A Visit From the Qs

Last week the Q clan came to Blackshear. Here are some pictures from their trip. We were able to get together with them a couple of times and catch up on what they had been up to. Of course, all of the kids had grown a foot since last year, but I was especially surprised to see how tall Rachel had gotten! The last time that I saw her, she was the size that Olivia is now. It is amazing how much she has grown in just a year.

Zachary, MacKenzie, and Benjamin had a lot of fun playing MarioKart on the Nintendo. Zachary and MacKenzie were pretty good at it. I got tickled at Benjamin. He wanted to play so bad, so we gave him a controller and set the game up so that he could play. His player- Luigi- kept falling off the track, so I tried to show him how to hold his controller so that he could better steer his player's car. Even after this, his player ran off the track. It took me a little while to realize that Benjamin was running his player off the track on purpose. When Luigi ran off the track he would say "Ay ya ya" or "Mama mia", and Benjamin thought that it was funny. What a sport that Benjamin is!

Why is everyone in this picture smiling? Perhaps it is because they know that Pam is about to pass out the yummy chocolate that she brought with her from Germany.

Brandon, Brian's brother, was also able to stop by this week on his way to Miami. We are always very glad to see him. This was the first time that he had seen his niece. Olivia let him hold her, so I guess she thinks he'll do.

4th of July

Here are some pictures from the 4th of July fireworks show in Waycross. I kept Olivia up past her normal bedtime so that she could see them. Hannah did the same for Ava. The girls behaved well, though, even though they were tired. Both girls were really curious about the fireworks and actually watched most of the show. I thought that the sound might scare them, but it did not.

Unfortunately, most of the pictures that I took turned out blurry. That's a shame because we had a really good view from where we were parked. Quincy was there and helped watch the babies, and Daddy also showed up before the show started. The show lasted for about thirty minutes. Olivia was sound asleep by the time we got home, and she slept all night long. What a tired girl!

Six Flags

This past weekend, we met Brian's family in Atlanta to celebrate Brandon's (Brian's cousin) 40th birthday. It had been a while since we were able to meet up with Brian's family, so it was really good to see everyone. I could not get over how big Justin and Bailey had gotten! It seems like just yesterday Bailey was the flower girl in our wedding. She's so tall now!









On Saturday morning we all went to Six Flags. Olivia's Granny Mel volunteered to watch her while Brian and I rode the rollercoasters. Olivia and her Granny had a great time. They played all day long. Everyone else also had a good time at the park. Brian and I were happy because we were able to ride five coasters- including the new mega-coaster, Goliath. Five coasters isn't too bad for a Saturday in July!


Olivia was too small to ride most rides, but we did put her on the carousel. She rode it twice and seemed to like it. The only other ride at the park that she could ride was The Monster Plantation. This was a boat ride through a house with animated monsters in it. I had ridden this ride a few years ago and remembered that it was fairly tame. Since she had liked the carousel so much, I thought she might like this also. She did great for the first part of the ride. She would watch the "monsters" play ball and sing. Everything was going fine. Then came the part of the ride called the "Haunted Forest". Olivia did not like the Haunted Forest- it was too dark and scary. I felt bad for taking her on that ride afterwards. She seemed to forget about it pretty quickly, though.

I think that everyone had a good time in Atlanta. Hopefully, we'll all be able to do this again soon.

O's First Trip to the Beach

While we were in Delaware, we made a day trip to Bethany Beach. Olivia had never been to the beach before, so this was a special trip. The weather was perfect- sunny, but not hot. There was a pleasant breeze which kept us comfortable in the sun. We lathered Olivia down with sunscreen; we couldn't find a hat so we even put sunscreen in her hair (notice the faux-hawk). After she was adequately protected from the sun, we let her go to town-and go to town she did.

Olivia was crawling all over the beach in no time. Of course, she was always crawling away from the towels that we had layed out so we were having to go retrieve her every so often. She had a lot of people watching after her, so we let her do a little bit of exploring.

One thing that I noticed about the sand on this beach in Delaware is that it is a lot softer than the sand in the northeast part of Florida (where we usually go). There was not a lot of shell in the sand, and it was cool- even at noon. This made it perfect for Olivia to play in.

The water was still a little chilly, so we did not go swimming in the ocean. We did put our feet in a little- but not for too long (brrr....cold). We spent most of our time playing with Olivia on the beach. One of her favorite things was to have her daddy fly her around. It was a very fun day, of course. Is there even such a thing as a bad day at the beach? I don't think so.

