Ewwwww

Rebecca went out to put a chlorine tablet in the skimmer tonight. She came back in with a horrified look on her face. Apparently all of the rain we have been having has brought out creatures we don't normally see. One of said creatures made it's way into the skimmer.

Eric is so thrilled about the smell.

A closer look.

Now we all know that where there's a baby snake, a momma snake isn't too far off. Yikes. I'll be watching my step.

Mama Mia

Oh my! What an awesome movie. Rebecca and I took the opportunity to hit the movies on a rainy Saturday. We were not disappointed. I think we both took different ideas away from the movie. I personally think it is awesome for my generation. I'm not sure if it's the music (ABBA), the story line, or beautiful Greece, but it is a must see for the 70's/80's generation.

The music brought back many memories. At the end of the movie, people in the theatre were actually singing along. When I looked around, it was the older crowd doing the singing. Rebecca was mortified when I tried to sing along. So....we headed straight to Target to buy the soundtrack. LOVE IT!!!

Room Makeover

When we were in Tennesse, Rebecca fell in love with my cousin's daughter's room. I was going to paint her room while she was at my sister's, but decided I better ask her opinion on a final color. We started by picking out a new comforter. We bought accessories to go along with it. We took the rug and matched up the blue dot for the paint. Rebecca and Eric worked together on Sunday to paint the room. Eric's job was cutting in and Rebecca rolled the walls. There were a few tense moments, but it turned out great!!! Rebecca loves her new "pre-teen" room. I love that it's clutter free~for now.

Rebecca rolling it on.

Eric checking out Rebecca's work.

Rebecca pouting.Eric "eyeing" the level line of the artwork. Working together to hang up the initials.Proud of her new room.

The t.v. corner. (The basket will be moved.)
The bed area. The Webkinz are now contained to one area.
Notice the new chairs, rug, curtain(I made), and lamp. She is so proud.
The desk for studying.

Laughter-The Best Medicine

Logan and Jordan came to visit us last week. It was Logan's first time to be here without his mom and dad. He is and always has been anti-Aunt Kelli. We're not sure why. However, he loves Eric. One night, Eric sat him up on the kitchen counter and the two of them had a pull my finger contest. It was so funny!!The laughter difussed a grumpy moment that Logan was having. Laughter truly is the best medicine.

American Museum of Science and Energy

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

When Mom and Dad moved backed to Knoxville, Mom has been wanting to take Rebecca, Jordan, and Logan to several places of interest in the area. One of those places is the American Museum of Science and Energy. It is located in Oak Ridge, TN where the first atomic bomb was built. I remember going as a child and it was BORING. However, science has come a long way and museums are doing a great job of making science fun and relative to life. Such was the case at this museum. We enjoyed playing brain buster puzzles, looking at photos taken through micorscopes, doing hands on sports, and much more. As we were walking around, Rebecca turned to me and said "Mom. That looks like Keylee." I agreed with her and tried to look at the woman that was with her to see if it was my cousin, Buffie. I couldn't tell, so I finally just said "Buffie?" It was her. We wound up walking around with them and had a blast. Unfortunately, we didn't get to touch the ball to have a hair raising time. Maybe next go round.

Although I didn't take pictures, I was treated to a trip to Hammer's~at my request. I have heard my mom and dad talk about it for a while and wanted to experience it. It was a very interesting store. I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience it atleast once in my life.

We ended the day of fun with a trip to the mexican restaraunt. Yummy!!

Happy Birthday, America

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We had another early flight, so we were up before the crack of dawn. We had a bumpier ride this time, but Rebecca loved every minute of it. Once we arrived back in Atlanta and picked up our car, we headed north. On our way to stay with Momma Hope and Grandad, we stopped in Woodstock, Ga to show Rebecca where I was teaching when I met Eric. We looked for Buffaloes to eat lunch, but it wasn't there any more. I was so disappointed. We got to Momma Hope and Grandads around 5:45. We went to their clubhouse for a cookout. It was yummy. Luckily, the club was shooting off fireworks and we could watch them from Mom and Dad's porch. They were going off all around us. We were tired, so called it a night right after the fireworks.

