February in Georgia

After a long hiatus from writing the blog, I have decided to try again. My hope to catch up from where I left off was getting in the way of me adding anything new at all. Right now, keeping this record of our life feels important too. I’m used to having something to look back on. Social media – Facebook and Instagram – were acting like my digital photo albums, giving me a place to store my memories. In this strange time, I find looking at social media so disturbing though, that it is hard to put anything there. I would still like a place to save our memories, and share with friends and family, so I am attempting to blog once again. I’m just going to start where we are now, and hope that I can fill in the gaps later.

February 2021

We are still staying in our adorable Mermaid Cove rental in St. Mary’s Georgia. Originally we were planning to move the boat here for a bottom job and some other maintenance, but our indecision about what to do next has kept the boat in Brunswick. Despite that though, Chris, Jacob’s dad, has come twice to help with the boat work, and they have completely replaced the galley floor. It feels so stable now!

Sunrise over the salt marsh, taken on one of Jacob and my morning walks

Our Airbnb is a sweet condo on the salt marsh.

Shrimper at the end of the dock

No fishing

The girls and I took the ferry from St. Marys to Cumberland Island. One of Audrey’s favorite Outschool teacher’s, Teacher Ben, said it was his favorite ecosystem, and now she couldn’t wait to go explore. It is actually 4 ecosystems! They are the salt marsh, maritime forest, dunes and beach. Cumberland is most famous for its wild horses.

Getting a headstart on the Junior Ranger packet on the ferry ride over.

We spent the whole day hiking a big loop through all 4 ecosystems.

We had our first glimpse of the beautiful wild horses as we strolled the beach.

The beach was full of interesting finds

Audrey with a sand dollar

We found more horseshoe crab shells then we could count

Sandpipers

We also did a little nature journalling while on the island. This is Audrey’s.

Lorelei’s Nature Journal

Audrey’s watercolor postcard for Cumberland Island

More art inspired by our trip to the barrier island.

This painting was inspired by the work of Millard Owen Sheets and Cumberland Island, by Audrey.

We have all been really getting into watercoloring lately. Every Thursday morning we join in an online painting club, also on Outschool. Here is some of our recent work:

Forest by Audrey

Selkie Girl by April

by Lorelei

by April

by April

by April

Some fun Valentine art:

by Lorelei

by Audrey

We had a great treat when our friends the Pandolfis from Illinois came to visit!

The girls couldn’t wait to show their friends our floating home!

In the rain

We spent a couple of days visiting nearby beaches. This is the beach at Fort Cinch.

Driftwood Beach. This is the coolest beach! It was a once thriving maritime forest. The roots were submerged in saltwater and the skeleton is still standing.

Ready to head north again

Hugs goodbye

Lorelei’s nature journal after our trip to Fort Cinch Beach.

We moved back aboard the boat after almost 8 months away (long story). It definitely feels good to be home!

Lorelei found a good place to read.

Our marina has bikes to borrow. The girls and I enjoy riding around downtown and looking at all the beautiful old houses and flowering trees.

Terrapin season. We found a few cute little guys wandering the marina.