Olivia had a break from school in mid-September. We headed to Stone Mountain on the other side of Atlanta. We really love the park and it's not so busy after Labor Day. The focal point of the park is the HUGE mountain of granite in the center. You can take a cable car up to the top and walk around, seeing as far as the eye can see all around you - nothing to get in your way. Here are the girls at the tippy top.
I thought the tree was funny. How on earth a tree can grow in the tiny little soil deposits on top of a solid rock mountain is beyond me. But we were grateful for the shade. It was a hot and sunny day!
There are all kinds of things to do at the park, but the girls' favorite is The Barn. It is a barn that's 4 stories tall. They have regular stairs in the back for old timers like me, but they also have tubes and woven ramps for the kids to climb up. One area is like a trampoline. It's a little creepy at first because you can see right thru to the floors below you, but that's part of the fun. The girls love to bounce there. On all the floors you'll find soft little nerf balls. You collect them in sacks that are provided and then fire them from guns that are scattered about on all the floors. The center area of each floor/level is cut away, so you have to keep to the sides. The guns all point to the center, so you can shoot at whoever is below you or across from you. It's pretty much pandemonium from the moment you enter until the moment you leave. The energy level is off the charts.
Next to the train station is putt-putt golf. Olivia was game to try that this year, but (as usual) she is TERRIBLE at taking direction from her parents. Mark did his best, but I'm afraid she's just not going to be a golf-phenom. That's ok, as none of us play. (And no matter what I did, Blogger kept loading the picture sideways.)
The chugga-chugga of the train put both our babies to sleep.
They woke up rested and ready for more fun.
Moving along, it was daddy's 29th birthday (again) at the end of September. The girls decorated his cake with evey sprinkle they found in the cabinet. The cake crunched when we ate it.
And then we did the thing that changed my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got new carpet in the family room and the sun room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!!!! The old berber carpet had been great, but it was 15 years old. Plus, it used to be white. Daddy chose it when he built the house and was still a bachelor with no pets. Silly man!! Needless to say it wasn't white anymore and it was to the point where I was embarrassed to have anyone visit the house. It was AWFUL. A photo cannot fully capture it's ickyness.
What do we have now???? Brown berber that will never show the dirt!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!! Plus, we got it at a great deal, so what more can you ask for??? Plus, it makes the area feel more warm and friendly.
Brooke is going to be a little cook. She loves to help in the kitchen. Here she is hard at work mixing peanut butter cookies. They turned out tasty as usual. (Mom gets all the ingredients together.)
Then it was time to start decorating for Halloween. This is the cat we got on sale the year before. We love him!! Olivia is doing a good job of looking terrified, but you'll notice the orange cat next to him doesn't seem concerned in the least. More about Halloween later.
Brooke attended her pre-school's Fall Festival. Here she's showing off her popcorn hand and her mini-pumpkin. She had a ball at the festival. They had refreshments, bouncies and games for all the kids to play. And you got prizes for the games even if you didn't do good, so there were smiles all around.
She chose the traditional ladybug for her face painting, and had her hand stamped with a black cat.
Broke's little foster brother from China, Meng Meng, sent a belated birthday gift to the girls. Brooke got a beautiful ballerina shirt (she now refers to the shirt as her "Meng shirt"), and Olivia got a cool book about things that originated in China!
And now it's the dogs' turn...
Here are Jingle and Lucy taking a nap on Jingle's stuffed dog. Aunt Carol originally gave it to Olivia. It's big and flat, and kids can lay on the floor on it. But as soon as we got Jingle, she adopted it as her own. She nurses on it! When she gets up in the morning, it's the first thing she looks for. Or, if we've been gone and they've been locked in their crate, it's the first thing she goes for when she gets out. She never tears or bites it. She uses her front paws to gather it into a blob and then gets a mouthfiul and just sucks. She'll lay still for several minutes with it in her mouth. Sometimes she even falls asleep that way. She does no harm, so we let her have it. The other dogs are usually not allowed on it (they don't nurse on anything), but this day she was willing to share with Lucy.
Sometimes Smoochy will sneak in and sleep with the girls after we put them to bed. This time he chose to slip in with Brooke. When we come to get him at bedtime, he tries to lay still so we don't notice him. He hasn't figured out yet that that just doesn't work. Brooke is holding her pillow-lovey.
The dogs knew that daddy had sneaked the bag of deli-turkey out to his recliner. Did he really think they wouldn't smell it???
Well - that's all for now. I'll get some more photos posted soon. They are calling for 4" of snow (turning to ice) in a couple days, so we may be snowed in! The last time we had ice was right before Christmas. It came right at rushhour. I woke Mark and told him to call the brewery and tell them he was staying home from work (he was working midnight shift). But what did Mark say?? He said he could make it in anyway! He grew up in Indiana and has lived in Michigan and Colorado, so he could handle the ice! And he hopped out of bed, slid down the driveway sideways (litrerally!), and was off! The only problem was that when he got to the interstate, there had just been a wreck further north, but one knew about it yet. He got stuck in traffic, like a parking lot, and sat on the interstate for EIGHT hours, from 8pm until 4am. (Two full tankers had collided on the ice and the big tow rigs couldn't tow them out because they were slipping on the ice, too.)Next time? I won't wake him up until we're completely covered with ice and he has no choice but to stay home!
Sometimes Smoochy will sneak in and sleep with the girls after we put them to bed. This time he chose to slip in with Brooke. When we come to get him at bedtime, he tries to lay still so we don't notice him. He hasn't figured out yet that that just doesn't work. Brooke is holding her pillow-lovey.
The dogs knew that daddy had sneaked the bag of deli-turkey out to his recliner. Did he really think they wouldn't smell it???
Well - that's all for now. I'll get some more photos posted soon. They are calling for 4" of snow (turning to ice) in a couple days, so we may be snowed in! The last time we had ice was right before Christmas. It came right at rushhour. I woke Mark and told him to call the brewery and tell them he was staying home from work (he was working midnight shift). But what did Mark say?? He said he could make it in anyway! He grew up in Indiana and has lived in Michigan and Colorado, so he could handle the ice! And he hopped out of bed, slid down the driveway sideways (litrerally!), and was off! The only problem was that when he got to the interstate, there had just been a wreck further north, but one knew about it yet. He got stuck in traffic, like a parking lot, and sat on the interstate for EIGHT hours, from 8pm until 4am. (Two full tankers had collided on the ice and the big tow rigs couldn't tow them out because they were slipping on the ice, too.)Next time? I won't wake him up until we're completely covered with ice and he has no choice but to stay home!
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