Dive In!

Today was my older son's baseball team party. It was held at the pool at Tara in Loganville. We had an early game this morning, 9:00 a.m. Unfortunately we lost by 2 but it looks like the boys got over it quickly!
That's my son Christian on the right :)

Sky Watch Friday

I love sitting on the porch this time of day, watching the kids play while the sun sets.
For more Sky Watch fun, go see
Tom Wigley

By the way, the title/location of my blog could quite possibly be changing in the very near future. I'll know more next week, stay tuned! I've checked already and there isn't a daily photo blog for the location :) (yet!)

Sunset by Christian

Last night my boys were all out front riding their scooters when Christian, my oldest son, runs in the house for the camera! He wanted to get a picture of the sunset for this blog,lol. I've got them trained well!
I think that one big cloud looks almost like a huge wave!

New Hope Church

Coming home from baseball practice last night I stopped and snapped this photo behind the New Hope Methodist Church on New Hope Church Rd. It was such a nice night that I didn't want to go home!

Best Friends

This is Daisy and Crockett. Crockett is the Rottweiler and Daisy is the Lab. We've had Crockett for a few years now and Daisy joined our family last August. You can see what good friends they are!

Memorial Day

Yesterday we went to the lake only to find it packed! We've never seen it so crowded so we stayed an hour or two and let the kids swim then came home.
We grilled steaks, had baked potatoes, corn on the cob and watermelon. To me, watermelon says "summer time"!
Don't forget to take a moment today to honor those who sacrificed all.
(Braden is on the left, Christian center and Dalton on the right)

Which Way To The Beach?

This is from our Spring Break trip to Cumberland Island in South Georgia. With it being Memorial Weekend, alot of people are headed to the beach today, as well as us! Well, not the beach, but the lake!
Hope you are all having a great weekend so far!

Oh, by the way, Braden and Dalton won their game yesterday so 1 more game to go on Thursday for a perfect season!

After The Rain

Last night we got a good rain. Nothing severe, but enough to water the trees, grass and wash the pollen away!
This morning I took a little walk through the wooded part of our yard. Our backyard used to look like this, not all of it, but most of it. The boys loved it. They cut trails through it and spent hours playing Marine Corps (my husband is a former Marine so they don't play Army,lol). We cleared alot of the woods out to fence a portion of the backyard in but wanted to keep some woods. And this photo is a portion of the woods we kept.
Taking a walk through there this morning was like, what I imagine, walking through the rain forest would be. There were birds singing, water drops falling from the trees, and it's already feeling humid out. It looks like we are in for a beautiful day!
Braden and Dalton have a baseball game today. Only 2 left of the season before their tournament. Their team, The Jayhawks, are undefeated so far! Keep your fingers crossed that they win the next 2 and we'll have a perfect season. Their team last year, The Hurricanes, were undefeated as well!
It's Memorial Weekend here in the US, which means we honor those who have lost their lives fighting for our country.
There will be alot of travel, backyard bbq's, and alot of police on the roads, so don't drink and drive!
What fun plans do you have this weekend?

Sky Watch Friday

This was taken at about dusk in my backyard. For more Sky Watch Friday photos, go to Wiggers World

Lazy Afternoon

I'm late at posting today! This morning was rushed around trying to get the kids out the door and myself. Worked at Curves this morning and then after I got off, picked Ashlyn up at home (her last day of school was yesterday) and we headed over to the boy's school for Braden and Dalton's kindergarten party. The theme was a luau and everyone wore Hawaiian style clothes. It was fun, the kids enjoyed pizza, ice cream, chips and cookies. And I forgot my camera, ugh!
After helping out at the school, we came home and all I wanted to do was sit on the front porch and rock. So, that's my photo today, the empty rocker sitting next to me! Want to join me?!
An hour or so of rest, then it's back out and about again. The boy's all have baseball games. Looks like there won't be a rainout today though!

Storms at the Baseball Field

Last night my oldest son Christian had a baseball game. We got to the baseball fields, West Walton Park in Loganville, and the weather was beautiful. Sunny and warm with a slight breeze. We played 3 innings and the sky got dark, talk was rumbling through the bleachers of nearby tornado warnings moving closer, and then we saw the lightning. All the games were cancelled.

At West Walton Park we have 6 baseball fields. There were baseball games and softball being played on every field. The above photo is of us trapped in our car. The traffic was awful trying to get out of the parking lot! We waited a good half hour as the storms got closer. By the time we made it home, the storms were in full force with very strong straight line winds and even some hail the size of marbles. The storms stayed for about a half hour, then everything cleared up and the air was still!
West Walton Park also has 2 football fields. We play baseball in the spring and football in the fall. We spend alot of time there!

