Grandpa H's Visit

Grandpa H came out this weekend to hang with the kiddos. We enjoyed a great weekend of weather. On Saturday we hiked up Stone Mountain (not the easiest feat) with BOTH kids. LV was a trooper going up and down the mountain. He loved every minute of it for sure. He enjoyed the views from Stone Mountain especially watching the Sky Lift cars go up and down. It was a great healthy hike. That night we enjoyed some German food at Vreny's, a great German restaurant in our neck of the woods. Here are a few pictures we took on our hike....


Dad & Nicole


Nicole getting a hitch from Grandpa H.

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The whole group!!!

Up at the top!

Dad & the kiddos...

Shore Time

Well we made it up to NJ. Its normally a four hour drive and yet it ended up being six hours!! So we finally made it up there with two screaming kids. But not to fear the weather worked out so well for us. It was a fantastic time.

It took a little time but we found a store that sold kites and Lou and LV decided to try their hand at the beach flying it!!




Fun in the sand!!!

Down on the boardwalk...

A few pictures of LV riding the rides on the boardwalk. He was so excited to be on the rides. As he would ride one ride, he'd scope for his next ride to get on. It was a little hard to get him to stop....

Then LV had to stop to get his favorite food of all time. Gummi worms!!! You cannot see it in this picture but he's actually eating 1/4 of a lbs of a gummy snake!!! Yes, a gummi snake.

Then a few more rides....




The one ride that didn't cost any money....

Da Boat

Boating around Silver Bay was fantastic. The weather was perfect and both kids enjoyed themselves...



...and passed out.

Air And Space Museum

So our long awaited vacation arrived. We left early afternoon from Atlanta and got into Washington, DC very late on Friday morning. We got up, got ourselves together and got ready to go tour the Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC.
Mom took care of Nicole and Locke while the Lous went and toured the rockets, airplanes and such in the museum. They had changed quite a few things around and had added some new things too. LV really liked all these different carriers and we think enjoyed himself there. The picture of him with the Starship Enterprise was downstairs in the basement in the museum where they had a ton of educational 'toys' for kids. This is the model used in the Star Trek series.

Even though the little guy couldn't get much out of all the facts dad was telling him about each craft in there, LV enjoyed telling everyone about the airplanes, astronauts and rocketships he saw there. We cannot wait to go back to DC and experience this all over again!!!

Moose at Six Months

Nicole had her six month appointment already. She weighed in at 16 lbs 14 ounces and a lengthy 27 inches. That put her at 50% for weight and 90th for height. Again we are puzzled where we got such a long girl. I think its the taller genes from mom's side showing through which is odd because mom is only 5'2!!! She's growing like a weed though. Every day she tries to say more and more with her baby babble. She is sitting up for the most part. We're getting better at that in the bathtub which makes it easier on mom and also her bedtime schedule has been going a lot smoother. She has been going to bed a little earlier then her brother and then waking up once during the night which has made it easier on mom!!

Reptile Day

We had the chance to go to Fernbank's "Reptile" Day. There the Georgia Herpatological Society brought in their snakes, lizards, geckos and turtles for kids to see and some of them to touch. LV enjoyed looking at the various snakes and touching the turtles. We didn't get a great shot of him petting a lizard but we did get one of him touching a razer snake that a woman had around her neck.

LV also enjoyed the dinosaur bones in the museum commenting that the dinosaurs were asleep! Well that is one way to look at it.

TN Aquarium

This week we had the chance to catch up with Mom's cousin Rebekah in Chattanogga. Mom had always wanted to see the TN Aquarium and she had her moment! Rebekah was technically on vacation from her kids but enjoyed taking care of ours while we strolled through the place. Its really an amazing aqarium if you ever get the chance to see it!!!



Boris the Sturgeon

Hyacinth Macaw

Rebekah and Nicole

Rebeckah & LV at the spider crab tank

The whole gang!

I love my bumbo

But mom wants me to sit up.

Nicole as been trying hard to keep up with LV. She's been trying to balance sitting up and manages to turn at different angels while on her belly. We've started her on baby food at 5 months and she is NOT a picky eater which is fantastic. Her brother was the same way too. Then he got picky, but now he's not so much.

Reading with Dad.

I'm much more wigglier then my brother EVER was!!!

All Grown up

LV has hit a major milestone in our book. We have achieved great potty training thus far from him and are excited. Its a tough process and honestly I could start a potty training camp, I could make millions. We are really happy he has turned this corner. Everything was mostly on his terms and has been going great so far!!!!

4th of July

Fourth of July is supposed to be more of a holiday and relaxing day but it sure does not seem like it with two children in tow.

Three major churches held a 4th of July Freebie event that included free food, free inflatables for kids and a free car show. So we headed down there and first saw our neighbor's car on display at the car show. 90% of the time we've seen this car its been in his driveway covered up but we now know why. His refinishing on this vehicle is amazing and he enjoys showing it off at local car shows.

Next we let LV climb all over the inflatables that were there for free. He enjoyed it for a good hour but the lack of nap during the day didn't help. We've been working on him with potty training so the nap has gone by the wayside. He is adventurous trying to climb up the steeper inflatables. I swear he would be happy living in one of those things!!!

That night we hung out with our good friends Joanna, Brett, Abigail and William to watch fireworks in their neck of the woods. The older kids enjoyed the fireworks. LV was really wiped afterwards though having had no nap so that didn't make it easier but he quietly fell asleep after all the hubub died down and we were back in the car!!! It was a great day all around though!!! Happy Birthday USA!!!