Kentucky Vacation

Last week Meric, Mel, the dogs and I all went on a vacation to visit Glendale Campground. It has been 2 1/2 months since we moved away and we were very excited to see all of our friends and "family".

We decided to take 2 days to make the drive up. About halfway we stopped at a campground and camped. It was nice to be able to relax and take our time on the trip up.

Our campsite at night. Check out the alien next to the fire.

We were able to stop at the Lodge Factory Store in South Pittsburgh, TN on the way. Meric and I both are huge fans of Lodge cast iron products. I also wanted to grab a geocache located near the store.

Cast Iron Man (Spoiler: cache hidden in left shoulder)

 Sunday afternoon we were pulling into our old home, Glendale Campground. I don't think I realized exactly how much I missed it until we got there. It really did feel like going home. It was wonderful to see everyone and even the dogs seemed happy to be able to run around in their old field. To make things feel even more familiar we stayed in the same spot we use to live in. (Our friend had moved his trailer into the spot we were in after we left. He was actually out of town while we were there and offered to let us stay in his trailer during our stay. It was very generous of him and very nice to be in our familiar area.)

Another reason to visit Kentucky was so that I could visit my orthodontist. I was almost done with my braces when we moved and I had scheduled to have them removed during our visit. First thing Monday morning I was freed from my braces. My orthodontist fast tracked my retainer so I was able to have it by that afternoon. I felt so nice and weird to get my mouth back after 2 1/2 years of braces. I love it!

First pic without the braces!

Ever since we moved Meric and I have looked forward to this vacation. We had a list of people to see and things we wanted to do. Luckily the weather was nice and people's schedules worked out so that we could see and do just about everything we wanted to do. We went to dinner or lunch with different people just about everyday. One of those meals was at Louisville's new Brazilian restaurant with the Smiths and the Underwoods.

We also "forced" Emma to skip school one day so that we could spend the day together. We introduced her to geocaching and had a very successful day of caching.

The cache was hidden halfway down the long and dark tunnel.

 That Saturday we surprised her by taking her on The Color Run. We had a blast and I made sure everyone got very colorful. (Yes I did drag Emma to the ground and rolled her through PURPLE!) 

Emma, me and our friend Laurie getting ready to start

Emma and I are in the middle of all that COLOR

By the end Emma and I were definitely the most colorful

Our trip also coincided with the last Halloween weekend at Glendale.

Dave wore the mask and scared all the kids.Mel thought the mask was funny and just laughed.

Mel dressed up as a monkey and I took her and a friend's kids through the campground trick or treating. (No I didn't carry a bag for "Mel" to collect candy. After a week of eating out I knew I would regret having extra candy hanging around. I did let Mel have a watermelon sucker which she enjoyed very much and got everything very sticky.)

Runaway Monkey!

Mel really loved being back in Kentucky. She had all of our Glendale friends to entertain and play with her. The bugs are so bad in Georgia that we haven't spent a lot of time outside so Mel really loved being able to play outside. She got to play in her Johnny Jumper and we introduced her to the swing, which she LOVED! It made me sad that we left and couldn't stay.

Mel can make even this outfit look good!

Isn't that the happiest face you have ever seen?

Mel also did an amazing job of going with the flow of our busy days. We would be out and going all day long and she handled everything really well. She also was very good in all of the restaurants and everyone was impressed with what a good girl she is. I love my little monkey!

We left early Sunday morning and headed home. We had left the car in Kentucky when we moved so we towed it home. That worked out well so that one of us could keep Mel entertained on the long car ride. It was very hard to leave Glendale again. Everything is so comfortable and homey there for us. We just fit there. Maybe someday we will get to live there again, but this last visit was just wonderful. I couldn't have planned a better trip if I had tried.

Geocaching Georgia: The Explanation

Meric and I like to geocache. It is like a treasure hunt with a hand held GPS unit. Some are big and some are small. Some are in the woods and some are right next to your favorite store. Once you have a GPS unit, geocaching is fun and free.

