March Trip to the Cabin

In the middle of March we took a trip up to our cabin to spend a few days. We arrived late Friday night & on Saturday morning we took a trip into town (Murphy) to buy some groceries. We were surprised to see damage in the town from a tornado that came thru a few weeks prior. Our cabin was only about 7 miles from the path of the tornado!

Other than some rain Saturday morning, the weather for the trip was perfect! We spent Saturday doing some work around the cabin & then drove to Blue Ridge, GA to walk around downtown for St. Patricks Day. Sunday the kids played around the yard & in the creek by the cabin & we took a short hike to a waterfall which was about 40 minute drive from our cabin. On Monday we drove out to beautiful Vogel state park in north Georgia. We let the kids run around & play on the playground & then they had a blast throwing rocks in the creek. After we left the park we spent some time in downtown Murphy & Charles met the local Chiropractor (a really nice guy!) We headed home early Tuesday morning.

Olivia getting a ride in a basket

Playing in the creek by our cabin, which was freezing!

(They didn't seem to mind though, they are both such water babies!)

On the hike to the waterfall. Olivia had so much fun & walked almost all of the way.

Can't see it too well but this is a photo of the waterfall

Playing at the cabin

Hugs!!

Anniversary Trip to Disney

Charles and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on March 3rd with a camping trip to Disney with the kids. We spent Friday and Saturday at Disney's Fort Wilderness campground and then Sunday we spent the day at Magic Kingdom. Friday night we went to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue dinner show that's held at the campground. Before the dinner show started we took Cameron for a pony ride at the stables, which he really enjoyed. The food & dinner show were great but not really aimed for younger children so the kids got quite antsy. After chasing Olivia around for 20 minutes, we left 10 minutes early. Saturday we spent the day swimming, walking around the campground & playing at the campsite. After an early morning thunderstorm (6:00 am), the skies cleared for a beautiful day at the Magic Kingdom. Once we arrived into the park, we rode the train & then headed to tomorrow land where Cameron & Charles rode the race cars. Then we did the tea cups, waited a long time for the Winnie the Pooh ride (which scared Olivia at the end), watched a 3d mickey movie, rode on it's a small world & then ate lunch while both the kids slept in the stroller. After lunch we went to the country bear jamboree, swiss family treehouse & watched the parade before heading out. Some of the rides (like Dumbo) were closed due to an expansion at the park. We definitely did a condensed visit to the park since the kids were tired after a long weekend at the campground and also because we had to pick my cousin Graham up at the airport on our way home. Graham stayed with us for 5 days while on spring break from college. He spent the time visiting my grandparents & playing with the kids (who loved him!) I'm so disappointed I don't have pictures from Graham's visit!

Charles walking Cameron on the pony

 Olivia giving it a try :)

The family at the dinner show

 Olivia dancing to the music

 Eating lunch at the camper

 Love to play in the dirt!

 Family photo in front of Cinderella's Castle

 On the train

 Charles & Cameron on the race cars

 On the tea cup ride

 Playing in Winnie the Pooh's village (while waiting in line for the ride)

 Wiped out at lunch time (Olivia fell asleep while I was holding her in line for it's a small world)

 Waiting for the parade to start

 Giving Pluto a high five



Trip to Oregon

At the end of January we took at trip to Klamath Falls, Oregon to visit my older sister (Heather), her husband (Phil) and three sons (Jackson, Emmett & Reid.) Phil is stationed at the Oregon Air National Guard base as an instructor for the F-15 planes. Cameron & Olivia did surprisingly well on the 7 hour flight; we flew 4-5 hours to Salt Lake City, had an hour layover & then flew 2 hours to Oregon. The last hour was the hardest, Olivia was over it & very antsy. Then she decided to practice her happy screams which drew not so nice looks. I almost cried tears of joy when we landed.

We had a great time & the boys had a blast playing together. We spent 3 days at their house in Klamath Falls (a very small town) & the other 4 days we all rented a house in Bend, Oregon a beautiful city about 2 hours away. While in Bend, Charles & Phil went snowboarding & skiing while Heather & I stayed with the kiddos, playing at the house & nearby parks. It was so worth the long plane trip to see them & it meant so much to me to have the quality time with Heather. Thank you Heather for being such a great host & for the love, support & encouragement you give me all the time!

Cameron playing in a pile of leftover snow

Emmett, Cameron & Jackson. They got to be such great buddies. They played together so well all week, not fighting once!

Olivia & Reid playing at the house in Bend

The boys playing with playdough

Cameron entertaining Olivia & Reid

One of the days in Bend we took the kids to a public pool to swim. They had a little kids pool that was 2 feet deep with a slide & water toys. The kids all had a great time!

Cameron on a water raft

Heather with Olivia

 Cutie pie Emmett

 The four of us walking to the grocery store in Bend. The house we rented was right in downtown Bend so it was nice to walk to the stores & we even walked to dinner one night. 

Charles & Cameron even got to go to the base one day & watch the jets take off. I think Charles enjoyed it more than Cameron did :)

Checking out the F-15's

Those jets are loud!

Phil showing the boys his gear

Heather reading to Emmett & Cameron

My beautiful sister & I on our way to enjoy a dinner together. As you can probably tell in this picture, Heather's house is beautiful & every inch is stylishly decorated. Seeing her house encouraged me to work on a few things at home, with her help of course! :)

Olivia & Reid getting into trouble :)