Family of 4 outing

In one of our last outings as a family of four before the baby, we took the boys out for a special lunch at the restaurant with an airport view.

Home Depot workshop

For the last couple of months, we have been taking both boys to the Home Depot workshop. They get a small pre-fab kit, instructions and tools to put it together. Oh, and perhaps the most exciting part, they get a snack after they complete it. This weekend's project was a wooden pencil box. Tai and Yuki joined us before we all spent a day at the pool.

Callaway Gardens

We took a mini-vacation this weekend to the closest location possible. At 35 weeks pregnant, I am not up for a long car ride, no thank you. We went to Callaway Gardens, about an hour away from home. We've wanted to go for a while now and after living in GA for 6 years, figured it was about time. We did the complete tour -- butterfly house, birds of prey show, walking trails, and lake swimming -- including a floating obstacle course that I attempted to climb in order to help Jason with the kids; let's just say that it didn't work out so well. We all had a blast -- it was a perfect little get-away.

Macro shots at the butterfly garden.

The boys meeting a "bird of prey" -- doesn't he look like a vicious little owl? Not sure what Evan's pose is all about.

Loving the hotel room.

 Grant has a broken wing.

Family goes camping

And survives! We tried our hand at camping this weekend with two 4 year olds and a 2 year old, and I'm happy to say that we enjoyed it enough to do it again! We drove about an hour north of us to Lake Allatoona and planned to stay Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday (though with the food we packed, we should have stayed a week)... however, the weather had other plans. After fierce storms that began around 3 am, we learned that our tent is mostly waterproof and that the boys will mostly sleep through torrential rain, wind, lightning and thunder, even in a tent. I should also mention that we went with our good friends Karin & Paul--parents to Evan's [girl]friend (and future wife, according to Evan), Tess.



The campsite was perched on a spot overlooking the lake.







 



Grant spent time exploring with his magnifying glass and "nature collection" bag.





Thanks to Karin for the goodies--mini pumpkins, glow bracelets and magnifying glasses.



Wake surfing on Lake Lanier

Evan LOVED wake sufing... and wanted to do it again and again! Thanks to our friends Brandon and Michelle for a great day. And thanks especially for Brandon, who provided the shoulder ride on the wake surf board!

Line Creek Nature Preserve

The boys and I enjoyed a morning out at a local nature area. Unfortunately, it ended abruptly after Evan pushed Grant into the water. Oh well-- we'll try again next time!

Grant's pre-birthday fun

For Grant's 2nd birthday (tomorrow), we took the boys to Thomas' Day Out in Chattanooga. The boys had no idea where we were going until 2 minutes before we arrived. A note to novice parents: Never tell your kids you're going to do something/go somewhere until you're actually, physically onsite. Trust me on this one -- I've been burned too many times. They were excited and we were thankful that the impending 70% chance of rain held off. Turns out though, threat of rain wasn't our biggest problem. Two minutes after this picture was taken:

Grant fell, face down on the asphalt, looking like this:

Once Grant stopped crying, we meandered through the festivities, including a giant tent filled with train tables as far as the eye can see.

Shortly after this photo was taken, Evan stumbled out of the tent, turned pale as a ghost and nearly collapsed into my arms. We think he got dehydrated (he has a little cold) and overheated. We quickly remedied the situation with a sugary neon blue juice drink from the concessions. Nothing that a little high fructose corn syrup and blue #6 won't cure.

Next stop: Petting zoo! Which was really fun, since the petting zoo at Thomas' Day Out features attack donkeys! Some well-meaning donkey bit the hand that fed him and unfortunately that hand (thumb) belonged to our little Grant. Grant's interpretation of the event: "Horsey eat!"

Thomas' Day Out is FUN! No really, after those few fiascos, we took a real train ride, ate lunch, stopped at the gift shop and all was right in the world. The following pictures feature the more enjoyable moments of our day trip. Fair warning: there are lots of pictures included in this post, so go ahead and take a moment to grab a cold beer, pull up a chair and enjoy.

And this is what you get after a face plant, a near fainting, a donkey bite and an otherwise fun day with Thomas. It's what I call "Success."

A visit and a trip

Last weekend, Grandma Soon & Papa visited and while here, we took a trip to the Georgia Aquarium, something we had been trying to plan for a whole year! The boys also enjoyed some early Christmas gifts involving cars, trucks and airplanes--a few of their "favorite things."