Valentine's Day

I can't believe its been almost 2+ years since I have written here. Its Valentine's Day and amid all the chocolate, paper hearts and sappy jewelry commercials, I am feeling so very grateful for those I love. I can't elaborate right now. We need to finish school, its a balmy 70 degrees today and the park is calling our names. Hopefully I'll be back ( but no promises) soon!

Hannah and Ethan in HSM 3

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

First Baseball Game

Amicalola Falls

Oh my goodness , I've been gone quite awhile, so I will just try to catch up with our latest family outing!
We have decided to try and camp at least once a month, so for our June trip we headed up to Amicalola Falls in the North Georgia mountains. I was a little apprehensive because of it being summer in GA and all...but the weather was just fine and we ended up having a grand time!

On Friday we set up our tent and took a hike to check out the area. We've been to the Falls many a time but this was our first time camping there. Friday night the park offered a "furry friends" program where the kids were able to touch "skins" of many of the animals in GA. It was great fun for them and the best part was meeting a real live opossum named Posey!

Saturday morning we had a great pancake breakfast and then took off to Dahlonega for ice and a little window shopping.

The next program for kids was called "snakes alive" where we learned about the 44 snakes which live in GA. It was very interesting and at the end we were able to touch 4 of the non-venomous variety! We found out that Jonah is a true snake lover and every picture I took at that event shows him touching at least one snake.

Since we were visiting one of the prettiest falls in GA we decided it was time to take the hike to see them. I can tell we've been hiking a lot as the kids seemed to run most of the way up! On the way back down those dark clouds that we had been watching suspiciously all day opened up and it poured! Lucky for us David was totally prepared and we grabbed our ponchos and rain jackets from the backpack and hiked in relative dryness all the way down.

In the afternoon, the park offered a scavenger hunt for the kids in their visitor center/museum. I have to say, I really am impressed with our state parks and the programs they have to offer the kids. I was a little worried that we would be unable to find many things to do, but our weekend was packed!
The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing at the campsite, reading, napping ( Ethan) and the kids playing their own version of "Meerkat Manor" ( let's hear it for Animal Planet!) After dinner we met the rangers and other campers for a campfire. We roasted marshmallows, sang songs, acted out a story and even got to pet Posey again!

The Astronomy Club from North GA college arrived with all of their expensive equipment and we spent the rest of the evening making our own solar systems, watching a slide show and seeing the moon, Arcturus and Saturn through a real fancy, shmancy telescope!

The weekend ended with a great Father's Day brunch at the Lodge and three happy,sleepy kiddos ( and parents!)

Aquariums, Birthdays and Easter

As I had stated in an earlier post, we decided to take the kids to the GA Aquarium for their bdays this year. We had a great time and it was a memorable bday for all!

One of our favorite parts

Crashing at a coffee shop outside of the Aquarium

Easter was also this weekend and we had a great service followed by an Easter egg hunt at Uncle Alan's house.

Crazy Weather

This past Saturday we had numerous tornadoes sweeping through the area. It was a little surreal to watch them approach and know that they were heading very close to us and in one case a mile or two away! Our house became alive with activity:
David-"Sam, get the stuff out of the closet"
Sam-"It's ok, Hannah, we're going to be fine!"
Hannah-(with much wailing) "I don't want a tornado to hit us, who are we going to live with?!!"
Ethan and Jonah- "cool!!!"

Right before the hail arrived
the hail
3 hours later

Birthday conundrum

My little sweeties will be turning 4, 6, and 9 soon. (I can't believe that I have a nine year old! I'm far too young for that!) I've been trying to decide what to do about their Birthday parties...Ethan and Jonah are two days apart and Hannah's day is two weeks later. I usually combine the boys and have Hannah's separately but this year I thought I would try a little combo deal. I decided this for a couple of reasons. First of all, it would help save some $ to have the parties all on the same day and secondly it would help all of our friends and family members who would otherwise have to spend three Saturday's in a row at our kid's parties. So....I started planning this grand event and was struck with an even better idea. The aquarium! That's right, the new GA Aquarium! I was very happy with my idea but I still had to present it to the kids and David. Instead of a combined party we would take the kids to the aquarium for the day. I calculated that it would actually be less expensive than a party and we have all been dying to visit since it opened last year. Everyone agreed with much excitement and I ordered our tickets this morning. For those of you who are nervous of my departure from the stereotypical party with ice cream, cake and so forth, don't worry we'll still celebrate each little chickadee's special day and I'm sure we'll return to the "norm" next year! Whale sharks, here we come!