Egg hunt #1

It's a beautiful spring weekend here, and we have two Easter egg hunts in the agenda. Today was one put on by a moms club that I belong to which means it's not too crowded and the kids are sure to get lots of eggs. 

Savannah loaded up!

So did gage.  How do you like his shorts & cowboy boots look? 

As they were going through their eggs to see what kind of treats that got, the big bunny showed up! Gage bolted when he was the EB and was 2nd in line to give him a big hug.

Savannah informed me that she she it was a person because she saw skin...but then she began to doubt that and said that it must be the Easter bunny. I think she didn't want to believe that it wasn't the EB ;-)

And then....word came that no one had found the golden egg. It was as still out there....somewhere! The kids took off running to search. All we knew is that it was near a tree. And guess who found it?!?! Yep...mr gage!! He won a special prize for finding the golden egg!!

Sally!!

I was driving back from the post office today...and I could not believe who was ahead of me. Adam's old mustang Sally!!! 

She was heading to te car show. She must be happy..she's driving around and showing off at car shows instead of sitting in the barn under a blanket. Ride Sally ride!

Circus week

This week was all about the circus at Gage's school. On Th and F they all dressed up as someone/something that's in a circus.  Now usually, gage doesn't want to participate in these silly dress up events (like silly hair day, silly sock day, silly hat day). But, he was all jazzed up about circus day, so I had to get creative. 

The first day, he wanted to be an elephant. So, we headed to the craft store for some gray felt, I borrowed Adams hat, and I did a little sewing. Voila...and elephant. He was very excited!!

That afternoon he decided he really wanted to be a tiger the next day. Okay...back to the craft store we went (I am such a good mommy). One piece of black felt, an orange t-shirt, and a few squirts of fabric glue later we had a tiger!! Okay...I used the tiger tail we bought back when we lived in Clemson. On the way out the door he decided he needed tiger stripes on his face. So...we grabbed a washable marker and I let him stand in front of the mirror and draw his own stripes. Voila...a tiger!

Not bad for about 10 minutes worth of cutting, sewing, gluing, and a grand total of $4.92 at the craft store. 

Gage's class

Here is a picture is Gage's preschool class, with his teachers - mrs Becky and mrs. Amy. His best buddies are Rush (top row green shirt) and Brooklyn (front row, white bow in her hair).

And..the photographer threw in a fun surprise!

It's hard to believe that next year's class photo will be kindergarten!!

Bus stop

A tornado warning meant that we had a two hour delay the other day for savannah and that Gage's school was canceled. That meant gage got hang out in his pjs all day.  When it was time to get his sister from the bus, this is how he insisted he was going - barefoot and sporting a single Hulk fist that yells "hulk smash" everytime you touch it.  Let's just say that Mr. Tom, our bus driver, was amused :-)

Little chefs :-)

We decided to make some pumpkin bread the other day, and savannah happily donned her chefs coat and hat. 

Gage decided to join in, well...because anytime there is sugar or bowl-licking involved, he's interested ;-)

cavern

Cathedral Cavern is another place that has been on our AL list. It has a huge opening (25 ft high and 100 ft wide) that was much bigger than the kids expected.

You can walk about 3/4 of a mile into the cave - and it ends up at 310 feet below ground (it's under Gunner mountain). 

The cave was discovered by a guy who ended up buying it and the 160 acres around it for $4k. He named it the Bat Cave and spent 15 years putting walkways in and blasting small tunnels so people could access the more remote areas of the cave that required real spelunking to get to. There are underground rivers, and stalagmites galore. This is one they call the cave man - you can see him with his club raised toward the top.

