Father's Day

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home,

Glad as I can be!

Clap my hands...

...and shout for joy,

Then climb up on his knee.

(Father's Day last year)

Put my arms around his neck,

Hug him tight like this,

Pat his cheeks...

...and give him what? A great, big kiss!

(This was post-kiss. Dad's face is too prickly and tickly!)

"Georgia, Georgia, a song of you..."

...Comes as sweet and clear as moonlight through the pines.
Other arms reach out to me

Other eyes smile tenderly

Still in peaceful dreams I see

The road leads back to you."

So much to see and do, and not even close to enough time to fit it in! Our Memorial Day weekend certainly was memorable. All the talk of us wanting to visit my sister and her family in Georgia finally materialized into a terrific vacation. We managed to score a non-stop flight, and Seth, as always, was a champ! After aclimating ourselves to the heat and the...what's that bright thing in the sky???...oh yeah, the sun, we set about sightseeing, relaxing, swimming, and shopping (just me and my sistie). Thanks, Clay family, for having us and we miss you already!!! We were surrounded by and showered with the infamous southern hospitality!

This was a worthwhile museum called Cyclorama. It's a huge 4-story high circular mural depicting the Battle of Atlanta, and the auditorium seats revolve in a circle as the narration recounts the events back in 1864. Can you tell Seth is getting ready to get some more teeth???

Then we visited the inspiring King Center, and this was the childhood home Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here's Seth and cousin Cameron, whom we only got to see for a day before he went to Disneyworld on a school trip. Any object that looks like a phone, like the TV remote, he puts up to his ear and carries on a conversation that I'd give just about anything to understand!

My sister's neighborhood has a pool with a little waterslide, so here's dad and son waiting in line to go down. Check out that belly!!

...And here they are in action! Seth loved it although he's crying a little bit at the end. It was HOT that day, and the cold water on his back scared him a little.

Cutie-patootie in a little swimsuit-ie!

I love his little blond, wet, wavy hair, and yes, those back rolls are as deliciously squishable as they look!

Anyone who goes to Atlanta shouldn't pass up a trip to Stone Mountain Park. There it is behind Seth....a huge mountain of solid granite with a 3-acre carving of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. We enjoyed a picnic, played games and stayed for the laser show and fireworks.

Appropriately enough, for Memorial Day we visited Kennesaw Mountain National Park. Some of the heaviest fighting of the Atlanta campaign was here.

Here was a re-enactment of loading and firing a cannon...quite an involved and carefully calculated process!

We hiked through this meadow and up the hill...

...to this monument at the location known as the "Dead Angle" or Cheatham Hill. The leaves in the foreground are covering a trench where the Confederate soldiers of Tennessee defended themselves against the Union troops not 30 feet in front of them. Periodically, a temporary truce was called so wounded and dead soldiers could be moved safely, and the opposing armies would trade and barter with each other...Confederates wanted Union newspapers, and Yankees wanted Confederate tobacco. In many situations, it was truly brother vs. brother. Can you tell I'm married to a Civil-War-enthusiast-all-things-history-smartie-pants-walking-encyclopedia?? :-) Matt was practically salivating over being in the very places he's read about for so long.

Lastly, we paid a visit to the New World of Coca-Cola.

"Mom, I'm not so sure about this crazy guy. Why does a polar bear need a scarf, anyway?"

"OK I guess he's harmless."

Cousins Ryan and Brandon - Seth sure had a blast with the Clay boys!