Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain is the granite dome monadock located in Stone Mountain, Georgia a suburb of Atlanta. At its summit, the elevation is 1,683 feet and 825 feet above the surrounding plateau. The mountain extends underground to several surrounding counties. Stone Mountain is claimed by some to be the largest exposed granite 'stone' in the world. By comparison, however, it is only about one quarter the height of El Capitan in Yosemite (3,000 feet above valley level), the tallest known exposed granite monolith on earth. Stone Mountain is well-known not only for its geology, but also for the enormous bas-relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief in the world. Three figures of the Confederate States of America are carved there: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis.

We wanted to hike up to the top first and then explore the small olde fashion town they built at the base. The whole place is just beautiful. Who ever comes to visit this is a must see.
The sun was too bright for her eyes.
People have been sticking their gum on this pole for who knows how long. It looked so yummy I thought I'd give it a lick. Mmmmm, taste like cherry.
Izzy didn't want to walk anymore so I carried her on my back for awhile. It wasn't long till I was struggling up the mountain. Despite my pleas to let me carry Ian while Shaun help Isabel the rest of the way, he refused to let me have either of them. Shaun is always looking out for me. No matter how he feels he always puts his family first. I married such an incredible person.

Look closely you can see the city in the background. The view was breathtaking.
After the hike we walked up to get a closer view of the carvings. Pretty cool.
For dinner we ate at a real olde fashion SOUTHERN restaurant that had the best rolls EVER! Oh my goodness they were good.

Terminator 4: Rise of Liz

Its pretty gross looking isn't it? Thought some of you might appreciate it. Shaun was looking at it enviously, wishing he had the scar. I just wanted them to wrap it back up and hold it close to me again. I was in so much pain when they took it out of the wrapping. It is a good healing pain though, not the "my bones are rattling around" kinda pain it was before.

Keeep on keeping on

Here is our current situation. Mom has broken elbow, and is bed ridden for a long while. Dad is still having back pains from motorcycle accident, blood clot from vasectomy, and his whole face and head hurts from strep throat. Isabel is coughing her lungs out from a sinus infection. Ian is teething. Shaun organized our meds so we don't get them confused with each other.

Trip to Georgia Aquarium back in May

Back in May we wanted to check out the Georgia Aquarium. We had no idea what we were in for. When we got in we had quite a shock. Apparently the Georgia Aquarium is the world’s largest aquarium with 8 million gallons of fresh and marine water, and more than 100,000 animals representing 500 species from around the globe. It was fantastic! Except for one thing and that was we managed to somehow visit during some huge multi school field trip. We had to squeeze our way through to get close to some of the exhibit. Maybe if Mom and Dad Elton are still planning on coming to visit we can go up again without the crowd.

The front entrance had this wall that kept changing colors. You can't tell in the picture, but this place was HUGE!
Of course Ian was completely captivated by the swimming fishes.
This place was really kid oriented. Tons of stuff for kids to do like crawl through a tunnel so you can look up into the aquarium.
They of course had one of those glass tunnels that you walk through.
Did I mention they had not one, but FOUR whale sharks!
Izzy is just the best sista ever! She loves her baby brother.
Afterwards we crossed the street to this big huge park they built especially for the Olympics. It had two awesome playgrounds, big huge grass field with statues, and lots of fountains. This was one of them that you could run through and splash around. Its just like the one in SLC at the Gateway Mall. It was in the late 80's so we all joined in to cool off.
Izzy's gotten into some weird stage of making strange poses and faces at the camera now. It's cute, but wish she would just be normal sometimes!

Yes, we are still here...

We are still alive and kicking. Just been unmotivated to blogg lately. I don't know why, just that any free time I have I end up doing other things and run out of time for the blog. At least I'm caught up with my reading. If you want a good one read Stephanie Meyer's Host. It's the kind of book that you want to take into your closet with a flashlight and read till you pass out (or til the kids find you). Another fun summer read would be Turn Up the Heat by Jessica Connant-Park and Susan Connant. Its a food mystery book with some fabulous recipes in the end that I plan on trying soon.