Hippos

Evan loves school. He loves learning "new facts" each day, and he adores his teacher, Ms. Garber.

Thus far, official homework is yet to be assigned. Instead, Evan self-imposes homework almost every night. Above is his report on Hippos (click the image to see a larger view). He and Will did the research together on the internet and in his World Atlas. (Any excuse to crack the atlas and Evan is all over it -- plus, what picture would be complete without a few country flags?)

SpongeBob

What a silly, soft, and wonderful pillowcase. It reminds me of the pillow case I used at your house earlier this month! I love it! Thanks, Aunt Emmy!

Love,
Alex

PS How old do I have to be before Mommy lets me watch the show?

The Georgia Aquarium

We joined the Georgia Aquarium again, after a few year hiatus (during which time we frequented the zoo). Several of the exhibits are newer and fancier than we remembered, like the penguin exhibit shown below. Nothing tops the gigantic tank in the Ocean Voyager exhibit, though!

Evan has been learning about Octopi in school, so he was thrilled when this octopus emerged from his tight hiding spot, just as we approached the tank! I snapped one picture but by the time Evan returned with Alex, our creepy little friend was hiding again.

We love the tunnel through the big tank!

More pics below:

Happy 4th Birthday, Alex!

Happy 4th Birthday to Alex. We love you, Little Buddy.

And a few pics in a slideshow below. Yes, we did take him to Chuck E Cheese. Thankfully, when you go at 4:30 pm, you have the place to yourself! It wasn't even creepy!

In this set is also the annual picture taken of Alex and Mommy at the time Alex was born. :)

SuperFriends

On Alex's last day to be three, we spent most of the day in search of super heroes from McDonald's Happy Meals. We are missing Iron Man, but the day was otherwise successful! I also bought a ton of cupcakes at Sam's Club. For a treat, Alex had a "3" cupcake before bed (see above).

We don't know much about super friends around here; we don't watch the shows, nor do we have more than one or two books. Nonetheless, Alex loves them. He even made up some of his own names for his new friends:

Wolverine: Wolver-Green
Incredible Hulk: Amazing Green
and the name that baffles us all... Thing: Rocky the Camel!

Myrtle Beach with NeeNee and Bapa

We spent the weekend with Gramie & Bapa in Myrtle Beach! What a great way to celebrate an early 4th birthday with Alex!

We've met in Chattanooga the last three years, but it was time for a new adventure. Of course, this meant A LOT more driving for my folks, but we had such a great time exploring a new location! Thanks, Mom and Dad / Gramie & Bapa! We love you!

Evan shows off his flag book.

It was 11:00 pm, but that didnt matter! :)

New York!

Alex and I escaped for a quick weekend trip to NY to see Aunt Emmy and Uncle Chris (Alex's preschool doesnt start for another month!) This trip brought our "states visited summer 2010" total to 14! (For those of you who are counting: GA, SC, NC, VA, TN, IL, WI, MN, IA, CO, NE, WY, NY and NJ. Poor Evan only racked up 12 since he was in school during this trip!)

From Thurs night -Sunday, we fit in picnics, coffee, a trip to the pool, an afternoon at Stone Barnes, a day at Battery Park and Governors Island (where Alex earned another Junior Ranger badge), and some outlet mall shopping. Alex taught Uncle Chris to play Angry Birds on my phone, we played a little Wii, Emmy somehow worked from home most of Friday, and... oh... the food! Homemade ice cream in downtown Tarrytown, bagels, pizza, Chinese, Mexican (best ever), and a few trips to McDonalds for Super Hero happy meal toys! :)

Thanks Em and Chris! We loved every minute!

A picnic near the river

New York style pizza! YUM!
Alex ate the whole piece and wanted more.
Emmy advised us that the correct way to order
was to ask for a "regular slice of pie!" (did I get that right, Em?)
We ate at this little pizza spot two nights in a row! :)

We spent all day Saturday at Governors Island, where living-history
actors were present for the annual Civil War weekend.
Alex loved meeting the soldiers. He really got into the spirit
of the event, asking questions, touring, and exploring.
(see slide show below)

Nana's Visit

Nana came for a visit while Gramps was on a mission trip to Costa Rica. Her visit corresponded to Evan's first day of Kindergarten, so she was here to see his huge smile after a successful first day! We also had time for her, Will, and the boys to take a canoe trip down the Ocmulgee River. (Since the canoe can't hold three adults and two kids, I offered to be the photographer!)

