Cookout at Aunt and Uncle B's

Rebecca's Aunt Bethany invited us down to spend some time and cookout with her and her fiance, Bob.

Grandpa, Aunt Kelly, and Cousin Patrick, along with Emily and Callahan came over as well.

Bob's 8-year-old daughter Parker was super excited that the kids were coming over and made a sign to welcome them.

The kids were all really excited about going because Bob's got a great pool with lots of floats.

He also has these fun little things they called "dolphins" that propelled them across the pool. They were easy enough to use that even Irene had no trouble with it.

We had a great time meeting Bob. The kids, in that way kids have, quickly labelled him "Uncle B" since he and Aunt B are together. :) 

Solar Eclipse 2017

The "American Solar Eclipse" passed through on August 21st and, while we couldn't make it to an area of complete totality, we were in an area that got 94%, so it was still very significant. 

 On NASA's website, I found plans for making Cereal Box Viewers, so I made 3 for this kids to use. 

 Testing them out worked well, so we were ready.

 Unfortunately, Just as it got close to time, the clouds rolled in.

 We hustled south to an area where it was clear and we were able to see it right at peak and then the light clouds made it so we could see the eclipse without the boxes. it was a very cool sight. WE were so blessed to be able to witness such a rare event.

  

 After we got back home, we had a treat: Krispy Kreme made "Eclipse Donuts" with chocolate icing instead of their traditional white.

Spring Garden Bakery Class

Rebecca went to pick up coffee one friday afternoon and saw a sign offering a kids' class in decorating. Now, this wasn't like a Wilton's cake decorating class, but juts a themed, have-fun kind of thing, so we signed them up.

 They were given graham crackers, cupcakes and all the stuff needed to make their creations. 

 The theme for the class was the Beach and so they made cupcakes with Teddy Grahams floating with gummy tubes on the "water" icing on the cupcakes, complete with beach umbrellas.

 Then they made a trifle with pudding, graham cracker crumbs and more teddys playing on the "beach" with gumballs.

 Lastly, they used the graham crackers to create a sort of side view of the ocean with blue icing for water, goldfish, and graham cracker crumbs for the sandy bottom.

They had a really fun time, not only making them, but eating them, too!

Stone Mountain, Part 2

We drove halfway around the park to another set of waterfalls that really were waterslides.

 Even though the day was cool, the kids were all about getting in the water.

 Turns out the water was even colder! 

 The main waterfall was neat and had a spot you could climb up into right in the middle of it.

All-in-all, despite the clouds, rain and cold water, it was really fun day and a great time spent together as a family.

Stone Mountain, Part 1

After our long Lake Higgins Hike, we figured the kids could handle a mountain, so the next day, we drove up to Stone Mountain State Park and climbed to the summit. 

The hike wasn't nearly as long as the Lake Higgins one, so they managed to make it with very little complaining. If fact, they were all in pretty good spirits for the whole hike. 

The hardest part for me was keeping the littles focused on something that would get them moving forward. :) I decided to ask them to point out as many trail markers as they could. It got to the point that they had a "James Woods from Family Guy" moment:

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here it is:

 Along the way, we spotted wildlife

and flora.

 But it wasn't long before we reached the top.

It's quite a view from up there. It turned into a very gray day, so we couldn't see as far as on a clear day, but it made for a cooler, more pleasant hike.  

The kids took some time to play on the rocks. 

It's always fascinated me how a tree can find the smallest crack in a sheet of solid rock and grow, grow, grow...

After the summit, we went the other direction on the trail and went down to the waterfall at the bottom. 

 It's a 200-foot slab of rock that looks like it'd be a great waterslide...except for that sudden stop at the bottom.

 The kids looked at the mud on the bottom of the shallow pool and noticed something:

If you look past the glare on the water, there's a lot of shiny, silvery flecks in the dirt at the bottom; tiny bits of the rock worn down by the waterfall and deposited here. They found that to be very cool.

They all wanted to wade in the water, even though it wasn't the warmest of days, but this wasn't the best place to do it, so we climbed back up to the van and headed around to part 2 of our visit to Stone Mountain.