Jekyll Island Day 1

A few weeks ago, I was privileged to join Chloe on her 5th grade field trip to Jekyll Island for 3 days.

Now before you say, "oh, how nice."  Let me say, yes, we had a blast roughing it in our rustic accommodations.  And rustic it was!  Oh my word!  As soon as I get the pictures from a friend, I will definitely share them.  Let's say that all the Chlorox wipes in the world couldn't have cleaned that place!

The buildings were built in the late 50's as a hotel for the wealthy blacks during time of segregation.  The state purchased them in the late 60's (I believe) and 4H took over in the 80's.  Rumors are that the buildings were once condemed prior to being renovated. The place had some awesome history!

The facility was run in part by Georgia's 4H and the education programs developed by UGA.  Or something like that.  I never could figure out the relationship between the two.

 The instructors were marvelous and the kids had such a great time learning about the Georgia coast and marshes, marine life, and habitats.






Chloe had been looking forward to the trip all year and her cast didn't slow her down.  We were armed with yellow garbage bags and cheetah duck tape which allowed to her go wherever we needed to in order to fully participate!

Day one began by waking up at 4:30 am and making the 5 1/2 drive to Jekyll. I should have taken pictures of my sweet friend's car...as it was packed to the ceiling with bedding, luggage and rain boots.  We would be gone only 2 nights...yes, but we had to pack as if we were sleeping in the woods.

We arrived around 11:30 am and first up was lunch. 


During lunch our girls had the first KP duty.  AKA, lunch duty.  Out of the 4 schools present, our kids rocked lunch duty. They were the only ones that showed up so, I guess the exceeded expectations just in that!  Serving drinks, cleaning tables and trays, taking out trash were their assignments.  Better them than me...those garbage cans were disgusting.

Oh and the food, let me add that  I've eaten some pretty bad food in my day and this topped the list.  I'm pretty certain I would've been better off eating from the Taco Truck my friends keep trying to get me to visit.

I was a good sport; not complaining a bit.  Well, maybe just a tad!  I was NOT going to be that mom that couldn't "rough it."  And I refused to let Chloe be that kid that was too good for camp food and lodging.  Though there was a mom that did stay in the hotel down the road.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't secretly despising her!  hee hee!

Following lunch, we visited the slough.  The slough was a spot on the island in which the fresh and ocean water meet in sort of  a spring location.  This was not the kids' favorite class, but we did see an alligator which seemed to amaze these Georgia kids!

T

They did perk up for a picture near a cool tree.  This was a third of our group.  We had about 30 fifth graders and 25 adults. 

The next class was a trip to the marsh.  It was low tide and absolutely beautiful!  I learned more about marsh life and tides than I needed to, but it was a nice walk in the gorgeous weather.

The marsh was literally crawling with crabs!  Apparently, a bazillion mommy crabs had recently birthed babies.  I was slightly creeped out, but the girls were in love.

When it came time to smell and inspect the marsh, I was somewhat nervous....the thought of Chloe's cast covered in mud did not amuse me.  Nonetheless, I chilled out and let her go in...good thing we brought a ton of garbage bags!

At some point we did have an amazing dinner of spaghetti.  At least I think.  It was better than lunch.  I'll leave it at that.

The kids also had a class on fishing.  It was the "what you need to know before we go fishing" class.  In other words, how to tie a knot, the parts to a ocean fishing pole, etc.  This was one of those classes I wished Kyle was there for.  Fishing?  Well, not my thing.  

 The day ended with a lesson on reptiles.  Which of course included, well, snakes.  Now this was totally cool and I was into it.  This southern girl is not afraid of snakes.  Chloe, well, she wasn't so excited. They handed her the snake and she wouldn't go near it.

After some encouragement from a friend, she opened up and went for it.  I was so proud!

It cracked me up to see my girl acting like such  a diva.  While that may not surprise you, it did me.  My girls have never minded getting dirty.  I'm the O.C.D. momma running around with the wipes and sanitizer.

She did open up and go for the 5 foot snake that came out later. I failed to capture that on camera.  Bad mommy.

Day one left us totally exhausted and in bed at 11 pm.  The kids went to bed dreaming about the most anticipated lesson:  shark dissection.  Me?  Not so much!