Jonathan's Birthday Camping Trip

Over Labor Day weekend we ventured back up to North Georgia for a long weekend of camping to celebrate Jonathan's birthday. Jonathan assured me that this time, the weather would actually be good. In fact, a few days before we left he even used the word 'perfect' to describe it. So we loaded up the Sonata to the roof and set off on our adventure last Thursday.

The weekend before we left we had Jonathan's parents, Tim's family, and Zach over for a birthday lunch. Janice and Richard brought Giordano's pizza for us; it's some of Jonathan's favorite.

We spent Thursday night with Joel and Elizabeth in Augusta and had a great visit. Friday morning we met up with Joel for breakfast at Cracker Barrel before heading to Vogel.

Joel and Elizabeth

Benjamin enjoying his pancakes.

Ian

Rosemary and Ezekiel being silly

Jonathan and me on his birthday.

The boys

Ezekiel and Rosemary made up their own rules for checkers. I think it mainly involved stacking and then spreading them out again.

After breakfast, we headed to Vogel State Park in North Georgia. We got there while plenty of sites were still unclaimed so we actually got to choose which site we were going to use. After we got the tent up and the car unloaded, I ventured to the Bi-Lo in Blairsville to get our food for the weekend while Jonathan finished making our campsite our home away from home.

The next morning we drove to Amicalola Falls. We parked at the top and planned on going down a bit then coming back up. Well, we went all the way down to the bottom of the falls. Jonathan carried Ben, but Rosemary walked down every single step on her own. The falls really were beautiful.

Once we got down, we had to decide how we were going to get back up. One of us could go or all of us could (or Jonathan could hitchhike up, and I didn't like that option). We decided that all of us would go. So not only did Rosemary walk down all 600+ steps, she walked up them.

Rosemary took this picture of us on our way back up. We got a lot of "Go Gators" and similar comments. Apparently, it was a requirement to be a fan of an SEC team if you wanted to get into Amicalola that day. There were tons of Georgia (not surprising considering we were in GA), Alabama, LSU, and Auburn fans around.

The kids fell asleep on our way back to the camp so our backup plan was to drive to Helen if they did so they could sleep a little longer. In May of 2007, we went to Helen when we were camping at Unicoi and discoved Hofer's, a small bakery with amazing desserts. Since we were so close, we had to go back. This time, however, Helen was insanely busy and it took about half an hour to move just a few miles to get into the town. But the wait was worth it.

I think we bought about 12 things for the 4 of us to eat over the weekend. Everything is so good.

Rosemary decided very quickly that she wanted an eclair. She made a good choice. It was delicious.

Ben's first Hofer's experience.

Ben enjoyed a glaze donut.

After Hofer's, we headed back to camp to cook some steaks and potatoes for dinner.

The potatoes cooked in the fire.

I started a charcoal grill for the first time ever.

While our food cooked, Rosemary played in this little stream just down the hill from our campsite.

And Ben hung out in his pack and play, the safest place for him at the campsite besides Mom or Dad's arms.

On our way to Amicalola we had driven through Dahlonega and decided to go back on Sunday. It was a pretty quick visit. We just visited the gold museum to learn about the founding of the town then ate lunch at the Smith House.

The Smith House, home of delicious southern-country food served family style. We sat with a family from Dahlonega who had three little girls so Rosemary had a blast. We had fried chicken, pot roast, creamed corn, green beans, fried okra (which even Jonathan said was good...actually he said that he didn't want to spit it out of his mouth, which is the highest compliment that Jonathan could give okra), coleslaw, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, and I'm sure there was more that I can't think of now. For dessert we had strawberry shortcake and ice cream.

After attempting to get the kids to nap back at the camp, we went to Helton Creek Falls. It's tucked away at the end of a very long gravel road near Vogel. We hiked down a little to the falls and at the bottom there was a little swimming hole. Jonathan and Rosemary brought their swimsuits so they got in the cold water for a bit. Ben and I watched.

