A Puppet Show Afternoon

This afternoon, we drove downtown to meet Martin and Luke to see a puppet show at the Atlanta Center of Puppetry Arts.  After the puppet show, the kids got to make their own puppets.  Martin helped Luke and Chloe with building their puppets while Todd helped Owen build his.

Here is Owen's puppet.

They all had fun glueing the pieces of the puppets together.

The puppets glowed in the dark under black lights.

But they were easier to see outside in the sunlight.

Then we drove to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and I got a few photos of Martin and Luke together.

Chloe has told us she may marry Luke when she grows up, so I got a picture of the two of them sitting on a bench together.  If she is a true fortune teller, we'll have a good story (and photo!) to play at their wedding.  ;)

After dinner, we gave them their Christmas presents.  Because it's nice when Christmas can be celebrated in March.  

Three Hikes in One Day

The day started early.  I texted Cristina and woke her up so we could drive out to Red Top Mountain and see the sunrise on Lake Alatoona.

Look close and you will see the moon out over the trees and more clearly in the reflection in the lake.

We photographed some of the resident geese.

They had lots to say about it.

Then we came home for breakfast.  And walked down to the nature trail with Chloe.  She led the way.

And showed us how she could jump fallen trees.

And tested the waters in her boots.  In spite of multiple warnings, she went in too far (shocker) and came home with water sloshing in her boots.

Such a gorgeous day!

Then we left the kids at home with Todd while I took Cristina to Sope Creek Farm where we had our family photos taken last year by Tyler of Blue Lily.

The river was higher than last fall, so we had a harder time walking across.

Back to the East Palisades

I picked up the kids early from school today so we could drive downtown and pick up my friend Cristina from the Coca Cola headquarters when her business meetings were over.  We then headed back to the East Palisades to show her some of the beauty of Atlanta.

The kids had fun showing off their running and jumping skills.

And they had fun leading the way along the trails, since they were the resident experts having been here once before.  ;)

We saw long leggity birds flying over us.

When we headed back to the parking lot, both kids started (voluntarily and unprompted) picking up trash along the river.  They even found a large bucket and old trash can that they used to stuff the trash in.

They stuffed it down as best they could so they could fit in even more trash to clean up the riverside.

It was such a gorgeous afternoon!

Cristina helped Owen carry his trash can of junk back to the parking lot dumpsters.

The kids with all the trash they collected.  They were so proud of themselves for helping clean up the environment.

And then there was more running and jumping the water before leaving.  Someone was soaked when we left.

Friends & Jezzie

We had friends over for dinner.  Todd missed out on the company and good food.  He was on a flight back from Minnesota and wouldn't land until everyone was gone and after the kids were asleep.  Jezzie really liked our company and made herself at home on Sahar's shoulder.

And also on her husband Shah's shoulder.  Shah was a good sport, was wanted Jez off fairly quickly. 

Sahar thought Jezzie was super sweet and continually encouraged her to hang out around her neck.  :)

Owen Races to Evan's Birthday Party

Evan's parents threw him a surprise party for his 9th birthday.  We surprised Owen with it, so he had no idea he was invited until the day before or where it was until we pulled into the parking lot of Andretti Speedway.  Evan was surprised and Owen was thrilled to see his friend.  So much so that he had to lift Evan right off the ground.

The Three Musketeers.  Owen, Lou and Evan.

Owen had quite the blue tongue after eating birthday cake.

He was excited about racing in a gokart by himself.

So.  Very.  Excited.

Bunny ears are quite popular around here.

Once Owen was in a gokart, his feet didn't reach the pedals.  So he had to switch to a two-seater and ride shotgun to his Momma.  He giggled the whole way around the race track.  And giggled louder as our helmets knocked together going around curves.

After racing around the track, the kids were given cards to play arcade games.  Owen used up the majority of his card on games like the claw where you use a joystick to move the claw before it drops and feebly attempts to pick up oversized toys.

As we walked out to our car through the parking lot, the tears started and didn't stop for some time.  The boy said he didn't have any fun.  None.  He could have fooled me.  I think he was a bit tired from a full day and over-stimulated from the raceway.

Kendama Fest

Owen and Chloe had their friends Tayden and Journey over today.  They had fun playing outside with Owen's kendamas, which attracted all the other kids on the street to come over with their kendamas.

We even had one of the dads from down the street walk up with his kendama and show off his skills.  The kids had fun showing off for each other.