Mountain Getaway

Happy Fall Break!  This is always a nice little week's break from school.  We headed up to Mineral Bluff in the North GA mountains for a few days.  It was perfect and beautiful weather!  We were all happy for an easy drive up, but I think Mia was pretty excited to have Decker ride with her like this most of the way.

 Such a beautiful view!

 Two of my favorite views...a good book in one and my girls in the other.  Love them both!

 This cabin is great for our family.  The girls love that they each get their own bedroom, and each bedroom has a tv in it; I can see why that's a fun vacation treat.  We all enjoy the hot tub that sits outside to enjoy the beautiful mountain views.  We also have fun with the two arcade games and the pool table in the entertainment room.  This is a very comfortable and enjoyable home!

 Our friend recommended the game Superfight to us, and we had a blast with it.  It's arguing which ridiculous situation would win in a fight.  For example, would the Queen who is incredibly sticky and has t-rex arms beat a Boy Scout with an invisible jet who can clone himself?  Hilarity ensued, and we had a million laughs together.  It was fantastic!

 One morning we went up to hike Fall Branch Falls.  They had closed the regular hiking trail, so we ended up on a side trail that was more difficult, but we made it.

 Taking a break with Mia for a few minutes.

 We made it up to the beautiful falls; there was no one else around, so we enjoyed the quiet and the lovely views.

 I think we all enjoyed relaxing here.

 It was fun to explore and watch Decker figure out the water too.

 We were only able to stay a few days up here, but it felt like it was a million miles away.  It was the perfect little getaway for us.  We can't wait for next time!

Other Parts of September

September has been lots of fun as we celebrated Ryan's birthday and I had a long girls' weekend at the beach.  Here are some of the other fun parts of the month too.

It was pretty warm one day, so we turned the sprinklers on for the girls to play in.  Aberle joined in, and they had a great time splashing all around!

 There was a spirit night at X-drenaline which Ryan took the girls to for a bit.  Alyssa tagged along too.  They decided to stop at KFC on the way home for dinner, and Danae was there to join in.  These are such sweet girls.

 Mia enjoys writing messages on her sparkly pillow.  Her she is telling Bama she loves her.

Ryan recently taught Mia the secret to making perfect cheeseburgers.  His are always just right, so I'm glad Mia is learning too!

 We were so excited to go to the Tech versus Clemson game with Brandy and Aberle.  We had a great time tailgating ahead of time.  The girls got to meet several of the cheerleaders and see the Ramblin' Wreck up close. 

 We were in a great position for the Buzz Walk, so we easily saw the bands and cheerleaders walking by.  We also gave lots of high fives to the players as they walked to the stadium.

 It was a great day for a game!  Unfortunately, Tech didn't stand a chance against #2 Clemson, but we still had a fun time and appreciated the Lutz's letting us go with them. 

  Lily always has something creative going on, whether it's cat-shaped handmade soap or crazy hairdos!

 Decker is one loved and spoiled puppy dog!

  Mia and Aberle are always up for some tree-climbing!

 Ryan and I had tickets to the Paul Simon Farewell Tour.  We saw him a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, so we were excited he came back.  However, I ended up leaving for my girls' trip on the same night as the concert because I wanted to make sure I got down there and set up for everyone.  Ryan decided to take his guitar teacher, Mark Miller, which worked out great.  This was a good way to thank Mark for all that he's taught Ryan, and we knew he would truly enjoy the music.  Ryan said this was one of the best nights he's had, so I'm very glad it worked out for them to go. 

 It was a very wet soccer classic this year, but these kids didn't mind too much.  Go Cambridge!

 Mia with her sweet friend, Eliana.

 While I was at the beach, Ryan took the girls to a Braves' game.  Always a fun treat!

 I took the girls shopping after school one day, and we ended up staying out much later than expected.  We were hungry and traffic was bad, so we just decided to head over to Melting Pot for a fun evening.  We always love fondue!

 Lily's best friend, Emory, has transferred to Whitefield Academy this year.  We miss her terribly, but we're so glad she's doing well there.  She joined the volleyball team, so our family went to watch her game recently.  We enjoyed getting to see her play (she's really good!) and catching up for a minute afterwards.  Love these sweet friends.

 Cambridge house had a family night of bowling recently which was tons of fun.  Most everyone bowled, and then we went to dinner afterwards with the Wilkinson and Hobson family.  I'm so thankful for such a great school and friends!

 Middle School Pathfinders went up to the Conasauga River for a day trip recently.  This is a unique river in Georgia; there are some fish that live here and nowhere else in the world.  Some parts are deep enough to go snorkeling in which some kids (not Lily though) enjoyed.  There was lots of boulder climbing/jumping, wading through the water, exploring, and hiking.  It was a beautiful day, and they all had a fantastic time!

 Mia's class recently finished reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler.  Their assignment was to then create a board game based on the book.  Mia loved this project!  She was so excited to make it and then take it in for her class to play.  They rotate around playing everyone's game which is such a fun way to discuss the book.  Ms. Keesee took this picture as some of Mia's friends enjoyed her game.

