LDW 2025 – Epworth & A Deli

{Over Labor Day Weekend, we took a mini family vacay to St. Simon’s Island. This is the post for Day 3, Monday, 9/1/25.}

We were up and moving slightly earlier today than yesterday, and we headed out to Sandy Bottom Bagels for some breakfast. I ordered a bacon, egg & cheese on a garlic bagel, and even though the fillings were a little thin, the bagel was still delicious.

And you guys, between the used book store, a thrift store, the Little Free Library’s, and the bookstore, we really racked up the books this weekend! You’d think we were on some sort of specific book-buying trip, since we ended up filling this box from the trunk (that was empty now, since it previously had can tabs in it). We just happened to really luck out! OH yeah, and Jeff got some blu-rays & audio books for $1 each, to add to our digital media library too, since he knows how to do that and put them on our server.

And then it was time to pack up the car again, and clean up the room, and get checkout of the hotel. It was a beautiful day though, so we finally spent some time exploring the grounds of Epworth, seeing all of their beautiful buildings and grounds, and enjoying the perfect morning weather.

This mic was actually on, so I led my tiny congregation in a verse and chorus of “Goodness of God,” and then Jeff got a screwdriver from the car to tighten up the screws on the swinging door to the little choir area.

This tiny house used to be slave quarters when this was a plantation back in the day.

But this beautiful building is the prayer tower, that rings the bells and plays music every hour. We were able to go inside here as well, and it was a very cozy little prayer space, with beautiful stained glass windows.

We also decided to say our “safety prayer” here, instead of in the car like we always do, and that was a sweet little memory. Addie actually knelt down like this all on her own while I was praying, and that was precious.

After we were sure we had seen all the things we wanted to see, we headed off the island and across a few rivers, over to Brunswick, GA, for just a little bit more exploring.

I always have a book on me, so while Jeff and the girls walked another block or two over, I sat here on these cute benches, in their cute downtown main strip, under the canopy trees, and started a new book. This is the first book from local Annie Jones, who went to NFC, and now owns a cute bookstore (The Bookshelf) in Thomsville, GA. And I just know I’m gonna love this one, because I know I’m going to resonate with it in a lot of ways!

We found the cutest little place for lunch, with an amazing patio to enjoy more of the perfect weather. This was called The Yellow Deli, and it was so beautiful outside, but also very unique inside. They played music that made me feel like we were inside a magical fantasy story, and the staff were all so nice and friendly, and it was really just perfect. Plus, this turkey sandwich loaded with all the veggies, garlic mayo, on their homemade bread, was SO good.

We found a little playground after lunch for the girls to run off some more energy before time to get back in the car, and I snuck in just a few more minutes of reading.

The girls and I all fell asleep just a few minutes after getting in the car, and slept for about an hour, until we got down around to the west side of Jacksonville, and needed to make a potty stop. I edited this TikTok for a while, until Jeff and I switched drivers, and I drove the last hour or so home from the Busy Bee.

 

 

We made it back to Tally around 5:30, and then we were busy busy bees… We did laundry, dishes, unloaded, unpacked, picked up Pennie, washed & vacuumed the car (at a car wash spot), ate dinner, and then finally got the girls into bed a little after 8:30pm. I actually need to go switch over the laundry now, cuz Jeff is already in bed asleep, and then I’m gonna settle down myself, after writing three different blog posts in one night!

Normally, I write one huge post for the whole weekend, but it would have been way too huge this time, with so many photos and things to write about, so I decided to just spend the extra time writing three different ones. But I’m certainly ready to go lay down in my own bed now, and get a good nights’ sleep!