A Walk at Stone Mountain

The girls didn't have school today. We spent the morning laying around and watching "I Dream of Jeannie" on the Roku Channel (I think we watched a full twelve episodes before any of us got dressed). But after lunch, Jessica said, "I want to go somewhere," and Elyse and I did too, so we all got dressed (a process that took a full forty-five minutes) and we went to Stone Mountain to go for a walk on the Cherokee Trail.

Here are some of the pictures I took:

Jessica had specifically wanted to visit the Nature Garden (though she didn't quite remember that's what it's called), which is along the Cherokee Trail a bit east of Memorial Park (the lawn where they do the laser show):

(You can read about The Atlanta Branch of the National League of American Pen Women here: http://atlantapenwomen.org/)

We practically had the place to ourselves; much of it, in fact was closed for maintenance. We wanted to get a snack and something to drink, but nothing in Crossroads seemed to be open:

The Skyride also wasn't running, but they were doing stuff to it and testing it, so the cars passed over quite a few times, empty, as we were walking.

Freeman's Mill Park With the Girls

The girls go back to school next Monday (August 7), so, to make sure we didn't spend the whole last week of summer on the sofa watching "Animaniacs" on Netflix (though that is a pretty darn good use of one's time), I packed the girls into the car this morning and told them we were going on a surprise trip. Except for some arguments involving hair brushing (always a source of conflict), they enthusiastically went along; apparently they were as ready to get out of the house as I was.

In keeping our destination a surprise, stubbornly refusing to respond to the barrage of "Where are we going? Where are we going?", I was risking terrible disappointment, of course, since their idea of a worthy surprise doesn't always line up with mine. Fortunately, however, they were pretty happy walking around Freeman's Mill, then playing for a few minutes on its playground:

Afterwards we went to lunch at the Stevi B's in Lawrenceville, arriving just in time to eat with approximately a million summer camp kids (in all seriousness, there were probably 100 of them. No kidding.). Now we're safely back home, and "Animaniacs" is playing on the TV. All's right with the world.

Yet Another Vines Gardens Post

This afternoon, while Anna was off dropping off or picking up or trading (or doing something with) Girl Scout cookies for Jessica's troop, the girls and I spent some time at Vines Gardens:

(I was trying to make it look like they were climbing up the side of a building, but it didn't quite work)