School break trip to NC + back at home...

Todd and Mercer had Labor Day off.  Isabella and I had the whole week off from school / work.  After our long weekend spent as a family, Isabella and I and headed to North Carolina for a few days to visit grandma.  

We visited, of course, the NC Zoo.  School was in session there, so we had the run of the place.    We spent the majority of time in the kid's zone.  We kept going back to an interpreter with a salamander.   

Isabella really really wanted to hold it, but it was not allowed.  Instead, she played with a box of earth worms.  

She also "painted" a wall with water that was covered in chalk paint.  Mercer "water painted" that wall years ago too.  And - there was, of course, a visit to the playground.  

We did actually see some animals while at the zoo: the polar bear, puffins, sea lions and seals.  There's a cool photo editor app for my phone that I've been tinkering with.  It's been fun to try out (see below).  Cool effects~

We visited great-grandma and grandpa too.  Isabella certainly entertained them!  She played kick-ball with grandpa, mostly, but got grandma in on the game a little bit as well.  She also was playing some sort of dodgeball with great-grandpa while he was basically a sitting duck!  She kept throwing the ball to him.  He absolutely loved it.  She kissed grandpa again on the cheek and gave grandma giant hugs.  She does know how to pour it on!  

We visited Aunt Becky and Uncle Tony.  (Isabella was nipped by their dog, but Isabella still loves him and has no fear of any dogs, thankfully.  Whew!)   Uncle Mel and Uncle Eddie both came by for a visit and I got a chance to get away with my cousins Tracy & Mandy for dinner.  It was a jam-packed visit, but we were so grateful to visit everyone that we got a chance to see!

On the way back to Georgia, we visited a dear dear friend and her children. (and let Isabella run around like crazy to burn off some energy.) They've lived in Germany for the past 2 years.  One time, they visited us here in Georgia and Mercer was somewhere else / he did not get to interact with her boys.  This trip, Isabella and the boys hung out -- again sans Mercer.  We need to set something up where ALL of the boys can get together!!! 

We also got gas at the exit where the peach water tower landmark is located, so we had to snap a few photos while there too!  

Back at home, a group of volunteers placed approximately 3,000 flags at the nearby Kennesaw Mountain battlefield in honor of those who lost their lives in 9/11 terrorist attacks 15 years ago.

Isabella went with me.  It was hard to explain to a 3 year old about what happened... especially to answer the question she sincerely wanted to know: "why?"  

It was pretty somber and overwhelming to stand among all of those flags that represent a life that was taken.































  

Mercer is playing baseball pretty well so far this season.  He moved up to the next level this fall.  He's in his first "kid pitch" level now.  It's interesting because there are a lot of wild balls thrown towards home plate.  Because of it, there are a lot of steals now.  

His coaches (Todd and a guy named Tony) have been racking up runs by instructing the kids to steal bases during the wild pitches.  The game has changed quite a bit now.  Mercer typically plays 1st base, but he got a shot at pitcher one game -- this was his pitching debut!  Also after this game, he got the game ball.  It was a good day for him!!

Todd has a church addition that was dedicated recently.  We don't normally post about each of his projects, but this one was pretty special -- it was for the Greek church.  The basilica-style sanctuary that is in the background is not his addition, but it's pretty iconic.  This is the area where we go to the Greek festival each year.   His part was the renovation of the other building shown plus a modern addition made to it.  The church threw a nice luncheon after an interesting ritualistic dedication and they gave Todd and other members of the team gifts.  During Todd's presentation, Isabella ran up and jumped into his arms / made everyone laugh.   Todd's doing really well at his firm.  They are moving to Marietta soon and when they do, there will be some restructuring of the company -- which includes him.  Stay tuned!


The past couple of weekends, we have had some big events to go to.  Last Sunday, we went to the green building festival that we went to last year down at the Serenbe community.  

The children's activities, beer & wine, lemonade & tea, food trucks, pony rides, face painting, and other areas were all free.   I was able to really catch up with a lot of people from my past.  Mercer got his face painted again (this time like Pokemon character Pikachu).  Isabella hung out at an animal booth for a really long time before going to hang out at the pony ride area pretty much the rest of the day.  Last year, there were longer lines for the pony rides.  This year, there was not a line much of the time, so she got to ride over and over and over again.  She was soooooo happy!  She probably rode 15 - 20 times.  It is so wonderful to watch her with animals!  Todd and I were beyond thrilled to see Mercer ride one of the ponies too.  This may have been his first time?  He was content with his 1 ride.

Earlier that day at church, I was elected as a Deacon.  I will begin training soon for my tour of duty that starts in 2017 and will learn more about what this entails.  

Yesterday, we went to a different sort of festival at an in-town neighborhood that runs a soapbox derby on their street.  There were vendors and music - but the highlight was the cars that were running down the course.  My school entered 4 cars into the race.  I was directly involved with the building / reconstruction of 2 of the cars that our Upper School and High School students built.  Here are some photos from that event.  The past 3 weeks have been tiring, as I've been in the wood shop a lot, but it was all worth the hard work at the actual derby!!  This sardine car was not ours, but won for most clever design. It had to have been my favorite car there. 

Seriously - it was so much fun!!