Birthday Month

Gracie is turning 7 soon. A special request was made by the girl herself to take her bestest friends to Key Lime Cove to celebrate her birthday. We scored a deeply discounted stay at the resort; and I do use that term loosely, but that's another post. So, making some calls or sending some texts rather, we invited C & E, along with A. Whooo, C &E were THRILLED beyond belief. We found a weekend that worked for us. A was unable to join us, but I saved that sad piece of info for the very last moment. In doing so, Grace was already in the midst of bliss with her other two besties to fret much. Good call, Mom.

The car ride up to Key Lime Cove was NOISY to say the least. Who knew happiness, joy, & giggles could get to deafening levels so quickly? ACK! None was so happy to arrive at the resort (again, loose interpretation of the word). Those girls were splish splashing & slip slidin within the hour. I did a bit of birthday decorating when Gracie wasn't looking & viola - it's a birthday party!

The girls swam the evening away, as well as the next day! Whoo hoo! To celebrate the birthday, we dove head first into a gargantuan sundae called the kitchen sink sundae with elaborate toppings and spectacular mini fireworks - all served in a small kitchen sink! It was amazing & sooo much ice cream, we didn't even make a dent! It was indeed fun trying. =)

On the ride home, I asked the girls what there favorite part of the weekend was. Each replied, "Being funny together." True. True. I've never heard so many knock knock jokes before in my entire life. However, the joke that garnered the most giggles was this one: Hey, what's that under there? Under where? HA! I made you say "underwear"!!! Hilarious, even the 100th time. =)

Ready to ride!

Splash!

BFFL

Birthday Girl Surprise

Gearing up for a good day

Say you're surprised

Kitchen Sink Sundae

So hungry they could eat a kitchen sink!

Fireworks

Birthday glow

2007 Southern Tour: Part 4 Atlanta Times (cont)

After relaxing with Sarah, Grace & I headed to the other side of Atlanta to visit former CLC-er, Holly. What a treat to see her as well as visit with another old friend, Pat, from CLC Shorewood campus. Moriah was willing swim buddy for Miss Grace.

We certainly enjoyed hanging out by the resort-like pool at Holly's apartment complex. The whole place was awash with vivid colors from all the flowers. Really impressive & a great retreat for a couple of days.

Thanks to Holly, we had abundant choices for delectable dining. We ate at Mimi's...a charming French Bistro. Yeah...there's one in Orland! But the highlight was an evening spent in the Highland neighborhood of downtown Atlanta. Quite the quaint village-esque area with cutsie shops & one of a kind neighborhood eateries. We had a great time at Wired & Fired: A Pottery Playhouse, indeed! Can't wait to get that truly calico-ed kitty that Grace painted. Let's just remember it's not the finished product, but the process that counts.

After we were all wired (Gracie) & fired (me...for gelato) up, we indulged in GELATO at Paolo's. It was scrumptious & quite the authentic Italian gelataria experience. Now I'm not saying it brought me back to Venice but it was certainly the best I've had this side of the Atlantic. YUM!

One of the highlights of this portion of the tour was a very spontaneous trip to Helen, GA. Grace & I passed up mall strolling for bumping over the cobblestones in this little Bavaria right in the USA. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the Chattahoochee River, this Georgia village is a re-creation of an alpine village complete with cobblestone alleys, old-world towers, German folk music & bands, shops, restaurants, mountains, beautiful scenery, family activities, waterfalls, museums, history, art, fishing, tubing, golf, and more.

We had a GREAT time splashing around in the river, dodging tubers as they meandered down the lazy waterway. AND then there was the serenade by some hokie karaoke on the opposite side of the river bank. It was actually hilarious to hear some of the "talent" & things got progressively better as the coolers were emptied. Really....it was quite funny in a painful sort of way.

There was ample opportunity to practice our Deutsche sprachen in the shops & restaurant. Gracie was delighted to drive the horse drawn carriage and even more so when she got to feed the horses a bunch of carrots.

If I haven't mentioned this already, my camera petered out just after Dollywood, so most of these pics are from my mobile phone & a big thanks to Holly for sharing a few of her pics.

Anyway, this was a great way to end the Southern tour...actually, we had another great evening with Jennifer & Gabi on the way back to Chi-town. While waiting for the Anderson's to come back from church, Grace & I played around in the swimming pool. I enjoyed a beautiful sunset behind the mountains & it just felt right. Not saying I'm moving or anything, but it sure reminded me that the city or even the suburbs doesn't suit me much anymore. :o)

2007 Southern Tour: Part 3 Atlanta Chillen & Grillen with Sarah

We met up with my good friend, Sarah, whom I met while living in Amberg, Germany. With just a couple of days, we simply relaxed & enjoyed catching up on what's new & reminiscing about times past. Sarah wowed us with a divine choc chip cinammon coffee cake...Gracie is the master taste tester!

Talk about YUM!

After a visit with Sarah's crafty mom, Michele, we took a chilly dip in the pool. That Gracie is a fish for sure, undaunted by lack of sun & occasional raindrop. We rounded out the visit with some tasty grilling at Sarah's hand. I'm trying to think if that yummy fresh pinapple even made it to the grill. Oh, well....good times with a good friend indeed! AND it was a treat to get to know Chad a bit more as he came home at the tale end of our visit. Just in time to share some blackberries with Grace...or rather watch her eat them ALL. :o)

Sarah's wedding Feb 05

Sarah & Grace at 3 weeks old

Pre-wedding play Feb 05

Sarah to the rescue when Gracie needed help up in the climber at Chic Fil-A.

2007 Southern Tour: Part 1, RR 2007

We are back from our southern tour...had a great time at each stop. I wish I had time to thoroughly narrate but time eludes me...I guess it's catching up on the laundry, cleaning & work I left behind for a couple of weeks. And then of course, there still so much summer to enjoy...who has time to post much? So here's the picture story a little bit at a time~

Roommate Reunion '07: Santa Claus, Indiana

The roomies & kids come together again for our annual reunion, this time heading south (it's always south for me) to Santa Claus, Indiana...yes, an entire community dedicated to the love of Christmas and Santa Claus. We camped at Lake Rudolf in this huge RV with the boys pitching a tent in our spacious "yard". We opted to skip Holiday World amusement park and just hang out together since our time was short. We enjoyed lots of pool play, the park, mini golfing, and paddleboats (umm...not sure who really enjoyed that part...it was so dog gone HOT under those mandatory life vests).

Of course, we reminiced and giggled over our college roomie antics. We cooked up some of our most delectable roomie dishes and tried some new ones as well. Thanks, Jules, for those yummy creamy tacos. I'll try it myself sans the sweetened condensed milk. :o) My big goof was forgetting the paddle to the ice cream maker. I had to rig one up using a spatula but the strawberry ice cream turned out delicious. We used frozen strawberries Gracie & I picked a few weeks back.

It's always a good time getting together with these girls. We've walked together through thick & thin; witnessed the best & worst of each other. Here's to friends for life~

Can you see Grace on that huge Santa statue? She is nose to nose with a bunny peeking out of Santa's bag.

Gracie's 1st mini golfing experience - stand clear folks.

Paddle boats on the lake