Flood 2009

Well, it has been quite an unusual (putting it lightly) week for us here in Georgia! It has been raining and raining, and flooding and receding, and now more rain! We are very thankful that everyone is safe; however, please keep Dave's parents in your prayers, as their home was flooded...almost up to the second floor...they lost everything on the lower floor of their home to the flood waters. Thanks to everyone in our family who jumped right in and showered them with support, they are now settling into a rental home. A special thank-you to Carolyn's dad, who found a rental home and worked his magic for a move-in, in less than a week! Thanks, also to my home-away-from-home family at school...they have been so gracious and have kept a non-stop supply of the most AMAZING meals in the Griffin home! Another thank you to our many incredible friends who have kept us in their thoughts and prayers, sent gift cards and clothing for Dave's parents and provided so much moral support. This has allowed us to focus our attention on Dave's parents and their immediate needs. Here are some pictures of what a bunch of rain does to our drought-stricken land here in Georgia! The picture above is of the front of Dave's folks home early Tuesday morning...the water level was starting to go down...you can see the line above the front door where it reached its height.




Here is an aerial view of the neighborhood, courtsey of the AJC, it shows Dave's parents' home (the ninth home from the bottom of the picture, on the right...bluish colored siding). You can also see Dave in his canoe on the top, left, as he was going out to the house on Tuesday morning.



Here is their car...it had been totally submerged in the water.



This is a picture taken from Dave's canoe, early on Tuesday morning, as he was going to the house to try to salvage some things from the second floor.

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!