Fun Weekend

I decided I better hurry up and talk about the fun weekend we had with the Sweats before Andrea did! (HaHa, beat you to it!!) They came over on Saturday around noon. We had a quick lunch with them and then we went to explore the Alpine Village of Helen, GA (at least that is what they consider themselves, an alpine village). We parked and walked around the interesting little town. It is pretty much your run of the mill tourist trap. Just about every store was selling silk screen t-shirts with some sort of redneck, confederate, hunting, fishing, etc.... reference.

Carson was so excited for his cousins to come and play with him. He really enjoyed it and I think the three of them play pretty good together. It was fun to watch Brandon and Carson playing Star Wars together and of course, miss Whitney has her uncle wrapped around her little finger. We grown ups, and I use that term very lightly, had a fun time playing tetris on the Nintendo after the kids went to bed. We also had a real good laugh playing Battle of the Sexes!! You will have to ask Andrew what it means when a baby is in the vertex position......

This morning Carson had a real tough time getting ready for school. He did not want his cousins to leave. He was going to be "so sad if they leave". The poor kid needs some friends close by or a sibling I guess. We were glad to have the Sweats come and visit. We had a really fun time. Here are a few random pics from the weekend. Hopefully I don't steal Andrea's thunder. :)

-paul

Christmas in August!! (Christmas shop in Helen)


Chillin at the park


All Dressed Up

Quick Little Update

It has come to my attention that if we don't put something new on here on a regular basis people start worrying about us, thinking something has happened to us. And Daneen starts to get ansy as well.... So without further ado, here is a quick little blog about what we have been up to in the last few weeks.

Carson started school on a Friday, like I had said in a previous post. The day before school started we decided to take him to the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, TN. Let me just say, that place is a kids dream come true. I don't really know how to describe it so just click on the link to their website to get a good idea of what goes on there. Carson had a blast! Of course, the battery in our camera died about 15 minutes into our little adventure in the "museum". So here are some pics of just a couple things Carson got to do.

Giant Jungle Jim

Looking at Bug Skeletons


Digging for bones

Pretty much everything in this place was hands on. What kid wouldn't enjoy that? They had music exhibits, art exhibits, electronic exhibits, inventions exhibits, etc.... They even have a tower at the top of the building you can climb up to and get an awesome view of the city. Carson really enjoyed everything but I think his favorite part was digging for dinosaur bones. He liked it so much he tried sneaking out about a pound of sand in each of his shoes! hehe

This past weekend we spent Saturday afternoon at Vogel State Park. They have a pretty good sized lake you can fish in and swim in. It has been so hot here so Daneen was up for going just so she could swim! I, on the other hand, was itching to go fishing. So everyone got what they wanted. It is a really nice park. I caught a few fish and Daneen and Carson had fun playing in the water. Around 8:00pm they had a live band playing on one of their pavilions. Carson really liked hearing them play and was dancing up a storm on the lake shore! That kid really enjoys music. Anyway, here is a pic from that fun afternoon. Enjoy.

-paul

Dad fishing, and Carson.....being Carson!

"Lets Blog About It"

I have random thoughts sometimes, and usually my mind wonders off on tangents. So this post should be a regular occurrence. For instance, the other day I was thinking about how foods that taste really good are usually unhealthy for you and most of the time contain a lot of fat right. So in other words fat makes food taste good. SO...If you were stranded and there was no food to eat, I mean NO FOOD PERIOD, would you eat a human if that was all there was to eat? I asked Paul this question and he said "well I wouldn't kill them just so I could eat them thats just wrong." So my next question was:What if they just happened to die? Paul said "I don't know." I proceeded to tell him that if that was the case and you would eat a human, wouldn't you want to be stranded with someone who had a lot of Fat so that it tasted good? Then after that I turned to him and said "Honey would you like some more cookies?"

-daneen

Carson's First Day of School....

Friday was a sad day for Daneen (and for me to, but not as much). Her little "baby" started school. We signed Carson up for preschool and his first day of class was on Friday (which by the way blows my mind. why start on a friday???? all of the kids started on friday in this county. weird!!). He has been so excited about going to school. I guess when both of your parents have been in school your entire life it grows on you....

We went to drop him off and I decided it would be better if just one of us took him to his class. So Daneen did. I guess I am a worry wart because when she didn't come right back I thought for sure Carson had changed his mind about things and wanted to come home. But a few minutes later Daneen came out a little teary eyed and said he was doing great. One of the ladies I work with told me to be nice to my wife that first day of school because it is hard for mama's to let their babies go. Sure enough, Daneen did not disappoint......just a good sign of a great mom. :) I asked her how it went and she said he was okay. But she did say some other kids were having trouble. Like one kid hanging on to the door frame for dear life, not wanting to go in.