As always, you can click on the pictures to see a larger view.

Thanks for coming all the way from CO to see us, Nana!

Evan's First day of Kindergarten

Nana and Alex waved goodbye as Will and I took Evan
to his first day of Kindergarten. Alex yelled, "Goodbye,
my wonderful Evan! Have fun at big Kingergarten!"
I hadn't cried until then....

But before we left, I insisted on a family picture.
Note that someone was still a little nervous....
Hopefully, his first day will go better than last year!

Evan arrived, sat in his assigned spot
(next to Amelia and across from Turner),
and unpacked all his supplies.

We love you, Evan!

Kindergarten Open House

Evan met his teacher tonight, and school starts tomorrow. Ms. Garber is going to be wonderful! This is her 38th year teaching and we've heard nothing but wonderful comments about her! We are looking forward to a great year!

As you can see in the 3rd picture, Evan was a little nervous! Thankfully, he got a huge confidence boost as he read aloud from the overhead projector during his classroom time!

Evan and his Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Garber!

Evan's weekly schedule

Daddy completes some paperwork while
photographer mommy stalks around the classroom!

The Great Smoky Mountains

Instead of driving straight back to Macon, we decided to drive west to the mountains and down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Great Smoky National Park. Here are some of our favorite pictures.

We finally found cool air, as it got down to the mid-70's on a misty afternoon on the spine of the Appalachians. We also drove through 21 tunnels in one day!!!

Great Smoky Mountain National Park was super neat. We went on a short hike the afternoon we arrived, and dipped our toes in a mountain stream (it was cold enough to make our feet ache after a few minutes . . . just what we were hoping for).


We weren't sure where to spend the night in Gatlinburg, but finally found a place on the river. It was kind of shabby, but Evan (in defense of his father's choice) insisted "river view . . . pretty awesome!" Much better than the hotel was the discoery of Davy Crockett Mini Golf. Alex's reaction was "I want to GO there." We did, and played 36 holes. Ani made the boys sing the Davy Crockett theme at the pro shop until they gave us something free (two golf balls--score!).

We also had fun in Pigeon Forge, finding a great restaurant as well as the place where Bapa and Gramie honeymooned.
We took a long hike to Laurel Falls on Friday morning (after Alex--wearing a Bear mask--tried to scare everyone at the visiter center). It was a beautiful hike, though a little too steep and hot for comfort.
All in all, we covered 1578 miles on this trip and collected over a dozen national park stamps along the way. The boys had a blast, and learned a lot about our county's history and natural beauty. They are really great travelers.

Colonial Williamsburg, Day 2

Day two in Williamsburg was no cooler, but most of the living history folks seemed to be in a better mood. We visited gardens, a printer's shop, the magazine, the blacksmith, a shoemaker, the courthouse, and the gunsmith. We also played colonial games like rings and shut-box.


Seeing the British arrive in town was a little scary (Evan was glad he wasn't wearing a patriot's three-corner hat). We had great seats to see Benedict Arnold ride into town, but he then shouted at us for 20 minutes or so. If the boys needed any help figuring out who the bad guys were, Arnold clinched it.



The boys learned how to clean wool . . . or at least how to stick their fingers in poop-water.

Playing with toy soldiers. Evan said "I'll be George Washington and the Patriots." Alex responded, "I'll be General Cornwallis." The other parents in the room wandered if their 5th graders had learned this.

After we left Williamsburg, we made the decision to take an extra day and drive home through the Great Smoky Mountains--in search of cooler weather.

Some pictures of our second Williamsburg day:

Colonial Williamsburg, day 1

Today opened ominously when we noticed that the eggs at the hotel's breakfast bar were being prepared in a simple fry-pan held over the parking-lot asphalt. The heat index would reach 110 by midday, though we suspect this measurement must have been taken in the shade.

