Allatoona!

The boys and I went to Lake Allatoona for the first time last week, with my friend Adri & her five kiddos. It is a really cool spot, and I can't believe we didn't know about it sooner (we've been here for over a year)! It's only a 30 minute drive to this spot, which is beautiful. It's in Georgia's rolling little mountains, and so densely wooded it reminds me of being in Northern Wisconsin. The water here is incredibly warm, and surprisingly clear compared to other lakes I'm used to (seaweed & whatnot).

Sawyer did not come out of the water for a drink or snack or lunch. We were there for nearly five hours. He just wanted to keep diving in his goggles, trying to catch the little fish with his bucket, find rocks, or play other games with his buddy Jordan.

We can't wait to go back & take Joe or some other friends along! :)

Our Fourth!

I'm usually not so late in posting! We had a great Fourth, but I didn't take many pictures. Saturday the third we went to Marietta Square to see the parade. We arrived early enough to get seats right up front, so the boys loved it. Sawyer got to high-five a firefighter which made his day, and we went home with about a dozen flags! :) It was a gorgeous day, not too hot to sit outside for hours (which is rare for GA this time of year), so it was a wonderful day!

On Sunday the Fourth we had church of course, but later went to a friend's house for a big group BBQ, which also included all 6-8 (?) of the missionaries that were serving in our ward. After that we jumped on the MARTA (the train) to Centennial Park downtown for the "Best Fireworks East of the Mississippi!" We showed up a little after 8pm, and didn't even get into the park; it was FULL & the fire marshall closed the gates! SO, the streets were crowded shoulder to shoulder for BLOCKS, and that's how we stood to watch the fireworks from the sidewalk outside the park gates. It was a crazy night! I didn't even attempt to get my backpack off to pull out the camera within all that craziness (but I should've)! If we live here again, I think we learned our lesson not to try & go there again for fireworks! :)

Local Harvest!

Last night I finally caught up with everyone else (it seems), and watched Food Inc. I am completely freaked out! I mean, I knew a little about that stuff, but it's so interesting and unreal to see more in depth. If you haven't seen it, PLEASE do. I love documentaries, and this one is a very important topic: how our food is made in this country.

I feel like I've done a decent job as a mom gradually switching old bad eating habits into better ones. For example:

• We don't buy junk food (chips, candy, ice cream, cookies- we bake cookies, though...)


• We eat whole wheat bread, tortillas, & crackers


• We only buy "No sugar added" juice, applesauce, canned fruit


• We use unbleached flour for baking


• We use real butter products & not margarines


• We've increased our fresh produce a LOT
• We eat more nuts and dried fruits for snacks

What are some things you do in your family to get back to more natural food? I'd love to hear!

SO, I figure I'm in a good position to make the next step: switch to local and organic as much as I can; especially MEAT (after watching that film)! :)

If you're with me on this & want to get started yourself, use this website to find all the local farmers and farmer's markets near you! http://www.localharvest.org/

CONAN!

We Love Conan O'brien! He's soooo funny and we just both crack up so much whenever we watch him. I've never liked any other late night talk show host before, so it was always a goal to see his show live. I was so excited when he became the Tonight Show host, since it'd be more likely we'd get to LA to see a taping than NYC. Then all the drama happened with Leno & his show was OVER! NOOO!!! But then he decided to do this live comedy tour, and was coming directly to ATLANTA- YAY! Joe was the best husband ever & got us great seats to the sold out show, and my goal was met of seeing Conan LIVE!

We'd been watching the headlines of his other shows, hearing about special guest appearances; so we were trying to guess if (and who) he might have show up in Atlanta. He actually had two guest appearances: Evander Holyfield & Jack McBrayer (Kevin from 30 Rock)!

It was soooo much fun, and we just love him even more now! I wish we had cable so we could watch his new talk show that starts this fall on TBS! :(

Botanical Garden

On Saturday we went to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, which was SPECTACULAR! I really wasn't expecting it to be so amazing, let alone good for two toddlers. We had a great (yet very hot) day there. I didn't take pics of flowers, because although they are very pretty/cool, looking at pictures of flowers I've seen doesn't do much for me (or seem like something other people would want to see).

SO I just took some pics of the musical performance, the boys playing in the water sprayers, and the cool glass fountain sculpture that Sawyer took a pic of. :) This is the only botanical garden I've ever been to, but Joe's been to more and says this one is the best he's seen; I highly recommend it!

Nature!

I really feel like our time living here in Atlanta has been the best of both worlds: we are surrounded by city, and 15 minutes north of downtown for all the amazingly cool stuff; yet we're also surrounded by so much natural beauty, like the Chattahoochee River & forests and all the nature it brings with it. Last week we spent a day at the Chattahoochee Nature Center, and the boys LOVED it.

Bald eagles, hawks, beavers, turtles...

Opossums, snakes, and beautiful views:

The Bike

I thought we could get away with not getting him a two-wheeler until next summer, when all our moving around is done; but it was just too pitiful watching him bike on his tricycle with his knees up so high in the air! We found this sweet ride on Craigslist for $25. 14" wheels, heavy duty steel frame, and a hand brake. He couldn't be happier (or feel cooler)!

Mom's Vacation!

I went to San Diego for five days to have my very first girls trip since being married! My girl friends from college years all moved so far apart (and didn't have much money), that we didn't really have the opportunity to get together... until now! We flocked to Cynthia in San Diego from Atlanta, Boston, & Spokane (almost literally the four corners of the country!). Cynthia let us stay at her home, and was a very generous & wonderful hostess! We went to Magic Mountain, did a harbor cruise, went dancing down town, spent time on the beach, had our nails and facial treatments done, and had lots of fun eating out (a LOT)!

San Diego sure is beautiful, but I was shocked to realize that it's no longer my favorite city. Maybe because this trip I saw it through 'mom eyes': everything was way too expensive ($11.50 for a matinee movie, 8.5% sales tax on retail, etc.!), and it's more brown than I remember (I'm spoiled now from the lush deep green and infinite flowering trees/bushes that fill every space of Georgia). It turns out I don't love the beach as much as I thought; it's not worth that much to me. Atlanta is my new top city, where I want to stay and raise kids! I was happy to fly home! :)

Disney World!

We just had a GREAT weekend in Orlando with our (way cooler than us) friends, the Smiths! They were kind enough to invite us down with them, which worked out great because then Sawyer had a buddy to keep him going all day. We only planned on spending one day at the Magic Kingdom, so we went from open to close (and we can't believe the kids made it, with no naps)!

Dumbo, Tea Cups, Carousel, and Hunter screaming (in excitement- even though he looks angry)...

Mickey and Minnie! Sawyer has already asked to have this framed and put in his bedroom!

Sword in the Stone attempt (not successful; sorry, buddy), It's a Small World ride, and climbing the beanstalk:

Boating through the jungle (a favorite; especially the elephants):

Cooling off at the splash pad, hanging out with his buddy Sierra (in many ways):

The castle, day into night:

We stayed for about 10 minutes of the 9:00 show/fireworks, and then took off to make sure we'd catch our shuttle back to the resort (so we could get those kiddos to bed)! It was such a wonderful day, and I can't believe how smoothly it went with three toddlers! We have a ton of fantastic memories now, and loved hanging out with the Smiths! Thanks, guys!

Swim Day

Saturday we spent the day back at the Hyatt resort enjoying their pools & recouperating from the long exhausting day at Disney. The 1/2 acre of pools, hot tubs, waterfalls & slides were really spectacular; particularly the amazing cavern formations to swim through (Sawyer loved paddling through these)!

Sawyer even did a canonball contest! He was so proud (and so were we).