Throughout the whole day I was expecting to hear from Daneen that Carson had to come home because he missed her or didn't like school. But the little guy proved me wrong!! He made it through the first day and it sounds like he had a blast! Hopefully he keeps that attitude this coming week!!

-Paul

Mom & Dad at the finish line

Carson at the starting gate

Off he goes.....

sorry, got a little picture happy

The big 4!!!!

Well, sadly, our little baby,recently turned four. His cute chubby cheeks are long gone now. He's grown into quite the big boy now. Daneen is going through withdraws knowing her little "baby" is all grown up now. We decided to take him somewhere for his birthday this year rather than have a big party with just the three of us. Daneen did make him a cake though and he opened presents but we saved the big surprise for the Monday after his birthday. Here he is with his favorite present.

Thanks GiGi!!!

Arrrr!!!!!!!

His big surprise was a trip to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. We got a package deal with aquarium tickets, IMAX movie tickets, and tickets to the Creative Discovery Museum. First stop, the aquarium:

He had this thing for turtles the whole time we were there. He was looking for them in every tank we walked by and he would ask us about them in every exhibit. I guess we know what kind of pet to get him! After an hour in the aquarium we took a break and headed over to the IMAX movie.

For some reason, in our parental brilliance, Daneen and I both thought Carson, the little boy who had a phobia of penguins for crying out loud, would like a 3-D IMAX movie on dinosaurs!!!!! Well, you can imagine how that went....... We did get a cute picture of him with his 3-D glasses but I don't think he kept them on longer than 15 or 20 seconds. He caught on that the glasses were making the movie "freaky".

After our interesting experience at IMAX we headed back to the aquarium to finish walking through everything there. Here are some random pics from that.

He's not scared one bit!!!!

Obviously over the penguin phobia (just thought the picture looked cool)

Can't get much closer!

When we finally got done with the aquarium it was around 3:00 in the afternoon and it was HOT!!!! Carson needed to cool down so we walked to these steps where the city has water rushing down. He got down to his shorts and had a blast playing around.



Okay, I better bring this post to a close. Carson had a blast on his little birthday trip. It was so fun to see him excited about everything we were doing. We are really lucky to have such a great kid! If, and I mean a big if for most of you, you are in Chattanooga, TN you should really think about going to the aquarium and playing around downtown. We didn't have the time or the energy for the last stop (this kids hands on museum). We will have to make another trip for that......dangit! Hope everyone is great!

-Paul

Swimming Lessons

Okay, I decided that it is my turn to "blog" about something. Last week was a busy week for us so we have lots to talk about. We signed Carson up for a week of swimming lessons last week at the local public swimming pool. It was the mom(or dad)/kiddie lesson where the instructor never gets in the pool. She just stands at the edge telling everyone what to do. Well, Daneen thought it would be a good idea if the both of us got in on the action so I went with Carson the first two days, she went the next two days, and Carson chose me to go with him on the last day. Man, I felt lucky.....
Daneen and I were both worried about how Carson would react to the whole swimming lessons idea and he did not disappoint!! I think he left scratch marks on my back from where he was gripping onto me so tightly. I don't know how many times he said it but one of his favorite phrases throughout the week long lessons was "I'm gonna drown". Bless his little heart. He screamed so much the first two days (of course the days I'm in the pool with him) that I felt like I needed to get my hearing checked. Of course, when mom gets in the pool with him he was like a little angel....sort of. He still had his moments of course but to me I could see a night and day difference in him with Daneen in the pool. He actually seemed to have some fun. Go figure.
By the end of the week he had made some great progress. He can stick his head almost all the way under the water to get a dive stick. He can actually go across the pool on a kick board (with mom or dad helping of course) without screaming his head off. And he conquered his biggest fear, jumping in. He can now jump to mom and dad without having to hold someones hand. Let me tell you, that was a big step!!!
We are going to try and take him swimming as much as we can before it gets to cold here so he doesn't forget all that he learned. Hopefully we can get him in some swimming lessons again next summer so he will be ready to raise some havoc with his cousins next time he gets out to AZ or over to NC. Here are some pics, enjoy!

-Paul

Definitely not hanging on for dear life....

Actually trying for Mom

Becoming a daredevil?

Perfecting the "shoot, flip, and pull" technique

Enjoying the noodle with Dad!


Calling it a day