We began the first of two days at Colonial Williamsburg. What really made the day fun was watching Evan and Alex try to piece together all of the bits of history. We started at the beautiful Colonial Governor's palace (with a fabulous garden maze), where the domestics were preparing for a party that night, but worried about the growing discontent of the town's inhabitants. This observation proved prescient in several ways. First, the citizens in the street were indeed riled up about the governor's seizure of gunpowder and were threatening to storm the palace. Evan (apparently paying attention) was extremely concerned that this would upset the party!

What was less enjoyable than these revolutionary theatrics was the apparently genuine unpleasantness of the town's inhabitants. We aren't sure if it was the heat and humidity or some deep method acting, but almost all of the costumed denizens were abrupt and appeared to be put out with having to talk to us. We weren't even asking dumb questions (yet). The city was charming, but the attitude of the "living history" folks made us glad we live in the present.


Just when it seemed our spirits were starting to flag, Ani signed us up for an hour long monologue by George Washington, followed by 75 minutes of Q&A. The guy was really very good, but even Will started to get antsy during the second hour. The highlight was when Alex raised his hand during the Q&A, and the father of our country, more than 100 feet away in a theater crammed with 300 sweaty tourists, called on our baby boy. Afraid that Alex would ask something along the lines of "when do we get to make pinch pots," Ani and Will practically fell out of their seats trying to cover his mouth and pull down his hand. George Washington, ever a vindicator of the rights of man (and boys), sternly rebuked the parents: "does he not have a question, or do you just not want him to ask it? Let him ask." Struck dumb by this (facsimile of a) great man, Ani and Will could do nothing but silently and shamefully shake their heads.

These are the indeed the times that try men's souls! Back out in the sunshine, these patriots were relieved to escape Washington's awful gaze and gratefully returned to the snarly artisans.

Did I say it was hot?

Pics of the day:

Jamestowne & Yorktown, VA

Today we spent most of the day in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. We don't know much about global warming, but it seemed to us that Virginia was just as hot (maybe even hotter) in the seventeenth century! The heat was oppressive . . . luckily for those early colonists they had AC at the visitor's center!


One of the highlights of Jamestowne was the Junior Ranger scavenger hunt at the archaeology museum. The boys were each given a small picture of an artifact they then had to find in the museum. We don't know what kind of training they gave to the seemingly kind old lady at the front desk, but her sense of humor (or was it her judgment?) left a bit to be desired. After warning us that it might be a bit much for the boys to go into the "death room" with the full skeletons and whatnot, where do you think we found Alex's artifact? You guessed it . . . right beside the leering skulls. What was the artifact, you ask? Something fun for all little girls and boys . . . a brass ear picker/toot pick combo with a dainty spoon on one side and a gnarly spike on the other. Now, which end goes where? Oh well, we're sure most three year-olds figure it out just fine. On the plus side, he earned a reward (a neato Jamestown tatoo) for being a good sport.

After filling out all 327 activities in the 52 page junior ranger books (only a slight exaggeration!), we headed out of the heat and back to the visitor's center. For a minute there it seemed like our spirits were flagging, but luckily Ani found us a 90 minute ranger-led program on native culture that pepped us all right up. Evan was selected to grind corn, Alex was selected to be an Appomattox chief, and Will was lucky enough to be a beautiful growing corn stalk. Strange, but somehow Ani was not selected for a role. Fifty minutes in, Alex raised his hand and asked "when do we get to make pinch pots." Here it is:

"Are you having fun daddy?"

After a really cool (except in temperature) trip to the glassblowing house, we headed along the colonial parkway to the Yorktown Battlefield.

The highlight here was going into the Thomas Nelson house. Evan and Alex dressed up in revolutionary-era garb in the house of a signer of the Declaration of Independence!


The boys had a great time spotting the cannonballs lodged in the side of the house, which was caught in the crossfire during the siege of the city.

We topped off the day by eating in Williamsburg in an eighteenth century tavern. The boys enjoyed a well-deserved root beer. Evan dominated the family sitting next to us in some 18th century version of craps.

More pictures: