Welcome to Georgia

So the day had finally come. MOVING DAY! I love going to a new location but this one was especially exciting. Not only because my foot was better but we were going to GEORGIA! Not sure why I love the idea of Georgia so much but I do. I think it is the whole older Southern Belle image. The whole thought of saying " Why I do declare." while sitting on a rocking chair on a porch sipping some sweet tea on a warm summer day. Except I hate both summer and sweet tea. LOL But it SOUNDS nice. Plus Savannah is in Georgia and I have always wanted to go there. So needless to say I was giddy with excitement.

It wasn't a very long drive, The Hubby has about a 200 mile radius. So we got started and drove through mostly back roads. At one point we got to a busy area and we started seeing all these wooden shacks on the side of the road. I had NO CLUE what they were. They was literally one every 20 feet or so on BOTH sides of the road. Then finally some of them started having people at them. They were Sweet-grass Basket stands. I had never heard of these before and really wish I could have stopped but I was following The Hubby and I had no cash on me. I really wanted to find them again while we were in GA but I never saw the stands anywhere else. I got Cat Boy to take some pictures as we were driving by so forgive the quality. It really was one of the coolest things I have seen. I love just driving to our next location never knowing what we will see along the way.


When we got to the campground we quickly set up and headed out to our traditional new location dinner of Mexican. We needed gas and were lucky there was a gas station at the corner. Till we pulled up. I about died I was laughing so hard. The Hubby was wondering what kind of backwards town I took him to. The gas station didn't accept credit cards at the pump. You had to go inside. LOL I didn't even know they had places like that anymore. Again, you just never know what you will see.
After dinner we ran over to Walmart to get some stuff and I saw yet ANOTHER thing I never knew existed. A FIVE POUND tub of sour cream!!! FIVE POUNDS!!!! Who needs five pounds of sour cream? I mean even if I made a lot of dip for a party I don't need that much. So yeah, I needed a picture. Still to this say I have no clue what one does with that much sour cream. So if you know please leave me a comment and educate me on the ways of the 5 pound bucket of sour cream!

Lakewood Camping Resort

The Hubby wanted to stay on the beach. He decided he wanted to go to Myrtle Beach. So I searched and searched spending HOURS reading reviews. I mean HOURS. I had pages of notes, read reviews, called a bunch of places. We usually stay somewhere a month. It is cheaper that way and gives us time to see everything without feeling rushed. However, I was worried that we would be bored after being in Myrtle Beach a month because we are not big tourist attraction people. So we agreed we would stay a week at Lakewood Camping Resort.

We pulled in and got to our spot. We had a clear view of the ocean from the door. Before we were even hooked up The Hubby and the kids were on the beach. The Hubby was on the sand all of 2 minuted before he begged me to let us stay a month. I called up to the office and she happily switched us to a 5 week reservation since they were running a stay 4 weeks get the 5th for free special. So we were there for a while and The Hubby was happy.
We didn't get to use a lot of the features of this campground since it was winter. The store/restaurant was only open the first few days we were there. It closed after Thanksgiving. The outdoor water park was of course closed. we never made it fishing in the ponds. Also we never did check out the arcade. One of the food trucks were open once when we were there and The Hubby did get a snack from it. They have a calendar of activities but we were unable to attend them all due to my broken foot or them being a potluck and us not wanting to risk Monkey having a reaction. We did however rent a golf cart one weekend, check out the indoor pool, play at the park, and go on the beach. We also used the laundry room and The Hubby used to gym a few times.

The indoor pool was decent. It has a hot tub as well for adults only and a tiny baby pool. It was really humid in there since it is a heated pool which was nice. They did have a lifeguard there but there are signs saying there is not always one there. They did have adult only swim between 1pm-2pm every day. We went at night most of the time and it was a bit dark but the kids didn't mind. They have showers in there as well as bathrooms. When it rains it does rain into the pool a bit since the roof has a gap in it to try and help the heat escape. Overall it was a good pool.

