John's 1st Braves Game 08.31.2011 - almost 10 months

John went to his very 1st Braves game tonight!  Thanks so much to my friend and co-worker Karen for the tickets and parking pass.  Very much appreciated!!! :) It was just the three of us (Dave, me, and John) at the game tonight and it was so fun to give John 100% of our attention and watch his little eyes as he was amazed at the game.  Sweet Ella Kate did not get to go to the game but don't feel to sorry for her yet....  She is on her way to the beach with Papa and LeLe for a long weekend :)  Ella Kate LOVES the beach!  Thanks Papa and LeLe for taking her.  She has been so excited ever since she got the invitation to go :)

John was a perfect little angel at the game.  He never even wined or tried to crawl out of our laps.  He literally just sat in amazement and appeared to be paying attention.  We stayed the entire game.  I could not believe he was so good for nine innings.  The people sitting around us were hilarious and loved, loved baby John.  Such a fun night.  You will see that Dave is holding John in all of the pics - this is b/c he would not hardly let me hold him :)  I think Dave had a serious bonding moment tonight.  :)

Atlanta Braves Vs. Washington Nationals 08.31.2011

The cute little Lacoste shirt John is wearing is truly vintage :)  It was Dave's when he was little.  I just love it when Ella Kate and John can where clothes that Dave and I wore at the same age.

 This is pretty much the position John stayed in for 9 innings.  I think we may have a big Braves fan on our hands :)

 The usher really took to John and brought him this certificate for his 1st Braves Game.

So proud of his certificate!

Happy Birthday Brooks

Last Saturday we got to celebrate Brooksie Bears 1st Birthday!  It was so much fun!  The pictures pretty much tell the story.

 Happy 1st Birthday Brooks!

 Brooks and John trying to break into the coolers.

 Best Buddies.

 I absolutely love this picture.  Big Man Brooks, driving around Ella Kate.

 She was happy to be catching a ride.

 John loving seeing his sister through the door.

 Please someone let me out!

 Ella Kate either playing or tormeting the boys:) 

 Ella Kate loves to play store and the playroom is her store and her room is her house.  I think John was trying to copy her.  So sweet.

My Big Boy.  He loves table food and chicken nuggets and peaches are two of his favorites :)

Glacier 2011

Dave and I got back from Glacier a week ago today.  It was such an amazing trip and ranks near the top of my favorite vacation spots.  Before we left I was excited about the trip but a little nervous too.  I had never been out west and Dave is far more adventuresome than I so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into.  Ohh but it was amazing.  A friend recently said to me, "I can't imagine anyone going to Glacier and after seeing the views not believe in God."  It is so true - the views are indescribable and the pictures do them no justice.  It is some of God's work at it's best!
Dave is still organizing all our Glacier pics but I wanted to write down some of the fun things we did before I forget :)

Thursday, August 11th. We arrived in Kalispell, Montana and rented a fun candy apple red 2012 mustang convertible. I was thrilled. It was Dave's little surprise for me. My first car was a red mustang that I Loved!! Dave always made fun of it but even he admitted driving our rental car was pretty darn cool :) We started driving and headed for Lake McDonald Lodge. On the way we stopped to buy 2 cans of bear spray and had a piece of local Huckleberry Pie. Huckleberries taste similar to a blackberry and is the preferred food of our little grizzly bear friends. After our stops we made it to Lake McDonald Lodge where Dave worked the summer after our freshman year at Auburn. We checked in and looked around and then had dinner at the lodge. Dave worked as a dishwasher at the lodge the summer of ’99 and he recognized our waiter whom Dave had worked with 12 years ago. The guy said this was his 22nd summer coming back to work at the lodge! Wow! After dinner we met up with a Marietta friend that now lives in Montana, Mr. Paul Scar. It was so fun to get to see Paul and meet some of the locals :) They were all so nice and funny.


