Stone Mountain Adventure

 One of Miller's birthday gifts from us was an outing of his choice with a friend.  Miller soars with individual attention at a special outing. We purchased the all day Adventure passes for our family and planned a special day at the Mountain. Eliza Kate spent the day with Grandmama and Poppy since some of our plans didn't accommodate the preschool age.  Our outing fell at the end of spring break & it was the perfect opportunity for a staycation activity.

The boys were super excited about the Skyview gondola ride to the top of the mountain. As we waited in line, the boys were studying the motor and cable system. 

This is the look of wonderment as we climbed high above the Georgia pines. It was a great bird's eye view of the park. I won't lie, I breathed a sigh of relief when our gondola pulled into the drop off on the mountain.

This was Miller's first trip to the top of Stone Mountain. It was just a little windy at our new elevation. The wind was whipping through our hair! Miller commented that the granite top looked like the surface of the moon.  It brought back memories of when I visited the top of the mountain as a girl. Visiting Stone Mountain during the summer months was always a tradition when my grandparents rolled into town.

I had just a touch of anxiety as Miller scooted as close to the edge of the mountain as possible. The fence isn't always visible at all vantage points. So, it gives the illusion that they're going to take a tumbling trip down the steep slope. 

Here's their fake out photo clinging to the mountain for dear life:) BOYS!!

Grant is so much more cautious and stayed with me whenever I called his name. Miller's our adventurous, risk taker and I have to inhale deep breaths with all of his stunts. 

The views around the city were gorgeous on this spring Saturday.

Have you noticed these two like to hug? They're the hugging type of friends. Here we are loading up for the quick decent down the mountain.

We set our sights on the Stone Mountain Express train as our next adventure. This was basically a chill out, relaxing ride around the park. Miller, our train enthusiast loves riding on the tracks. 

Sweet buddies with their wrist bands. Park goers kept giving them special notice trying to figure out if these two were twins or brothers really close in age. 

So, we really came for this one activity--the SkyHigh ropes course. We chose the beginner course 12 feet up. It doesn't look like it's a hard rope's course, but it felt a little exciting once we stepped out with nothing to hold onto but our overhead harness. I kept coaching the boys that they weren't going to fall because they were strapped in. Psychologically though, you feel like one mishap and you're toast. Miller needed no vote of confidence to sail through the different obstacles. And, Grant did AWESOME conquering his fears on the 4 by 4 balance beams. I did agree to bring him back in one piece!!

G and I set our sights on the zipline while Miller and daddy climbed up the stairs for a harder challenge up top.

This was the perfect outing for active boys looking for adventure. I was so happy to afford him this opportunity with a friend. Of course, he soaked up every minute without his little sister tagging along for the ride;)

The rock climbing challenge was to push the buzzer once you reached the top of the wall. Miller conquered stepped on fingers and a few failed footholds to find the button.  They slowly managed to use their strength to climb the wall. Around this time of the afternoon, Miller wasn't feeling so hot--yikes! Turns out that he spiked a fever on the way home and zonked out. Strep visited our house that weekend, but we're so glad we squeezed in our much anticipated birthday outing before things went sour. You're only turn 7 once!

spring break 2014

 We stayed in town over spring break and soaked in some gorgeous Atlanta weather. Our community garage sale started off the weekend with absolutely dreadful gloom and rain.  The sun finally made an appearance with warmer temperatures by the start of the week. It ended up being a great week weather wise to be outside. Between a park playdate and library time we managed one activity a day. We met up with a new friend in Eliza Kate's class that just moved into town from Nashville mid week. We gave her the official tour of the Atlanta Zoo. We've gotten good use out of our membership pass this year.

We met up at the zoo opening time at 9:30 a.m. It was a great time to observe the animals eating their breakfast. Most animals were awake and alert. Miller joined us as both kids had spring break at the same time. He was on his best "girl approved" behavior.

 He even took on chaffering duties between exhibits. 

 The girls chose to bob up and down on the carousel with Mrs. Sheryl and I promptly dropped Miller off on the zoo train. He was tall enough and old enough to ride solo. With no stops around the zoo, I felt confident that he'd make it back in one piece.  And, this boy has all the confidence in the world to rise up to more independence within reason. This was definitely a step in trust. Sure enough, he met me again at the station:) {with a BIG grin on his face}

We rushed to change into swimsuits to enjoy the splash pad. All the kiddos cooled off in the shooting sprinklers. It was in the 80's and more than warm enough to get soaked from head to toe.

I felt like we were a good 1/2 hour ahead of the other spring breakers. Once we settled in on an area, it took about 30 minutes for the swarms of crowds to follow suit. Spring break can be a busy time to make this day trip. We were pleasantly surprised that we could enjoy the exhibits with an unobstructed view.

 Thankful for a break with both littles this week. Everyone needs a little R&R with the family from time to time.

We played on our block with neighbors two nights in a row hosting an impromptu pot luck cookout. Dueling green eggs between neighbors added to the spring break spirit of community on our driveway. Eliza Kate asked when the next party was by the third night with our friends. 

Grandmama and Poppy met our family at the Marietta Square on Thursday evening. This seems to be our meeting place when we're in town for spring break.

