.

Friday we decided to take a walk on the beach before supper.  We wound up walking all the way to where we wanted to eat.  Mark had to chase the birds on the way.
Saturday, we biked.  And biked and biked.  And found treasures like Driftwood Beach

And the marshes…

We found Ace’s store.

And visited the remains of the oldest settlement on Jekyll.

We stopped at our hotel for lunch and snacked at the park right next door.  These little squirrels desperately wanted to join our meal.  While Mark was running to the room, one of the squirrels even jumped on the bench beside me and sniffed at my shoe.

Our much deserved reward for 17 miles of cycling.

In January and February, Jekyll has an island treasure hunt.  They hide glass blown decorative balls all over the island.  We searched for two days but never found one.  However, our search led to another part of the island I had never seen and it was absolutely picture worthy!

If you go to Jekyll, you must cycle to St. Andrews Beach.  It was so peaceful and gorgeous. We met some deer too!

We found a great Tex-Mex restaurant on the island.

A fruitless treasure hunt led to a mad dash for covering when the rain began to pour down…and a great selfie.  One of my favorite pictures of us of all time.

Sunday, we decided to use a movie gift card and head to see Rogue One and then eat at my favorite restaurant on neighboring St. Simon’s Island, Barbara Jean’s.  We crossed the giant bridge to St. Simon’s in a tornado warning and got there just as the storm hit the island.  Five minutes after we ordered, the owner called and told them to shut down (not a big deal since we were one of two sets of customers).  They brought our food out quickly.  We ate as fast as we could so they could close up and then we headed back out in the crazy weather.

Always an adventure!