The park was great. My kids had a blast there playing with other kids, swinging, playing basketball, and playing in the sand. It was well maintained as well. There is not a separate toddler area but at just under 2 Princess was able to get around just fine and had a blast. They do have both baby swings and regular swings. There are 2 basketball courts as well as some courts for other games. You can rent equipment from the office but we never did so I am not 100% sure how that works.

The beach of course was a beach. It was very sandy, not rocky, there was lots of room, and everyone really enjoyed it. There are garbage cans close by if you need to use them and there were bathrooms at the arcade and pool that you could use if you didn't want to go back to your rig. Lots of people took walks up and down the beach. You could go really far as the beached were not blocked off between places. The Hubby even rode his bike on the beach a few times. What a work out that was. (And what a MESS he was).

I only used the laundry room once since The Hubby did laundry while my foot was broken. It was a nice laundry room though with lots of machines. They even have triple load washers that do 3x as much laundry at once. There are video games in there so your kids can play while you wait. There are also baskets you can use to transfer your laundry. Another really nice thing is there is a coin machine in there. Super nice not to have to make sure you have quarters before you go do laundry.

Another nice thing was garbage was picked up at your site. We really enjoy this feature because it makes it easier on us. They also give you a blue bag when you check in to put your cans in for recycling. Another plus in my book.

Internet was decent. It was not the best but it did let The Hubby get his work done. I will venture a guess that during peak times though it will be VERY slow. We had some times where it was rough while we were there and there were not many people there using it. So if you need good internet and plan on going when it is busy I was bring your own internet.

Overall this was a very nice campground. We would stay here again but only in the off season. Not that we did not like it but I thing if I was there when it was busy we would have had a very different experience. The sites are kinda close together and we have heard how busy it can get with the golf club traffic. I think it would work nicely during peak season for a week long vacation, but I would not stay then for a long time or as a full timer that time of year. That is just the opposite of what we look for in a campground.

Kitcheneez

So while I was surfing the Internet one day while I had my cast on I came across this company Kitcheneez. I was interested since I was not digging standing up and cooking fancy things with my cast on. These looked easy enough that Monkey could make dinner without my help or I could with little work. After sending the owner about 6 messages about their facility, ingredients, process, ect I was satisfied that they were safe for Monkey and his nut allergy so I ordered the small starter kit they had on sale. 

The next day I made a sandwich ring. I decided to try some of the Garlic and Herb mix on the top and it was WONDERFUL! In fact I was instructed to make another one the next day. 

I tried most of the things from my kit and was hooked in my next order one of the things I ordered was the Chicago Italian Beef. I miss it. I have tried to make it MANY times over the year and it never is quite right. This one was almost PERFECT!!! I was impressed and so was The Hubby. If I was not already hooked this would have done me in. 

Another favortie is the Idaho French Fry sauce. It is ending at the end of the month so I ordered 3. Pretty sure I will be getting one more order before it leaves. 

Another one leaving the catalog is the New York Coney Dog sauce. No more canned hot dog chili in our house. I ordered 3 of these too but think I need more. 

Lisa is the owner and is AMAZING! She is very attentive to our wants and needs and always listens to our concerns. She has made sure to keep things nut free. In the winter they have fudge made at another facility. Last year it was cut and packaged in our facility but in another area. This year she has done one better and it will be packaged at the fudge place and then sent to Kitcheneez!!! We also have a large selection of gluten free items. They are made I. A separate area to avoid any glutton getting in! Lisa makes everything fresh to order so you get the very best quality. Our items come in re-sealable bags as well! 

If you are interested at taking a look you can check out my page at www.kitcheneez.biz/goobergrl6

North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher

Since I was finally about to walk on my foot we decided to take a drive to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. The kids were really excited to be going to a museum and I was excited to be getting out of the RV. It was a little bit under a two hour drive but we didn't mind, especially since it was free to get in with our AZA reciprocity membership. Some of the pictures made it look a bit on the small side so we were a little worried we would be disappointed but boy were we WRONG!

We pulled in and immediately saw it was bigger then we thought. The kids were super excited to go in and we couldn't get in fast enough. The first section is set up more as a viewing area of animals. Princess really likes going up to the tanks and looking in at all the things. We got to see an Albino Alligator which was pretty cool. They also had a little table set up where we could see alligator skulls and learn things about the alligators.