Eliza Kate begged Poppy for some "monies" She usually bends his ear with her requests and flipped her coins into the fountain with her wishes announced.

Miller showed off his mad, robotic dancing skills on top of the train playscape. I mean, really? Whatever am I going to do with my extrovert. He craves attention as if we don't pour enough into him already. He did have us all laughing. Spring break 2014 right there.

And, no visit to the square would be complete without a group shot for memory's sake. 

Miller's 7th

Turning 7 years old is quite an accomplished age. SEVEN feels old in every way. This year we scaled back the bash quite a bit and invited our 7 friends from the neighborhood for our first drop off party adventure. Miller invited the boys out for pizza to the Roswell Mellow Mushroom. We love their extended patio area that overlooks a large field perfect for corn hole and football games. On Saturday evenings, Extreme Gaming sets up a 10 screen video game cart with a teenage assistant on the patio with various games perfect for young boys. So with that plan, we had ourselves a pretty easy party.

So easy, that Miller didn't even divulge a party theme choice. The planner in me did choose party decor in aqua, orange, and turquoise. Throw in a few mustache straw cut outs, and cupcake toppers and it was a true gentleman's party. My favorite memory was Miller's casual comment, "Oh, I guess we've got a mustache party going on!"

Gosh, I love this seven year old boy of mine. He's not into the details of decor or party themes at 7 like his sister who squeals at centerpieces. Just invite his pals, bring some balloons and gifts and go ahead and call it a party, already!

There was lots of goofing off with the staches~ The boys were entertained with the gaming cart before pizza was served. I ordered way too much pizza thinking that they would devour each slice. Boys at parties are too busy playing to eat.

They chased, threw the football and got involved in a competitive game of cornhole. The weather was a balmy 75 degrees with the sun shining. We couldn't have chosen a better evening the whole week long weather wise. I lured the gentlemen back to the patio with the promise of cupcakes.

I bagged up the treats so they'd travel well in the car. They did add a little flair to the tables once we arrived. Like the boys even care about cutesy flair:)

We sang the birthday chorus and Miller had laser focus on his birthday wish. 7 candles looked good on his cupcake. Each candle flickered in honor of one year in our birthday dude's life!

A gaming birthday with pizza did the trick to make our birthday boy feel extra special! I loved stealing this natural smile as if he was pleased with the party;) We exchange these expressions. I've become a pretty good mind reader about what's going on in his 7 year old brain.

We hammed it up for a few family memories in all of our orange, aqua and green. 

Grandmama and Poppy helped us with crowd control. Since we're in the era of the drop off, we needed a few extra eyes and hands to make sure our guests were taken care of. 

We loaded up the car with a van full of boys to return back home. A few were picked up for baseball games, so we had room for everyone. On the journey back a few neighbors wanted the party to continue with a silly string game in the backyard. Since we were making good time, I thought why not?

These boys got silly alright. Believe it or not, perfect gentlemen can be out of control silly. Before long, our backyard was littered with every neon shade of exploding string. The birthday fun continued until all the cans were empty. 

Miller threw his hands up in surrender. His hide out was discovered. I set up present opening time on the back deck as the boys were covered with gooey string from head to toe.

This was the first birthday Miller's opened gifts in front of his friends. He could only wait so long to dive into the present unwrapping. At 7, I finally trust him to show grace even if it's not his most favorite present. Although, these buds picked out gifts he was SO thrilled about. We loved watching him read each card and say his thank yous. He had a few Lego Movie sets to keep him busy for awhile.

Happy 7th Birthday Miller! It's a privilege and also a huge responsibility as parents watching you grow up. We pray that you grow in favor with God and man during this seventh year of life. It was a joy celebrating you with your friends. We love you!

Cardinals Baseball

Miller begged us to sign him up for baseball this spring. His last try at T-ball when he was 4 was comical to say the least. There was a lot more of chasing butterflies in the outfield and stomping on mud mounds in the field than serious playing. We've noticed such a difference in his focus and hitting abilities at 6 years old. What a difference a couple of years makes! Miller's on an 8U coach pitch league. Most of the boys are in 2nd-3rd grade with only 3 first grade boys on the team. I wish they had a 6U coach pitch team, but he's really learning from the older boys. 

Here's our # 3 up to bat. I'm loving my view through the chain link fence this season. Every time he came up to bat on game number 1, Miller got a hit and managed to run the bases to home. Whew! Sometimes the butterflies in my stomach really get me anxious for #3.

He loved playing catcher in front of the ref. I must say that's the cutest little baseball tush in town. The weight of all that body equipment keeps him grounded in one place. 

We managed a 14-6 win against the Dodgers! After all of our losses during soccer season, it feels so good to get a victory. We had forgotten how it feels to bask in the glory of a win. These boys were good sports and managed the end of the inning high five hand slap run through.

We're looking forward to an exciting season. Our coaches are the best instructionally that we've experienced in the Upward league. The only downside to our spring are the 1 1/2 long practices every Friday evening.  Although, Miller looks forward to his Friday night practices! With Saturday games, our weekend are now consumed with baseball through May.