Jonathan put Rosemary on his back to climb over so they could slide down the rock.

After dinner on Sunday we roasted some marshmallows and made s'mores.

Ben had his first roasted marshmallow.

Rosemary roasted her own marshmallow and made the s'more by herself too.

Monday morning we slowly got everything cleaned up and packed into the car. Since the food was so good, we decided to go back to the Smith House on our way back home. (We do this other places we go too, go back before we leave, that is. Like at the Cheese Shop in Williamsburg and we did it at Hofer's last time we were there. I guess it's because we know we won't be able to get it for awhile).

I was so excited. Unfortunately, Rosemary gagged on her first bite so we spent the first few minutes cleaning that up. Once that was taken care of though, we were able to enjoy our food and it was just as good as the day before although the experience was maybe a little marred by its beginning.

Ben's was ready to eat too.

Rosemary thought this rock was pretty funny since it had music coming out of it.

After lunch we headed home. We were tired, but it had been a great trip. And Jonathan was right, the weather was 'perfect.' It rained a little bit, but it was nowhere near a downpour at any time and seemed to stop within 10 minutes.

College Day

This past Sunday was College Sunday at Harvest. Janey even came up from Orlando. I completely forgot I had our camera with us so I only got a few photos, but here's one of me, Bob, and Janey. It was a good day. Good to catch up with old friends and celebrate what God is doing and has done at CCH.

Our Weekend With Ben

Rosemary spent the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa W so Jonathan and I got to spend lots of time with our boy. Ben is so fun!

Taking a break from crawling on the couches.

Playing with cups on our bed. Does anyone else have more kids cups from restaurants than they know what to do with?

Ben getting ready for his first ride in the bike trailer.

He was a very good sport about wearing his sister's hand-me-down pink helmet.

All strapped in. I think it looks like he's ready to skydive.

And we're off.

With daddy before church on Sunday.

Mommy's happy little boy.

Dining Room Projects

A few updates to the dining room.

I picked up this container for $2 at a garage sale in May. I liked it a lot because it has pineapples on it, which I think is kind of fun with our name. Problem is, I don't really have a lot of tropical decor that this would work with in our house and every place I thought about putting it, it just didn't work.

So I painted it. And added our initial and a few flowers from Hobby Lobby and now it's sitting pretty on the table right underneath the other project.

Jonathan switched out the old standard 1970's light fixture in the dining room for an updated chandelier.

This baby could light our entire house now.

Final Harvest of the Season

And I thought that our green bean crop was pretty sad. These were supposed to be carrots. Our cucumbers didn't even make it past the flowering stage and absolutely nothing happened with the rosemary seeds.

I think it's safe to say that we won't be gardening again next year. Those poor plants.

Pots and Pans

Do all babies love the pots and pans cabinet? It seems that way.

The Big Summer Project

I've mentioned before that when we bought our house four years ago, we bought a fixer-upper. One of the first things I noticed about our house when we toured it was the abundance of green.

The original 1976 green wallpaper in the hall bathroom.

The original green vinyl that was throughout the house and the green living room carpet.

Over the years, we've been 'de-greening' the house. The biggest and most obvious source of green, however, was the exterior. It's hard to accurately describe the green - just a tad lighter than mint green is probably the closest I can get. Not only was our house mint green, but we had brown trim. Ick. And green sidelights by the door. Ick again.

So, when my mom called and offered to watch the kids over the long Memorial Day weekend, Jonathan and I discussed which one of our projects we should tackle while the kids were gone. We decided we'd paint the house. In a weekend. We're ambitious. But I like to have a goal to work towards.

Well, long story short, it took longer than Memorial Day weekend. Due in part to the very rainy summer in Gainesville (it rained a good chunk of that weekend, and many others, and you can't really paint in the rain) and in part to the fact that any one project is really about 20 projects for us.

So here are the befores and afters of our house going from green to taupe (or Behr's Mushroom Bisque if you want to be exact).

Before.

