Little White House

There was a State Park next to Calloway Gardens that I have been wanting to explore called F.D. Roosevelt Park. Well, along with the park information there was something called the Little White House. I've seen signs posted here and there and was always a little curious about it, but didn't think much of it. So on one of Shaun's cycle breaks we decided to go check it out. Guess what?! It was amazingly informative and pretty cool. I enjoyed it immensely. For those who don't know their history very well, F.D.R was diagnosed with polio in his later years. He founded a retreat in Warm Springs, GA, which is 30 minutes from Columbus, GA. It was finished in 1932 and dubbed the nickname, Little White House. He visited it often for therapeutic purposes, and established a resort, Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation. He used the mineral pool to ease his pains as well as encouraging research into the polio disease at the institute.
The Little White House itself was on 1700 acres of land that was turned over to the state at his death. It was also the last place that F.D.R. was alive, for he passed away while having his portrait drawn. The Unfinished Portrait is still there now. We toured the museum, took a walk around the grounds, and then visited the White House itself. It had me in awe knowing that I walked through rooms that a respectable president of the United States walked through. It was a very neat experience.

This car was made especially for F.D.R. It is completely operated by hand. You don't need to drive with your foot in this one. A very genius idea!Here is the Little White House itself. A VERY modest dwelling for someone as vastly important as the President of the U.S.They didn't allow flash in the building itself, so the picture is horrible, but this is F.D.R. private room, and the room he passed away in.This a statue of F.D.R. overlooking a gorgeous valley! It was written on a plaque that he enjoyed this place so much that he had a permanent BBQ pit put in with some tables so he could eat and enjoy the view often.Here is the beautiful view. You could see forever and not see any towns, or city.

Just beautiful, wish you were here.

4th, in the 4th

I've been tagged to put up the 4th picture in the 4th folder on my computer. Thanks goodness it wasn't something, um....., lets use the word silly. Its just my little boy Ian putting something, as always, in his mouth.

Big Dog

Last week while I was training my students some urban ops and building clearing stuff, the guys from Boston Dynamics and DARPA were using our mock village to show off their Big Dog pack mule prototype to some military VIP's. Check out the Big Dog website or see it on YouTube.

Shaun's B-Day

For his birthday Shaun wanted to go to a State Park that he heard about from some guy at work. After some research we thought it would be another excellent adventure for us to go on. Boy, was it fun. We climbed and explored everywhere! There was a huge variety of soil of many colors and different textures. You had to be there, it was pretty cool. Shaun of course had us going through forbidden areas, trying to be like Lewis and Clark and going where no man has gone before, even though the signs said 'stay on the trail'. I was just as curious as Shaun was, so I didn't heed the warning either. I also loved how Isabel kept copying her daddy by kicking down rock formations, or throwing things down the hill. The video and last couple of pictures is Shaun being a father who likes to teach his kids how to really get to know your outdoors.

Love the way he fell asleep on the way home holding his toes.

(here is some information about Providence Canyon: Providence Canyon, which is sometimes called Georgia's "Little Grand Canyon", is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia. Providence Canyon actually is not a purely natural feature — the massive gullies (the deepest being 150 feet) were caused by erosion due to poor farming in the 1800s.)

Couldn't Resist

If you have an older child who is a girl then you might understand.

Redrum, Redrum

I had Ian wear Isabel's old costume, and bought wings for Isabel to be a butterfly. She loved it and had so much fun. She kept giggling when we went out trick-or-treating. Then we all watched the Corpse Bride movie. It was a nice Halloween over all. Loved seeing everyone else's blog with their Halloween pictures. You all looked so great!