A Trip to Grandpa's

At the beginning of June, we took a road trip up to Delaware to visit Olivia's Grandpa and Nana. We were very excited to see them. This was the first time that we had been able to go see them since Olivia was born, and we knew that we were going to have to make some modifications to the way we traveled. Instead of leaving Blackshear at 8 o'clock in the morning like we usually do, we left at around 2 a.m. Olivia slept most of the way up there (and back), so we were able to make the trip in about twelve hours.

As you can see, Olivia managed to keep herself occupied in the carseat (although I'm not sure if I approve of her sucking on her foot).

We had a very good visit with Brian's family. Olivia was definitley entertained the whole time. Gary and Katie were home for the summer, and it was really good to see them. Olivia did not spit up on her Uncle Gary this time- so we are making progress in that area.

We were also able to go visit my Uncle Mike and Aunt Connie and see their beautiful new house while we were in Delaware. The house was so... nice. I really liked a lot of things about it- especially Aunt Connie's research library!

Overall, it was a very good trip, and we were really fortunate to be able to go see family.

Easter

Here are a few pictures from Easter this year. Easter started off with a bang when Olivia got a toy hammer in her basket. This toy was very appropriate because she really likes to pound on things. After checking out the contents of her basket, we got ready for church. Olivia looked so cute in her white Easter dress! After church, we went to mama's house for lunch. Olivia and Ava both received bunny ears, which they wore for all of five minutes (but those ears were cute for those five mintues).

We hid eggs for Ava and Olivia to hunt on Sunday afternoon. Olivia didn't quite catch on to what was going on, but Ava turned out to be an egg-hunting machine. She would zero in on an egg, go get it (or at least point toward it), and put it in her basket like a pro. It will be exciting to see these two hunt for eggs in coming years.

Chattanooga, TN

The first week of April was my Spring Break from school, so we decided to take a short trip to Chattanooga, TN. We left on Saturday and made a brief stop in Atlanta to meet up with my sister, Cassie, and to see the Titanic exhibit. The Titanic exhibit was really interesting. Upon entering, we were assigned the identity of a real passenger aboard the Titanic. My identity was that of a pregnant teenager in second class, and Brian was a poor third-class man traveling with friends and family. At the end of the exhibit, they had a wall with the names of all passengers and their fates listed on it. I survived, but Brian did not.

Some of the more interesting things that we saw in this exhibit were a large section of the hull, recovered china and artifacts from the ship, and perfume samples that you could still smell. They even had a part of the Titanic available for you to touch- which everyone (including Olivia) did. Cassie had already seen the exhibit, so she walked around with Olivia while Brian and I took the audiotour. Olivia's favorite part of the exhibit was the big iceberg that was there for you to touch in order to get a better idea of how cold the water was. When we left, her hands were still cold from touching it so much.

On Sunday, we went to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. This is probably the nicest Aquarium that I have been to. I was surprised by how interested Olivia seemed to be. She especially liked the big tank because there was a lot of action and movement. We saw all sorts of marine life.


At the top on one of the Aquarium buildings there was a butterfly garden. Brian was able to catch a butterfly for Olivia. Olivia likes to put things in her mouth, so I was a little concerned for the butterfly's safety. But, everything turned out okay.

One of the exhibits that Olivia took the most interest was the giant crab exhibit. Those things were as big as she was!

On Monday morning, we rode the Inclined Railroad and visited Ruby Falls. The Inclined Railroad offered great views of Chattanooga, but it was really crowded. Ruby Falls was far more interesting. At Ruby Falls, we went into the heart of Lookout Mountain, walked for about twenty minutes , and ended up in a cavern with a 145 ft. waterfall. It was a really neat experience.


On Monday afternoon we took a tour of Chattanooga on the "Ducks", which are ex-military amphibious vehicules. We rode around downtown Chattagoona for awhile and then plunged into the Tennessee river to finish our tour. The captain of our boat even let some of the passengers drive the vehicle in the water- which Brian and Olivia did.

On Tuesday, we "Saw Rock City". I thought it was going to be a cheesy tourist trap- and there were some cheesy things about it. But, it was much better than I thought it would be. The views from the top of "Lover's Leap" were really good. They would have been even better had it not been so cloudy.

One interest that Brian and I share is that we both love extreme activities. We will try almost anything once. Therefore, we were very excited to learn that Chattanooga was a good destination for hang gliding. We immediatley signed up to recieve tandem training. The glider was towed to 2,000 ft. by an airplane and then released. We glided down with the help of an instructor. Of all of the "extreme" adventures that we've had- this was one of my favorites. It was very peaceful. You really felt like a bird soaring above the mountains. I would definitely do this again!

All-in-all, our trip to Chattonooga was exciting and wonderful. Chattanooga is definitely a kid-friendly destination, which was important to us. I would certainly like to go back one day.