Vacation Day 4: Bogg's Creek

Day four of our vacation and we decided to take it pretty easy. We slept in, grabbed some Subway and headed to Bogg's Creek for a picnic. This is a small river if you're from my part of the world, but in the mountains of Georgia, it is just a creek.

Gary, Grant and I had a great time walking through the creek. Grandpa even did some fishing. It was the most peaceful and relaxing lunch I've had in a while. I never knew there were so many shades of green. I think I could spend every lunch here. My camera was dying at this point, but somehow I had just enough power left in that battery to get this picture. Priceless. He's going to love this one at the slide show before his wedding.

Vacation Day 3: Helen, Nora Mill Granary and Unicoi State Park

Our third day in Georgia we headed a few miles north to the alpine town of Helen. Apparently Helenites aren't awake as early as we are, so we missed most of the shopping, but it was still worth the trip.

Helen, GA Grayson checking out the Chattahoochee River. One of my favorite things to do in Helen is to go tubing down the river. We debated about whether we could do it with the kids, but ended up deciding that a walk next to the river might be easier this time.

Daddy and Grant wading into the river. We went to an old fashioned photo studio after our walk in the river and got some pictures of the boys. They are super cute, but I have no digital copies. You'll have to use your imagination.

Lunch at The Troll Tavern. It was so much fun sitting next to the river and watching the tubers. I was only a little jealous!

After lunch, we headed to Unicoi State Park to swim in the lake. It was beautiful and we had such a great time.

Swimming with my boys!

Grayson fell asleep, of course.

This area had a beach entry, so it was super easy for Grant to just run into the water!

After we left Unicoi, we headed to our favorite grist mill, Nora Mill Granary. Every time we are in the area, I stock up on biscuit and bread mixes. Yumm-o!

Grant enjoying the water.

Vacation Day 2: Aquarium and Johnny Rockets

Following our hike at Amicalola, we thought we might want an 'easy' day. So we drove down to Atlanta to see the Georgia Aquarium. It brags of being the largest in the world, so we couldn't pass it up.

Grant and Grandpa getting ready to leave. My favorite quote from the trip...

Grandpa: "Where do you live?"

Grant: "I live where mama goes."

"Are we there yet, mama?" We touched stingrays, held shrimp and slid down a whale's mouth!

Our favorite part was the tunnel o' fish. Imagine that... Grant enjoying a tunnel! We saw fish, shark, stingrays and all sorts of marine life.

This is what Grant looked like the entire way through. He was mesmerized, but a little scared. I had to hold his hand the whole time. Once, a shark swam right toward us. He jumped into my arms.

Of course, Grayson took a nap.

But he was all smiles after that. Grandpa treated each of the boys to a book on penguins and Grant picked out a fun sippy cup. Afterwards, we decided to head across the street to Johnny Rockets.

I'm in love with kid-friendly restaurants. We walked in and each boy got a hat and a balloon. When they brought out our food, they gave each of us our own 'dip-it' bowl with funny faces made in ketchup. It's the little things that make eating out with a two year old enjoyable!

Vacation Day 1: Amicalola Falls

This year we took the 1,000 mile drive to Northern Georgia to see my grandfather and the beautiful part of the country that he lives in. It was great to spend time with him and to get to do all the things I grew up doing with my boys. Gary is a hiking fanatic, so we scheduled in some hikes. Since Grandpa is 82, he sat out the hiking portion of our trip. But he was a great tour guide and we couldn't have seen all these places without him! Our first stop was Amicalola Falls State Park.

Me, Grandpa, Grayson and Grant before we set out for a hike to the top of the falls. Grant was a trooper. He was leading us the whole way and this was no easy hike. After climbing over a mile and 608 steps up, he turns around and says, "More stairs!" I was about to fall over!

Stopping for a nice family picture at the lower observation deck. I mistakingly thought we might stop here...

... no! Gary wanted to go to the top! So to the top we went!

Grayson fell asleep for everything. He did such a great job the whole trip even though he got a bit sick. Actually, both boys did a great job the entire time! We usually started our days fairly early, but were home by 3:00ish. That made it easy for the boys to relax before our next adventure began!

Picture Perfect - Grant

It's that time of year again where I needed to take the boys to have their pictures taken. However, I was a little tired of studio pictures. I wanted some outdoor shots, so I started researching photographers that would do that. One word: expensive. My next option was to take some pictures myself. I am by no means an accomplished photographer and I don't even own a nice camera, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to try. If they didn't turn out, I could always take the boys to our favorite studio. A friend (thanks, Kami) let me borrow her dslr camera and I took over 400 pictures in about 24 hours. Here are a few of my favorites...

I haven't had a chance to go through all the ones of Grayson yet. But I'll post those as soon as I do!

Tunnels

The first hurricane of the season has made things a mess around here. I am not a fan of rainy days in general, but I have to say that rainy days with Grant aren't all bad! We decided that we needed to make a giant fort to play in, however, Grant decided that our fort needed to be renamed..."Tunnels." His trains go through tunnels so why shouldn't he? I managed to capture a few (very bad) pictures while we were playing, but I can't resist posting them because he had SOOOO much fun!

He giggled the whole way through the tunnel!

"I'm coming for you..." "...I got you, mom!"

Me and my boy. This kid is so much fun. Love. it.

Snow Cones

I love summertime. Mostly because we do so many fun things as a family. I love MOMS Club and all the things the boys and I do throughout the year, but it is so nice to have Gary home. The other day we decided to go to this GREAT little snow cone place.

Grant loved his cherry snow cone! "Cheese!" For some reason, straws still perplex him. He thinks he has to tip the cup to drink from the straw.

This snow cone joint is right next to Stevenson Park. So we followed our snow cone tasting with a walking adventure and a playdate at the play ground!