The Beach!

On July 23rd we went to Callaway Gardens. We started out about an hour later than we had hoped. We got stuck in some traffic for 45 minutes. There was an accident on the highway we were already down one lane because of road construction and then with the accident we were down to only one lane. So instead of taking just under 2 hours it took almost 3 hours. When we finally got there we found our usual picnic spot and ate lunch. Then we headed over to the butterfly garden center. I love this garden. They have some pretty awesome plants and flowers that I would love in my yard. I could stay and enjoy the garden for a long while, but this place is very humid and hot so about 10-15 minutes is about all we can handle. This is the first time I got so many great pictures of butterflies. Usually, I only get one good one each time we go.

Next, we headed over to the beach. The kids kept saying "the beach" like Mr. Bean does in Mr. Beans Holiday. That was the last of the summer free movies we saw. By the time we got there it was peak hotness. So the water felt wonderful. The kids started off by making a sand castle with the help of Jon.

Payton getting water for the sand castle

Talmage and Hayden building a sand castle

Brenton, Talmage, Payton, and Hayden working on the sand castle

A few hours later we headed over to the train. Last year, the train wasn't running so we wanted to make sure we got it in.

The train

Kennedy, Hayden, and Payton on the train.

Brenton and Talmage on the train.

After the train ride, we went back to the beach for some more water fun. A while later the clouds were getting real dark. I started gathering our things together and folding up the blankets in case we needed to make a quick get away. A few moments later it started raining and then there was a real loud thunder and the life guards made everyone get out of the lake. Then we took our stuff and ran to the car. We threw the stuff in the car and headed over to the showers and changing room. By this time it was raining like crazy luckily we were all in our suits so it didn't bother us. After our showers and getting changed, the rain was starting to slow down a bit but thunder was still in the air. The kids weren't ready to go yet so we checked out a few things we had never done before because we go here in the summer and everything there is to do is all outdoors and way to hot to do in the summer. The rain cooled things down at least 10-15 degrees. When we got to the vegetable garden the rain had stopped all together. This garden is huge. They have every kind of veggie you could think to grow here. They sell some and use some in their restaurants. Our favorite was the benches with grape vines shaded them. I would love to have something like this in my yard. After this, we were starting to get hungry for dinner so we decided to leave and find a restaurant on our way home. We had great traffic on our way home.