Hannah Savannah

Miley Cyrus, eat our dust.
You may be Hannah Montana, but we've got our own special character - Hannah Savannah!
She's smart, funny and beautiful. Not to mention, she has great sidekick siblings. Vacations allow us lots of togetherness. As parents, we get to witness the effects of continual sibling exposure. After 3-4 days, they are experts at pushing eachother's buttons and calling attention to how they've each been wronged in one way or another.

Unusually inclement weather threatened on Thursday. We decided it would be a good time to take a quick trip to Savannah, about 45 miles away. Mark and I were most excited about this adventure. The kids grudgingly joined us. The prospect of seeing a historic city was not high on their list of things to do. For some reason, Target and the outlet mall were more compelling.

Nevertheless, loaded everyone in the van and headed out. Skies were cloudy and it looked like it could be raining on and off all day. Though we weren't sure everyone would survive the 45-minute trip without electronic stimulation (we banned phones and dvd's), we all arrived intact.
Savannah is an old city, unlike any other we've seen. There are lots of old trees with large limbs, creating canopies over the streets. Savannah's claim to fame is that is was the first planned development city. It is laid out in a grid, with 24 lovely "squares", park-like spaces, each with a monument or fountain.
We decided to take a trolley tour of the city. This way, we would get oriented and learn much of the fun, sometimes eerie, lore that Savannah has to offer. For example, many of Savannah's beautiful homes are said to be haunted. If we had wanted to extend our stay to the evening, we could have taken the "Ghosts and Gravestones" version of the trolley tour.
We enjoyed the trolley's leisurely pace as it navigated its way through the city. We exited the trolley at stop 4 to see a recent addition to the cities gems, a 5-star hotel incorporating an 1888 home and a newer structure built to resemble the older one. It is host to a lot of neat art and we toured ourselves through the lobby and gallery.
We resumed our trolley tour and exited near Paula Deen's restaurant, "The Lady and Her Sons." We were hungry but the restaurant couldn't accommodate us. We found a cafe and relaxed while the rain continued outside.
We finished our Savannah experience with a stroll along the river walk, a series of cafes, shops and restaurants in old buildings on the bank of the Savannah River. The highlight was finding the Savannah Candy Company, which held treats for all.
When we returned to the villa, we spread out and relaxed for a bit, enjoying a quiet evening and dinner "in."