Girl Scout Trip to Savannah {Day 4}

On our last morning we walked back to River Street.

We hopped on the ferry and took the 30 minute free ride.

Here are the girls posing by our ferry.

After the ferry ride, we checked out of our hotel and drove over to the Laurel Grove Cemetery and visited Juliet Gordon Low's grave site. The girls gathered around and sang "Make New Friends".

After our visit to the cemetery, we went to the Pirates' House for our 11:00 lunch reservations.

The girls hung out with a pirate while we waited.

We had the lunch buffet which was excellent. A lof of the same items that were on the Lady & Sons buffet, but in some cases, the items here were better!

After lunch we went upstairs to the new gift shop. This pirate used to be downstairs by the hostess station, but now he has a large corner upstairs.

Out on the porch for a picture.

After lunch, it was time to head back to Powder Springs. We had a fabulous trip. The girls were so well behaved! We've already started talking about our next big trip!

Girl Scout Trip to Savannah {Day 3}

We headed out to Tybee Island on Tuesday morning. We had reservations for a Dolphin Tour. 

Waiting on the docks for our boat ride to begin.

 

 Our boat

We had the option of sitting in the back or standing in the front. The girls chose the front.

There was quite a bit of dolphin activity on our boat ride. The girls couldn't have been happier! We got to see several dolphins and even witnessed some jumping ones. We also encountered quite a bit of rain. Maybe that was why we saw so many dolphins!

After a quick lunch, we made our way to the Marine Science Center on Tybee. 

Hannah posing in front of the painted turtle.

There were some touch tanks inside the Marine Science Center.

Then the girls were taken outside for the sand sifting.

We had some more rain while at the beach after we were almost finished with our activity.

We went back to the hotel for showers and clean clothes. Then we went to River Street.

We stopped at one of the candy stores on River Street. The girls did some shopping there. It was like being a kid in a candy shop!

We visited the Waving Girl. 

 Then we walked a few blocks for our dinner reservations at Lady & Sons.

Our friend, Paula!

We walked our full bellies back to the hotel after dinner, vowing never to eat again!



Etowah Indian Mounds

This week is James' turn at camp. Chris dropped him off at Boy Scout camp on Sunday. Before James went to camp, he had to complete some pre-requisites for the Citzenship in the Nation merit badge. One of the requirements that he had to do was:

Visit a place that is listed as a National Historic Landmark or that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Tell your counselor what you learned about the landmark or site and what you found interesting about it.

We went on-line and searched for some place nearby that met one of those two requirements and found the Etowah Indiana Mounds in Cartersville, Georgia, less than an hour away. Plus, it sounded interesting.


Some pictures from our outing. We noticed that our camera lens needed to be cleaning afterwards, so our pictures are a bit hazy.

James and Hannah standing by a sign that says that the Etowah Mounds is on the National Register of Historical Places.

An example of one of the homes that the Native Americans lived in at this site.

This is the borrow pit. The Native Americans took the dirt from here to create thier mounds.

Approaching the largest of the mounds.

We climbed the approximate 130 steps up to the top of the mound. The homes of the priests were originally built on top of the mounds.

This picture was taken at the top of one mound, looking down at another mound.

The family at the top of the mound.

We only spent an hour because we had a lot left to do that day since James was heading to camp the next morning. James thought it was pretty cool and was glad that we chose that for his historic site.

A Hair Cut for Hannah

Hannah has been talking about cutting her hair off and donating it for quite a while now. Today was the day.

Before picture

After picture

She ended up getting 9 1/2 inches cut off. We are sending her pony tail to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program. Their minimum length required is 8 inches. What a difference!

Girl Scout Trip to Savannah {Day 2}

On Monday of our trip to Savannah, we had reservations at the Juliet Gordon Low Birthplace. For our day at the birthplace, the girls were required to wear their official Girl Scout uniforms. Here they are posing outside one of our hotel rooms. We thought they looked great!

We arrived on time and were immediately sent on a scavenger hunt while my co-leader attended a short orientation. The scavenger hunt took us to the nearby squares. Here the girls are posing with Georgia's founder, James Oglethorpe on the Chippewa Square.

The girls had to read various signs and such to answer the questions on their sheet.

I just love all the Spanish moss!!!

When it was time to meet back at the birthplace, we got a quick group picture in front of the building.

The official signage outside the birthplace.

Because this was the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouting, we had to make our reservations to the birthplace over a year in advance. In honor of the anniversary, they offered special classes. Our girls chose one on "Spanning the Decades, Celebrate 100 years of Girl Scouting".

We started at the beginning and learned all about Girl Scouts and Girl Scouting over the last century.

The girls were all loaned bandannas so they could tie them on just like the original Girl Scouts.

They were shown how the scarves were used in first aid.

They got to present the flag and fold it properly. This flag was from the 1950's and only has 48 stars. (or so we were told - I didn't count!)

After our class, we went across the street for lunch at the Smooth Cafe. The Cafe was normally closed on Mondays, but they open up for Girl Scout troops who make prior arrangements. They had some great boxed lunch options. 

After lunch we toured the birthplace. Pictures weren't allowed inside. At the conclusion of our tour, we were given time to have a Scout's Own ceremony. We were supposed to have it in the garden, but it started raining, so we got to have it on the porch. Here are the girls participating in this special ceremony.

The girls all received a Birthplace Pin which they took turns pinning on each other during the ceremony.

Our beautiful girls!

It didn't rain for very long, so we got some pictures outside.

Here is a picture of Hannah in front of a bird sculpture. She's had her picture taken in front of this sculpture when we visited a few years ago as a family. My mom has a picture of me in front of the same birds when we visited in 1979. I had just finished 5th grade like Hannah. I need to have my mom dig that out for me.

We stopped at the Soda Pop Shoppe for floats and shakes on our way back to the hotel. 

Posing with our treats in front of a fountain.  

After a long day, we went back to the hotel for some free time. We had some heavy rain that evening, so we just ordered pizza and took it easy for the rest of the night.