 Lily has enjoyed some of her recent projects too.  On the left was her movie poster for "Revenge" which is a sequel to Beowolf where Beowolf's mother comes back.  She's directing, Avery is writing, and Pamela is "camera girl."  She has Emma Watson, Dove Cameron, Lily James, and Evanna Lynch starring in it.  She says it's coming out in January, 2020, so be ready!  On the right is her poster for Latin.  She had to invent a city and name it with Latin names and parts.  It's called "Imperium Fortis" and has the cities of Swansun and Freemanus.  There's also a large province known as Bloopus.  Gee, I wonder where the idea for her "Brave city" came from.  I'm sure Dansby Swanson and Freddie Freeman could help with this, and I bet the Braves would be glad to see the new mascot, Blooper, is a hit!  I love how her creativity came through on these projects!  We are so thankful for Stonehaven!

It's hard to believe September is behind us.  It's been a great month!

Girls' Beach Weekend

What a fabulous weekend!  In late July, two of my old sorority sisters from college, Becky and Claire, reached out to see if I would be willing to help plan a long weekend getaway.  We realized that our Zeta pledge class would all be turning this 40 this year, and since it's been way too long since we've gotten together, we needed an excuse to catch up.  Thankfully Dad had an open weekend at the condo in mid-September, so we started to plan it.  We hoped that 5 or 6 would be able to come.  Turns out that 12 of us were able to get together!  We were stoked!

I headed down on Wednesday evening and my old roommate, Tay, came down from Birmingham too.  We met up at The Shrimp Basket for dinner.  It was so wonderful to see her again!  We enjoyed a great dinner and then headed to the condo.  We surprised the cleaning lady who thought we were coming in the next day, but we didn't care; we just hung out by the pool while she finished up.  We came back upstairs and stayed up talking until about 1:00 am.  We miss each other so much, so this was a great start to our catch-up time!

On Thursday, Tay and I slept in a bit and then drove over to Pensacola to pick up Claire.  We enjoyed lunch with her and catching up with her.  Other friends started texting that they were driving down; we couldn't wait!  The three of us ended up meeting Becky, Kate, Megan and Emily for dinner that evening and then staying up past midnight talking even more.

On Friday morning, this was the weather that greeted us.  We packed it up and headed down to the beach.  We found our own little spot and the gab-fest continued.

Later on in the day, Christy and Kristin G flew in from out of town, Kristin J drove over from Pensacola, and Celia and Caron drove in too.  We all made it!!!

We got ready for dinner and figured out how to snap our picture beforehand.

I love these faces!

Selfie in the squeezed in elevator.

 Enjoying our delicious dinner at Bill's By the Beach. 

This picture makes me happy!

Kristin J had to drive back to Pensacola on Friday night to take care of her little one, but we were so very glad that she came over for a few hours.  On Saturday morning we had to say goodbye to Kate who needed to get back to Huntsville, but then the rest of us went back down to the beach.  This picture shows what we did pretty much the entire day.  Lazy bums who never stopped talking.  It was fantastic.  We ordered dinner in to the condo and enjoyed one another's company.

On Sunday morning it was time for everyone to leave, but we needed to snap a few pictures first.  Tay and I had to get ours together!

 Some sweet friends that look almost exactly the same as when we came down for Tay's 21st birthday many just a few years ago!

Such an amazingly fantastic weekend with old friends.  It was great to catch up and actually talk with one another instead of just seeing pictures on social media.  I adore these ladies and wish we had more time together.  I can't wait for next time!

Happy 40th Birthday to Ryan

Happy 40th birthday to our favorite guy!  We had so much fun celebrating Ryan over a couple of weeks.  We started over Labor Day weekend which was a few days before his birthday.  David and Jan came down to visit for and spend some time with us.  They stayed at the new Omni Hotel at The Battery which we loved.  We ate Antico in their room one evening and then went down to the pool deck to watch the Braves play while the girls swam.  It was a beautiful evening.  The next day we had fun watching football and hanging out together.  On the morning that they left, we enjoyed breakfast together at the hotel and then we spent some time playing in the green outside which is where the picture below was taken.  It was a great time, and we're always sad to see them go.

 On his actual birthday, Brian and Jill treated us to the day Braves' game against the Red Sox which was a ton of fun.  Not only was the game great (even though we ended up losing in the 9th), but we always love spending time with the Henderson's.  We are thankful for good friends like them.  That evening, Ryan requested Taco Mac which was yummy, and then we enjoyed Mia's brownies for dessert.  I had given Ryan his present about two months earlier; he saw an electric guitar that he couldn't resist!  The girls gave him their presents though so we had a little something to celebrate.  Since it was the middle of the school week, it was a pretty quiet evening.

Liz came to visit the next weekend.  We feel like we should celebrate the Mom on a birthday as much as the kid!  It was wonderful to have her in town with us.  We enjoyed dinner at Figo, watching football, and simply hanging out and talking together.  She's such a great lady that we always appreciate our time together!  One evening, Lily made her lemon cake with fondant icing for Ryan which we all enjoyed.    

We are all so incredibly thankful for Ryan and what he means to us.  We always joke that he's the pod that holds us peas together.  He keeps us laughing, and he's so thoughtful.  We are so grateful we're in his family!  We love him so much!