Family Visit

WARNING: LONG POST

My parents and nephew were able to come out for a visit these past ten days. I'm not sure where the time went, but it went too fast! They arrived on Monday, two days before our kids started school.

The 1st day of their vacation was spent meeting teachers and preparing for school to start, which is WAY too early in my opinion.

Ryan seemed a little dazed by it all this year, not really ready for the early mornings and homework to begin. I think we all were a little dazed.

Some of us went swimming and enjoyed the sun on the first day of school. Braydon was a little bummed that Ryan couldn't come with us, but he still had fun.

He decided he wanted to try and surf...

Kaitlyn thought she'd give him some lessons on form

They both ended up with some pretty good moves

Andy, Janelle, and Seth were able to come down for a few days, so we headed to a state park with one of the 20 remaining covered bridges left in Georgia.

I was a little nervous driving through it. It just didn't seem all that sturdy, but we made it through and had fun playing in the water and sliding down the rocks.

Unfortunately, the fun afternoon ended a bit tragic as my mom soaked her cell phone in the water(see it in her side pocket).

And Braydon fell and chipped his tooth on the rocks.

Thankfully, both were replaced/fixed. We have a U.S. Cellular store here in town and courtesy of Dr. Frantz Braydon's tooth was fixed as good as new. I love our dentist and his staff! They got us in quickly and were so good with Braydon.

We now refer to that day as the most expensive day of their vacation.

After we recovered from our day of costly incidents, we packed up and enjoyed ourselves at Six Flags White Water Park.

Everyone headed in different directions, each according to their own thrill factor. Ryan, Seth, and I pretty much stayed together, as we aren't much for thrill seeking.

I did manage to talk Ryan into going on something other than just the basic water toys that are designed for the younger children. He is not much on speed or anything that takes him faster than he can go himself. He did survive and have fun. I think he realized things aren't always as scary as they seem, and it can be fun to try new things.

Most of our(Ryan & I) time was spent in the Lazy River, where you can either float around an entire circle with a gentle current, or you can swim. Ryan and Braydon liked to race each other, even though they said they weren't racing. I tried hard to keep up. I'm not sure how many times I went around, but it was enough to feel dizzy!

It was a fun day, and thankfully we avoided the thundershowers that were predicted!

Our next adventure was a trip to Stone Mountain. It had been several years since we had been there, so it was fun to go and see the laser show again and all of the activities they have for families to enjoy.

Some fun facts about Stone Mountain:

The Memorial Carving depicts three Confederate heroes of the Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and Lt. General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

The mountain is 825 feet tall and covers 583 acres. The top of the mountain is 1,683 feet above sea level.

The entire carved surface of the Memorial Carving measures three acres, larger than a football field.

The carving of the three men towers 400 feet above the ground, measures 90 by 190 feet, and is recessed 42 feet into the mountain. The deepest point of the carving is at Lee's elbow, which is 12 feet to the mountain's surface.

Here is a link if you want to read more about the history of Stone Mountain- http://www.stonemountainpark.org/text/Stone%20Mountain%20History.pdf

We decided to take the sky-ride up to the top of the mountain. It's a cable car that they cram as many people in that will fit and shimmy them on up the mountain. It's a little unnerving to look down, but it's much quicker than hiking.

It is beach breezy up on top of the mountain and completely comfortable this time of year. We spent some time looking around and taking pictures.

Ryan's equilibrium was thrown off a bit, and this is how he spent most of his time. I tried to reassure him he wasn't going to fall, but no matter, he continued to crawl his way around the mountain - poor boy.

The view was amazing

After a few pictures, we headed back down to play and wait for the laser show to start. The boys got laser swords and mow-hawk headdresses that lit up for the festivities.

They have a huge grassy area where you can leave your chairs, blankets and coolers while you walk around and enjoy the park before the laser show begins. It is really a fun place to go and enjoy several different types of activities throughout the afternoon/evening.

The next morning(Sunday) we were up bright and early preparing for Cody's Eagle Scout Court of Honor that evening. He had a friend that finished his Eagle around the same time, so they did a combined ceremony. They had the same leaders going through the scouting program, so it was fun to see the people that made such a difference in these young men's attitude and experiences in scouting.

We had a short program followed by refreshments.

And there was cake. Sherry(Riley's mom), arranged for the cake to be made, and it was fun and perfect.

We had the boys cut the first piece. I had suggested they interlock their hands and feed each other the first piece as well, but they didn't think that was such a good idea. Oh well, I tried.

It was a great evening, and we appreciate everyone who gave of their time and efforts to support these wonderful young men.

Our last fun activity was a trip to the Georgia Aquarium.

Home to whale sharks and manta rays, Ocean Voyager is the world's largest aquarium exhibit with 6.3 million gallons of water. You can watch thousands of animals in front of the largest viewing window in North America.

It was pretty amazing. They had a lot of the see and touch exhibits, as well as huge windows to view the amazing sea creatures. It seemed that no matter where we were in the aquarium, we had a good view of everything.

Feeding time for the beluga whale

Albino Alligator

We learned that you can dive with the sharks and creatures of the sea. It will take some training and a bit of $$ but would make for a memorable experience. I think I'm more comfortable on the outside than I would be on the inside, but it's cool they have that option for those that would enjoy it.

It was a fun day, and Ryan was thrilled to take a day off from school to see these amazing creatures of the sea.

We enjoyed every single minute of each and every day we had together. It was crazy and busy, but so much fun. On our down time my dad managed to help Casey finish (re-do) our laundry room, work on our kitchen ceilings, and give ideas for more home improvement projects.

The boys enjoyed playing video games, playing outside and finding their own creatures.

We are now back to school and back to the routine of daily living - blah - It was too much fun! Thank you family for the fun times and great memories!!