15 Year Anniversary

This photo was taken at Sea World over 15 years ago.

Today, on our 15-year wedding anniversary, I thought it was appropriate to share.

Over 15 years later...I still think Jeff is a nerd....but, I still dig him too. :-)

I'm looking forward to the next 15 years!

Rachel's Summer Camp and Girls Day Out

Rachel was selected through the gifted program that she participates in at school for a summer college program at Mercer University. She is attending a math class in the mornings and a writing class in the afternoons. It is only for 1 week but she is truly enjoying it. We are so proud of her and her accomplishments at school.

I took the day off on Rachel's first day. It was supposed to be a day to get caught up at home since we've been traveling so much. Instead, I chose to spend the day with Anna. We ate lunch at the original Nu-Way hot dog restaurant in downtown Macon. I ate way too much there.

We tried to visit a couple of museums but we learned that they were closed on Mondays. I won't take another day off on a Monday again. I was so bummed about that. But, we salvaged the day by shopping at the mall. I had my camera with me since I had taken a picture of Rachel at her first day of class yesterday. Anna is really into cameras right now and she wanted to take pictures of me. She saw some prom dresses at one of the department stores that she wanted me to try on so she could take pictures. I think Anna has a promising career as a photographer. And, she made her Mommy feel like a princess getting all dressed up!

Summer Trip #1

Rachel and Anna were asked to be flower girls in a wedding that occurred in Waynesburg, PA. So, we decided to plan a road trip with the girls since they finished the school year at the end of May.

Washington D.C.

Our first stop was in College Park, MD. We stayed at Cherry Hill Park. It was our first time to camp there and I highly recommend this RV park for anyone who is looking for a place to camp close to D.C. You can either take a bus from the RV park or drive yourself to the Metro green line (which is only a few miles away) and conveniently tour D.C. The campground itself offers nice amenities as well.

We visited many of the monuments and the Smithsonian Museums while in D.C. I think we logged well over 10 miles on one day of touring. Anna and Rachel particularly loved touring the Smithsonian because of the recent release of Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian.

Elizabethtown, PA

Our next stop was to Elizabethtown, PA. We stayed at a KOA campground there. It, too, was a nice campground but we thought their rules were a bit too strict. A friend planned to stop by to drop off discounted tickets to Hershey Park. They were going to charge her just for doing that. I could see charging people if they were hanging out at the campground and using their services but we thought the requirement to pay a fee just to meet us to drop off tickets was a bit ridiculous. We met her in town instead.

We toured Hershey's Chocolate World, visited Hershey Park, toured Amish country (visited Lancaster, PA, and Intercourse, PA).

We also visited Lititz, PA, and stopped at the Wilbur Chocolate Co. and the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Co. I have to say that we equally enjoyed the Wilbur chocolate as much as the Hershey chocolate.

Our next stop was in Charleroi, PA. We stayed at the Pine Cove Beach Club while there. I highly recommend this place as well for anyone looking for a place to stop in this area. This campground is extremely family friendly including an awesome pool and tree house for the kids to play in. We chose this place because it was close to Waynesburg, PA: the location of the wedding that Rachel and Anna were going to be flower girls in. Our only complaint was that we didn't have more time at the campground and that the weather was too cold for us to enjoy the pool while visiting. We did take some time to eat at one of the local pizza restaurants; Armando's Pizza. Armando's is located in Charleroi, PA. That was some of the yummiest pizza we've had in a while!

Harold and Gail celebrated their 15-year wedding anniversary on the same day as Lauren's wedding. Happy Anniversary!

Tennessee

We joined Harold and Gail this past weeekend and camped at the Treemont Resort in Townsend, TN. Luckily, we only had rain part of the day on Sunday.

We arrived in the afternoon on Friday. We ate dinner at the Little River Bar-B-Que restaurant in Townsend which is one of my favorite bar-b-que places to eat. They have a screened back porch so you can dine outside and it borders the water flowing around the mountains. The food is wonderful and it's just a nice, relaxing place to eat.

