Fernbank Museum

Thursday Nana and I decided to take the kids to the Fernbank Museum.  Greg and I bought a membership in January and haven't used it in a while.  They have a new Gecko exhibit that the kids thought was super cool.  So did I.  Who knew there we so many different types of Geckos?  Very neat.  If you have never been here, it truly it an exceptional place. So many things to see and learn about and really keeps the kids attention. Plus, it's inside, and when it's 900 degrees outside like it is here in Georgia, that's a good thing.

  Seeing how much bigger a dinosaur footprint is than their hands.  Much, is the answer. 
























In front of the Stegosaurus.  Parker brought "Stomp"  on this field trip.  Appropriate, I thought.

We watched the Imax movie "Bugs" before we left.  Very cool. And educational.  Love that! 

We had a really great day and will have to go back very soon.  It always seems like we don't have time to do quite everything there.  Next time we will have to take a trip to the Planetarium also.  It has been a while since we took them there.

I hope we can make time to go on many more trips this summer.  Sometimes it feels like we have to many other things to do, but maybe we can use one day each week to do something different.

By the way, Brynn isn't crying, the sun is in her eyes.  :)

A Weekend Away

This past weekend we took a trip to Cartersville. Brynn had a meet on Saturday and Gregs' parents came down from Myrtle Beach to visit. We headed up on Friday night and traffic was HORRIBLE! We finally got there 3 hours later, for an 1 1/2 hour trip, that is crazy. Anyway, on Saturday we all headed to Brynn's meet. She had ripped her hands really badly on the bars at Thursday's practice and they were still bothering her. Unfortunately, she did not do well at all. She tried her best and didn't complain to her coach about her hands, but we saw her blowing on them after each event. She didn't medal and that was terribly devastating for her. As the medals were being given out, she was clapping and cheering for everyone else, but her eyes were filled with tears and her lips were trembling. Talk about heartbreaking, I could barely stand to watch. I couldn't go to her to comfort her, so I was just watching. So sad. Afterward, she ran to me and broke down sobbing. I, of course, joined her and we were just a mess. We are so proud of her whatever she does, but seeing her disappointed in herself was just emotionally draining. There is always the next meet.

Since Saturday was pretty much a wash, we went out to eat with the team then headed back to the hotel to relax, watch TV and snuggle. Just what we needed! Sunday morning we decided to head to Ellijay on the way home. Gigi and Boompa joined us too. We went to an apple orchard and picked up pies, cider, apples and sweet potatoes. So yummy! After we said goodbye the the grandparents, we headed off to Dahlonega. Parker and Brynn wanted to "go mining" so we stopped at a gold and gemstone mine. The kids and I mined for gemstones and Greg panned for gold. It was so much fun! We found some beautiful stones and Greg found several pieces of gold. Certainly a successful trip. It was so nice to spend time as a family doing something fun. Lately it seems that we have been running from place to place so much that we really haven't had time to enjoy each other. I hope we can make more of an effort to do these things together, making memories that we can all cherish.