Tubing in Helen

Today Anna, Jessica, and I drove up to Helen, GA, so Anna and Jessica could go tubing on the Chattahoochee, something Anna has been wanting to do for a long time. The weather reports showed a threat of rain and we weren't completely sure they would be able to do it, but it turned out to be a very nice--and dry!--day.

They started out at the Helen Tubing location north of Helen:

The trip took them a couple of miles (maybe even three) down the river, all the way through Helen:

Here's a picture of Helen I took while I was walking around during their trip:

Tybee Island

Tuesday and Wednesday (July 1 and 2) we were on the beach at Tybee Island, GA, which is near Savannah. The girls wanted to go to the beach, and Tybee Island is the closest real beach (on the ocean and not a man-made lake), so on Tuesday morning a little after 8:00 we set out. It's a long drive, about 260 miles, and we made lots of stops along the way, mostly for bathroom breaks and snacks. A little after noon we stopped at Jomax Bar-B-Que in Metter for some lunch:

It was very good (for me, at least; their coleslaw mixed with the pulled pork with copious amounts of barbecue sauce and a little honey mustard was fantastic). After this, we did the rest of the drive straight through and finally arrived at our hotel at a little after 3:00, meaning we did the 260 mile drive in seven hours--about average for us.

The girls, all three of them, were anxious to get to the beach, so we spent the rest of the afternoon Tuesday there, and all of the morning Wednesday:

(You can tell this is Wednesday because Elyse is wearing a different bathing suit than in the pictures above, from Tuesday.)

It probably looks like we had the beach pretty much to ourselves, and we nearly did for a couple of hours Wednesday morning. But, as you can see in these pictures from the pier, by noon, lots of people had arrived:

At about 11:30 we left the beach and changed clothes in the pavilion's bathrooms, getting as dry and sand-free as we could manage, and walked along the pier, and then headed out...sort of. It took us a couple of hours to really leave, since we had to stop at the Ci Ci's in Savannah for lunch and then go to the Barnes & Noble for a while. We finally set out for real at about 4:00, and by 9:30 we were home.

THE WIZARD OF OZ at the Fox Theater

Today we took Jessica to see The Wizard of Oz at the Fox Theater downtown. It was a bit of a hassle getting there--going from our house to Peachtree Street wasn't a problem, but once there we had to circle around a couple of times to find a parking lot that was both open and not full. Then, I had to wait in line fifteen minutes to pay our $10 parking fee.

But once we got into the theater, we had a great time. Jessica had seen the movie before, but it's nice to see it on a big screen, especially in a theater as opulent as the Fox. The theater was pretty full--it seats 4,600, and I bet there were at least 3,000 there today, at least half of them too young to drive--and we ended up sitting way up near the back of the balcony, but the view was still pretty good. We had to climb a lot of stairs to get there, but it was worth it. Also, we at a huge bucket of popcorn (mostly Jessica and I ate it; Annie has been very disciplined on her diet) and a box of Junior Mints, and drank two large Sprites.

Here are some pictures from our day. I snuck a shot of the screen during the movie:

Here are three shots I took after the movie, while we were waiting for the crowd to thin out so we could exit:

Here are Jessica and Annie posing by some columns somewhere or other in the Fox:

And finally, a couple of arty shots I took by resting the camera on the rail at the orchestra pit, while we were down exploring the floor:

Mini-Golf with Jessica

Today Jessica and I went to Stone Mountain to play their mini golf course. We got there early--right when it opened, at 10:30--so we wouldn't have to wait in line for each hole, like we did last Saturday when we tried to play and there were two groups (about seven people) ahead of us.

We were the first ones there, and we played all 18 holes. We didn't keep score because were just playing for fun, and Jessica really enjoyed it.

After we finished our golf game, we ate lunch in the Marketplace (she had a hot dog, I had a hamburger, and we shared an order of fries and a Fanta Grape), then we got a bag of cotton candy and rode the train.

We had to leave in time to get home so the girls could get ready to go to Granny and Pa's house while Mommy and Daddy went to Olive Garden for their anniversary dinner. We'll be going back to Stone Mountain soon to do more fun stuff!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Thirteen years ago today, Anna and I got married!

Family Portraits

This morning we tried to take some family pictures. Some of them turned out pretty well, but it's almost impossible to get two young girls to make not-goofy faces, especially at the same time. Also, Elyse insisted on putting lots of clips and barrettes in her hair; she was more interested in looking like Elsa from Frozen than in Elyse from the Burdetts.

In any case, here are some of the better of this morning's pictures:

Ten Years Ago Today

Ten years ago today, I sent this e-mail message to many of my friends and colleagues:

June 8, 2004

Dear Friends,

I quit my job this morning.

Many of you know that for some time I have not felt fulfilled working in the computer education field. I decided about a year ago, after nearly a decade and a half of doing (more or less) the same kind of work, that it was truly time for me to work toward doing something else with my life. Now I'm happy to say that starting very soon I will be moving in a direction I'm very excited about.

In the fall I will enroll in the MFA program in creative writing at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, where I've been fortunate enough to have been awarded a Teaching Fellowship. For the next two years I'll be working on a second master's degree and teaching English 1101 and English 1102; I may even be able to teach an introductory literature course during my second year, and maybe even an undergraduate creative writing class.

Anna and I will be moving to Madison, a small town thirty miles south of Athens and forty miles north of Milledgeville. It's not especially close to GCSU, but Madison is a beautiful little town, and it will make for a pleasant commute to Milledgeville that will give me plenty of time to listen to audio books. Furthermore, Madison is a location that will allow Anna to keep her job as the media specialist at CJ Hicks Elementary School in Conyers, a critical aspect of this whole venture, as she will soon become the primary breadwinner in our family.

We've already bought our house in Madison and are in the process of moving in; we expect to have our house in Lawrenceville on the market early in July. If any of you are interested in possibly buying it, either as a primary residence or as an investment property, we'll sell it cheap. No kidding. Let me know if you'd like to come look at it.

I'll be working at MeasureUp through the end of July, and starting school on August 12th. (Classes start on August 18th, but I have two days of orientation the week before that.) I will be keeping in touch with you to let you know how my new life is going.

Chris Burdett

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since I had full-time job! In many ways I'm happier now...but I do miss the corporate-world money.

Yellow River Game Ranch

Today we went to the Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn. Jessica took her camera and took lots of pictures and videos. Here are several pictures she took (except the ones she's in, which Elyse took):

In the car on the way home, Elyse played with her Merida doll:

This is the first frame from a video of Elyse singing "Let It Go" from Frozen:

(You can't play the video from here, despite the little "MOVIE" icon on the bottom left corner. Sorry!)