Georgia State Parks have a geocaching challenge. At participating parks you can pick up a "Geo-tour Passport". This is a little pamphlet with a list of state parks and a place to put a stamp. 46 different state parks are participating in this challenge. Each park has a special geocache with a special stamp hidden inside. Once you find the cache you can mark your pamphlet with that park's stamp.

After you collect 15 stamps you earn a bronze coin specially designed for Georgia State parks. 30 stamps gets you the silver coin and 40 earns you the gold. (These coins have no monetary value, they are just a fun prize for your accomplishment.)

The state parks involved are spread all over the state which makes this challenge... well challenging. It also is a great excuse to travel and explore our new state. Meric and I are excited to complete this challenge. (Of course we will let Mel tag along.)

We will keep you updated on our progress!

Little Miss Mel: 8 Months Old

Mel is growing up so fast I can hardly keep up. She is funny and active.

She loves to ride in shopping carts and goes out of her way to make eye contact and smile at people walking by. Sometimes it is hard to shop because we are always stopping so that people can say hi to our happy baby.

Mel's bottom two teeth started coming in last month. She loves to flash them and will have a very toothy grin... once she gets more teeth. Her teeth also enhance what I call her "mean kid" face. I have a hard time getting a picture of that face though because she loves to smile for the camera. She is such an ornery kid.

She started crawling this past month and is keeping me on my toes. Mel is also sitting up on her own and pulling herself up to a stand. I really wasn't kidding when I said I couldn't keep up with her.

The dog food bin looks so much better without the sticker

Who needs toys when you can pull off the heat vent?

Mel is starting to enjoy different kinds of foods too. She loves yogurt, pear baby food, and strawberries. But her most favorite foods are whatever mommy and daddy are eating.

She loves the dogs too. She loves to climb on them, pull their tails and laughs when she sees them. When they are playing outside and running around, Mel loves to yell and squeal at them.

She has such a big and funny personality. Mel is a go with the flow type of kid. She is ready to follow us into any adventure. I love my funny little monkey face!

Camping and Caching

Camping means different things to different people. Some people would consider a 5th wheel in a campground to be camping but Meric and I just call that home. Camping to us is a tent in the woods, cooking over a fire and enjoying nature. This past weekend we took Mel on her first camping trip.

We decided to check out one of the near by state parks, Magnolia Springs. It is less than an hour away from where we live and seemed to be a good choice for our trial run at camping with the kid.

We chose a site a little off the beaten path that had a table, fire ring and water spigot. Meric set up camp while Mel and I helped. (okay we mostly watched and played)

After camp was all set up we decided to hike a little before making dinner. When getting ready for the camping trip Meric and I looked to see if there were any geocaches in the area. There were LOTS! With our GPSs in hand Meric, Mel, Jasper, Lucy Emmy and I headed down the trail.

It didn't take us long before we came up to the first cache on our list. After a little bit of searching we made the find and were on the trail again. It was a little tricky trying to pay attention to the kid, the dogs, the GPS and the trail but we had fun and found a total of 4 on our short hike.

Back at camp we started dinner consisting of hamburgers, beans and chips. Mel got to have one of her favortie meals, yogurt. After dinner we relaxed by the fire for a while. I put Mel down to sleep in the tent while Meric made campfire cinnamon rolls. It was a really nice night to sit by the fire and enjoy some dessert.

The next morning we enjoyed an omelet breakfast before breaking down camp. After everything was packed away we decided to find one last geocache bringing our total for the trip up to 5.

Magnolia Springs has a boardwalk and trail that winds around a spring. There is also a lot of wildlife around the spring. Seeing signs about alligators I couldn't resist getting a picture. I have never had to worry about an alligator while camping. I thought it was funny to see a sign warning about alligators. Funny that is until we saw not one but two alligators. Kind of cool all the different wildlife you can encounter when you move around the country.

