Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Happy Birthday, Jessica!

Today Jessica is TEN YEARS OLD!

Since she doesn't always like to have her picture taken, I'm posting a couple pictures of the cake she (and Elyse and their mommy) baked for the occasion:



Saturday, January 21, 2017

A Few Final Pictures from 2016

Here are a few last-minute pictures (now that we're three weeks into 2017) from various exploits mostly near the end of 2016:

Elyse painting a cardinal in our backyard:



Jessica with a kitty during a volunteer visit to Furkids:


Elyse decorating brownies at Kroger:


and painting at Masterpiece Mixers:



and feeding a goat at the Yellow River Game Ranch:


Thursday, January 19, 2017

Happy Birthday, Elyse!

Today Elyse is seven years old!


(This picture comes from our trip about three weeks ago to Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn)

I went and had lunch with her at school today and took iced sugar cookies for her class; I wish I'd taken a picture of her passing out the cookies--something she really want to be responsible for--but alas, I did not.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Rock City and Ruby Falls

This weekend we traveled to Lookout Mountain for a weekend birthday trip for Anna (whose birthday is today! Happy 41st, Annie!) and Jessica (whose idea this trip was) and Elyse (who just went along for the ride, and enjoyed it very much).

We stayed at a hotel in Lookout Mountain (as opposed to Chattanooga, where we usually stay), which boasted both an indoor heated pool--a must for the girls--and a hot breakfast. The breakfast was pretty good, but unfortunately the pool was a disappointment--too small, and too many eye-irritating chemicals.

But the real reason we went up was to go back to Rock City, which we all love, and to take the girls for the first time to the thrilling underground cavern and waterfall of Ruby Falls. We had a great time, of course; here are some pictures from our adventures:



The next two pictures show Anna and Elyse on the swinging bridge; Jessica and I took the stone bridge:



The view that supposedly allows you to See Seven States:


(In truth, the curvature of the Earth makes seeing that far impossible, but don't tell that to the people who buy the Rock City Gardens: See Seven States T-shirts in the gift shop.)




The black lights in Mother Goose Village made the girls' clothes look really cool:



Jessica didn't want her picture taken at the My Trip Thru Ruby Falls sign, but everyone else did:





Any color other than brown, gray, or black or made by the dramatic colored lights placed at certain formations in the cavern:










The 145-foot subterranean waterfall is the culmination of the trip through the cavern:






The Tennessee River, seen from the Ruby Falls tower:


Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Vines Gardens Haiku 12


New Children's Maze guard:
Creepy disembodied head--
Less than inviting.

Update February 2:


Creepy head replaced:
This gnome's a much better guard--
Warm winter morning.