Road Trip...Destination ~ Chattanooga

Now that the little ones are getting a touch older, we thought it would be a good time to test the "Road Trip" waters and boy, do we have the travel bug now! We had such a fantastic time in Chattanooga, Tennessee! We started out at the Craigshead Caverns (a.k.a. "The Lost Sea") with a mighty dim, 58 degrees cool (nice amidst the summer heat!), bumpy, rocky and sometimes rather steep hike down into these incredible caverns...ending up at a natural underground lake, where we took a boat ride and tried to spot the ~rather large~ rainbow trout...had to hold Dave back from breaking out his fishing pole! Of course, Clay didn't much care about the $500-$1,000 fine for touching anything in the caverns...need to keep this picture under wraps!









We then headed to the Incline Railway...there were a few sweaty palms in the group towards the top of the mountain...and on up to Point Park, on the top of Lookout Mountain...what a beautiful place!

















We finished off the weekend with a visit to the Children's Discovery Museum...two thumbs up from Margo Anne and Clay! We WILL visit again, or we'll never hear the end of it! A very cool place, indeed!

Swimming With Our Coolest Neighbor

We have the best neighbors...Mr. Tex and Mrs. Holly...and Margo Anne and Clay just can't see them enough this summer! We finally were able to get together with Mrs. Holly for TWO (hooray!) pool dates...last week and this week. As always, we had a blast!

Fire Museum and Fun at the Square

PaPa found the coolest Fire Truck Museum! We made a day of it...met Daddy, Grammy and PaPa for lunch, watched all the big trucks work on a huge construction site, visited the Marietta Fire Museum and played at the Square. We have been enjoying the most fabulous weather in July and it was perfect for a day at the Square in Marietta!

Cabin Fever...Of the Good Sort

Jess was kind enough to invite us up to her folks' beautiful cabin in the North Georgia Mountains recently. We had a blast hiking, having a picnic, and wading in their creek. Thanks, guys...what a fun time and a nice break from the big city!

Margo Anne's Dance Recital 2009

Margo Anne has been taking ballet classes throughout this past school year and had her recital in May. She did a splendid job! (If you remember her recital in 2007...she forgot to DANCE!) BUT she was definitely the star of the show, in our eyes of course, this year. Our little sunshine has grown up so much during this past year...we are so proud of her! I took lots of pictures during the recital (couldn't take both video and pictures, so I opted for pictures). Here are some of our favorite pictures below...Enjoy!

Fun 4th Activities

What a great time we had this past weekend celebrating Independance Day! Mike, Jess and Carolyn survived the 40th annual Peachtree Road Race and earned the cool t-shirts displayed here. We missed Peff, who was lucky enough to get into the 3rd time group, but unlucky enough to have set his his alarm for 5:30 PM instead of AM!



We started out our weekend watching fireworks with Brian, Vicki, Grace and Caroline...thanks, guys! Margo Anne and Clay had a blast hanging out with their friends, throwing snap-n-pops and playing with sparklers. Not to mention the DELICIOUS, homemade peanut butter, chocolate covered pretzel ice cream that Brian created and red-velvet cupcakes by Vicki...YUM!!!




Grace, Caroline and Margo Anne waiting for the fireworks to begin.





We had a great time visiting with Mom, Dad, Mike and Jess (Uncle Mike and Auntie Jess - who were here for the holiday weekend)...we enjoyed a great cookout and a long nap after the road race and much relaxing and visiting on Sunday!

One Tooth, Two Tooth, Old Tooth, New Tooth

Margo Anne lost her first tooth this past Friday, March 13! We have been expecting this for awhile, as it has been loose since the Christmas holidays, and she has been wiggling it incessantly and showing us all the neat tricks and formations of which it was surprisingly capable. It was still quite a surprise to find her less one tooth on Friday afternoon! She convinced the Tooth Fairy to let her hang on to her prized possesion long enough to show all of her friends at school on Monday.

Low and behold, she lost ANOTHER tooth on Sunday night! So, her friends were treated to the viewing of two said teeth, by the proud and now previous owner. I have to admit that on that quiet, carefree, Christmas break day when she first realized (a bit horrified, I recall) that her tooth was loose, some tears came to my eyes...it all happens so quickly...our little girl, whose first teeth JUST came in for the first time, I could swear...is growing up so quickly.