So, the other night the Grogans and and the Freemans loaded up into the family truckster and headed to Stone Mountain for a picnic and the laser show. The boys tried to convince us the rain we were driving through was going to stop before the show started. And they were right it did stop. We were able to get the kids out of the car, tarps and blankets laid on the lawn and just about to take a seat when, the rain started again! So we grabbed all the gear and headed for cover under a tree. Not a great idea...so we headed up the hill to a covered porch. There we were able to secure an area for our blanket, but not without some "little bit o country" stares. Once our place was set, the rain stopped, but we decide to stay put, just in case. We unpacked the picnic dinner and enjoyed some (yummy?) potato salad and fried chicken. The kids were able to run around, watch the train, and eat cookies. Then guess what? Rain, again! I mean heavy blowing rain. It blew right up under the covered area and got all those county folks wet, wet! Not us, we were prepared with tarps.
Once it got dark the kids enjoyed their glow bracelets and necklaces. Then the rain finally stopped and the show started. The covered area was a great idea to keep the rain out, but all those lights overhead also makes it a little hard to see a laser show in the dark. The kids were really not all that interested in the actual laser show, so we tried to walk them down to the lawn so they could see the lasers and lights shooting across the lawn. This would have been a great idea if the lawn was not a complete mud pit. Anyone sitting on the lawn that night might as well have asked for an entry form for the mud wrestling! Once we heard that final song start up, we were packed and headed to the car. I think we were the first ones out of the park!
Not to mention on the way home I bit into a glow bracelet and it leaked all over me, yeah, in my mouth! Jenny was too busy laughing at me glowing in the way back seat to help. However, she was able to rustle through her diaper bag and come up with something for me to wipe my mouth on, Ben's under-roos! She said this pair was probably his cleanest, whatever that is suppose to mean. No thanks!
Needless to say it was an adventure. I doubt there is any other family out there other than the Grogans that would of gone through all that and still had a blast. We love that family to pieces and always have the best time with them, no matter what!
We can't wait to go back for Round Two!
Then we headed over to the Athens Farmers Market. Finley made us walk the aisles about 10 times until she finally decided on a cookie about the size of her head and some peach lemonade. It was great to get to support the local farmers and buy some of their yummy vegetables. Not to mention there was free face painting. Of course Finley went for a pink flower on her cheek.
Next we headed home for some painting on the porch. Last night at the store she picked out a ceramic cat to paint. She gathered up the pink, purple and turquoise paint and went to town. After the cat, she did her first real canvas painting. It turned out great and as soon as it dries, which might take days, we will hang it up in the playroom.
We then grabbed the new quilt and some pimento cheese sandwiches and headed out the door for a picnic. After eating we went for a nature walk and collected all kinds of things: sticks, flowers, leafs, pine cones (we even found twin pine cones and she named them Babe and BonBon), and she found a worm, but she didn't want to keep it. We ended up walking all around the lake and at the end we found a great construction site where there was the biggest sandbox ever!
We barely made it home before she passed out and Daddy was home!
Finley keeps talking about going on picnics and eating outside. She wants to sit out on a blanket with her us and her babydolls. So I did what every normal mother would do...and made her a quilt! I think I am tuning into Grandma Grace. What an inspiration! She was such a great sewer and so very creative. I picked fabrics I felt she and Finley Jane would approve. What a blast it has been making the quilt! I have loved every step of the way, from picking out the fabric to sewing to tying the yarn and now to enjoying it with Finley. She thinks it is the greatest and I think this picnic blanket will last years to come!
Thanks for a great trip to the beach and a weeks worth of memories!