On Saturday, we did a little bit of hiking during the morning in the Tremont area and then had lunch in Townsend at the Apple Valley Country Store. We returned to the camper for a while and then Jeff brought the girls to play in the water and I took a long nap....something I desperately needed. That night we enjoyed a free concert at the Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop in Townsend. We enjoyed the dulcimer music. It was a perfect compliment to an already enjoyable day. They offer these free dulcimer concerts every Saturday evening throughout the spring and summer months.

On Sunday, we decided to head into Pigeon Forge to the Wonderworks Museum. We had a great time there but it was a bit too crowded for our liking. My favorite part was the rock climbing wall. We had lunch at Tony Roma's and then returned to the camper. It was our first time eating there and the food was O.K. It wasn't really good nor really bad. It was just food. We returned to the campground afterwards. We took the girls to the swimming pool before the rain started coming down. After that, we relaxed at our campers for a while.

Overall, we had a great weekend. I love that area. But, what I enjoy the most are the mountains. I prefer to stay away from the people and enjoy the beauty of nature the most. But, we have to mix in other things for the kiddos.

We are going to watch the new Night at the Museum movie tonight which has been released just in time for our next trip. We are taking another trip leaving this coming Friday. Rachel and Anna are flower girl's in our cousin, Lauren's, wedding. So, we decided to make it a vacation trip for them since the wedding is in West Virginia. We are leaving Friday evening. We'll arrive in College Park, Maryland on Saturday. College Park is very close to Washington D.C. So, we'll be doing some sight seeing in that area including visiting the Smithsonian. And, that is why the release of the new Night at the Museum movie is timely. We loved the first movie and the newly released version is set in the Smithsonian. After spending a few days in D.C., we are then heading to Pennsylvania where we plan to visit Hershey Park. And, then, the final stop will be in West Virginia for the wedding on June 6th before we head back home. It's going to be a busy trip and and an end to many busy weekends throughout the month of May. I think we'll be crashing at home for several weekends to recoup after all of our trips in May. We need a vacation from our vacationing!

High Falls State Park, GA

Anna and Julianna

(Left-Right) Jeff and Anna, Jonathan, Collete and Kaylee, Me, Rachel and Chloe (top), Naura and Julianna at High Falls State Park

(Left to Right) Rachel, Chloe, Julianna, Kaylee, and Anna at the Enchanted Forest located behind the Village at Indian Springs

Rachel and Chloe at High Falls State Park

We went to High Falls State Park, GA, this past weekend. Originally, we had not planned to travel this weekend but Anna and Rachel really wanted to plan something with friends and this was the only weekend we had to do it before the school year was over. Rachel's friend, Chloe, camped with us over the weekend. And, Anna's friend, Julianna, came with her Mom on Saturday and the spent the day with us.

We were worried that we'd get rain on Saturday but we were spared. We were thankful for that so that everyone could enjoy the plans we had. We met Chloe's parents and sister and Naura and Julianna at one of our favorite restaurants: Pinky's. We would have just planned to have a picnic but we were afraid that we would get rained on. Before everyone arrived, Jeff and I brought Rachel, Anna, and Chloe to Indian Springs State Park and we walked around for a bit. We even enjoyed some of the fresh spring water. Although, I will warn anyone considering trying some that you will smell the sulphur which doesn't exactly enhance the experience. We were told by some people who were collecting the spring water in jugs that the rotten egg sulphur smell evaporates from the water after a few days. The girls had a great time catching tadpoles, frogs, and a turtle before we joined our friends for lunch at Pinky's.

We all had a great lunch at Pinky's and then we walked through the garden area before heading to the Art Gallery for a quick art class. Then, we went to Dauset Trails. All of the children enjoyed seeing the animals there.

We returned back to High Falls and we took a brief walk to the falls area and the kids played along the waters edge.

By that time, it was getting close to dinner time so we all returned to our camper and we grilled hotdogs and hamburgers and then had s'mores for dessert.

We had a full day with our friends. The kids were ready for bed that night with no complaints!

It was really fun having Chloe with us this weekend. She had never been camping before nor spent much time on trails. It was so refreshing to see her excitement at simple things like catching tadpoles in the water. With Chloe, it was like Christmas for the first time but on the trail. She was a bit nervous at first on the trail but then she was jumping on the rocks like our daughters. She found all kinds of animals too: a frog, a turtle, a squirrel, and baby ducks.

