A Few Last Pictures

We left Georgia on Sunday...Chris had to be back for the Tuesday night show. None of us were ready to leave. A week is just not long enough.......




As we drove through Washington D.C., I actually got a good picture of the Washington Monument. A neat way to finish off our trip.

We miss everyone so bad. We missed them the moment we drove off. It was especially hard this time because Jordan cried. She said she was crying because Nana was crying and she misses her so much. The other day, as she was helping me in the kitchen, she reminded me (again) that she used to make scrambled eggs and toast for Papa every morning when we still lived in Lubbock.....but you know what really gripped my heart? She said, "I sure do miss those times." She loves her family, we all do.

The kid's got their teacher assignments last week, along with their supply lists. One thing that Jordan is required to bring on the first day of school is something to show what she did this summer. She decided to write a book......about our trip to Georgia. She worked on it for three days, colored it and bound it. It is already tucked away in her backpack, ready for the first day of third grade.

I think that says it all. We had a wonderful time with our family...it was the best way we could have spent the summer.

As Promised........

The day we went to the animal safari in Georgia was by far one of the funniest times we spent together.

We rented this lovely van......with no air-conditioning......in the middle of July.....in Georgia.

Daddy drove, with Uncle B as the co-pilot. Little did he know he had the best seat in the van!!!!
We spent about an hour driving through the preserve, only to witness Uncle B getting a face full of snot from all of the crazy, huge animals that would just stick their heads in the windows!! He was french kissed by several cows and bulls and other animals I can't name. It was HILARIOUS!!!!!!

So, I will let you enjoy these pictures, we certainly enjoyed taking them :)

Dog Days

Don't worry, there are more Georgia pictures on the way. I am just a little overwhelmed with how many I am going to have to download! But one of these days when I have a free hour or two (yeah right), I will get it done.

In the meantime, enjoy these pics of an impromptu trip to Princeton and a wonderful discovery we made!




Here it is! The fountain we discovered over by the library on the Princeton campus....








On our way back to the car, we had to say hi to the tigers. It is a ritual, we can't leave until Jaron sees the mummy in the art museum and visits the tiger statues.



We have definitely worked on being creative this summer. By that I mean I have really encouraged the kids to find ways to entertain themselves when they are bored instead of the old-stand-by (the TV). They both have a list on the fridge of things they like to do, and I give them some advice too. On this particular day Jaron discovered some sunglasses while rummaging around in his room, so naturally he wanted to go outside to wear them. So his idea was to play with the Moon sand while he wore his glasses. What a cutie!

And I tell you, we have a little artist on our hands. Jordan's idea one day was to color on the stepping stones outside with the chalk. This tulip and daisy picture was her creation on day 1.

The sunrise was on day 2........

And the deer family was on day 3. Seriously, have you ever seen anything more adorable in your life?

More Georgia

So one day.....and I don't know which day it was because I loose track of time when we are on vacation.....we loaded up and headed down the road to a good old Southern cooking restaurant called "The Bulloch House". It was DELICIOUS! They have a buffet lunch, and I think we all filled up on wonderful fried green tomatoes and fried apples.

Here's the kids in front of the restaurant.....I have given up on getting them all to look at the camera and smile at the same time! I just point and click, and I actually enjoy how the pictures always turn out :)

Grandpa Small and his sweet wife, Jeanette.

There was an old out house that everyone just had to go sit in.....so goofy.

Even Jordan joined in the goofy-ness!!!!

After lunch we headed to the Butterfly Conservatory at Callaway Gardens. It was GORGEOUS!


Kemper was showing Aunt Marcy what a butterfly does....

Jordan, being Jordan!

We actually got to watch a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis......it was incredible, first time I have ever witnessed something like that.

We went to the Butterfly Conservatory at the Museum of Natural History in NYC, so we kind of knew what to expect.......it was very hot and moist!! We were dripping sweat by the time we got out! But the butterflies were beautiful, and they just fly all around you. It is so neat :)

This is a blue morpho butterfly, which was all of our favorite. When he would open his wings, they were the most brilliant blue, and then he closed them and they looked like this, to camouflage into his surroundings. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture with his wings open.

Then Jordan gave a little piggy-back ride to this cute little guy!

He stuck to her leg for the longest time, then moved to her butt, then her shoe before it flew away. You can just imagine how dramatic she was being.....she loved every minute of it, and wanted everyone to know what was happening!

I captured this picture one afternoon after we got back to B and K's.

Papa also asked us to bring along our Wii so we could have some bowling tournaments and tennis matches. Keats REALLY enjoyed it.....and one afternoon as we were all just hanging out, he made a bunch of different Mii with names like aldkfa and gjghorgos and eijffdslsle. He also made the girls with beards and mustaches. It was so funny, and it drove Jaron bananas!!! I told him we would delete them when we got home, but I just can't bring myself to do it because it reminds me of Keats. Oh, we miss them!!!!!!!