We didn't explore the boardwalk a whole lot because it was quite long, Mel was getting tired, and we were getting hungry. Deciding to come back another time, we headed home calling our first camping trip with Mel a success. Can't wait to do it again!

A Day at the Lake

 Close to Fort Gordon is Pointes West, a military recreational area. Meric, Mel and I decided to check it out. There is a lake, camp sites, picnic areas, and a lodge where you can rent kayaks, canoes and pedal boats.

After a little picnic, Meric and I thought a pedal boat would be fun. It would also be an easy way for us both to get out on the lake with Mel. We also thought it would be an easy way to try out Mel's new life jacket.

Mel didn't mind the boat and loved it when we dipped her feet in the water but she hated the life jacket. She didn't like how restrictive it was and she had a harder time moving in it. I think she will like the jacket more when she is a little bit bigger.

After the boat ride we went to the beach and let Mel sit in the water. She loved splashing and playing in the water and sand. Of course she also liked eating the sand and shells.

Despite her objection to the life jacket I think Mel had a fun day. I would call her first time at the lake a success and look forward to going back.

Sweet as Honey: Mel Swimming

One thing we miss about Glendale Campground is the pool. I learned to swim there and look forward to the pool opening every year. This year Mel was about 4 months old when the pool opened, the perfect age to start swimming. Mel is a big fan of splashing in her bath so we had no doubt she would love swimming. Her first time in the pool it was still kind of cold and she really didn't know what to think about it.

But it only took a few minutes until she broke out into a big grin and started to kick and splash. Meric and I tried to take her to the pool as often as we could before we moved. She loved going to the pool. Sometimes she would want to swim around and other times she was happy just being pushed around in her floatie.

Our new campground doesn't have a pool which is very sad to me. Fort Gordon has an indoor pool though and on Fridays they have a class called Aqua Tots. This class is for kids 6 months to 3 years old. Since Mel loves to swim I figured this might be a good idea.

This past Friday was our first class. It isn't really a swim class as much as a playgroup in water. Mel was by far the youngest swimmer there but that didn't matter much. All the other kids loved the "baby" and it was a good way for both Mel and me to socialize. It was also good because the leader of the class had us work of different things to help the kids get comfortable in the water. Mel loved it when she was given a ball and had to "swim" to get it.

I really miss being able to just walk across the campground to go swimming whenever I want but this class helps. Who knows maybe Mel and I will even make new friends.

August in Augusta

 One thing I love about moving is being able to explore our new home. Recently Meric, Mel and I ventured to downtown Augusta. Augusta has a "river walk" that is a nice trail along the river. On Saturdays just off the river walk there is a street market. There are a lot of different vendors selling various goods. We bought some bread and candied pralines.

I loved the atmosphere of the market. In one of the booths was a band that played music while people danced in the street and children played in the fountain.

It had a relaxed small town feel to it that I really enjoyed. After the street market Meric, Mel and I went on a historic trolley ride.

 

The trolley ride lasted about an hour and a half and took us all through downtown Augusta and pointed out different historical points.

St. Paul's church

Cotton Exchange Building

Monument honoring Confederate soldiers

I particularly liked the Signer's Monument. It is dedicated to the three signers of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia. Two of the signers are actually buried beneath the monument.

Another fun site was the haunted pillar. The legend says that an outcast preacher was angry with the city and predicted that it would be destroyed by wind and the only thing left standing would be a single pillar. It took about 100 years but the city was destroyed by a hurricane and the only thing left standing was this pillar. The preacher said that whoever touched this pillar would be cursed and die. Of course Meric and I couldn't resist the temptation to touch it.

We really like downtown Augusta. It has a nice small town feel. Parking is free in most places and it is really easy to access the river walk. Also a lot of the historical sites are fairly close together which makes walking to them all not that hard.

There are so many historic sites and things to see downtown that we couldn't do it all in one day. Meric and I have a list of things we still want to see and do. Augusta looks like it will keep us busy for a while.