While the first section was interesting we were really excited when we walked into the second area. It was full of great hands on activities that kids (and adults) just really love. We got to touch some sea anemone. There are a few videos at the end of the post of us touching them and making them go back in. They also had a spot to touch sharks. They are just little sharks that don't bite but it was still cool. I got a video of the kids petting them as well. There was some great info about turtles and how they hatch, how littering effect the sea life, and so much more. We all learned a lot.

They had a little show with a diver in a tank and you could talk to him while he was in the tank. I sat on a bench while we waited for the show to start while the boys went off to explore some other things in the same room. The little tank show was pretty neat and the kids really enjoyed sitting up close and learning stuff. Monkey was a bit bummed we didn't live close because they have a youth volunteer program there he was interested in. He is to young now but we will have to look for something similar when he is older. After the show the kids wanted to head outside to the playground for a bit. It was pretty chilly out so we didn't stay out long but it was a really neat play area.

We headed back in and the kids went back to pet the sharks a bit more. Cat Boy and Monkey decided they wanted to be crabs. We had a great time there and would recommend it to everyone. We will definitely go again if we find ourselves in the area again.

Hair, sand, and doughnuts

My hair was so long that often it would get stuck between my crutches and armpit. So one night I had had enough. The Hubby jokingly said he would cut my hair. I said fine, do it. Once he realized I was serious he looked up a couple of things on Google and set to work. He did a pretty decent job. There were a few sessions of oops this side is longer so it got chopped a little more then he planned but I didn't care. I could now hobble around without pulling my hair every 5 hobbles. Here is the next day. I have no clue what face I was making but you can see the haircut. Since I could now hobble around on my crutches without ripping my hair our and I was no longer worried about getting sand in my cast and it being stuck there we went to the beach. The kids played and collected shells while I sat there sifting through shells in one spot. So The Hubby and Cat Boy went to the store and I was sitting on the couch watching the Bears game. All of the sudden I head this LOUD thump and see a flurry of white out the window. I look out the window and see Bubbles surrounded by falling feathers. Apparently she had pounced on a bird. LOL We try not to let her out but sometimes she is faster then us. She has a bell on her collar so that usually alerts prey to her approach but this bird must not have heard her. I grabbed The Boy and we went outside to look for the bird. We looked under the RV, on top of the RV, and all around. Nothing. So it must have gotten away. When The Hubby got home he went to look around a bit more but didn't see it anywhere either. The Hubby and the Boys went to the beach one day while I sat with Princess in the RV as she napped. I got a call that when she got up I needed to come down and see the castle The Hubby had made. Apparently Cat Boy had told him that there was no way he could make a castle in the sand with just his hands. So The Hubby had to prove him wrong. So he sat there for a couple hours with the boys helping him building his castle. He even checked on it for the next few days and it was still there! The RV park has an outdoor water park that is closed this time of year. They also have an inside pool that has a kiddie pool and hot tub. I took the boys a few times to watch them swim since I still could not swim. They loved it there and it was pretty neat at night. IT was cold for them walking back to the RV at night so they usually ran back and left me to hobble back on my own.
My foot had started to bug me sometimes. I think I was walking more then normal now that I Had the boot on. I still was not putting any weight on it but I think it still could move more in the boot then the cast. It was almost like the bottom of my foot would cramp up. Especially at night. Since it was wrapped at night I would have to take everything off and massage the bottom of my foot and then wrap myself back up. I woke up a few times a night to do this. I was always sure to put some deep relief on it and it seemed to help the muscle relax for longer then when I forgot to put it on. As my cup says, Oils are Everything!
The boys have been doing good getting back on track with school after Christmas break. Here you can see The Boy working on Time4Learning. One of the great things about Myrtle Beach is they have a Krispy Kreme! NUMMY! I am not a huge doughnut fan but you put some HOT, FRESH Krispy Kreme doughnuts in front of me and I will go to TOWN! As you can see Princess feels the same way! LOL That face cracks me up! Of course after scarfing on doughnuts there is nothing better then a cuddle in bed with Monkey.