Friday, August 12th - We woke up early Friday morning checked out of the lodge and drove the Going to the Sun Road. This is not a road to drive if you have any fear of heights. There are absolutely no guard rails but it is so incredible. It was my first real experience of Glacier Park and I loved the views. We drove it with our convertible top down, great music on and enjoyed every second. After our little drive we went to Logan's Pass and started what Dave called our 5 mile "bonus hike" to Dragon's Tail. Let's just say now I know why they call it the Dragon's Tail it is crazy high, requires you to walk across all matter of snow drifts, and extremely narrow. There is no room for error and thank goodness I had hiking sticks. However with all that said I truly loved it and the reward at the top was totally worth it. It was my favorite hike. We saw tons of wildlife on this hike too including Mountain Goats, Marmots, and Big Horn Sheep. After we hiked back down the Dragon's Tail we started our real hike of the day. Yes, another 7.6 mile hike along the Highline Trail to Granite Park Chalet. The Granite Park Chalet was our accommodations for Friday night and it is one of those places where you pack in and pack out your stuff. You basically get a room and a bed and you have to bring everything else. I was a little nervous about this but I loved it too!! The chalet is on top of a mountain and the people we met there were so cool. As soon as we arrived at the Chalet several people were looking through binoculars down the Highline trail and they pointed out to us a Mama Grizzly and 2 cubs walking right on the trail. Oh Yes - they were walking right on the trail we had been on 10 mins earlier. That was a little scary for me. Then later I found out that the trail coming up to the Chalet is known as Bear Valley and was also the setting for the book and true story, Night of the Grizzly. To top it off, when Dave was walking down to the water source for the Chalet he had to turn around b/c there was a black bear playing with the water filter. Once we got to the Chalet we had hiked about 12.5 miles that day mostly up hill. I was beyond exhausted. We ate dinner with the other guests and listened to a little talk from one of the rangers. Loved the other guests. So very interesting. For dessert we had genuine Montana Huckleberry dream bars. It was well deserved after my 12.5 mile day :)

Saturday, August 13th – Saturday morning we hiked from the Chalet 2.5 miles straight up to the Swiftcurrent Tower. The tower is actually a tiny little fire tower on top of a mountain that is around 8,500 feet elevation. The view was absolutely breath taking. We met a couple of locals that were also hiking to the tower and they were characters. They were big jokesters and Dave and I had fun talking with them while enjoying the view. The little fire tower is about 1/3 the size of Ella Kate’s room and while we were enjoying the view I saw a man walk out of it. We got to talking to him and he said he lives in the fire tower for 10 days and then hikes back out (10 miles) for 3 days to get more food. Wow! He was quite an interesting fellow. Next we hiked 2.5 miles back down the mountain and started the 7 mile hike along the Swiftcurrent Trail to the Many Glacier hotel. I saw my first moose on this trail – so amazing! We had a great dinner at the Cattle Supper Barn that night.  The Supper Barn was run by some Blackfeet Indians and was really cool. We were both starving after hiking around 22 miles the past 2 days so we split a T-bone steak! It was amazing and huge.

Sunday, August 14th – On Sunday we took a break from hiking and drove to Babb for breakfast and then to Alberta, Canada to see visit the Prince of Wales hotel and the town of Waterton. The Prince of Wales hotel is where the Shining was filmed. Such a cool hotel with awesome views! We loved the town of Waterton! We had lunch there and shopped around buying souvenirs for the kids. When we got back to the Many Glacier lodge we spotted a mama black bear with 3 cubs on the mountain across from the hotel. We watched them for a while and then hopped in our car and followed them along the road/lake creating a “Bear Jam”. We got great videos and pics – at one point we were only about 250 feet away from them. So very cool. We headed to the Swiftcurrent Inn for dinner that night and after dinner spotted another mama grizzly and 2 cubs on the mountain right across from the hotel. Seeing the bears was so amazing to me.

Monday, August 15th – The original two trails we were going to hike on Monday were closed due to “bear activity.” Basically there were a couple of bears that liked hanging out on the trails :) Really glad I was not the hiker to have to report this :)  We decided to do an all day horse back ride to Cracker Lake. We were with 5 other people including our guide Sam. Sam was a recent college grad with a Forestry degree. Dave’s first degree from UGA was in Forestry so they bonded quickly. We rode horseback 3 hours to the most beautiful lake I have ever seen, Cracker Lake. The color of the lake was truly a bright, bright turquoise. The brilliant color was due to melting Glacier Crystals. Dave would probably be appalled at my explanation of the color but while Sam was giving us all the details I was watching a moose grazing directly across the lake. The wildlife I saw absolutely baffled me. I just loved it! We had ordered boxed lunches from our hotel that morning and we enjoyed a little picnic by Cracker Lake before we headed back down the trail on our horses. I really got attached to my sweet horse, Snip. He was so fun but he did make me a little nervous when we would be trotting up a big hill and he would just stop and almost hang off the cliff to grab a “snack.” I knew to kick him to make him go but either I am not a very hard kicker or he was really, really hungry. The steep drop off did not seem to bother old, Snip :)

