Morris Brandon Fun Run

Morris Brandon had their annual Fun Run this past Saturday morning and both boys were there to run in the one-mile race.  Since Hayes is moving on to Westminster next year, this was his last Fun Run at Brandon.  Here he is at the start line with some of his classmates.  

We were too busy cheering the boys on during the race to have taken pictures, but Hayes had a respectable top 10 finish for 4th grade boys.  Ben, who had come into the race wanting to place in the top five and be able to stand on the podium, finished in 5th!  Here he is getting his medal from Mr. Metzger . . .

and in front of Principal Stimpson announcing the other first grade winners, including Ben's buddy Hayes who is to Ben's right. 

Thomas got one final shot of the first grade award winners before it was time to head to E's lacrosse game. 

Great job, boys!

Ben's Note to Elf Ted

In December, I never posted this sweet note that Ben wrote to our Elf on the Shelf, Ted.  Ted had placed himself overnight in a precarious spot where Dixie could reach him.  For some reason, she's quite taken with Ted as we learned that next morning.  Ben's talk with Dixie worked wonders for the rest of Ted's stay.  :-)

H Colonial Days

Colonial Days at Morris Brandon is a 4th grade tradition.  Each child is assigned a role of an important person in the American Revolution.  The student then writes a paper on the person and on Colonial Days dresses up as the figure, participates in a living museum and dances.  I wrote about Eleanor's Colonial Days experience here.

Earlier this spring for Colonial Days, Hayes played the role of William Dawes. 

William rode with Paul Revere on his famous "Midnight Ride", but largely has been forgotten for his important revolutionary role that night. 

Here is Hayes' 4th grade class after they completed their living museum shift, all dressed up for the big day. 

After lunch, the grade congregated in the gym for some colonial dancing. 

After the much-worried-about dancing was complete, Hayes and his crew were all smiles. 

Here's to another successful Colonial Days under our belts!

Happy Easter (a few weeks late)!

Happy Easter!  We forgot to take some pictures while we were at church so once we returned home, we convinced the kids to head outside for a few group shots. 

Silly faces. 

Shortly after noon, we jumped the backyard fence to attend the Connelly's Easter Egg Hunt and Brunch.  Here is the group of kids who searched for eggs before we all enjoyed a deliciously hearty meal.  (E isn't in the picture because she helped hide the eggs as the oldest kid there.)

Afternoon rain kicked in shortly after 2:30 pm so we were able to enjoy a quiet Easter afternoon at home. 

A Garden!

New to the house over the last few weeks is a spring garden!  Thanks to Farmer D Organics, we have a raised bed for some veggies and five blueberry plants growing in our side yard.  Late in the afternoon after the installation, the garden looked like this (with the blueberry plants against the far wall hidden in the shade). 

After a few weeks of water and sun, our lettuces, kale, radishes, carrots, sugar snap peas and potatoes are all growing.  (The potatoes, carrots, some lettuces and radishes were planted as seeds and hadn't yet sprouted in the picture below.)

The boys sometimes help water the garden each day 

 

and Hayes "assisted" me when I had to thin out the radishes.  

 

We are waiting for the carrots to grow a little more before we will have to do the same for them. 

When summer rolls around, we will transition the garden to contain summer-friendly crops like tomatoes, okra, zucchini, squash, cucumbers and basil.  We are eager to see if we have green thumbs around here!

Climbing Stone Mountain

For the second half of our Spring Break, we hung out here in Atlanta and went to the dentist, got haircuts, saw a movie and climbed Stone Mountain! I honestly do not think that the boys have ever made the climb and was thrilled that they were interested in continuing the Slack Family tradition of walking to the top.  It was a gorgeous day in Atlanta

 

and there was quite a crowd of people doing the exact same thing as us.  Reportedly, it is 1.5 miles to the top but my FitBit told me that we actually traveled a little bit less.  On the way up the top, we stopped at the rock cave where my brother Steven and I had our picture taken over 35 years ago.  (Papa, think you can locate that picture?)

At the top, the wind was blustery, making it tough to keep still standing.  I snapped a quick picture (Hayes seems to always have his eyes closed) and we began our trek back down. 

Here are the boys below the tree-line on our hike back to the bottom. 

Finally, since I hadn't been in any pictures this week, I convinced them to get in a selfie with me before we reached the bottom. 

The boys loved the walk and said they would definitely be game to return and hike the mountain again. 

Little White House

Just twenty minutes away from Callaway Gardens is The Little White House Historic Site.  On Tuesday morning of the boys' Spring Break, before driving back to Atlanta, we visited the little town of Warm Springs and FDR's Georgia home.  

 

FDR made over 60 visits to Warm Springs to spend time in the warm natural waters of the nearby springs in the hopes of finding a cure for his polio.   He built this "Little White House" to serve as his residence during his visits. 

It was here in the house that FDR suffered a massive stroke while sitting for a portrait and died in 1945.  The unfinished portrait is on display in the museum. 

The actual springs are located a mile or two away from the home's site.  We drove over there and saw the pools where Roosevelt and countless of other people swam and received therapy in the 88 degree mineral-filled waters.   Then, it was time to head back to the Atlanta where we spent the rest of the boys' break. 

Wild Animal Safari

(Written by Hayes about our visit to Wild Animal Safari on the boys' Spring Break)

During our visit to Callaway Gardens, we stopped by Wild Animal Safari. These were our wheels.

The point is to ride around in a junky car to get a glimpse and feed wild animals. They come up to your window and slobber, lick, or open their mouth, a sign for food. We saw lions,

camels,

crazy looking animals,

more crazy animals,

horned animals,

zebras asking for food,

(from Mom - I love this picture of Hayes' pure joy feeding the animal)

somewhat "cows",

more horned animals,

and last but not least, the tongue.

(PS more horned animals)

We had a great time anyway. Our car was as good as a Bugatti. Thank you Wild Animal Safari!!

Callaway Gardens

As this blog hasn't shared it yet, we traveled to Rome and Venice, Italy for Eleanor's Spring Break in March.  (I hope to post about it at some point in the future!) We pulled both of the boys out of school for that entire week so that we could make the most of our trip. 

The boys' Spring Break was this past week and we didn't have any big plans.  We had never visited Callaway Gardens so the boys and I drove down there on Sunday for two nights at the resort.  We spent our first afternoon there on what we thought was a 2.0 mile hike.  It turns out that the 2.0 mile distance was one-way, and we then chose to follow the circuitous bike path back to our car for an additional 3.0 miles!  Here is Hayes along one of the creeks we had to cross on our hike. 

 

Ben started calling the hike an "obstacle course" because we had to jump over mud, crawl under a massive fallen tree and cross a few creeks.  The bike path route back to our car was less adventurous but just as pleasant. 

On Monday morning, we explored more of Callaway Gardens.  We attended a Birds of Prey show, (photos taken with a cellphone so forgive me for the low quality)

 

visited the Butterfly House and all ordered veggie plates for lunch at the Callaway Gardens Country Store Restaurant. 

That afternoon was spent at the Wild Animal Safari that Hayes describes in this blog post.  Monday night, we watched UNC lose the National Championship to Villanova in an amazing game, and then visited the Little White House the next morning before heading back to Atlanta. 

H's note to the Tooth Fairy

The boys always seem to have a story to tell . . . Here is a note that Hayes felt the need to write to the Tooth Fairy one night this spring . . .