Mall of America-Day 3

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Today was our last day to shop. We were pretty much done with shopping. We had a few places we wanted to check out and putt putt to play. We started out by eating breakfast at Caribou Cafe. We had yummy sweetrolls and muffins. After that, we checked out a few stores we hadn't been in yet. Following the shopping, we played 18 holes of putt putt. We had a good time goofing off. Our favorite hole was when you hit the ball into an outhouse. The outhouse made a flushing sound. We had enough ride tickets to ride one of the rollercoasters. We chose the Fairly Odd Parents ride. It was a spinning roller coaster. Very different. We left the rides, put our shopping bag into a locker and walked across the street to IKEA.
I had been reading about IKEA on ScrapShare message board for a couple of years. We don't have one near us, so I was excited to get to visit one. Let's just say I was in heaven. If I didn't have to transport it back on the plane, I would have bought several things. They had incredible prices. (I will be visiting the new one in Charlotte when it opens.) We finally called it a day. We were exhausted. We had to wait on the shuttle for about 45 minutes, but it gave us a chance to sit and rest. We went to the hotel room packed, got ready for bed, and turned in early.

Mall of America-Day 2

Our day started out with a trip to the airport to return our rental car. That was not a problem. Finding the hotel shuttle pick-up area is another story. We finally found it and Jenna picked us up. She was very sweet and told us several things about the area.



We returned to the hotel for breakfast. We enjoyed tasty pancakes. After filling up our bellies, we loaded the shuttle bus and headed to the mall.



We arrived at the mall before it ever opened. We started the day out with rides on roller coasters at Nickolodeon's Amusement Park. We rode Fairly Odd Parents, Pepsi Orange Coaster, and Sponge Bob's Roller Coaster. I had to make Rebecca get on the Sponge Bob coaster. She did her normal pre-ride crying. As usual, she loved it half way through the ride. After riding the coasters, we headed to Lego Land. What an amazing place. Everything is made out of legos. I can't imagine the time it took to build the different figures.

We managed to finish the 2nd floor. We found some great buys at Abercrombie and Fitch, Holister, Lane Bryant, and Lands End at Sears. To top off the great deals, there is no sales tax on clothes in Minnesota. We decided that we needed to buy Rebecca a small suitcase to put everything in for the return trip. We got a good deal on a suitcase, too. Rebecca will be set for school next month. She racked up with shirts!

We decided to break up the day and go see a movie. All we had to do was take the escalator up to the 4th floor of the mall. I couldn't believe how much cheaper it was than at home. Our tickets were $5 each and we were able to get 2 drinks and a small popcorn for $7.50. We saw the new American Doll movie, Kit Kittridge. It was a sweet movie.

After the movie, it was on to more shopping. This time I found some good deals on clothes for me. Macy's was having a great sale. I bought 3 shirts and 3 pair of shorts for $46. Again, no sales tax!!!!

The biggest deal of the day~ $1 20 oz. drinks from The Dollar Tree. They were delicious and cold.

We met the shuttle at 7:15 and headed back to the hotel room. It was nice to change clothes and sit down.

It was a great day! Can't wait to go to IKEA tomorrow.

Oh yeah~~I went to two of my favorite places in the mall...QVC and Archivers. I got myself a beautiful ring at QVC and stuff to make a cute scrapbook of our trip from Archivers.

Ready to ride the coasters

Sharky
Lego Star Wars Man
LEGO dinosaurs
Motorcycle man made out of lego's
One of my favorite stores

Time out for movie fun

So many scrapbook supplies : )

My small purchase

Mall of America-Day 1

We woke up at 3:45 this morning. Who knew there was life at that time of day? We took the shuttle bus to the airport. We checked in, went through security, and were an hour early for our flight. We ate breakfast at Chili's in the airport. We finally loaded the plane around 6:00. I thought Rebecca was going to bust a gut with anxiety. (I wonder where she gets that?!!) The flight went off without any problems. Rebecca enjoyed a window seat. I loved looking down on the clouds. They were beautiful. We took a nap for a little bit. The landing was smooth and we were in Minnesota. We retrieved our luggage, rented a car, and set out on our adventure.

