Tuesday, September 27, 2016

War Eagle

Friday afternoon we drove to Alabama to visit Junior,  a friend of Raphael's, from
Panama. Junior lives near Auburn AL, which is the home of Auburn University.
We stayed with him and got to experience what it is like to live in a town that
loves college sports!
We went out for dinner and then over to the university to watch the college
girls play volleyball. The Auburn Tigers were playing against the LSU Tigers.
I hadn't been to a volleyball game since I was in college. It was fun and
something different. The girls watched pretty intently and asked a lot of
questions.  And Auburn won!!!
Saturday morning we drove to the middle of nowhere and had breakfast
at Catherine's Market. It was part grocery store and part restaurant. And the
food was good.
We had a few hours before the big football game, so we drove back to
Junior's house and the girls went swimming.
We got all cleaned up and drove into Auburn. They do a big tailgating
party, with a lots of different activities and so many people set up along
the way having a party.
We went to see Tiger Walk-- where all the football players walk through the
crowd and the band is playing. We had time before the game, so we had snow
cones and sat inside the baseball stadium to rest and have some shade. It was
a hot afternoon!
Me, Rachel, Rebecca, Raphael, Charlotte, Willie and Junior. Charlotte
and Willie are friends with Junior. They live in Louisiana and
drove up for the game, since it was Auburn against LSU.

The football stadium
The marching band was getting ready to go onto the field.
A sold out crowd! Lots of navy blue and orange to represent Auburn.
The university mascot is the tiger, but a hundred years ago, someone picked the
school song and it has "war eagle" in it. So Auburn is both the Tigers and
WarEagle. They say it with everything and it is kind of catchy.
The game started at 5pm, so we were thankful when the sun started to
set and it was beautiful too.
Cheering on Auburn! #wareagle
It was a crazy end to the game and a bit of controversy, but thankfully,
Auburn won the game!! We went for pizza and home to bed.
Junior lives in a condo on Lake Martin and has a pontoon boat, so
we spent Sunday out on the lake.

It was a beautiful day.
There were some amazing lake houses that we floated by.
We spent time at Big Beach with the girls swimming. Then we went out into
the lake and they all jumped in a swam around.
The girls ganged up on Junior and had a water fight.


A fun weekend in Alabama!
#wareagle























Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Life Lately

Just trying to stay caught up with all we have going on around here.......
On Fridays, Rebecca gets out of school at 12:30, so we decided to go out for
lunch. We drove to a place called Fish Tales, that I had heard a lot about.
It is a restaurant on Lake Lanier and you can drive your boat right up
to the restaurant. We sat outside because it was a pretty day.
After lunch we drove to our local fire stations to drop off some cookies.
The MOMS Club that I have been a part of has done this for years.
Rebecca managed to get herself a private tour of the station.
Saturday mornings are once again reserved for soccer games.
Some very excited fans.
Saturday night, Raphael and I went to Alpharetta. We had dinner and
then over to the Amphitheater for a night of music by the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra.
It was our first visit there and we had a perfect night. I bought seats
on the lawn and it was nice and relaxing. They played music from
John Williams and he has written music for lots of movies,
including Star Wars.
Sunday after church we drove to Atlanta to see the Falcons play.
It was opening weekend for the NFL and it is also the last season that
the Falcons will play in the Georgia Dome.
It can get a little loud. The Falcons started off strong, but the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers were better and won the game.

The current Dome with the new one being built in the back ground.
Rachel continues to have bad luck with her teeth.
We were at the dentist to get a tooth pulled.
Rebecca earned the honor of bringing home a little black stuffed
animal dog from school on Monday. She wanted a picture with both
of her dogs.

And that is it for now!
















Saturday, September 10, 2016

Labor Day Weekend 2016

For Labor Day weekend this year, we decided to take a quick trip to the beach. But then Hurricane Hermine came to Florida, so we changed our plans and headed up to the North Georgia mountains.

Our first stop was at BrassTown Bald, which is the highest point in Georgia at 4,784 feet. We took the shuttle to the top and learned about the Blue Ridge Mountains and the surrounding area.
By then it was time for lunch and after we went to our hotel for the weekend.
We took the girls swimming and later walked all around the Resort.
Each night they build a fire and provide all the supplies for smores.
I woke up early to run and the morning was so pretty.
The next day we started at Lilly Pad Village and we did fishing,
gem mining and mini golf.
We had lunch and then drove over to Helen to get ready to float the
Chattahochee River. We floated the river a few years ago, but it was
time to try again now that the girls are older and more independent.
It was a hot and sunny weekend and there were hundreds of people
 floating the river with us. The river was low and we got stuck a few
times, but it was still a lot of fun.
That night we did more smores and played games in the hotel lobby.
The hotel had a very rustic/hunting/outdoors kind of theme.
Our last morning we surprised the girls with a visit to The Chunky Gals
Stables for horse riding adventure. We all were able to ride our own horses.
The girls did great. I was a little worried and did some serious praying, but
it all went smoothly. I tried to take a few pictures, but it is tricky to ride a
horse and take pictures at the same time :)
Our last stop was at Helton Creek Waterfalls.
We managed to pack a lot into just a couple of days!
And with that we said good-bye to the mountains. It was a good weekend
away and nice to be outside a lot.