mlk day

Spending MLK day in the outdoors with my little family was the perfect.  Chatting about the life of a great man in the car and then expending our energy through hiking up Stone Mountain (first time for the boys) and playing was good for the body and soul.  

Martin Luther King Jr. understood what it meant to love thy neighbor and though in his own life he did not always live it out perfectly, because none of us can, he dedicated himself to teaching other and showing others.  His words fueled actions and both of those were fueled in him by Grace from above.  

May we never turn back, but always move forward, fueled by that same Grace. 

memorial day

About a month ago I made some fun plans with my family for Memorial Day.  They were all going to Montgomery for a Biscuits game Sunday night and we were going to meet them down there Monday to go to the zoo and then head to spend the week in Enterprise because school is out and we were finally free to go down there and see everyone.

Then this happened and instead I am spending the week packing and cleaning, not visiting.  However I am not complaining because #1 after a 4 year process we are moving #2 our plan B was pretty darn great.

Zach, the boys and I went on a quick shopping trip Monday morning to the outlets to get Micah some non school clothes and picked up a couple goodies for ourselves i.e. some nike running shorts for me so I can be like all the cool kids at school ;)

After rest time we went to Arabia Mountain with the Cardozas and Donovan and Grace to run out some energies, get some exercise and enjoy the gorgeous albeit hot weather :-)  The kids had a great time and Logan actually stayed in the hiking carrier the whole time which made the trip way easier.  Maybe he can actually make it through Stone Mountain this summer!?

We decided to celebrate our journey by going to the Cardozas grilling out and playing cornhole :)  

Fun impromptu day!

first campout

Zach along with his parents (nana and poppy) took Micah and Connor on their first camping trip.  Part of me was sad to miss it but another part was super excited about having one kid and a quieter day and evening ;)  Zach and I were not sure how the evening would go for them.  We do not have the bravest bananas in the bunch when it comes to darkness so the whole sleeping outside without the nightlight and comforts of home made us both a little nervous but he went into it knowing there was a chance he'd be packing it all in at midnight and driving back to his parents house.  However they LOVED it!

First they drove to the campsite and put up the tent or made camp or whatever you call that process.  There was a walnut tree next to them.  The walnuts are apparently inside these apple like things which was kind of crazy.  I wish they would have brought one home for me to see.  Anyway the little campers had fun throwing them in the river for a while.

Next they headed to Amicalola State Park to hike and see the falls.  Zach got some awesome video of Connor talking about hitting any sharks they saw with his walking stick.  I swear that boy is a N.U.T!

Back at camp they "fished" for a little bit which I heard was maybe 10 minutes.  Of course there was only about 6 inches of water in the river and no fish so it wouldn't have been fun for me either :)

According to Micah since they didn't catch any fish they just ate hotdogs.  These two love building fires which they get honestly from their daddy and my daddy.  The next hours were spent building the fire, poking the fire, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows on the fire and staring at the fire while Nana and Poppy told them two stories, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rumpelstiltskin.

Bedtime went great since they were both so exhausted and when I asked them the next morning if they liked sleeping in the tent I got an OH yeeeeaaaaahhhh from Micah.  The adults didn't fare so well at night though.  It started raining at some point and the ground was really hard and apparently the walnuts would fall out of the trees randomly and two of them hit right on Zach's part of the tent and subsequently hit him in the head.  Good times ;)

I am thrilled that they loved it.  While camping is not my favorite thing I will be making an exception quite regularly in our future to hang out with my little campers.  Can't wait for Logi Bear to join the trip!

Tallulah Gorge

Zach is starting a new job at WAG or Wendys Arbys Group next week. He finished his position at Purchasing Power last week and this week has been vacation time :) He took a week long break to spend some time with us and extended family. Sunday afternoon we drove to Gainesville, GA to visit his side for a few days.

Zach's mom and younger brother were out of school there for Monday-Wednesday. Monday morning the 7 of us drove an hour from Gainesville to Tallulah Gorge State Park. I'm not sure what I thought a gorge was going to be, or maybe I was just thinking about the logistics of time, food, and hiking with kids that I didn't concentrate on the fact that we were visiting a 400 foot drop surrounded by rocks and water. I am not a heights person at all and when you add mama brain to that it makes for a somewhat frightful thought process. Despite Connor's displeasure with the backpack carrier, me hiding

from his sight so he'd stay in the thing and a somewhat treacherous walk across a swinging bridge up super steep stairs and next to a busy highway, we had a great time. The weather was gorgeous and Micah loved walking through the woods collecting treasures of pinecones, red leaves (he could have cared less about the other colors) and long skinny acorns.

Zach and Connor

Nana and Micah

The 400ft terrifying drop

The swinging bridge

Micah and Poppy

Getting across the bridge alive

The only way up

Micah made it to the top a whole lot better than everyone else

Looking for acorns

We had a leisurely picnic lunch and then made a quick stop at a farmers market/pumpkin patch for some homemade ice cream. Needless to say some good naps were taken that afternoon when we got back :)