Sunday, June 26, 2011

Point Park (and Cake)

Saturday of our visit to Lookout Mountain took us driving around the mountain and led us to Point Park, part of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park.   Lookout Mountain is REPLETE with Civil War history.  The North & South fought many battles to control this gateway to the South.

We'd been to Point Park before, but not with Isabel, so we decided to take a small hike on one of its many trails.





After the park, we drove around the mountain, drooling at the gorgeous homes, and then went to eat lunch at Mojo Burrito in St. Elmo (at the base of the mountain).

Dinner was a family affair at my in-laws.  ALL the kids were there.  Since Sunday was Father's Day and we all could not be together then, I baked a cake that afternoon after coming home from the park and lunch, and dedicated it to all the SUPER dads in the house.



We also spent a lot of time in the back yard, looking at their beautiful butterfly garden, and waiting for the baby blue birds to hatch!  (They hatched....the afternoon after we left, of course.)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Playing Around

This past weekend, we went up to Lookout Mountain, home of Rock City, Ruby Falls, the Incline, and, oh yea, my in-laws.  :)  I love that they live there.  We drove late through the night Thursday evening in order to make it there by Friday morning, so we could see two of our nieces in a summer production of "Sleeping Beauty."  One niece was a fairy and the other was Aurora herself.


Our niece playing Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) was so CUTE. She's 11 and would not look the boy playing the Prince in the eye at all.  She was so embarrassed she would not look at him when they danced or talked.   She had a lot of talking & singing to do and she did a great job.  

We headed back to the house after the show and then later Isabel went with her cousins to my sister-in-law's Friday night open-night at her gym.  Parents can drop off their kids on Friday nights at her gym for play time and pizza.  We went there later in the evening to see what everyone was up to and go get Isabel.

The kids had fun, as you can see from the pictures below.







And that was just the first day!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

New York Through a Cell Phone Lens

Here are some shots taken during Jacob's New York trip.


Grey's Papaya


Cathedral of St. John the Divine 


Archangel Michael vanquishing Satan.


Taken from the Top of the Rock.

Church of St. Paul the Apostle



All-righty, then.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Strike a Pose

Jacob had his senior portrait photo shoot on Thursday.  The guy taking the photo was Jeremy at Hansen Fine Portraits.    We discovered that Jeremy...is Isabel's first grade teacher's brother.  Small world!

Here are some "Behind the Scenes" pictures taken by me.






She really wanted her picture taken too!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The Good, The Meh and The REALLY Bad

The Good:



Percy Jackson books Pictures, Images and Photos

David and I both read the entire Percy Jackson series and really liked it.  It's a YA series, so it's not grand literature, but the writing is good, the characters are fun and I loved the mythology brought to life in modern times.

Little Women Book cover Pictures, Images and Photos

I'd never read "Little Women," can you believe it?  It came free on my Barnes & Noble Nook (present) and so I decided to read it.  I enjoyed the sweet setting and the (to us now) silly girls.

The Meh:


Undead and Unworthy Pictures, Images and Photos
I think this is book 7; I lost track.  I also lost interest.  The characters aren't....changing? I don't know, the story lines are too alike in each book:  Betsy meets an adversary, curses a lot, discovers a new power, kicks butt.  And then there's Nick the cop, who is such an annoying human being, I don't understand how anyone can put up with him or why he is even in the books.  Real people don't act like him.  I am not sure I will continue with the series.



So the main character has a supermodel sister and a brain sister.  She's always gotten hand-me-downs and now as an adult, refuses anything that is old or used.  Cookies have to be from a fresh pack, milk has to be from a fresh carton each time, furniture must be brand new. She will never shop at a thrift store and antiques and antique stores make her hyperventilate.  She was so unrealistic, I was annoyed by her and did not like her as a person.

The REALLY Bad:


This is what I get for being cheap.  Truly.  It was a 99 cent download on my Nook.

Written with typos and grammar errors, this book was not worth the 99 cents I paid.  The main character was a rude, white trash girl.  She had a mouth worse than a sailor, hated her job, punched people a lot (and never got arrested??), was bitter and rude.  Can there really be such trashy people? Sure.  I have known one or two women like this, not as bad, but close.  Should there be books written about them? No.  And to top it off, she gets the hunky hunk in the end.  Because he's apparently brain-dead to be with her in the first place.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

New York Stuffs

Behold! Stuff from Jacob's NY trip.

First up, Jacob purchased a New York Exclusive Vinylmation Disney Doll - The Statue of Liberty.  Apparently you can only find these in Times Square.




Next up, Jacob purchased a patch from his visit to 30 Rockefeller Center for our patch blanket.


Finally, Jacob purchased this little doodad off a street vendor in Times Square.  I should have taken a picture from the back.  The two washers put together make a nice butt crack effect on his butt.  Isabel was the first to point and giggle.  

Friday, June 10, 2011

Start Spreading the News.....

He wants to be a part of it, New York, New York!!!!

My son is in New York as I type for the concert he will be singing in tomorrow.  Rehearsals, sightseeing and lots of dining-out fun.  He flew out yesterday and Mother-Hen that I am was all panicked because David just wanted to drop him off at the outside door of the departures section of the airport.

What if he gets flustered?  What if he doesn't know which way to go? Who will help him?

Yea, I know.  He's 17.  Cut the cord.

David won out (along with Jacob saying "Moooooom, alright already!")  and he was dropped off at the curb.  He called from the gate to inform me he made it through check-in, security and the tram without any national  incident and had met up with 3 fellow travelers.

*sigh*

I probably won't have pictures because he did not take a camera.  He said he'd use his cell phone, so maybe I can get some from him when he returns.  Stay tuned!

(Hi Niki!)