Curves

This is Curves For Women located at 226 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd in Monroe. My daughter and I started working out there a couple of months ago. I also ended up getting a part time job there recently! I'm only there a couple of hours in the morning after the kids go to school so it works out good for me!

When The Sun Goes Down

Taken from my front porch.
Hope everyone had a nice weekend :)

Bull Thistle

I found this
Bull Thistle growing out behind our house. This one was a tall one. We don't mow back there, it's behind our fence line so this one survived. We'll occassionally get them in the front yard and with mowing, you can't really get the base of them and the base is very painful if stepped on. It lies flat but has points as sharp as needles. They are a very invasive weed. We used to get alot of them in the pasture when we lived in Missouri. Although the flower is a pretty shade of purple, the weed is a nuisance!

Beetles in the Garden

The Evergreen Garden Club in Monroe hosted a flower show on Thursday and Friday at the St. Albans Church on Hwy 11. There were so many beautiful flower arrangements and horticulture. The theme was "Beetles in the Garden".
My daughter entered an arrangement with 4H and won a second prize award. The plant she used for her arrangement was a "Spirit" Appleblossom and was donated by Between Nursery.

Above is Ashlyn's arrangement. The group she entered in couldn't be larger than 8" by 8". Notice she used the theme "beetles" by painting them on her container? Unfortunately they were still a bit wet when we brought the arrangement in and they smeered a little!

SkyWatch Friday

I tried to find a great photo yesterday for skywatch today. Our skies were so grey, it was raining, that nothing exciting could be found. I even walked through the wooded parts of our yard trying to find something. Finally I settled on our lampost in the front. This is how the sky looked all day. Hopefully today we'll see some sun! For more skywatch pictures, go see
Wiggers World

Honeysuckle

A big bunch of honeysuckle growing in my yard. It's everywhere. It grows wild on the side of the roads and I drive with my windows down to enjoy the sweet scents! Behind the honeysuckle, is a plant that the name escapes me at the moment. Perhaps someone will know. It begins with a "P" and is a hedge plant. It is also blooming and smells great mixed with the honeysuckle.
Honeysuckle reminds me of my grandparents house. They had alot of honeysuckle and my grandpa was the one to teach me how to pinch off the stem to get to the sweet nectar.

4H Awards Ceremony

Last night was the Walton Co 4H Awards Ceremony, held at Youth Middle School. My daughter, has been active in the 4H since we moved here. 4H is a great organization for local kids to get involved in their community.
Ashlyn received 3 awards: 1) Horse Quiz Bowl Team 2) DPA and 3) Georgia State Fair winner. She was also on the Horse Judging Team, as always, but unfortunately couldn't make it to state competition due to a prior obligation.
This weekend, some of the kids from 4H, Ashlyn included, are making flower arrangements to enter the Flower Show at St. Albans Church in Monroe.
Refreshments were served after the awards ceremony. They had quite a spread of cakes and cupcakes. I like the big 4H cake! I behaved and didn't have any though, just a glass of punch!
And just what do all those "H's" stand for in 4H?
Head to clearer thinking
Heart to greater loyalty
Hands to larger service
Health to better living

Twisted Oak

The Twisted Oak Restaurant located at 116 N Broad St in historic Monroe. It's on our list of places to eat at, but we haven't yet. I like the outdoor seating. To read more about the restaurant and see their menu, click HERE

Van Halen!

Last night, Nick and I went to the Van Halen concert at the
Gwinnett Center We had gone the first time they came to Atlanta a few months back, I believe it was in February. They had scheduled in another show so we quickly bought tickets since we had such a blast at the first one! The second show was cancelled, due to Eddie Van Halen being hospitalized for some unknown reason and was finally on last night. They rocked! This show was even better than their first show here.
It was such an awesome show, and fun to be transported for the evening to the days of my youth. Most of the fans were my age, or right around, and I think we all felt like we were back in high school for a while!
The band looks and played awesome! Go see them if they are in your town, or nearby. You won't be let down!
We had great tickets, floor seats, about 10 rows back. I wish my pictures were better but it was hard to focus well, holding a beer and jumping around! In all I took 209 pictures of the night! I'll eventually get them all on flickr for you to see!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there!

I don't have any photos of my mom on my computer, shame on me! So this is me with my first born Ashlyn. She took it yesterday afternoon. She likes taking pictures of the two of us!

