This update breaks down into three important events that took place, only to have a surprise fourth appear late in the game. So let's get to them one at a time. The first milestone for the entire family was the 6th anniversary that Antoinette and I celebrated just recently. We typically spend our anniversary taking the family to a place that we've never been before. This year, we decided to take the boys to Jekyl Island about an hour north of Jacksonville along the Atlantic coast and spend the day there. We had been there before, but just for a couple hours on a car ride back from Chicago when we timed up our arrival to correspond with the sunrise so we could have breakfast watching the sun come up. Worked out well then and a very nice beach with really nice facilities.
This time we headed up there early in the morning wanting to make a couple stops. The first stop was a place called Driftwood Beach that we had heard of. There is a similar beach in Jacksonville relatively close to our house, so we figured we'd give it a shot. After finding a place to park, we walked down some old dirt trails that led to the beach and it was a disaster. Place looked like a dump as far as beaches go, completely covered in sharp rocks all the way down through the water that were mini-boulder in size. The only good part of the beach were huge oak trees covered in Spanish moss hanging down that looked to be hundreds of years old hanging over the walkways and trails, so we decided we'd take the boys for a walk.
After walking a short distance, the grassy areas began to clear and more beach opened up with some giant trees littering the beach, but the giant rocky shoreline remained. There were also a thousand crabs covering every tree with these bugs covering the trees that looked like giant cockroaches running everywhere. We caught a couple crabs for the boys to look at, let them go, and then continued our walk. After another short walk down the beach, walking around some massive downed oak trees, we came into the area that the beach was probably known for.
Laying in front of us was a massive sprawling beach with sand running out into the ocean, huge oak trees white washed by the tides spaced out enough that they littered the shoreline like giant bleached whale skeletons. The boys loved it. They could run wild all over the beach because there wasn't a soul out there. We walked a long way down the beach and back and then decided it was time for lunch.
After realizing that the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed, we decided to drive down the main drag looking for a place to stop for lunch. Not realizing where we were going, we happened to pass by a place called the Time Out Sports Bar and Grill that caught my eye. We turned in hoping they would have the football games on. The parking lot was quite empty, so we figured they might be closed, but we didn't see the restaurant so we figured we would drive through the lot until we confirmed that. Oddly enough, the only two cars in the parking lot belonged to a middle aged woman sitting in a chair in front of what looked like a motel and a police officer in shorts that were way too short to be deemed appropriate for public.
As we drove past them meandering through this empty parking lot, we came to the end and still didn't see the restaurant, so we turned around and stopped for a second to look for another restaurant on our phones. Just then I look up and here comes the police officer in his squad car. Then he flashes his lights at me. I'm wondering what this is all about, but figure I'll ask him for directions or advice on a good place to stop. When I roll down the window, he asks "what are you folks doing back here?" I'm thinking, well, I have two toddlers in car seats in the back and we are looking on phones sitting in a parking lot with out of State plates. A 6 year old could've probably pieced this mystery together.
Instead, the officer, who I will now respectfully refer to as Barney Fife, after being told that we are lost and just trying to find somewhere to take the family for lunch on a Sunday afternoon, tells me that we are in the process of committing multiple crimes. Crimes? What is this clown talking about? Crimes? I'm sitting in a parking lot trying to find a place to take my family for lunch. What crime are we committing? Barney informs me that outside of the property, there are two other entrances that have two very small "No Trespassing" signs on the front of them. But the entrance we turned into doesn't have one. After a bit of disbelief, this idiot acts like he's doing me a favor for letting me go with a warning. Thanks, Barney. No wonder half the businesses on your island are going bankrupt with geniuses like this guy interacting with the tourists. I'm guessing his XS sized biker shorts might've been all they had available and that could've been causing the attitude problem. After having lunch, it started raining and cut the day short and we decided to head over for ice cream and then make an early run back home.
A few weeks later, I had a great deal on some Bears tickets, so I decided to take Billy to the Bears vs. Jaguars game. He'd been to an Ohio State game with me last year when Ohio State played Florida in Jacksonville (we lost), but never a Bears game. Might be a long time before he ever gets to one in Chicago, so of course I couldn't pass on this opportunity. Would've loved to take AJ, but he's so distracted at this age, keeping tabs on both of them would've been crazy and Antoinette was impartial to going anyway. So instead, I invited a co-worker and the two of us took Billy to the game.
It was hot. Real hot, but Antoinette packed us plenty of water and snacks, so we figured we'd be fine. After arriving at the game, we took seats that were empty close to ours which allowed us to put Billy in the shade. Eventually, we had to move back to our seats, but luckily as the Sun was going down, the scoreboard shadow covered our seats for nearly the entire game, which was perfect. The Bears went on to beat the living hell out of the Jaguars and Billy got to see a great game. He was talking about it for weeks after that and still is asking me if we can go back and see another game. Outstanding experience for him and I and who knows when there will be another shot at going to a Bears game while we live in Jacksonville. Billy did great, wearing his new Chicago Bears outfit. About two dozen people cheered him as we walked by (there were probably more Bears fans than Jaguars fans in the stadium).
And then there's AJ. AJ being AJ. AJ was acting up on the couch and this time, he fell off the couch. After a loud smack, I get up to look at AJ, no stranger to split and fat lips from jumping on or over things, only this time, it wasn't your rudimentary split lip. AJ has an entire chin covered in blood just seconds after the noise came from behind the couch and he's crying, which is unusual for AJ. By the time I get over there and pick him up, the blood is all over my shirt. It took a little longer to stop the bleeding than normal this time, but once we did, it was pretty clear AJ had the granddaddy of all split lips. We decided against stitches even though the Pediatrician recommended it and after a few days, when things started to settle down, it was clear that was a good idea not to have the stitches as the lip healed up on its own. We are almost 100% back to regular AJ and it doesn't seem to be bothering him anymore. He's also back jumping off of everything he can possibly climb up onto, but that was a pretty crazy incident.
Finally, there's the Air Show. The boys had been to the Air Show here before, but it had been a few years, so we decided to take them back now that they were a little older. This time, we broke the trip to the beach into a pair of trips over a two day period of time. The first trip, we had a beautiful October day with 82 degree temps, no humidity, no clouds, and bright blue skies to watch the planes. We picked out a great spot on the beach where someone had dug two giant holes in the sand that conveniently kept the boys very occupied while Antoinette and I set up some beach chairs and just relaxed. The boys got to see US Army jump team parachute back to the beach, got to see a couple aerobatic prop plane acts, and before we left, got to see a an F-18 Hornet flying over the beach.
On Sunday, we returned to the beach just in time to see an F-22 Raptor flying around the outer reaches of Jacksonville. Then we capped off the show with the Blue Angels. For anyone who has ever seen the Blue Angels, I don't have to tell you, but for anyone who hasn't, it is truly something you have to experience in your life. I've included some video footage in the entry that I'm incorporating here, but ultimately, they are amazing, extremely entertaining, and the boys loved them.
One more funny story happened on the beach though. Billy told me he had to poop, so with no public bathroom in sight, we started to wander down the beach to the main road and look for a place to use the bathroom. I spotted a KFC and figured that would be perfect after a half mile walk. While we're walking, I hear Billy say, "Dad? I like her butt." What?!? I turn to see what he's talking about and to our left, there are a pair of twenty somethings in skimpy bikini bottoms holding up signs advertising parking spots. For a Dad, that's one of those rare "that's my boy" moments that you really get a kick out of. Antoinette thought it was pretty funny when we got back to the beach and you KNOW Grandpa thought it was funny.
AJ turns 2 in a couple weeks and I'll probably be incorporating that into the next update. Until then...
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