Goodbye...Till Next Time!

Oh y'all.

Today sucked.

My mom and my sister went home.

They were in town this past week and left for home today. Living 10 hours away from your family is just...sad.

So when we are together, we soak it in, do the normal fun things we do, and make the best of it. Par for the course, the weather in Atlanta was deplorable, so we found ourselves indoors till yesterday, when we spent the day at the lake.

When they first arrived of course the gals were shy. But after the first hour of the gals being weird and trying to remember who everyone was, the air was soon filled with their calls for "Grandma" and "Rachel!"

So many books were read. Grandma's are good at that.

New tutu's were acquired. Grandma took part in the fun.

When Rachel and I were small there was the "Mummy Monster" and the "Bucking Bronco." Amelia gladly learned about the bronco and held on for dear life.

Rain = Puzzles. Of course only one piece was missing. Rachel showed her displeasure. 

A trip to the local Mexican restaurant showed our gals exquisite dining skills.

We moseyed back into Dunwoody to visit one of my mom's friends, so of course we went to Wright's Gourmet and of course we ran into someone we know. This time it was a notorious substitute teacher named Mrs. Dimenstein. Oh man did she have a hatred for footsie under the table. She still haunts any Austin Elementary grad's dreams.

Finally the sun came out and we went to the lake. When we were kids my mom always took us to the Buford Dam Park, so it's pretty cool to come full circle and bring my gals here too.

 

There were so many tears today when my family left.  

Of course we can't wait till we can see them again.

Welcome Back!

Ah, it's been too long! Too long!

I've really just used this space as a place to update my family about the gals, but I hope to evolve it into something more.

I liked updating my blog with news about the gals because I've always been kinda anti-Facebook. More or less because I felt that some things just aren't meant to be shared. When I spent a month in the hospital hoping that the gals would stay put just a few weeks longer, I couldn't bring myself to post anything about it. Instead, I stuck by my family, friends, and my twitter ladies (who understood what I was going through more than anyone else). These people kept me hopeful. That's all I needed.

The gals came 9 weeks early, and again, all I could post on FB was a quick pic of the gals. I'm not a fan of searching for likes, for comments, and for prayers. I wasn't ready to hear the sympathy from a person I hadn't talked to in 10 years. I just wanted my family and friends to know they were okay.

However, over the past few years FB has evolved into something more and more of my "older" family members have embraced, so I'm gradually letting my guard down and posting more pictures there.  I must admit, I love it when the Grandmas get excited about the latest gals post.

I've been thinking that this place doesn't just need to be an "update" blog. I want to branch out a bit more.

So here's what I want for this blog:

Obviously I want to talk about the gals. I'm with them all day, everyday, and they are embarking on such an amazing part of their development. These enthusiastic 2 year old could fuel any blog for centuries.

I want to talk about ME! Me?!? Isn't that selfish? But of course!! What are blogs for? I'm pretty proud of my accomplishments over the past year and half. Mostly because I put my nose to the grindstone, lost 90 pounds, and have kept it off. Yea. Pretty proud of that.

My family. All of us. What we do, where we go, and what we enjoy in our fun town of Atlanta and beyond.

And anything else interesting. Captivated yet?

There I've blogged it. That means this will all totally happen right? I won't forget about this blog again will I?

Nope...no way.

Hiked: Laurel Ridge Trail

This weekend we spent some time exploring the trails around our new house. We moved this far out of the city to be closer to the lake and to enjoy all the nature this area offers.

The Laurel Ridge Trail is just located beyond Buford Dam. It's a nice shaded path through the woods, and is perfect for taking the kids. We enjoyed a nice lunch in the picnic area at the trail head. After we ate, we strapped the gals to our backs and we were off!

The hike is about 4 miles long, and is perfect for any hiker. The gals had a blast checking out all of beautiful surroundings. You pass Lake Lanier several times and it made me excited about coming back here in the summer time to swim.

Towards the end, the trail opens up to the Lower Pool of the Dam. If you time it right, you can watch the water from Lake Lanier being release and into the Chattahoochee.

We had a blast and can't wait to come back during warmer weather!

Amelia loved playing in the leaves!

Hiked: Sawnee Mountain

During our staycation, we wanted to get in any many hikes as we could in our local area.  Sawnee Mountain was a fun and easy day hike, with an amazing view at the top!

On your way up their is a cool tree house area for the kids to play in, as well as some caves that were once used for mining.  I want to try and run this trail soon, I think it would be an amazing workout!

Too sleepy to see the view.

Summer in Ohio

Last week we spent some time in Ohio with my family & it was absolutely glorious. The weather was PERFECT & the Limeritas tasted good.

Our first night there, one of my mom's friends metioned in passing how she visits our blog.

Our blog?

Crap, I forgot about that thing!

So realizing that we have zero family here in Atlanta, it might be worth my while to actually keep up this site for family & friends throughout the world...we love sharing the gals with y'all!

Dirty knees & porch sittin' is the only way to go in the OWE

While in the Glass City, we hopped all around town, still doing our best to relax.

We caught a concert at the arboretum.

Nani pushing the troops down to the park to listen to some live music with the hipsters.

We visited the best zoo in the land! The Toledo Zoo! {I worked here in high school as a summer job, so I'm a bit impartial}

Obigitory picture on the stone elephant. {It's been there since the WPA days}

We celebrated Uncle Aaron's birthday with a huge fish fry!!

Birthday Boy

Carrot Cake WIN!

Cousin Ray enjoying all the desserts

We visited neighbors!

Flamingo Love in the OWE

Visiting Gary & Mark

Mark has all the goodies to keep the kids sweet

The gals got spoiled the instant they got into the house. My mom is the queen of consignment shopping & put her Grandma skills to the test. The girls were always entertained.

In the OWE, most of the summer days are spent on the porch. We had many picnics out here. It was just too goregous out not to!

This gal was obsessed with the rocker. Hours of quiet time spent here.

Amelia & Aunt Rachel!

Rachel "let" us go for a cruise in her sweet ride to the local ice cream place. I loved all the drooling stares the middle aged men gave her as she beat them off the line.

Dave was happy to finally find a cherry dipped ice cream

We hit up one of our favorite restaurants for some riverside dining. 

We found that the only way to get the girls to stop climbing the stairs, was for them to sit down on them. It's now their most favorite thing ever.

 There was night bocce.

And pigtails.

And Light Saber battles.

I'd say it was a good trip.