Fionn In a Pod

Our li'l sweet pea spent his first Halloween on the beaches of Tybee Island, Georgia with some of Mommy's dearest friends from Mississippi. The trip was so much fun. Incredible 70 degree weather (we have really lucked out on the weather front during all of these trips!), adorable little beach town, and some of the coolest gals around (and their awesome kids and spouses, of course).

Why Tybee Island, you ask? In order to answer this question, I must first school you on the Magnolia Mafia. Yes, yes...We call ourselves the Magnolia Mafia, but don't hold that against us. The most important thing to know is that our friendships go waaaay back. Most of us have known each other since kindergarten -- or at least since elementary school. Some of us, like Andrea and myself, have even known each other since the hospital (we were born one day apart and slept in the same nursery). But it was only in high school that we became a full-fledged (dare I say?) "posse." These girls helped me survive private school in Jackson, Mississippi. They were my honest-to-goodness life preservers at times, I kid you not. So, without further adieu, here is the Magnolia Mafia circa 2010.



It must be said that there is one very significant missing link in the above picture. Our dear Emily was not able to join us this year. We missed you so much, Em! Never fear though. Emma was definitely there in spirit. And in spirits, if you know what I mean. Hehe.

Anyway, a few years ago, we realized that we could no longer count on holidays in Mississippi to provide opportunities for connecting with one another. After all, once you throw careers, in-laws, and kids into the mix, it becomes pretty hard to coordinate holiday schedules. We decided that we had to make more of an effort to see one another every year. Hence the Magnolia Mafia annual get-together was born.

Last year, I had the pleasure of hosting the Mafia at our house in DC. This year, Andrea hosted us in Tybee Island which is not far from her home in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Andrea was a superb host. She made all sorts of yummy food with a Halloween theme, including pumpkin muffins and "mummies" (sausages wrapped in biscuits). Thank you so much, Andrea, for all your hard work and your hospitality!

As far as the locale, Tybee was ideal for relaxing on the beach with the gang. As late October is not exactly "peak" season for the town, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. Here is one of my favorite images from Conor's fantastic work with the camera last weekend. He beautifully captured Kristen as she took a photo of one of the many birds on the beach. As you can see, there is really no one around even though it was the middle of the day.



I have since learned that Sandra Bullock has a place at Tybee Island, just around the bend from where we were staying. Sadly, though, there were no celebrity sightings. But it's still pretty cool that we were in her 'hood, I s'pose.

Over the course of the long weekend, it was so much fun to watch the kids play in the sand and interact with one another. As it happened, we had multiple dolphin sightings while we were there. This next photo captures Ryan Meister as he points out the dolphins to a few of the kids. They were thrilled to see the beautiful dolphins jumping in the ocean waves.



For me, this trip was just such a treat. It is rare these days to spend time with my special Mississippi ladies all in one place, and it was especially rare (unprecedented actually!) to spend time with their children and spouses too. It was actually my first time meeting the children of my dear friend, Mary, so that in itself was simply thrilling. Her beautiful daughter, Riley, is just a couple of months older than Fionn. I must say that Riley seemed very taken with our Fionny as evidenced by how she kept reaching toward him as they played on the floor together. Might we have an arranged marriage in our future?



Of course, being that it was Halloween, we just had to dress up for the occasion and take some pictures on the beach. Andrea was kind enough to bring some Fire Ant costumes for those of us who were not so creative in our costuming efforts. Are we the cutest bunch of ants you have ever seen or what?



As you might imagine, we were thrilled to dress up Fionny in his very first Halloween costume. He looked SOOO cute as a Pea in the Pod, don't you agree?



I am sad to report, however, that Fionn was not such a fan of his Pod, as you can see in this next picture. As Conor joked, felt is clearly not Fionn's fabric of choice.



However, he did seem to appreciate that the peas provided convenient teething toys. So that's something.

As far as the other kids...Wow. It was like something out of a dream, watching those beautiful children in costumes run down the nearly deserted beach with the sun glinting on the ocean waves. I will never forget some of these vivid images as long as I live.









Before returning to our beach house, we were lucky enough to get a great group shot via another unsuspecting tourist who happened to walk by our colorful crew.



Ah, such sweet memories. I am already looking forward to our get-together next Fall. I love you, Mississippi Ladies!