Deer and July 4th fun

Last night, we had some friends and neighbors over to celebrate the 4th. We had a great time and lots of good food. Jason made a trip to Alabama to get the good fireworks and everyone enjoyed them:)

Today, we were so tired we barely moved! We managed to clean up the house and spot a baby deer in Holly and Charles's yard. The momma deer was in our front yard. The fawn came over to momma and they went through our backyard into the woods behind our house. Aren't they cute?

We decided to take the kids into downtown Powder Springs and see what was going on. The city had a lot of inflatable slides and bouncys. There was a ton of food and a band playing. It was fun for an hour. The kids got to go on some inflatables, eat an ice cream and listen to some music. I snapped a few pics to share.
The Titanic Slide. It's 24 feet long!!


Madison going down the Titanic!

Andrew's Turn!


Can you see Grady? He's in there!!


Andrew on another inflatable.

Ice Cream and Music!

Fort Discovery

Yesterday, we took a day trip to Augusta. We went to Fort Discovery Science Center there on the riverwalk (savannah river). It was beautiful but cold! We didn't stay outside too long! The science center is a partner with the Army, so it was communications/physical science stuff. I prefer the life sciences, but this was good too. Grady really had a blast and could have stayed there forever! As soon as we got there we were pulled into a demo. The Army guys were there training for this mobile bus they have. They drive around telling kids about science. So we had a private demo, just us. We learned about sound and electricity. That was the best part of our visit. The kids got to do the experiments and the men were really great!

Madison's First Big Cheer Performance

Yesterday, Madison and her Pixie squad had their first performance at a cheer competition. The girls did awesome and had fun!! They didn't compete, just did an exhibition, since they are so little. the squad has 3,4,5,6 and one just turned 7 year old on it. It's every one's first year, so we are all learning.

Madison seems to be the leader and helps everyone along. To me, she seems bossy, but the coaches and other parents think she's being helpful. So, I let her continue on. She loves cheering and seem to be good at it. Hopefully, next year I'll get to see exactly how much she can do. This squad is a little limiting for her, so it'll be nice to she how she grows next year.

The day was full of stress for me. I had planned on enjoying the day in the stands like any other parent. Truth is, I'm not any other parent. I'm the gym owner's daughter and everyone looks to me for answers. Not that I mind, but sometimes I want to just be like everyone else. Today, our pixie coach decided to not come to the competition and the music cd broke. Mom called me at 1 and we were leaving at 1:30 to tell me that the coach wouldn't be there and that I needed to find the music as well or the pixie's wouldn't have music. I found the music, but didn't have any cds to burn it on. So, we took the laptop with us and stopped at the store to buy some cds. Well, the song wouldn't play on the cd player, only my computer. After many kind people trying to figure it out for me, we ended up putting the microphone on the computer's speaker. It worked, thankfully, but could have been better. I have since found another copy of the song, downloaded it and it plays just fine!!! The music was stressful, but even more stressful was the coach issue. The team are all very young and they have bonded with their coach. They do not like to perform when she's not there. No one else knows the routine well enough to be of any help to the girls. They usually follow along with their coach while they perform. They couldn't do that yesterday because she wasn't there. We did have 2 other coaches stand in for her, but it was hard on the girls, especially Madison. She ended up throwing herself on the floor in warm-ups crying. Thankfully she composed herself and managed to perform the routine while smiling!!

So you can see that the squad did an awesome job yesterday and I'm truly glad it's over!! I look forward to their next performance and hope that it won't be so stressful :)

Our Trip to Fort Mountain State Park

Yesterday we wanted to go on a family hike. We decided to go to Fort Mountain http://www.gastateparks.org/info/fortmt/to see the 855 foot rock wall and hopefully some nice fall color. It was a lovely park with lots to see and do. We will probably go back to camp sometime next year. Here are some pics from our trip.

Fall Family Hike

Today we went to Pickett's Mill for a hike. It is a state historic park where a civil war battle was fought. We learned a lot about the history of the area and enjoyed a nice hike. It's early fall here and the leaves are just beginning to change. I was able to get a few nice shots of the fall colors. We had a great time!

This is a video of Madison's cheerleading team working on their routine :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJbJYhgUbC4

Our Beach Vacation 2008

The day after our anniversary, we left for Cape San Blas, FL. 7 days at the beach!! We had a great time despite lots of rain and construction noise. We are already planning next year's trip and we are even making plans to move there in the future. The kids love the ocean. I love the sun and watching my kids have so much fun. Jason is in love with the beach and a very relaxed lifestyle of fishing and kayaking with the occassional flight thrown in for money, lol!