Since it was so early, we couldn't get in the mall yet. Where does a girl go when she can't go to the mall? Target, of course. A GPS came with the rental, so Gwendolyn(yes mom, named after you) led the way. Guess what I bought? Stuff from the dollar bins for school. They had out their new stuff and I didn't want to miss out. : ) We ate a muffin at Starbucks and headed back to the mall.

We actually were in the group that opened the mall for the day. WHAT AN AMAZING PLACE. I have met my match at this mall. We didn't even finish the first floor today. Rebecca got some new shirts at American Eagle(great sale). We went to the Underwater Adventure Aquarium. We saw some cool fish. We started getting grumpy and realized we were hungry and tired. We ate at the food court and decided to go to the hotel and take a nap and return later.

Before leaving the mall, I went to the only store that carries Vera Bradley in the mall. They didn't have what I was looking for. They told me about another store in St. Paul that carries VB. I said, no problem, I have a GPS that will get me there. Well..... about an hour later and several wrong turns(much to Gwendolyn's dismay) I finally called information and got their phone number. I called and got directions. When I got there, they didn't even have any of the new patterns. I was soooo bummed. I waited until we got to Minnesota to buy it at my big item for the trip. Now I'll have to go back to Lexington to buy it.


After that, we headed for the hotel. Again, Gwendolyn did not do a good job. She took us on a wild goose chase around the block. However, human intuition took us right to the hotel. We checked in and crashed for about 4 hours. We were exhausted.


Rebecca has always wanted to order room service. I was so tired, I let her do it tonight. We had a scrumptious pizza. Rebecca was as happy as a lark.


We wound up just chilling for the rest of the night. Rebecca has her clothes and hairdo all planned out for tomorrow.

Day 2-Succcess!

Checking in at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport

Riding the tram to Concourse D

An Anxious Child-(That is true fear!!)

OMG~We're here!!

Trying out a bed at Brookstones. Rebecca loved playing with the toys!

Vacation-Day 1

Eric is one of a kind. About a month ago, he told me and Rebecca that we should take our stimulus rebate check and go to The Mall of America. Of course, being the shoppers that we are, we jumped on it!! We searched the internet for the best airline prices and hotel deals and the plans were in place.

We flew out of Atlanta because it was so much cheaper. Since our flight was at 6:15 in the morning, we drove down on Monday and spent the night. I took that opportunity to show Rebecca where I grew up.

We started off by going through downtown Atlanta. We saw the Olympic torch and Turner Field. We drove by the Krispy Kreme that my dad always took us to any time we went to an event downtown. The hot light wasn't on, so we didn't stop. From there, we found our way to an Atlanta icon~The Varsity!!! YUMMY. Rebecca took one bite of the french fries, held up her hands, and showed me the grease. I said "Welcome to the Varsity!" After lunch, we headed over to see the house I grew up in. Boy has that area changed. I took her by my elementary and high school. My high school has GROWN. It is now a AAAAA size school. It has pretty much tripled in size. Next, we headed to Perimeter Mall and walked around until my best friend from high school, Rebecca, called. We met her for dinner at The California Pizza Kitchen. It was yummy and the conversation was awesome. It was good to catch up with her. We hadn't seen each other in 3 years, but we didn't lack for anything to talk about.

We finally made it to the hotel around 9:00. It was right by the airport and we could see the planes lifting off out our window. Rebecca loved it. We timed the time between take offs. They were going out every 1-2 minutes. We finally went to sleep knowing that we had to be up at 3:45 the next morning. It was a great day. Rebecca loved Atlanta.

The 1996 Olympic torch

Turner Field~ Home of the Braves

Yummy! The Varsity.

My Childhood Home

I cheered many games at this stadium!!

Go Panthers.
Dinner with Rebecca