And after.

On the front of the house we replaced a section of the trim above the door (with Zach).

The garage before.

The garage after.

Jonathan got to paint the high parts on the north and south sides. Lucky guy. And we do have a garage door, but apparently I didn't take the time to close it for the photos. It's not a very exciting garage door so you're not missing anything.

North side before.

North side after.

Front before.

Front after.

The shutters were pretty rough. Once we took them down, we found that the backs looked good though. So we washed them up, sanded and primed them on both sides and spray painted the old backs black. Jonathan rented a hammer drill to re-install them.

Entry before.

Entry after.

Here we removed the side rails that served no purpose, replaced the green sidelights with obscured clear ones (with my dad), sanded, primed and painted the door with six coats of red (it probably needs more, but come on, seven coats, that would be insane!), replaced the fancy stick-on reflective house numbers with metal ones, changed out the door hardware, and put up new lights.

Back before.

Back after.

This is the north side of the house and when I was priming and painting the trim over there I discovered something that shouldn't have surprised me, but did. Jonathan has found very random stuff in our yard in the last few years from the previous owners. I don't know if they meant to bury it, or if they just threw stuff behind bushes then forgot about it. Well, while painting, there was a metal little lip stapled to the eave (you can see it a bit in the photo above, where the eave meets the straight run, just at the corner). That would be a Diet Pepsi can. Who knows why, but it's there. And I left it, just painted the front white.

So there it is. Our 'new' house is all done. I didn't realize just how much the house needed to be painted, not just because it was an ugly color but because of how it needed to be better maintained. And honestly, it wasn't that bad of a project. Sure it took awhile and painting in the summer is not the best weather, but we weren't working on it constantly and Jonathan and I did it together. We got to spend a lot more time with just the two of us than we have since before Rosemary was born. And we ate out. A lot. It was great.

Now onto the next project...

A Brand New Bag

Nikki and Jason are expecting a baby girl in the next few weeks. I wanted to make them something since this is the first baby they've had since I started sewing and Nikki sent me a link to this diaper bag when I asked her about what they'd like me to make. She just wanted a little bit more pink than black. Here's the final result.

Lots of pockets

There was enough fabric left to make a changing pad, diapers/wipes case, and a burp cloth.

I'm so happy with how it turned out! Anyone else need a diaper bag?

I love these kids!

I came home after a meeting tonight and Jonathan and the kids were getting ready for a walk. Rosemary had picked out her outfit. Yes, that's a pink plaid shirt, pink striped pants, and shoes that she hasn't worn since March. I couldn't resist a picture despite Rosemary's reluctance to let me get one.

And Ben has discovered the letter books. He devours them.

At the Condo

As the summer is winding up, we met up with my parents for our last condo trip before school starts up again for Rosemary and Jonathan.

Saturday, we spent the morning at SeaWorld.

Ben was very into the shows. We're hitting a stage where I wasn't sure whether he would watch or not. He definitely watched. And Rosemary watches every show quite seriously.

Jonathan took Ben up in the ropes while Rosemary played in the splash area. Then we headed back for naps.

That night, Jonathan and I met up with the Pate's for a double date without the kids. We ate fish 'n chips and shepherd's pie at Raglan Road at Downtown Disney then walked to Ghiradelli's for dessert. It was a great evening out with friends.

Sunday we swam most of the morning. It was a great day to be outside. It was pretty warm, but the water felt great. The kids loved swimming. While the kids napped, mom and I hit a few of the outlets. There are so many more shopping options in Orlando than Gainesville.

For dinner, we went to Giordano's for real Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Jonathan ate there when he was in Chicago earlier in the year and when he found out there were a couple Giordano's in Orlando and one was right down the street from where we were staying, we knew we'd be doing dinner there.

Later that night, I met up with Janey and visited with her and Dwayne for a bit and got to see the new house. Jonathan had already gone back to Gainesville, so I went on my own while my parents watched the kids again. We spent one more night then headed home the next day.