Mothers Day Weekend

We traveled to Skidaway Island, near Savannah, for Mother's Day weekend.


On Saturday, we enjoyed the beach at Tybee Island during the day and then visited Savannah that evening for dinner. We ate dinner at the Pirate's House which was absolutely delicious. I highly recommend that place for those who haven't tried it. We arrived around 5 and we didnt have a reservation and there was no wait. I would recommend making a reservation if planning to go during a peak time. Then, we visited the river front area and browsed the shops.


On Sunday, we went out for breakfast at the Original Pancake House in Savannah. I've never eaten at one before but learned a valuable lesson; one item is enough for at least two people. I ordered the ham and cheese omelette. It was huge; made with five eggs. And, we also ordered pancakes; that came with five pancakes. If you ever go to one, go hungry!


We went to Fort Pulaski to work off some of our breakfast. We watched the film at the visitor's center and then took a guided tour with a ranger. Rachel and Anna earned a Junior Ranger Badge by completing a booklet where they had to perform activities to learn about the Fort. Later, we were ready for lunch and we stopped at the Crab Shack on Tybee Island for lunch before returning to the camper to pack up and head home. We enjoyed this restaurant too. Very casual atmosphere and perfect if you've got kiddos. They also have an enclosure in front with young alligators and Rachel and Anna fed them.


Rachel and Anna gave me the best home made gifts and hugs for Mother's Day. And, I had a wonderful weekend on the GA coast with my family. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

The next few weekends will be spent traveling. I will definitely be ready for a break to just collapse at home when we are done but we are certainly getting our money's worth from our new fifth wheel. This weekend will be a local trip to a state park. The following weekend will be to Townsend, TN. Then, the next weekend will be our roadtrip up the east coast. Rachel and Anna are in a wedding on June 6th so we decided to take the opportunity and do some site seeing. We'll be going to Washington D.C. for a few days and then we are heading to Hershey, PA, for a few days before going to the wedding.

Air Show 2009

Me and Tora. Tora is an old friend who is a navigator on C-130s. He flew in a C-130 yesterday at the Air Show.

Me, Mick and Jeff at the Air Show

We had a beautiful day of weather in middle Georgia for the Air Show. Mick (Jennifer's Dad) traveled all the way from the U.K. to enjoy the Air Show. We sure do wish Mike and Jen and the kids could've been here too! We spent the day touring the aircraft, watching the aerial performances and eating way too much junk food.

Jeff and I also took the Marine Corps pull up challenge and won t-shirts. I did the female version (flexed arm hang) for 70 seconds. And, Jeff did the 20 pull ups required to earn a t-shirt. We may be knocking on the door or already at the age of 40 but we still can hang with the youngsters. :-)

Anna sitting in the cockpit of a C-130 at the airshow

Rachel at the Air Show

Rachel, Anna and Me standing in front of a C-5. This is the aircraft that I work in support of for the USAF. The C-5 motto is "Size Does Matter." :-)

Jeff knocking out the 20 pull ups to earn his t-shirt from the Marines. The Marines don't have nuthin' on P90X. :-) My husband rocks!

Business Travel and Maiden Voyage in our New Camper

I've been traveling a lot for business the past few weeks but last week I actually went somewhere besides Marietta, GA. I attended a conference in Salt Lake City, UT. It was absolutely gorgeous there in the Spring. The mountains surrounding the city were still capped with snow and the spring flowers were in bloom. Just beautiful.

My one treat for the week was visiting the Family History Library. It is the largest genealogy library in the world. Unfortunately, I didn't have nearly the enough time I wanted to spend there. And, also, I didn't score any major data that I was hoping for but enjoyed the research nonetheless.

Me outside of the Salt Lake City Temple

After I finished in the library, I took a tour of Temple Square. Of course, I never realized I had Mormons in my family tree until I started doing genealogy research. But, it was still an interesting tour to take even if a person doesn't have familial ties to the Mormon church. I even had my own personal tour guides. They got a laugh when I asked them if they were polygamists. :-) I knew that would get them going. I was glad they had a sense of humor.

