Another Good Day... We Are on a Roll.

Yesterday was so much fun, the boat, the movie, the kids running around. Everyone was beat and other then a few mosquito bites we are good.

Today was also fun. We were able to sleep in a little bit, so nice. Then we all went to Stone Mountain. When I say all, I mean all the Leeks. It was to celebrate Bob's parents 40th anniversary and there were 16 of us in all. This was the first time in 4 years that my kids have been with their cousins and they all played nicely and were buddies by the end of the day. Bob's parents had T shirts made for all of us. How cute is that? They made a picnic for everyone and then bought tickets for all of us to play at Stone Mountain all day.

After we set up camp everyone except Opa went off to explore the park. At first we went to this barn place that had a foam ball shooting thing. In Portland we have something similar at OMSI. I don't know how to describe it but it was loud and crazy. BUT BEST OF ALL....It was air conditioned. I loved it.

Next the kids wanted to go on the ropes course. When we got in line it was an hour and a half wait and the kids were standing there. I decided that an adult should go along. Takers?? Takers???? Blah, blah, blah when you are pointing, one finger goes out and the other 3 all point back at you. I was the designated adult. We waited and the kids all jumped all over each other and flicked each other in the heads and such. Good times. The participants were William age 10, Blake age 9, Jessica age 12, Austin age 12, Sophia age 8 and Heather age 44. Their combined age barely beats my age. But I digress.

On the ropes course there are 3 levels. You can do one, two or three or all of them. There was lots of smack talk going on between the boys. "I am going to just run through the whole thing." "Oh yeah? I bet you fall and I catch you dork." And so on. It was very funny. Bob promised Sophia a pack of Skittles if she did all the levels. We get to the front and they put a harness on you and then you wait a bit more.

On the first level everyone was going along fine. I tried to stay in the back in case anyone needed help or was afraid. Sophia was going through this thing like she had been teaching a class on ropes courses. William got about half way through and said, "I am done. I am so done." I thought he was joking....he wasn't. Blake apparently was done with it too because when I got to the end he was gone, gone, gone and off with his momma. The rest of us went on.

Level two... a bit more difficult but still manageable. The two 12 year olds were fine, Sophia was nervous once but she pressed through it. At the end I asked her if she wanted to go to the top level. She said, "Ah, yeah, I want some Skittles." (Side bar - do you think this will work for college?) So we pressed on. There were some really hard parts of the course but she did it! I was so impressed. She didn't say that she was scared or nervous she just concentrated on what she was doing and she did it. I was really proud of her.

Of course afterward there was a bit of prideful speaking. "I beat those boys and they are 9 and 10 and I beat them." I told her I was proud but she shouldn't make them feel bad. She was pretty good about it.

We went back to the base camp and had lunch. Then we took family pictures. It was great to see all the grand kids together and with their Oma and Opa. I hope I got some good shots.

The next thing to do was set up a new camp on the lawn. We haul every thing and every one over to the new camp. Our new camp was set up to watch the laser show and fire works that go off every night. Once our camp was established a bunch of us took the tram up to the top of Stone Mountain. This is a Georgia mountain, not a Pacific Northwest Mountain. It's 1500 feet tall. Being Georgia, this also means that it's fairly flat so from a 1500 foot mountain you can get quite a view. We took pictures and came back down. The boys went on a train ride, the girls went to see a 4D movie. You'll have to look that one up. All I know is they got wet.

And finally the laser show and fireworks. It was great. Lots of music about Georgia and the USA! Very patriotic. The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Georgia on my Mind, The Night that the Lights went out in Georgia and so on. Then Robert E. Lee and his posse and some story about the south and everyone seemed emotional. I leaned over to Bob and said, "I really need to learn about this story." I am terrible at history. Just not my strongest subject and being from the NW we were more into the Oregon Territory and such. I know it's all important this Civil War thing but I just don't know much. Embarrassing.... It's big here and apparently to some, still going on. It made for an interesting laser show.

It all wrapped up at 10:15 and we needed to pack up and go home 55 miles from there. The kids were exhausted but had a fabulous time. I did too. I think everyone did. So another great day in the books for our trip. Tomorrow swimming with cousins on my side and dinner with friends. One of the friends is the one who fell on Bob and then introduced me to him. If you don't know that story ask me about it. It's really funny and totally true.

Stay tuned and we'll keep the good times rolling.