Parking Hopping: Old Mill Park

We had a little over 30 minutes to kill before we went on a tour at the Smith Plantation in Roswell.  I had previously looked up a park in that was nearby for us to picnic at, but instead, we just went to explore!  We visited Old Mill Park, and it was absolutely beautiful!  I wish we had all day to hike around and see all the ruins and the waterfall.  We did not, so we will just have to go back another time!
I wanted to visit the park specifically to see the covered bridge.  It is beautiful, as you would expect!

Love the extra revenue stream!

I'm not sure what this building is because we didn't get a lot of time to explore, but it had beautiful old brick work that would make good pictures up close.

The view of the creek from the middle of the covered bridge.

Adrian, Mercy, and Sophia looking down at the rapids.

All the kids on the bridge.  I didn't get a single picture of all the kids where Kyle wasn't making a silly face.

Though this picture is a bit over exposed, I love looking through the trusses on the roof of the bridge.

I remember to take the tripod, and we managed to take a family picture! 

Thanks to the Presley's :P, our kids like to do a "silly picture".  They have often been my favorite ones because you can see everyone trying not to laugh!

We will definitely be going back to Old Mill Park and finding the waterfall and hiking around!

Special time with Friends

At the beginning of January, we met our best friends the Groths in Anderson, SC.  The kids the love playing together.  We started our time together at Chickfila for a nice lunch, then we headed to a park close by.  I was surprised by how big the play structures were!  The kids played different forms of tag and had a grand time.

I absolutely loved the decorative mosaic hot air balloons!  Even when the tiles were broken and removed the concrete looked cool! (Sorry for so many tile pictures.  They were just so neat!)

The play structures were unusual and fun for the kids.

When we met the Groths, they had two children and we had two children.  I was pregnant with Kyle.  Now we have 10 children total!

Project 365: Week 1.5

I had no intentions of doing another 365 project.  I was tired of taking random pictures in November (and earlier), but I have really enjoyed looking back over the year and seeing all the pictures, and seeing that I stuck with it!  I don't know if I will do a full year, but I am ready to give it a go for now.  This post will cover January 1 - January 9.

Friday:  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Man this smile makes my heart happy!  I am thankful for a new year, new beginnings (in some senses), and wonderful cringly nose smiles!

Saturday: I was taking pictures of Kyle, and Mercy wanted her picture taken with bubby.  I am thankful for stuffed animals and what they mean  to my children and the care and love my children have for them.

Sunday: As is typical, I didn't take any pictures on Sunday.  I am thankful for my Lord who saved me, a terrible sinner.  (This picture was taken at a park we went to later in the week.  I love hot air balloons, and really loved these mosaic decorations.  I am also thankful to have seen hot air balloons in person in the past.  They are so amazing!)

Monday: We were without a washing machine for a little over a week.  We found a good price on one recommended by a friend.  The kids enjoyed watching the men deliver it.  Then they enjoyed watching the first load of laundry as the new washer has a glass lid.  I am thankful for washing machines as they make life easier and help keep us clean!

 Tuesday: I am thankful for fun and useful hobbies and for stretching myself with a difficult (for me) pattern.

Wednesday: I am thankful for good friends!  We met our best friends in Anderson, SC for a play date.  We found a really neat playground that entertained 9 kids for over 2 hours!

Thursday:  Thursdays are long, busy days for me.  I take the kids to our church for school classes and I help with a class, I watch kids, I feed kids, I run errands, I help my sister with sewing, and generally don't stop moving until around 5pm.  I am thankful for my church family that cares enough about all of our kids to organize these classes and provide this opportunity for them.

Friday: We got the opportunity to visit with some friends and go to the Fernbank Planetarium.  We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the star part of the presentation.  I am thankful for the time with friends and this unusual activity.

Saturday: More adventures with Captain Cook (which you will get to read about later).  I am thankful for imagination.

Park Hopping: Chattahoochee Lower Pool

On Nov. 4, Adrian and I decided to take the day off and enjoy being outside together.  We went to the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area's Lower Pool Park.  It is just below the dam on Lake Lanier.  The kids and I have been to this park several times, and have walked on the far side of the Chattahoochee.  So we decided to stay on the west side of the river and hike a trail beside the river.  We had a lot of fun, but got "lost" several times by taking the wrong trail and ended up "hiking" for about an hour longer than we planned!  It was an enjoyable time and I look forward to hiking here again.

Adrian took the first 4, and I took the last 3.

Park Hopping: Rock Springs Park

Rock Springs Park is close to our church.  It has so neat trails, some paved and some unpaved.  Down one of the unpaved paths is a small suspension bridge.  The kids love jumping and bouncing across it!  The playground is a fairly standard Gwinnett County Park, but my kids love to play on all the equipment.

All the kids (minus Patrick) with Gma.

I am actually in a picture with Gma and cousin Bonnie.

Parts of the bridge

Patrick swinging

Sophia was trying to do the funny monkey bars.

Park Hopping: Bunten Road Park

On a particularly cool morning in August, Megan and I decided to have a short park day.  The weather was nice with lower temperatures and slightly less humidity.  The kids had a great time exploring Bunten Road Park since the equipment had been changed since we went there several years ago.

The favorite feature at the park was this web swing.  All the kids loved playing on it!

I liked these little signs on the playground equipment.  I saw this train and also a car.

The little girls liked this caged spinner.

Kyle conquered the climbing wall.

Sophia took to the climbing call like a pro, even though she had flip flops on!

 I love this picture of Mercy sizing up the ladder she is on!

Mercy cheered for herself when she made it to the top!

Avalyn and Clayton climbed the outside of the tall slides. 

This spinner was difficult for the kids to get onto as it was so tall!  Megan lifted them up to hold on, then spun them around.  PaigeEE was really concentrated on holding on tight!

The kids got the web swing really going!

We managed to get all the kids on the swing.