Cloudland Canyon State Park

Here are the hi-lights from our Labor Day weekend trip to NW Georgia where we visited Cloudland Canyon State Park, had our first (and probably last) experience at a KOA campground, and spent some time in Chattanooga at the Tennessee Aquarium and the Children's Discovery Museum.



Hiking down to the pond for the Catfish Rodeo.


Sam did this all on his own. I'm just glad I captured it!


Notice the lumps in his socks. Since he didn't have pockets, I suggested Brice put the nuts he found in his socks. He liked that idea!


Sam would NOT climb into the cave.

The jumping pillow at the campgrounds. It's exactly what it sounds like and lots of fun.

Brice loved it and had NO fear!

The Tennessee Aquarium.

I took this from the ground with my big zoom lens. I think it's about 14,000 feet up. Click on the photo to make it larger. You can see the hang glider running off the edge!

Sam was lucky to get a job helping pick up hang gliders. Thanks Peyton!

After we observed it from the ground, we just had to go see what it was like up on the mountain. Pretty breath-taking and actually quite scary.

At Chattanooga's Children's Discovery Museum.

We are big Curious George fans in this house!

After a visit from the Whitley boys, the park rangers decided it should be renamed "Loudland" Canyon!

Have you thanked a fire fighter today?

Today we made a spur-of-the-moment visit to fire station No. 11 on Riverside Drive. Little did I know, when I was just trying to think of something to kill time, that we’d end up having the most awesome, world-class tour and fire station experience. We got the entire experience from riding in the fire engine & the aerial truck, to honking the horns & turning on the lights, to seeing the bunk room & the radio control room, to having our wonderful guide, “Private Archie”, get them to ring the bell, to even having a REAL fire call go out and watching the aerial truck take off! The guys did exactly what they had just told us they would…hopped into their gear, jumped in the truck and took off – in less than two minutes! It was unbelievable! When we rode in the trucks Archie let the boys talk into the CB, which was just the loud speaker that they use to make announcements to passers-by or cars not getting out of the way. Well, ol’ Sam picked it up and said, “Oh yeah, we gone get our drink on!”…to anyone in ear shot on Riverside Drive! It gets better… When we got into the aerial truck he picked up the CB again, but this time (unbeknownst to me or Archie) it was the CB that calls to ALL of the fire stations in Macon in addition to the main dispatch. On that occasion he just said, "breaker one nine". The dispatcher called back and asked, "Engine 30, do you have traffic?" I was dying!!! Archie just responded “negative”. Thank God we didn’t get in trouble. When we left I couldn’t thank them enough. I’m sure the boys don’t realize just what an amazing and unique experience they had. When we got home we made brownies and chocolate chip cookies and took them back to the station. We made some pictures and Archie gave the boys their own fire hats. I can’t wait to go back!

Camping trip #2 - FDR State Park

View from the park's Visitor's Center

The whole crew

Our campsite

Our 2nd "sign" picture...a silly one this time

After we left the park we drove into Warm Springs for lunch, a stroll along "mainstreet", ice cream then a stop at the Fish Hatchery

Sam's first day of school

Sam had a GREAT first day of school at the Early Childhood Learning Center! He was all smiles when I picked him up. After school we met up with Lindsey & Carter for a celebratory ice cream cone at Baskin & Robbins.

Here are the notable remarks and tid-bits about the day: Before he had even opened his eyes this morning Sam said, “I wanna go now.” Later, at school, as Brian and I hung around, Sam asked, “When are yall gonna leave?” Sam is “identified” in his class with a green frog so that’s the paper symbol he moves from the door to the sign-in board every morning when he arrives. It also marks his seat at the table. There are 12 boys in his class; not that many girls. His teachers are Mrs. Bradley and Mrs. Wilson. Sam thinks Mrs. Wilson is cute! He told me that his favorite thing today was playing with Play Doh and that they “drawed pictures of what pirates did a long time ago”. On the way home we saw our friend Mr. Dan and Sam told him, "It was kind of exciting." When I asked about lunch he said, “It’s a kid cafeteria!” Mrs. Wilson reported that no one cried today. On that note, I did not cry at all (at Sam’s request) until I took that first step out of the classroom then the flood-gate opened and I cried all the way to my car! Brian was very sweet & supportive as were all the teachers I passed on the way out. Happy first day of school everyone!

Very proud of his BIG backpack!

Signing in

Mrs. Wilson helps Sam get his cubbie organized.

Tybee trip

These pictures speak for themselves. We just had a good ol' time! Til next year...



Sam


You'd never have known this was Brice's 1st ocean experience. Poor babe...we left him at home last year.

Helping Bubba

They loved hanging with cousins, Andrew & Emily.

Nothing like beach baseball

This was Brice's FAVORITE thing to do - get smacked by waves!

Nothing like a little TV time after a busy day at the beach!

Little Ocmulgee State Park

This past weekend we took the first of what we hope will be many trips to GA State Parks. And, best of all, we did it in our new pop-up camper! Along with Grammy, we traveled to Little Ocmulgee State Park in Helena, GA, near McRae. The entire weekend was a blast! We arrived at dusk on Friday evening, got the camper set up and familiarized ourselves with the camp ground area…playground nearby and bathhouse up the hill. On Saturday we went to the Trading Post, met some native snakes, turtles and frogs, walked out onto the boardwalk over the lake, played on the playgrounds, found the Splash Pad and the Nature Trail. Then we had lunch and a little rest time before heading to the Splash Pad for some water fun! Brian took a 2.6 mile hike on the Oak Ridge Nature Trail then we all joined up at the pool. We grilled hotdogs for supper, visited with the Jackson family (our campground neighbors who ironically enough were from Macon!), watched for shooting stars and just enjoyed the outdoors and being together. On Sunday morning we ALL went on the 2.6 mile hike. Towards the end Brice got tired and begged to be held. He also grabbed a cactus, which didn’t help his attitude. We never saw a (much hoped for) alligator but we still had fun. Straight from the hike we went to the lodge where we all thoroughly enjoyed a delicious buffet lunch…fried chicken, pot roast, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, fried okra, corn, rolls, salad and desserts of all kinds. It was wonderful to have such a great meal cap off our terrific weekend! After the big meal we went back to the camper to rest then we started packing up to head home. As we made our way back to Macon we began flipping through the State Park guide to plan our next get-a-way. And, for the record, here is everyone’s favorite thing…Brian: sitting outside the camper at night enjoying the outdoors, Grammy: the hike, Sam: the Splash Pad, Brice: “be dark” (which is most ironic because all he could talked about before the trip was being scared of the camper because it’s dark), and I most enjoyed watching my boys experience camping for the first time and their freedom to roam the great outdoors. This was awesome and I'd highly recommend at least giving it a try!


Our campsite.


Breakfast outside!

Splash Pad

Brice darted around like a water bug the entire time. He was beside himself with excitement!

Ready to hike!

The Spanish Moss was unbelievable!

We tried but didn't see a Gopher Tortoise...

Looking for an alligator.

Everyone looks pretty happy considering this is at the end of the 2.6 mile hike!

Saying good-bye!