For New Year's we made a trip to Crooked River State Park. We booked a cabin since they had no campsites available. Jacob and Kim left Evan with us while they went down to Ocala National Forrest for an overnight hike. On New Year's day, we took Evan with us to Crooked River. As soon as we walked in the door Evan spotted some coasters on the coffee table. He headed straight for them and started playing with them just like he does with the ones at our house. Billy and I just died laughing. Of all the things that the cabin would have.....coasters!
Evan took a late nap that aftenoon and got up a bit cranky. Once he had been up awhile and had some supper he had a fine time escaping from his pajama top! He got his head out and got stuck with his arms still in. Granddaddy had to help him get untangled! He strutted around shirtless until Meme made him put his shirt back on!
The next morning Evan woke up asking for his mama. Unfortunately, she was still hiking out of the Ocala National Forrest. Billy and I distracted him by taking him out on the screen porch and listening to the birds singing. He enjoyed rocking in the rocking chair!
Then he ate a huge breakfast of grits and eggs. He ate them all by himself and didn't even make that big a mess! Meme was impressed!
While Meme cleaned up from breakfast, Granddaddy took Evan to the play ground. Evan had a blast sliding down the wet slide and getting his clean clothes all wet and dirty.
We walked down to the river so Evan could see the "wa wa" up close. It was really pretty but unfortnately the sand gnats were swarming and we had to leave rather quickly. They were getting all in Evan hair and he hated them! Meme did too! They didn't seem to bother Granddaddy though.
Later that morning we rode over to St. Mary where the ferry leaves for Cumberland Island and walked around. We also ate lunch there. Evan found a neat wooden Alligator to ride outside the restaurant where we had lunch!
Evan learned a new word while we were at the park. It was "play". That meant he wanted to go to the playground and play on the slide and monkey bars. Every time we passed one he said "play" and his face would just light up!
Jacob and Kim came in Friday afternoon. They had reserved tickets for us to go to Cumberland Island on Saturday. Evan made a new friend, Jackson, on the ferry as we were heading over to the island. They played together on the ride over to the island. Both of them loved the boat and the water.
Once we got to the island, we headed off on the trail across the island to the beach. At first Evan walked along with us just fine. After a while he wanted to go where he wanted rather than along the trail with us. We had to invent games to keep him headed in the right direction.
Eventually, Evan started to get tired of walking so we started taking turns giving him a ride. Here Kim is taking a rest by letting him sit high up on a curved tree limb. Jackson's parents were taking a break here too. They wanted to take a picture of him on the high limb but he would only sit on the lower portion of the limb!
Evan was really tired and it was way past his usual nap time. We had to walk across loose sand to get to the beach. Evan wanted only his mama as we were crossing this part of the island. By the time we got to the beach Kim was exhausted!
We thought we were going to make a pallet on the beach and let Evan take a little snooze. But... he woke up and went to playing. Jackson's mom had some food for the gulls and the boys had a blast feeding the birds and playing in the sand.
We finally headed on down the beach so we could make the 2:45 ferry. By this time Evan just could not stay awake. We each carried him for awhile. He never even stirred when we swapped him from person to person. Here I'm putting Jacob's shoes back on his sandy feet so we can continue our walk over to the ferry!
When we got on the ferry to head home, Evan wanted his own seat. Here he is saying "Let's go!"
We packed up to come home this morning. While Kim and I were packing up, Evan helped Granddaddy eat his cereal.
This was one of Evan's favorite things to do in the cabin. He liked shutting folks up in the bedroom!
