Well. Tired and exhasted but SO thrilled. Friday, we had the opportunity (thanks to some friends) to go to Six Flags. We spent the day there and had a blast. Since mine and the children's tickets were free, we only had to pay for dh. The tickets expired the next day, so we needed to use them. Here are some pictures from that day.








We then got up early Saturday morning. We took our sweet furbaby, Princess Leia (who is due with her second litter next week!!) to my mom and dad's house. They were gracious enough to watch her for two days. They love having their "granddog". Then we headed off to Greenwood, SC to be with the Estes family and help Celebrate Noah's second Birthday. If you read our other posts and saw Pictures, you know that in June of this year they were in Our very own Atlanta and were coming for a short 3 day trip that turned into a week trip. Except for one day, we were with them everyday and had a blast. We (Kate and I, and her children and our children) immediately "hit it off" and became instant friends. They had mentioned while they were here, about Noah's party. We also were trying to get to Greenville to visit with my husband's great Uncle Harry.

My husband had points with a hotel chain, and there is one in Greenwood, so we talked about it and dh said yes! Yipee! So we traveled the 3 1/2 hours (from my parents house, 1 hour south of us) to Greenwood for Noah's party. We arrived around 2 pm and we were all SO excited to see each other again. We also were blessed to visit with other blogger friends, the Rausch's. We enjoyed their company also. We gave Noah his gifts (MORE Mickey Clubhouse stuff!) and he was running around! We went back to our hotel, and swam for a little family time. Jeff called us and we went over to their house with the Rausch's for some fellowship time. We had SOOO much fun. We then got up Sunday morning and went to church with the Estes family. After church, we went to their home and had delicious spagetti, parmesean bread, salad and Kate's yummy chocolate cake. To say our trip was too short is an understatement. Let's just say there were tears and we even had some Estes boys try to "stow away" in our van (namely Matthew, who became fast friends with our Joseph). Noah LOVES Joshua, our oldest. He followed him around and Joshua happily carried him around :o) (how can he resist SUCH a cutie pie!) All of the children LOVED being with the Estes and we didn't want to leave (but we were starting school today and my dh had work to do).

We left their house in the afternoon, and went to my dh's uncle and aunts home. I am BIG into genealogy, especially family pictures. Uncle Harry has been promising me for 4 years to bring me copy of heirloom pictures but they were in a storage unit. Also we were wanting to visit with them and interview them, since the boys are using Write your Roots this year. Well with printer in my hand and photo paper, we were very happy to be there. We enjoyed our visit SOO Much. We were there over 5 hours, lol. The kids had so much fun with them and Joshua played the piano for them, which they enjoyed (I did too :o)) Aunt Mickey did bring out pictures and they were a treasure!!

(Uncle Harry and Aunt Mickey)

(Uncle Harry, Aunt Mickey, My dh and our 3 boys)

(Uncle Harry, Aunt Mickey, and my dh)

(Pictured is an old Door that was painted by my dh's great-great grandfather, who was a famous painter in Wooster, OH. His name was John Walmer).


In the middle of making copies, I ran out of color ink, so I had to make a quick trip to the local Walmart. While there, I was walking through the school supply section. There was this little girl, about 5 years old. She was dressed in a pink shirt, with glitter, that said "All about Me". (That should have been my first clue, lol). Anyway, she was standing in the front buggy seat, moving back and forth, while the buggy was moving. Her mother, had her back turned and was completely oblivious!! I mean completely! It scared me to death. I said in a very nice and polite voice, "Oh honey, you are going to fall and hurt yourself." This little 5 year old looks at me, and says (yells), "Go away, you old bat" "Go away you old Lady!" Her mother, just looks at her and says her name and turns around. I was so mad (and shocked!), I just walked away. My thoughts were, she is 5 years old! I am someone she doesn't know, but how is she going to deal with Authority in her life? How will she be able to submit to her authority in school (or in life)? Obviously, she doesn't submit to authority at home...And what will this little girl be like at 12, 14, etc. She will probably be on a talkshow with her mother for "out of control kids and their parents don't know what to do with them". I was so shaken and bothered by this occurance of events, I had to vent.

We got in, after picking up our dog, at around 1:30 am. By the time we unloaded the van and got to sleep it was around 2-2:30 am. We have started school today and did our gardening, but we will be going to bed early tonight ;o)