The Alcovy River

This picture of the Alcovy River was taken from the bridge on New Hope Church Rd. The Alcovy starts in Eastern Gwinnett County and runs south through Walton and Newton counties (Monroe is in Walton County). For more on the Alcovy River, and other rivers of Georgia, click
here

Walton County Board of Education

This is the Walton County Board of Education building located in Monroe on Double Springs Church Road.
It's quite new and impressive isn't it? I've heard alot of people complain though about the grandness of it, with all the details on the inside, like marble floors and heated toilet seats (I can't say whether or not the toilet seats are heated though so that is hear-say). Some of the community feel it is too expensive of a building and the schools should be receiving more.

The Red, White and Blue

I was reading a CDP blog recently from another country, maybe it was France, I can't remember but they were saying how in their country, people don't wave the flag. You never see it except on a patriotic holiday. It was suprising to me because I just thought everyone displayed their flag.
Here, you see the flag being waved everywhere. Most houses have one as well as businesses, everyday. I have been enjoying the CDP blogs that I visit from other parts of the world, learning the way things are done, so interesting!
This one was taken at the Walton County Board of Education. I had to go there on Tuesday to have some things signed for my daughter. The Board's building is quite impressive and I'll show a picture of that tomorrow.
Here is the flag of the USofA, above the Georgia state flag.

Old County Jail

This is the old county jailhouse at 203 Milledge Ave. I'm not sure what it is used for now, but it was being used as the Walton County 4H office till recently. It also has a dark history linked to the Moore's Fork Lynching which you can read more about
HERE

Horseshoe Crabs

Over spring break we went down to Cumberland Island/St. Marys and camped for a week. While walking along the shore, we saw these Horseshoe Crabs. We first found an empty shell of a horseshoe crab a couple years back at Tybee Island, washed up on the shore but we had no idea what it was.
It was interesting watching this group of crabs. They stayed bunched together like this for about 10 minutes, then they all kind of formed a line and swam out to sea!

Team Work

Yesterday with the temps around 80, we decided to head to the lake at Ft. Yargo, which I've mentioned
HERE
Ft. Yargo is the closest place to swim from our house so we spend alot of time there in the summer.
The water, still too cold for me, was just fine for the kids. Braden and Dalton decided to warm up a bit and build sand castles.
After swimming for a couple of hours, we went up to the picnic table and grilled hamburgers.

And a bonus picture of Braden just because when he wears goggles, it always makes me smile!

Have a wonderful day!

Wrestling in Monroe

Yesterday, my husband saw a sign at a local market for a wrestling event being held. Our boys love the WWE so we thought this would be a fun local event to take them to. It was housed in the Monroe Paintball Works buildingMonroe Paintball Works which at one time was an old cotton gin. It lies right next to the railroad tracks. The wrestling group we saw was the FWF - Future Wrestling Foundation and you can read about them Here

We all had alot of fun. There were quite a few kids and the kids got really caught up in all the action, yelling at the wrestlers and their managers, and the wrestlers and managers would yell back at them. My husband and I laughed the whole night! We also were suprised to find out one of the wrestlers turned out to be my husbands barbers brother! He's the one in the red swim trunks and blond hair.
During intermission, the wrestlers were all very friendly with the kids and signed autographs.

The top photo is of 2 of my boys, Braden and Dalton getting their picture taken with the wrestler "Loco Motive".
They had a couple of favorites: Psycho Man, who wore clothes from the mental health hospital, a good guy named Rob Russo, who stood up for the fans in Monroe when all the other wrestlers called us "trailer trash" lol and a scary looking wrestler who is named "Leather Face" and comes out with a mask, waving a chain saw. But it turns out he's one of the good guys too.

A fun night was had by all!

Pine Trees and Shadows

This is my backyard. We have quite a few of these very tall pine trees. They are so tall and thin that when it storms, they actually blow from side to side, which can get a little scary! Once during an ice storm, one of our younger pines, was so heavy with ice that it was laying on the ground. I thought that it had broke off, but it wasn't. A few days after the ice melted, the tree sprang back into shape. It's doing fine since, just a small arc in it's trunk. That was also one of our pines that was hit with lightning, that I showed a few posts back.
I like the way these gigantic trees cast shadows in my yard!

Water Tower

Downtown Monroe, taken from Lumpkin Street.

May Theme Day - Numbers

This is my boy's bus that I am following out of the school parking lot. We were headed to Athens to see "Horton Hears a Who" yesterday. I mentioned on Monday that we were going, but I was incorrect and we weren't going till Wednesday (yesterday). The children had to ride in the bus and parents had to follow.

(I didn't register in time to participate with the numbers theme so I don't have any links)