Hey, Hey Paula!

Richard went to Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady & Sons, today at 7:30a.m. to get in line for a reservation. They start making reservations at 9:30 and by 10:30 each day they are booked for lunch and supper! It is in downtown Savannah and doesn't look that big from the outside, but once you are on the inside it's three stories tall.




















She has a gift shop right next door. All the cookbooks are autographed.














These were a few of the people waiting in line trying to get reservations. The line went all the way down the block and wrapped around the side street. After the couple with the stroller, the rest were turned away!














You can order off the menu or eat from the buffet. Since we had never been before, we chose the buffet so that we could try lots of different items. The meal started off with a cheese biscuit and hot cake. YUMMY!














The buffet had a salad bar, BBQ ribs, fried chicken, baked chicken, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, macaroni and cheese, green beans, turnip greens, sweet potatoes, etc. Everything was great, but the fried chicken and the sweet tea were the best! Ronda would drive all the way from Texas just for a glass of that tea!














On the menu, they had chesecake, key lime pie, pecan pie, etc, but these were the desserts that came with the buffet: peach cobbler, butter cake with chocolate chips, and banana pudding.














The meal was so good that I would recommend it to anyone! Richard is even talking about coming back to Savannah for a few days next year after we go to DisneyWorld, so it must be good for him to want to stand in line again!



















Look closely in the window and see who is standing behind Natalie!!!!! (Actually, it's just a cardboard cut-out, but I thought it was funny.)



















Posing with Paula. The waiter said that he has met her several times and that she is just as funny and friendly as she is on the show.



















A few streets over, we found a little shop were you could sample all different kinds of honey. This was a beehive they had in the store for the kids to play in.



















Some pictures from the river area:




























The cobblestone streets in the river area reminded us of Tallinn, Estonia.



















A street musician playing in the park. He told us about a few places to go see.

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday morning Richard ran to the grocery store to get us some butter for breakfast, and he surprised me by coming back with a birthday cake! I thought that was so sweet, and the kids were excited about surprising me.

Dolphins, Sharks, Alligators, oh MY!

We went on a Dolphin Cruise today. The kids got to feed the seagulls off the back of the boat. Some of them would come take the food out of their hands.


































We passed this while we were leaving the harbor. The captain said that there used to be three crosses standing, but after a recent hurricane the ones on each side are on the ground. The locals left them that way to show that Jesus was looking after them in the storm.














We saw lots of dolphins in the bay and the gulf. People were out in small boats and waverunners and the dolphins would swim right up to them. We saw a shark too, but I didn't get a picture of it.




























Each of the girls took a turn driving the boat.

























































We ate at a place called Fudpuckers today. They have live alligators that the kids can feed and hold. The food was delicious!
































































































We also went to the beach again today. Richard found a shark's tooth.













This was a strange loking thing that Richard found too. Some of the locals said they call them sand fleas and use them for bait. They said the beach is covered in them at night.

Private Fireworks Show

We knew that they were going to have fireworks over the lake by our hotel tonight, but with everything going on today, we forgot about it. I'm glad that we did because we heard noise outside and went out on the balcony for a great fireworks display! I don't think it could have been any better if we had been at the marina, and we didn't have to fight the crowd of people.

Fun in Destin

Dad and Richard left early this morning to go deep sea fishing. They had a blast! But, they came back very sunburned. We met them at the pier to see what they caught. We stopped at a local seafood market and bought some shrimp and had fried fish, shrimp, and french fries for supper. YUMMY! Nothing better than fresh seafood.































Mom and I took the kids a couple of places while the guys were fishing. The first stop we made was Build-A-Bear. Nicole made a rabbit with Cheetah Girl clothes, Natalie made a Hannah Montana bear in a wedding dress, Lauren made a panda bear with a cute outfit, and Jack made a frog with a Spider Man outfit.



















Then we went to The Track to ride bumper cars, but Jack was too little, so he and Lauren rode the train instead.



















Nicole and Natalie got to drive their own bumper cars, but I had to ride with Lauren because she was too short to drive. We all had a great time crashing into each other.




























After we met Dad and Richard, we hit the beach again. Jack cracked me up with everything he carried to the beach. (My camera lens fogged up since we had just stepped outside, but I took the picture anyway.)



















Lauren learned how to wait for the waves to break and dive forward with them so she could ride them toward the beach. In a couple of years, she is going to be our little surfer girl.

More From Destin

Here are a couple more beautiful beach views. The water here is so much prettier than we have on the Texas Coast.


































Yes, we are East Texas rednecks on vacation in the big city! HAHA! Here are pictures from the biggest Bass Pro Shop I have ever seen:

































We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe tonight in Destin.



















Memoribilia from The Beatles.



















Don Henly's guitar, from The Eagles.



















Lauren rockin' to the MTV videos while we ate.






































WOW! When I saw this picture, I thought about how Nicole is growing up. She is looking more and more like a teenager.