2009 4th of July and Mark's birthday

  We had a great 4th down at Shannon and John's house.  First thing that morning, we got the kids "cars" all decorated for their neighborhood parade.  We had a lawnmower leading the parade, followed by several of the neighborhood kids, then John, Grace and Daisy in the red jeep.  The big finale was a firetruck and ambulance.  It was so cute! 

 

We also celebrated Mark's birthday a little early that weekend.  Shannon made him a Nascar cake!   Luke was sure to tell him that we couldn't really eat his cars, because they were made out of metal...ha!

2009 Zoo Atlanta

This past weekend, Nana came to visit!  Friday afternoon, she watched Melanie and sent me off to get a pedicure.  What a good Nana!  Saturday morning, we went out to breakfast at Thumbs Up Diner, then went to take Melanie for her second haircut.    We went to Salon Red Kids again, so Nana could take advantage of the shopping they have in the front of the store.  After a nap, we took Melanie on her first trip to the zoo. 

 

 

Melanie loved seeing the giraffes, the pandas, and she especially loved the lemurs.  There was a Service Dog in the tree house viewing area, and all the lemurs were screeching at it.  It was really loud, and kind of startling, but Melanie thought it was pretty funny.  What Melanie didn't like was the comatose goats in the petting zoo.  Mark referred to them as show ponies, because they just sat there on these pedestals, getting brushed all day.  She scrunched up her nose as soon as she got in there, and was ready to leave.  

  

 

She also liked riding the carousel, which we rode just before leaving for the day.

 

After the zoo, we went out to eat pizza at Zucca, and Melanie had a great time jammin to some tunes!

Atlanta Botanical Gardens

 
Last weekend, we took Melanie to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  Mark had the idea to go, but heard from a coworker that admission was free on the first weekend of the month, through the end of the year, for Bank of America customers.  The program is called 'Museums On Us'.  They're offering free admission to over 100 museums nationwide, including (in Atlanta) the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Fernbank, Zoo Atlanta, the Atlanta History Center, and Millenium Gate.  I have to admit that I was hesitant about taking her there.  I wasn't sure if she would appreciate it, since she's so young.  But, the place really surprised me.  That day was the Grand Opening of their "green" expansion, and they also were displaying sculptures by Henry Moorethroughout the gardens.  The whole place was really beautiful, and they even had a kids section.  We started off there, through the belly of the caterpillar, coming out through gates of a butterfly.  Another section was set up to look like Mr. McGregor's garden from Peter Rabbit...very cute.  There was a little shack there, where we had to hide from the rain for a few minutes...ha!  After that, there was a bee hive (behind glass), and a "kids" only tree house with spiral slide.  After a few hours, we had to run to avoid a big rainstorm.  Melanie was wearing out anyway (turns out she had a double ear infection).  Next month we're planning on going to the zoo that first weekend of the month.  I think Melanie will really like that one.  Right now, whenever she sees a bear (in a book), she says wwrrraaahhhhwww!

p.s. the full album from the day is posted over on the left.   

A-Day Game

This past weekend, we headed to Auburn for the A-day game.  That game is what it is...a glorified scrimmage.  But, we had fun and it was an oppurtunity to take Melanie into the stadium. 

After the game, fans were allowed onto the field for autographs.  After taking a few pictures, we tried to track down Aubie, but we couldn't get to him fast enough.  He took off down one of the tunnels.  We guessed that he didn't want to take any attention away from the players and coaches that day. 

We did get a picture with a cheerleader, but Melanie wasn't exactly excited about that. 

Once we got back to Nana and Grandaddy's house,  we just played out in the yard, since it was so nice outside.  Melanie's favorite is still her pink car, and she loves it even more the faster you can push her.

*post script - I take full blame for the less than stellar pictures from the weekend.  It was my fault that we left the good camera at Shannon's house last weekend.  Shame on me!

 

First Day of Spring

We, like other fools in Atlanta, got spring fever on the first day of spring, and spent the day working and planting in the yard.  Mark cut down the old holly bushes in the front, which we've hated forever, and planted some new shrubs.  We didn't get a "before" shot, but you've probably seen them in some of our older posts.  Here's what they looked like all cut down.  We added a lot more to this pile by the end of the next day.  Unbelievably, they picked all this stuff up the following Monday.  We have great service in Decatur!

 

Here's a couple of pictures of Melanie "taking care" of Lucy while we worked.

 

 

While Mark was out picking up mulch, etc., I had to watch Melanie while trying to continue working.  It turns out that Mark's truckbed is a pretty good playpen. 

 

We didn't get finished with getting everything planted by the end of the weekend, so we had to take a "finished" shot on a different day.  Here's what the new shrubs look like.  We would like to plant some low, creeping flowering plants near the front for some color at some point, but this is a start, for now.

Snow Day 2009

After being warned by Nana and Grandaddy that it was going to snow, we finally started to get some around noon last Sunday.  We wanted to get out in it, and show Melanie what it was all about, but we wanted to wait until it slacked off a little.  At four o'clock, it was still pouring, so we finally went out to get some pictures before it got dark.  

   

   

 

As you can see from Melanie's shoes, we're really not prepared for snow.  So, after getting a couple of pictures, we went back in for a snack. 

   

Jen and Dave's Wedding

Just before Thanksgiving, we went down to Santa Rosa beach for Jen and Dave's wedding.  We had such a blast, hanging out with all our friends!  These pictures are long overdue, but the album is now posted over on the left.  Congratulations to Jen and Dave!