Tuesday, August 16th – Tuesday was our biggest adventure. We did the Dawson – Putamaken Pass Loop which was a total of 18 miles and an elevation of a little over 8,000 feet. It was unbelievable. We started the trail at 9am and finished around 6:30pm. For three miles you are basically on top of a mountain hiking on a ridge between two passes, Dawson Pass and Putamaken Pass. This three mile stretch of hiking is known to be one of the top 10 hikes in the world. It lived up to its reputation. Very memorable day but not a trail to do if you are even remotely scared of heights.  A narrow trail with an 8,000 foot drop off for 3 miles can be a little hairy :)  I am not afraid of heights but I took my fair share of deep breaths as there was no room for error :)

Wednesday, August 17th – Wednesday we went to Salt Lick Mountain, which is a natural salt mountain that Mountain Goats hang out on all day and lick the salt. Next we drove to the little town that hosts the University of Montana.

Thursday, August 18th – Headed home to hug and kiss our sweet little girl and boy! Ohh how we missed them and can't wait to take them out West with us we they get a little older. 

We had an awesome trip and thanks to Dave for all his hard work planning to make it so perfect! 

John is 9 months

Georgia Aquarium with Cousin Josh

We had such a fun weekend!!!  It all started on Thursday when Ella Kate, John, and I met Papa, LeLe, Aunt Dena, and Josh at the Georgia Aquarium.  We all had a great time at the Aquarium but I honestly think that Baby John liked it the most.  He was mesmorized by the fish :)  After the Aquarium we headed to the Varsity for a traditional Atlanta lunch and then home for naps.  When Dave got home from work we took Ella Kate back to Papa and LeLe's house so that Josh and Ella Kate could have their first spend the night party in LeLe's new play room - featuring Ella Kate's favorite bunk beds!  Since Dave and I only had one child for the evening we decided to take Baby John on a 3 hour hike on Kennesaw Mtn to prepare us for our upcoming Glacier Trip.  Sweet John did not make a peep and stayed awake just looking around the whole time.  Friday night, Ella Kate's sweet Sunday School teacher, Miss Hannah, babysat for us and Dave and I had a fun night out on the town.  Our supper club organized a group dinner on the Square for the Friday night concert on the Square and we filled up 3 big tables and had a blast.  So very thankful for such great friends.  Love all those couples!  It was like a big tailgate seeing everyone.  Saturday morning we left for Dahlonega brigh and early to meet Aunt Laura, Uncle Jason, Papa, LeLe, Aunt Dena, and Josh on the Chestatee River for a day of canoeing.  LeLe and Laura where nice enough to stay back and wach John.  We had so much fun and Ella Kate loved loved loved it.  Ella Kate and Jason rode in a canoe by themselves the entire 3+ hour canoe trip.  Ella Kate loves her Uncle Jason.  I looked back at one point and caught them both very softly singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat :)  Wish I had a video camera taped to their boat.  I had been talking to Ella Kate for the past couple of weeks about proper canoe behavior.  Well, she evidently was listening b/c she never moved unless she was told and was an angel.  Dave and I were so proud.  Such a fun weekend!

 Baby John and LeLe at the Aquarium.

 Spoiled Rotten :)

 He was in awe of the fish.  I mean truly mesmorized.

 Absolutely could not get enough of the fish.

 Ella Kate and Josh playing around, John watching the fish.  Pretty much how the day went.

 Sweet little cousins.

 Papa and his grandbabies.

 It was hard to get a picture of John's face b/c he just wanted to see the fish :)  Sweet boy loves fish just like his Daddy.

 Notice Baby John - captivated by the fish. 

 So sweet.

 Love these two.

 My baby boy - looking back at a fish tank.