Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A Much Needed Vacation



I know that it has been a couple of weeks, but as usual life has been busy. Life has been so busy that we decided that if we were going to get to enjoy a weekend without him getting called into work, we were going to have to get away. Jonathan found a neat little cabin at Little River Canyon right outside of Desoto State Park in Mentone, AL. We drove up on Friday night just bubbling with excitement. It was cold out side and the leaves were at their peak. The children were all bundled up in the back seat with their pillows and blankets, and jamming to The Jonas Brothers on the MP3 player. Once we got to Fort Payne the owner said that he would just meet us and we could follow him because we would never find it in the dark. It was about a 20 min. drive curving and going from paved roads, to gravel road, to dirt road. The cabin was so nice and cozy. It had a large fireplace, two king sized beds, a full kitchen, charcoal grill, and Jacuzzi tub! We unloaded the car and went back into town to get some groceries. We went to bed early since we were going to be dong so much walking the next day. Saturday morning I got up and Taylor and I cooked breakfast. We had bacon, link sausage, eggs and homemade blueberry pancakes. I felt as if they would have to roll me around the canyon after that meal. We headed out right on schedule but still not fast enough for Jonathan. We drove around from one scenic overlook, to another, to another. We stopped at one place that had huge boulders everywhere. Tanner talked some man into helping him get on top of the boulders and he had some much fun running from one to another one. Tanner was truly in his element.






The last overlook that we stopped at had a trail down into the bottom of the canyon. We hiked down this beautiful wide trail with benches about every 1/3 of the way down. The bottom was so beautiful. The kids found out that they could flip rocks over and lizards would run out. Jonathan and I, exhausted from the walk found some big rocks on the side of the river and enjoyed watching the kids. Tanner decided that now was the perfect time to pay his dad back for scaring him during Halloween. He tried to keep his cool as he carried a lizard over to his dad who is slightly afraid of them. Trying to keep a straight face he threw it on Jonathan who took it like a pro. Of course, Taylor follow behind deciding to follow in Tanner's footsteps. Tanner climbed on the rocks and decided to cross the river. He did eventually slid in, but only got his shoes wet. After some other hikers who look fairly serious walked up we thought it best to start the hike back up. I quickly realized why they put benches on the trail. It was to give people break so that they didn't have a heart attack. None of us were prepared for the hike. Finally we made it back to the parking area. We must have looked as rough as we felt because the guy who was walking towards the overlook asked us "You didn't just get back from the overlook did you?". We went into town to eat at Cracker Barrel, the perfect place to eat when you are in the mountains. When we finally got to the cabin that afternoon, Jonathan and I were ready for a nap and the kids were still fired up. Tanner was content to sit and watch Man vs. Wild and I thought this was the perfect time to show Taylor how to make friendship bracelets. The kept them both busy enough that we could take a nap. We got up, drove down to Desoto Falls for a few minutes. We stayed in for the rest of the night. Jonathan grilled us some pork chops and we had baked potatoes. We played Pass the Pigs and Jonathan rolled a double leaning jowler. I have only seen this once before. Then we played Skip-Bo and Tanner ran the table. I was glad to have him as my partner. We got up the next morning and went to Chattanooga to see my brother, sister-in-law and my precious nephew, Gray. We went to the Children's Discovery Museum which was really neat. It was nice to get to spend some time with them. Gray is so sweet. He never cried the whole day. He is just content to sit and look around. We made it home by bed time. It was a relaxing and much needed trip. Now when life is hectic I just look at my pictures of the beautiful trees and take a deep breath.



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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Our Halloween Adventures




Halloween morning started off with a bang! Jonathan woke up and was still running a fever after two days and decided to go to the doctor. The children were running around getting ready for school, excited to be wearing their Tye-dyed Halloween shirts that they made themselves. I was fixing Taylor's hair and she started complaining that her throat was kind-of sore. I explained to her that since she sleeps with her fan on high and her mouth wide open, that the air will dry out her throat and make it sore. A few minutes later she said that her stomach was hurting, which I chalked up to the fact that she could remember the last time that she went to the bathroom. Then when she started saying that her eyes were getting blurry , being the compassionate mother that I am, I turned her around so that she couldn't see herself in the mirror anymore. Those of you with girls all understand that little girls see themselves in the mirror as an actress on the Big Screen. Then she started swaying in big circles saying that she could help it, and then hit the floor. I got her up and everything calmed back down, but she was running a fever. So now Taylor and Jonathan were both making a trip to the doctor on Halloween. Taylor did well at the doctor, having to take blood and getting a penicillin shot. Jonathan also had to give blood and get a shot, but did not do so well. When they took blood from him, he passed out. He said that he was out for a good 10 minutes. He would wake up enough to tell Taylor that he would be fine and then his eyes would roll back in his head and he would be out again. Taylor was hugging on the nurses, crying, and thinking that her daddy was dying. Taylor had strep and Jonathan had strep, a sinus infection, and an ear infection. They both got their shots and left. The good news was the doctor said that they should be fine to Trick or Treat which was good since we had about 30 people coming to our house for a bonfire. by party time Jonathan felt okay, but Taylor was still running a fever. She had to stay inside all night and cried almost the whole time. So Jonathan, being to fantastic father that he is, set up a mock Trick or Treat for the kids on Monday night. Tanner was Harry Potter and Taylor was Cindy Lou Who off of "The Grinch". We took them to the grandparents, great grandparents, and some of our best friends houses. It turned out to be a good night. Dad saved the day again!
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