At one point we rounded a corner and our guide stopped. All of a sudden he flipped a switch and the stalagmite forest was lit up. The pictures don't do it justice. It was spectacular. Unlike anything I have ever seen. The only thing I can compare it to is a memory of the first time I went scuba diving and saw a world I had never seed anything like - a kelp forest, huge red underwater rock formations, colorful fish, rays, eels, seals swimming around me. it was like being inside an aquarium and I will never forget the feeling of awe. I felt something similar when seeing this. It was so beautiful. Like nothing I had ever seen. The cave was probably 20-30 feet high here. It was upon seeing this that the original cave discoverers wife said it reminded her of a cathedral, and they changed the cave's name.

These two pillars of stalagmite are called the pearly gates.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

After we finished up in the cave, we did some gem mining and hung out in big rocking chairs on the porch eating ice cream. Not a bad start to the day!!

savannah 7 favorites

Better late than never!  Each year I ask Savannah a set of questions, and love seeing her answers change as she does.   Here are Savannah's answers on her 7th birthday.  

1. What is your favorite color?  Yellow

2. What is your favorite toy?  Light up Barbie legos

3. What is your favorite fruit?  Peaches

4. What is your favorite tv show? Chihuahua 2

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Kidney beans, chick peas, & PBJ sandwich

6. What is your favorite outfit? Skinny jeans, white shirt, and leopard vest, pink cowgirl boots

7. What is your favorite game?  Hide & seek

8. What is your favorite snack?  Sour cream & onion chips

9. What is your favorite animal?  Bunny rabbits

10. What is your favorite song?  Party in the USA (miley cyrus)

11. What is your favorite book?  Jack & Annie Dogs in the Dead of Night

12. Who is your best friend?  Hallie Head

13. What is your favorite cereal?  Lucky charms

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Ride my bike

15. What is your favorite drink?  water

16. What is your favorite holiday?  Valentine’s Day

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My kitties

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Toaster Strudel

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Macaroni & cream sauce, with a piece of cake

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Pet sitter

21. What is a place you would like to visit someday? Paris

22. Where do you want to go to college?  North Carolina

Drive "throo" zoo

I have heard this animal safari is great. You can feed animals as you drive through. I was alittle nervous taking my car through, but I looked up visitor reviews and very few had anything bad to say. We gave it a shot.

This is the first guy to visit us. Horns. Don't like those horns. So, we fed him and moved on.

Who came up to us next? Yes, another horned beast. Argh! Enough with the horns!! 

Gage was a little unnerved by these horny beasts. I was too. We moved on. 

You have got to be kidding me. Look who is next...another giant horned beast!

He slobbered all over my car. Gage looks happy here but he was really nervous.

Oh hello sweet little deer. We liked this little hornless guy and soent a while feeding him...

Until this beast came our way...horns!! 

Next up...camels. Oh yeah. We are excited!! But wait..there's a horned beast near them.

Mr Horns moved out of the way and we had a blast feeding the camel.

Oh yeah...gage liked this guy!

But then...mr horns busted his way in between the camels and our car and was getting very aggressive trying to get our food. Moving on...

Oh man. Shaggy had the biggest horns yet!!!  We made sure to throw the food far from the car but he ended up slobbering all over our car too.

Next up - ostrich or emu? He was hungry. He looked like he was going to peck my eyes out. He was freaking me out. I had to keep the windows closed and hope he moved on fast. His buddy was standing in the middle of the road. I couldn't get away sat enough.

And that was it. We fed lots if deer and sheep type things. The zebra would not come near us. My car made it through unharmed - I think- I need to inspect it after I clean all the slobber off it. It was fun...but next trip we need to take a junky car through!!!!

Hellen Keller's home

Next stop - Hellen Keller's childhood home, Ivy Glenn. Gage not excited --can you tell?  Savannah was literally skipping around she was so excited.

Small museum if her books, belongings, etc.

 

We were talking about how blind people "see" faces by toucing them. Savannah was giving it a shot here.

Helen and Annie Sullivan's bedroom

The cottage where Hellen was born 

The family's cook's house.

Beautiful. Southern. We feel lucky to have visited a piece is history that most people don't get a chance to.