Girl Scout Camp - Camp Meriwether

The first weekend in November Mckenna and I went to Girl Scout Camp. Camp Meriwether, a horse camp an hour south of town. It was the first cold weekend of the year, but we managed to stay warm. We hiked, sang songs, did skits, rode horses, played games and had so much fun. It was so great to see McKenna learning the songs that my sister and I sang years ago when we were in Girl Scouts - and she learned some new ones that were quite catchy. I found myself singing them all week long! The girls had buddy groups that they did most activities with, so she hung with Ava, Telia and Emma a lot. They were older, so they helped her out along the way and made sure she was OK. She even got a piggy bike ride on the hike - they loved carrying her around. Here are some pix of her and her friends at camp. I am so lucky I got to do that with her...I teared up a few times as I watched her with the other girls. We both really enjoyed the experience.

Happy 40th Suzanne!

My friend Suzanne turned 40 last month and a group of us went out to celebrate. We eneded up at Halo, a night club in Midtown and soon realized we were so old! We walked a block down the street to an Irish pub with a band playing Brown Eyed Girl and we knew we were better suited to hang out there! The band was actually older than us, but the clientele were nice boys from Georgia Tech! We had a great time!

Circus Camp

The kids went to Circus Camp for two weeks this summer and Aidan learned a lot of magic, while McKenna spent her time tumbling and on the trapeze. They had a BLAST!

Trip to NC

We spent my bday weekend in July in NC with family - was great fun! Here's a picture of me, Shawn and my dad and a couple of the kids.

McKenna Turns 7

Mckenna turned 7 this summer and finally got a pair of Crocs. She was very excited! Was a fun day with plenty of Zhu Zhu pets and accessories, clothes and scrapbooking supplies.

Fireworks!

A few pix of us and the Vatalaro's downtown Atlanta for fireworks...was an adventure on MARTA to get downtown, but once we landed on our spot, we had a great view!

July 4th Picnic in Oakland Cemetary

Instead of hitting the local parks which were so crowded for a July 4th picnic, we decided to picnic under a huge Magnolia Tree in Oakland Cemetary where Margaret Mitchell, Maynard Jackson, and many other well known folks are buried. It's over 40 acres and has lots of green space along with amazaing architecture, all in the heart of Atlanta. Here are some pix...

Centennial Olympic Park Fountains

It's been a hot summer and the kids got a little relief downtown running through the fountains...was fun to watch!

Mother's Day

Shawn and I flew out to St. Louis to visit Mom for Mother's Day and to see how she spends her time out there! She lives in a great little town called Defiance and works on an organic farm. She can keep her horses there which is such a bonus for her. They just put in a new fence over several acres with automatic watering systems, they have plenty of shelter in the barn on the property. It's a beautiful farm! She lives near several wineries (we spent Mother's Day afternoon at one) and her back yard is on the Katy Trail for bikers and walkers. We had a great time and here are some pix from the weekend.

Baby Birds

We have had an exciting spring! We planted a garden complete with corn, peas, beans, squash, carrots, watermelon, arugala, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers - I think that's it! We will share pix soon as things are growing quite fast. The peas are already blooming we have tomatoes on the vine. McKenna's class had 20 chicken eggs that hatched and we wanted to bring some chicks home (we can have chickens in the city of Atlanta) but we thought the dogs might not approve of that. We have also had baby birds (Brown Thrasher - the Georgia State Bird) in our mail box!!! We were able to see the stages of life the birds took and they flew the nest today. There was lots of comotion yesterday and they are gone today, so we are sad to see them go. We will miss their little hungry cries for Mama bird. There are two eggs still in the next that didn't make it. So sad.

School is out already and the summer is in full swing. The kids have a crazy back and forth schedule this summer complete with Camp Invention and Circus Camp. I'm hoping to take some time off and go to the pool or climb Stone Mountain with them again.

Here are some pix. The one with the brown metal box is a picture of the baby bird. Look to the bottom right of the picture and you will see its big eyes and wide open pink mouth. Too cute!

Some of the events I have forgotten to mention are Aidan's 8th Birthday in February, Mac had her Moving In the Spirit Dance recital and danced to the songs from School House Rock (she was awesome!!!), Aidan yet another belt test, both kids had a Festivale de Coloures show at school where they performed, both kids had Portfolio Share at school to show us all the work they have done this year, I'm sure there is more, but here are some pix for you!

Sheree

Karate Kid

Here are a few pix of Aidan at his last belt test...he's really doing a great job!