Weekend Trip

I flew home last Friday and then drove to Cordele, GA, to meet Jeff, Rachel and Anna at Georgia Veterans State Park. It was our first trip with our new Fifth Wheel camper. We had a great time. The weather was beautiful and I was so happy to be back home with my family. On Saturday, we drove to Albany and visited the Flint River Aquarium. The girls also played at the river walk area in the water and at the playground before we returned back to Cordele.

We enjoyed a great weekend together. I'm happy to report I won't be traveling anywhere for business over the next three weeks. It's good to be back home.

Our New Tenement On Wheels

Our new 5th wheel camper doesn't have near the amenities that our Class A motorhome did, but it isn't too shabby either. There are four bunks in Rachel and Anna's bedroom. It has a lot of storage.
Jeff was nervous about driving it home but he didn't have any issues and he backed it into our driveway and backyard with no issues either.
I can't wait to go camping next weekend.
Unfortunately, I'm leaving again to go out of town for business again tomorrow. I'm flying to Salt Lake City tomorrow morning and will be gone all week. I'll be ready for a relaxing trip with the family when I get home.

One half of Rachel and Anna's Room

Kitchen area

The table and sofa also become beds if we needed extra sleeping space.


Exterior (has a grill and outside shower). Awning is not out in this picture.

Happy Easter

The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances. ~Robert Flatt

We wish our family and friends a happy and blessed Easter.

Spring Break 2009

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.~~Alan Cohen

After much thought, we decided to put our RV up for sale. The reasons varied.

We haven't been able to go camping as often as we'd like so the investment was large compared to the utility of it. We've had it for almost 3 years and it was getting to be about time for routine maintenance...new tires, new batteries, etc. On a 40-foot RV, you can imagine that wasn't going to be cheap. And, the bigger reason was the floor plan. Now, that the girls are older, we desired a floor plan that provided some privacy for them. Having said all of that, we decided we loved camping too much to give it up all together but that we preferred to find an option to give us a better floor plan with less investment overall.

So, we put our RV up for sale just to see if we'd get any nibbles. And, we did. We sold it last Wednesday. In it's place, we planned to purchase a tow vehicle and either a fifth wheel or camper. We have already purchased the tow vehicle, a 2008 F-250 crew cab diesel pickup truck (So, we can still use "Stop and Smell the Diesel.") With all of the rebates, etc. we were able to purchase it at a great price. Jeff traded in his jeep at the same time so the truck will be his daily driving vehicle. We already have some ideas of the replacement we'll get for the RV but we've just got to find some time to go look and select it. That's been hard to do with me traveling so much for business as of late.

Jeff's New Truck

The negative about selling the RV when we did was that it almost hosed up our spring break plans. We had camping reservations at Top Sail Hill Preserve, Florida. Without a camper, those reservations weren't doing us much good. We would've just cancelled the trip but Gail and Harold, my mother-in-law and father-in-law, also planned to travel there and camp as well. So, we were left scrambling at the final hour trying to find a place to stay. We lucked out and found the perfect rental home located less than 1 mile from Top Sail. So, Jeff and I were able to ride our bikes to visit with Gail and Harold at the campground. And, the girls stayed with Harold and Gail most nights with Anna sleeping on the sofa in our cottage the final two nights. The cottage we stayed in was called the "Green Gecko." This little cottage was perfect for just two people. However, due to the cold weather, all of us congregated here several evenings to enjoy the hot tub and to cook dinner. I highly recommend renting from Bert, the lady who owns the property, if you're in need of a place convenient to the beach in the Santa Rosa Beach, FL, area.

The Green Gecko

Rachel and Anna holding puppies outside of Yoder's Gift Shop

We stopped for dinner at Yoder's in Montezuma, GA, on the way down to the panhandle. The food was yummy as always! Rachel and Anna enjoyed petting some puppies that they had outside for sale before we hit the road again. We drove back roads going to Florida and we were surprised by the number of roads closed due to flooding. It had been raining quite a bit in GA over the past couple of weeks but we didn't anticipate that. Luckily, it didn't slow our progress too much. Sadly, it appeared several families were flooded out of their homes.

Unfortunately, the weather never really warmed much while we were in Florida so we didn't get to enjoy the beach nearly as much as we'd hoped. We had one really good day, the day after we arrived. The remainder of the time was windy and cold. But, any day away from work is a good day so I'm not going to complain.

