Carly had been looking forward to the Choir Tour to Savannah for Gulf Coast Youth Choirs all year! It was the first time the Children's choir got to go out of state for their spring tour. I got to go along with her, and we had a fun weekend together. We sure missed The Boys, but they had plenty of fun at home without us. Carly really had fun with all her friends...
We rode in a very comfy Tour bus (similar to the Fun Bus Ryan and I rode in for our WOLBI tours, only CLEANER)... our first stop in Savannah was at Uncle Bubba's restaurant. Bubba is Paula Deen's brother. My sisters and I and my mom ate here when we visited Savannah a few years ago. Yummy food. Not a bit healthy.
Carly and Makayla. Buds.
Most of the group...
We checked into our hotel, the kids went swimming in the heavily chlorinated pool, then we got a good nights rest before heading out to meet up with the Savannah Children's Choir.
Part of the "fun" of tour, was to work with another children's choir (um, Savannah's) and put on a concert with them. The kids from Savannah were really sweet and had a breakfast for our kids before their first rehearsal. They kind of went out of their way to mingle with the other choir and make some new friends.
While the kids were rehearsing, some of the parents went for a walk to Forsythe Park, which is a really pretty park in Savannah... the one with the famous fountain. And some pretty flowers...
It gave us something to do while the kids were working.
After their rehearsal, we went on a Trolley Tour of the historic district. It was educational and interesting. After going on the full circuit, we had the option to get off and visit various places on our own. Several of us stopped at this little sandwich shop for lunch, and there was about a 45 minute wait for a table... And Carly had plans to tour a Haunted House and was worried about having enough time. So I reminded her that We Are McGregor's and We Make Our Own Adventure. So, we ducked out of the sandwich shop (in the rain) and ran across a couple of streets to a fun looking coffee shop and decided that drinking coffee and eating danish was a perfectly acceptable lunch when you are on "vacation"!!
We were pleasantly surprised to find they served hummus with pita's, so it was actually healthier than we planned:) The coffee (hot chocolate for The Girl) was DELICIOUS, and we didn't have to wait in line!
After our fun lunch, we checked out the Haunted House Carly had picked out.
My Girl was trying very hard to be scared, and well, she was just funny instead. The Guide really played up the "stories" because she was so into it.
The haunted window... sadly, we saw no ghosts.
At one point (probably the same time my mother-in-law was texting me about tornado's) The tornado siren actually went off (you are welcome for not telling you this at the time, mom!) and our guide said he was just going to ignore it because "We never get tornado's in Savannah"... just curious, WHY DO YOU HAVE A SIREN THEN? anyways, I asked him what we were supposed to do, if say, there WAS a tornado... he said, "We'd go in the basement.... but the basement is REALLY haunted..." Carly immediately said, "Let's go!" I guess they have scary ghost tours at night in this house and particularly in the basement. He was showing us all the equipment and cameras they use to try to see ghosts and Carly tried her hardest to summon a Ghost. No luck. Imagine that.
Here's one of the Creepy Basement Rooms.
After our tour, we jumped back on the Trolley to go to the Riverwalk so I could show Carly the Candy Store. It really helped that I had been to Savannah before... Watching them make pecan pralines...
A quick photo for Grandma.
That evening, we ate dinner at Sticky Fingers, which sounds funner than it was...
Next day, the first stop was to for the kids to sing at Calvary Baptist Temple. They sang several songs during the service and it was televised, so they were all excited to be on TV:)
Mrs. Smith, the director, giving a little pep talk...
After the morning services, we headed to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, which is were the kids were singing with the Savannah Children's Choir. It was a really pretty church that's over a 100 years old.
Beautiful stained glass windows (about 15 of them!!), and we all know how I love stained glass windows!
Loved this one of King David
There's the combined choirs... Ironically enough, their choir costumes matched!
The directors took turns directing the kids...
Carly thought she was the star of the show, apparently.
With Mrs. Smith
And Carly and the director from Savannah... we got her picture because she reminded us so much of Aunt Randee. With brown hair. Looked and acted like her. Only she doesn't have any cute Parker.
Our try at a self portrait...
The Sisters (The Aunties) came out to hear them, which was great because we got to tell them how delicious their food was! Seriously, if you are even in Savannah, YOU MUST GO HERE.
Heading home to Tampa the next morning, watching their big TV debut!
We had a fun weekend...
