After a scoot to Florida last year with the whole Thomas fam, we happily returned to Jekyll Island for this year’s spring break. While I love the idea of doing different things for our spring breaks, and I hope we will in the future, Jekyll sure is hard to beat in this season of life: relatively inexpensive, a quick road trip away, and warm, beautiful, historic, and bike-able – among other pluses. Even as we returned to a familiar location, we managed to sneak in some novelty along the way. I’d love to tell you about it and share a few photos, if you’d like to see! The first big change for this visit was where we stayed. On our last two visits, we chose to stay at the Jekyll Ocean Club – and loved it both times! The suite set-up is perfect for families, and it’s a dream to be steps away from the beach and right upstairs from the in-house restaurant. This year, we opted to stay at the Jekyll Island Club, the Ocean Club’s sister property. Located about a mile away on the marsh side of the island, it’s a beautiful historic property built in 1888. The Island Club is a little more grand and formal in feel (there’s a croquet course on the front lawn!), but friendly to families, too. When we saw that staying in the turret room (!) was only about $100 more per night, our decision to switch properties was made. For us, it was more than worth it. The kids loved winding up and down the circular staircase, sketchbooks and markers and stuffies tucked under their arms, while John and I sat on the lower balcony, Spanish moss under our feet and the beautiful marsh view just beyond. The second big change

Here I am, making good on my New Year’s resolution to report more promptly on our family travels! The trip we’re chatting about today makes this easy, because it’s pretty much a carbon copy of last year’s spring break trip to Jekyll Island :) That means it’s heavy on the photos and light on words, though I sprinkled a few thoughts and memories throughout! If you’re thinking of traveling to Jekyll Island and would like the deep dive, I’ve got that for you right here. If you’re just here for the pictures, enjoy! My swim suit (love, size up!), my hat, Annie’s swim suit! I was happy and excited to return to Jekyll in back-to-back years, but easily the least thrilled of my family members, ha. My reasoning: we already have several annual or regular trips we’re committed to – Maine, Michigan, Connecticut, the NC Mountains – and I’d like to keep spring break as an opportunity to explore new places and make fresh memories. The argument for Jekyll is strong, though: southern Georgia is about as far south as we can comfortably drive in a day, avoiding a flight for our family of five, and it’s far enough south that we have a reliable chance for pool and beach weather in early April. So a return to Jekyll and the Ocean Club it was! Is that spot not dreamy!! One thing I enjoyed about returning to the same place a second year in a row: it was nice to know exactly what we were getting into! We knew our favorite chairs at the pool, how to get an umbrella set up at the beach, to request the table near the porch swing at 80 Ocean, that there’s live music at the Wharf on Wednesdays. And of course, we got

After scouring the lower half of the Eastern Seaboard, we landed on Jekyll Island, Georgia for our spring break this year. Another blogger’s post was actually what made me look at it in the first place, so I’m happy to return the favor today! Though the island was largely what we were expecting, there were some things that I didn’t fully understand until arriving, so I hope this post is helpful for anyone considering a trip to Jekyll. The short version: it was delightful! Jekyll Island is a small barrier island in very far south Georgia. It’s actually a state park, which surprised me (I guess I didn’t expect that, since there are hotels, shops, and homes on the island!). This means you have to pay a daily fee before crossing over the bridge (when we visited, it was $8/day), but it surely helps maintain its vibe, which is natural, relaxed, and un-crowded. There was abundant natural beauty and enough activities to keep our young family busy for a 5-day trip, but no traffic and very few lines. A win all around in our book! From the Triangle, Jekyll is about a six-hour drive, which we decided to break up with an overnight stop in Beaufort, SC (one of our favorite small Southern towns!). We stayed once again at City Loft Hotel, which is perfectly COVID-friendly – it’s a restored roadside motel, so every room opens to the breezeway. The affordable suite we booked allowed our kids to have a separate room with a shared queen bed, which was a little wild settling in the first night, but actually totally fine after that. Our brief Beaufort stay included a horse-drawn carriage ride, a pizza dinner at Hearth (we ate outside but the interior looks very cool!), ice cream on the