Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Georgia

We arrived in Coffee County, Georgia on Dec. 11.

I'm having the hardest time deciding which house we should buy.....

this one???

or this one???
or maybe this one???
I'm kidding! Georgia was beautiful and I love the lake houses!!!
I'm loving this road schooling! We read about Eli Whitney and stopped by the side of the road (bed head and all) and picked cotton in our PJ's.


Landen thought it was cotton candy!


We stayed at Coffee state park. It was beautiful with all the green and fall colors.

Georgia looks a lot like Oregon to me. We were going to go out on the lake but.......

I wanted to live to see my cousins. These are my first cousins on my dad's side. I haven't seen them in 15 or more years!!!! We found each other on myspace and started talking. If it wasn't for this trip, I'm not sure when I would of seen them.


Larry, Matt, Jenny (who are Georgia Bulldog Fans) and yes, that's me in a Florida Gator sweat shirt.

Let's just say, I didn't make a good first impression. LOL

This is the family. My Aunt Carla (my dad's sis)is holding Finley. She calls everyone "Sugar." I'm holding my cousin Jenny's baby, Taylor. That's Brandon(standing in front of Finley) but they all call him Pooty. Then next to Pooty is Willie (he's in 6th grade and about 6ft tall!When I was at Gran's she showed me this picture. This was taken when we were all about 5 or 6??? We were in Texas for a family reunion. This is all the oldest girls in the family. Jenny is 2nd and I am the only brunette on the end. We are all with in a year of each other.

Jenny had to remind me that I am older than her(6 months) and will be 30 before her.

She is so sweet and has the cutest southern accent. We had a lot to catch up on and it was so nice to meet her husband and beautiful kids.(finally!)

After hanging out at My Aunt's house we went back to our campsite and let the kids finish up on school and their Jr. Ranger program.



The park was holding a Christmas night. We went and listened to Christmas stories by a fire inside a log cabin.


Santa was there. Finley was fine as long as Daddy was holding her, she would scream if we dare try and sit her on his lap.
Faith is just in love with Santa. I don't have the heart to tell her he's not real. (That's another post) She is telling him here that she wants this special book (that has been impossible to find) We finally found it at a Cracker Barrel(which by the way,us California people are missing out. Lovin' these Cracker Barrel's) in Virginia (but the road was closed to drive to it) I was really wishing there was a Santa. We did end up getting the book in Maryland at another Cracker Barrel:) I'm just praying it's the right one haha!


Landen trying to explain..........
Then we all went on a hay ride. I led everyone in Christmas carols (I won't see these people again) haha! We had a lot of fun until it started raining on us. It was freezing!
We went back inside and sat by the fire and warmed up with some hot chocolate.

In the morning we headed to Jenny's house.......(she lives in a very pretty area by a lake)
They treated us to some good Southern Food.......

I never ate so much in my life. We had grits (never had before) and a bunch of other fried food haha! And you can't visit Georgia without trying some peach cobbler now can you?


Then we all went back and sat our lil self's down and visited.......
Austin and Willie playing football in the front yard....
I love the property!

Our babies......
Jenny has Willie who is 12 and Taylor who is 7 months. She was so excited to finally have a little girl that she went all out. I don't blame her! She is such a good mommy. Finley even got to use Taylor's "warm" wipes LOL...she is spoiled!
Miss Taylor's room.........

We all piled on their "General Lee" golf cart and drove around the lake....
We had such a wonderful visit. I am so glad I got to see all of them. We promised not to let another 15 years go by!

Landen and Pooty by the lake:)

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I love that front porch...part of what I love about living in the South...big ole front porches with rocking chairs!

Unknown said...

The adventures you guys are having you will remember a lifetime. I am so envious. Wish we could be doing the same thing. Love all your pics and entries. Merry Christmas!
Blessings
Diane

Anonymous said...

O.M.G.- Those houses are gorgeous! I'll take the first lake house please. I thought houses on lakes were only in storybooks. Are they affordable...as in... can parents of 6 afford one?!
I'm so jealous of you and your family schooling on the road. Enjoy this time, not everyone gets to do this. I'm living through you and your adventures. I love reading each and every post. Keep 'em coming.
Merry WHITE CHRISTmas, Ryan Family!!!

~1/2 a dozen~ said...

Hello, Ryan Family. Ummm, I think I'll take the 1st lake house. That 1 is totally my taste. Is it expensive there? Can parents of 6 afford a home like that?

How beautiful Georgia is. I know this now, thanks to you. I love following along on your adventures and living through you and your family. I'm sooo jealous.

Enjoy, this time Bridget, not every family gets to do this. You know this already, I'm sure.

Take care and have a very merry WHITE CHRISTmas Ryan Family! Keep the posts coming, I love reading each and every one of them.

Anonymous said...

doing a little catch-up on your blog this morning, hope you had a wonderful Christmas...Your cousin especially in the "our babies" captioned pic, and Brianna sure look alot alike...beautiful pictures.....glad your having the time of your life....

Happy New Year my friend!

Marie

Amy said...

I am so glad to hear you guys enjoyed GA!!! I read your post from yesterday also, and I understand what you mean about living your life the way God intends you, not everyone else. I too have very different ideals from most of my family and friends. We seem so strange, but hey, that's the way it is. Blessings on your trip.
Amy in GA

Amy said...

Okay, two people left comments about parents of 6, did I miss something. I only count five in your family, was it their family or yours they are talking about? If it's you then CONGRATS!!!
amy in ga