Sunday, June 26, 2016

Visit with Papa in June

In June while Eleanor was at camp, the boys, Dixie and I drove down to spend a few days visiting Papa in Florida.  
This trip was Dixie's second visit to Papa's house, and she was thrilled to be welcomed to his home. The boys spent a lot of time in the pool, especially since Dixie followed them into the water any time she could weasel her way outside.  
During our visit, Hayes realized that he could follow the recipe on the back of the box for Jello pudding so he cleaned out Papa's pantry of all of the old Jello pudding boxes and got "cooking".
Thomas flew down to Melbourne and joined us for the weekend before we all drove back to Atlanta together Sunday.
On Saturday morning, we took the boys and Papa on an airboat ride on Lake Washington, Melbourne's single largest source of fresh water.  Here is our mode of transportation for the hour-long tour.
Since the boys were the only two kids on the tour, they took turns sitting in the co-pilot seat.
Here was my view for much of the tour . . .
We finally spotted one alligator but it quickly dove under when it saw us.  They generally hang out on the bottom of the lake during the day when the water down there is cooler than at the surface.  
At some point during the visit in Florida, after an afternoon rain storm, I looked up at the sky from Papa's backyard and spotted this double rainbow over what would be the ocean.  Very cool!
Thanks for hosting us for a few days, Papa!

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Weekend with Hayes in NYC

This year, my mom and I traveled to New York City. When we arrived in Manhattan and got in our hotel, we walked around the city to Dylan's Candy Bar and ended up at Magnolia Bakery, across the street.
That night, we saw the musical Matilda and I loved it!

The next morning we ate breakfast at Sarabeth's before spending the day at the Museum of Natural History. Here you can see me observing these rocks and minerals.

And taking a picture with the coolest rock/mineral that I have ever seen.
Pictures before we leave the mind-blowing museum.
Instead of going straight back to our hotel, we went for a stroll in Central Park.
For dinner that night, we ate at a burger joint in our hotel. Literally a hole-in-the-wall with about ten tables. But we both agreed that these were some of the best burger/fries combo that we have ever had.

After a good night's sleep, we ate pastries at a local bakery. Next up on our schedule was a double-decker bus ride!! Here are some pictures of me on the tour.

An outstanding view of the Empire State Building.
Our tour guide, Sherwood, was very nice and entertaining.
Once we got off the bus, we went for a quick walk on the Brooklyn Bridge before eating lunch in Chinatown.

A great view of the city.


We ate lunch at an underground restaurant in Chinatown (one of my NYC must-dos). I ordered chicken fried rice that was bigger than my head!!

A view of one of the world's tallest buildings, the World Trade Center.
As we were walking on the High Line later that afternoon, we stopped at Chelsea Market and enjoyed gelato.
Here I am as we walk the High Line.
That night, I requested to see the musical The Lion King for a second time.  I think I was very tired from our full day because I might have fallen asleep during parts of the play.  

Above all, Mom and I agreed that it was a very successful trip and we were very sad to return home.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

E's at Camp Greystone!

E has been dropped off at camp!  I drove her up on Sunday night for our usual Sunday-night stay at the Hampton Inn in Hendersonville, NC before the camp's Monday morning start.  Greystone pushed back the "bunk run" this year from 7:30am to 8:30am but we still arrived on camp grounds around 7:45am.  It was too difficult keeping the girls away!  E was assigned to Cabin 10 East.  Her cabin is in "The Castle" where the oldest girls at camp sleep.  (This summer is her last opportunity to attend three-week-camp before she ages out and can only attend Main Camp in July next summer.)
I helped her make her bed but then that was all of the help she needed!
One of her cabin mates is her church friend Mia Coker. 
Her counselor's name is Rachel Land, and the picture below is of the sign Rachel created to hang on the cabin door to welcome the girls to their cabin. 
Eleanor and her camp friends spent the week prior to camp planning this "flagpole" meeting that actually happened a few minutes before camp officially started at 10am. (Thanks to Mrs. Hagood for capturing the moment as I had already left camp!)   They hoped to compare schedules and try to take some activities that overlapped. 
We look forward to see her smiling face in some of the thousands of pictures the camp uploads for parents to enjoy over the three-week session. 

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

E and Middle School Lacrosse

This spring, Eleanor made the Westminster Middle School lacrosse team.  She had a great season and seemed to flourish in her position of attack.  We are grateful for the parent photographers who captured shots at each game and shared them with the rest of us.  Here are the pictures taken of Eleanor this season.  She can't wait to play again next spring!