We all ate way too much. We especially enjoyed Miss Lucille's Gossip Parlor (coffee, pastries, ice cream, etc.) Although, Rachel and Anna were a bit put off by a sign that they read inside Miss Lucille's. But, that didn't stop them from wanting to go back the next night for ice cream again. It's a good thing we are all well behaved. :-)

It's Report Card Time

Both Rachel and Anna received their report cards from school.

Rachel's summary read: "Rachel continues to excel in all areas. She is motivated and excited about learning. She is a super reader and loves to tell me about what she is reading. Keep practicing counting coins, bills to $20, and fair trades. Rachel is a wonderful role model. I can count on her to set a good example for others with academics and behavior. It is a joy to have Rachel in the class!"

Anna's summary read: "Anna continues to make good progress in Kindergarten. I am pleased that she is willing to try sounding words out in her reading and writing. She knows all 30 sight words well and reads 1st grade level books. She is very creative and enjoys making things when we have free time. Keep encouraging her at home."

We are so proud of our little ones. Congrats to Rachel and Anna.

Flower Girls

Lauren, our cousin, is getting married in June. She asked Rachel and Anna to be flower girls in her wedding. We went today to let them try on dresses.

It was an awful day to go. For one, it's Spring....the place was packed with soon-to-be brides prepping for summer weddings. And, even worse....it's prom time around here. The place was packed with teens shopping for their perfect prom dress.

The dress Anna and Rachel have on is the style of dress they'll be wearing except the color will be ivory instead of white and the sash will be green. The girls are so excited.

Of course, Jeff wasn't looking so well after he began to think of his girls shopping for their own wedding dress in the future.

Got My Hair Whacked

Was in the mood....decided to get it cut short. Rachel and Anna opted for short do this time too.

Work has been hectic and it appears I'll be in Marietta for most of the next 2 weeks.

Albuquerque, NM

I had a quick business trip to Albuquerque this week. I flew out on Monday and flew home today. I arrived early enough on Monday to do a little bit of site seeing with a coworker who was there with me.

I had printed some information on Jemez Falls and we planned to hike to that. But, I had not looked at the weather forecast and I didn't realize that there was still so much snow around. Also, the trails were poorly marked so we spent a good bit of time driving around trying to find the trail head and then the trail itself was poorly marked. Since it was late in the day, the trail was covered in snow and ice, and it was pretty doggone cold, we didn't make it to Jemez Falls. But, we did find Soda Dam. We happened to drive by it while we were looking for the Jemez Falls trail head.

We finally found a trail head that linked to the Jemez Falls trail and we attempted to hike a short ways on it before determining that it was getting too late to continue. That, coupled with the fact, that the trail was covered in snow and ice made me give up the hunt for the Falls.

We stopped in Jemez Springs for dinner. If you blinked your eyes, you would miss the town. We found a little hole in the wall looking joint called "Los Ojos." We were joking as we walked in about wondering if they would serve "our kind" there. When we walked in, everyone sitting at the bar stopped what they were doing and stared at us. When the waitress walked up to take our order, the first thing she said was, "you aren't from around here are you?" I think what we found most humorous was a guy standing at the bar holding a toddler. I leaned over to my coworker and asked him if he had ever seen the movie, "Sweet Home Alabama." He had because he immediately said the quote from the movie, "Look at you, you have a baby... In a bar." We had both thought the same thing. I will admit that the food and service was excellent. I highly recommend eating here and trying the green chili sauce.

We returned to the hotel and then attended the meeting on Tuesday. We finished with business around 4:15 so that left a little daylight to head to Sandia Peak Tramway. We were able to get to the top before sunset. It was pretty cold on top though....in the low 20s with a wind chill in the teens. We couldn't hike because the snow was pretty heavy still. I made a snow angel and then was ready for a hot drink so we made a pit stop at the High Finance restaurant and got a drink and a appetizer before heading back down to get a full meal somewhere in town.

It was painful getting up this morning. I had a 6:20 flight back to Atlanta. The time zone change and the daylight savings time change pretty much hosed up my internal body clock. I'm about to go to sleep as I type this.

I had a great time on this trip just because it offered something different to do after work was done. I only wish Jeff and the girls could've come with me.