Hotlanta

Max and I decided to wrap up spring break by heading to Hotlanta to visit my friend, Cheri. Cheri and I have known each other since 3rd grade. We met when both our brothers played soccer and we would end up playing together and then walking to Wendy's to buy a Frosty. Oh the stories I have about Cheri...that girl was a NUT (she still is but has to keep it under wraps now because she's a pastor's wife)! I won't mention how she called into the local Christian TV station pretending to be crying and asking prayer for her toe that was hurt...we thought it was hilarious, but something tells me we won't be getting any jewels in our crown for that one.

Here's Cheri with her adorable son, Harrison.
Cheri's daughter, Emma Grace, giving Max a push. That Emma Grace was so motherly and caring to Max - such a sweet little girl.
We went to the Marietta town square to eat pizza and let the kids play on a cool train.

Cheri's terrific husband, Paul, who read the kids a story before bed. Cheri definitely got herself a keeper!
Just a quick little "Max story." Before we ate pizza Cheri said the blessing. Well, Harrison then wanted to pray and, of course, Emma Grace had to pray too. Cheri asked if Max wanted to pray and he said yes (he normally won't do it because he gets embarrassed). So, Max put his hands together, closed his eyes and then began his prayer that went a little something like this...."Twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder what you are." We all died laughing...now he definitely won't want to pray again!

Greenville is officially on the map!

Check out who was in downtown Greenville today...not too shabby!


I contemplated going down there with Max, but decided not to because I knew it would be so crowded (these pictures are from Greenville's online newspaper). Renee and George were in town getting keys to the city...why you ask?? Well, a large part of their new movie "Leatherheads" was filmed right here in Greenvegas!

My friend, Sally, called me one night last year and she was whispering into the phone. She was at a little downtown sushi place and George was sitting several tables over from them. She wimped out and didn't go get her picture with him. Sally would never make it in blog world with that lack of aggressiveness! (just kidding Sally:)

I'm not saying I'm their biggest fan, but who doesn't love having a little piece of Hollywood in their backyard!

Yesterday's trip to the Zoo

My clown was waiting patiently for our zoo excursion.

But first we had to pick up Daddy at his office. Please notice the stacks on Don's desk...let's just say that "stack therapy" is a must for this man. Max is crunching some numbers. Max took a quick tour of the playground before we went into the zoo. Here is the infamous "Joy the elephant." My sister, Andrea, has a close bond with Joy (inside joke). It's amazing...the bears at our zoo are so tame!Max ended the afternoon by doing his favorite thing in the world - playing in the dirt! This group of kids was building a "volcano" so Max decided to help out.

Jesus?

This is the front of our movie theater. As we were walking up to buy our tickets for an Easter Sunday afternoon movie, Max pointed up at this statue and said excitedly "Look, it's Jesus." I guess he still had Easter on the brain. :)

Easter weekend

We've had a fun-filled past few days! My brother, wife and kids came in from Dallas this past Thursday so we've been spending a lot of time over at my parent's house with the family. Max is in hog-heaven with so many of his cousins around. In fact, he spent the night with my parents last night and when I went to pick him up this morning he looked at me and said "Go away" - I'm so glad he appreciates all I do for him! :)

Daddy dug up some dirt for the boys to play in - they spent hours out there!

We started off the Easter bunny theme on Thursday evening. As you can see, Max and Hunter found the chocolate.

On Friday we took the kids to a birthday party for Ellie - the daughter of Sally who is my good friend and a blog lurker. Hi Sally! :) After the birthday party, we dropped off the kids at my parent's house and then the "big kids" went to eat sushi. (Sorry, Don - this was the only picture.) We had an Easter egg hunt at my house on Saturday afternoon. Max and Clay look like they found something! The men sure look like they're getting into the hunt. Great picture of my brother and his family. Easter morning - Max checking out his Easter basket. More chocolate... Our Easter Sunday best! Max sure thought something was funny...could it have been his mommy getting VERY frustrated because the boys wouldn't stand still for pictures???We took the kids to see "Horton Hears a Who" late Sunday afternoon. It's a really cute movie! I then went home and crawled in bed.

Our weekend (long post with lots of pics)

We had a fun and exhausting weekend. Don did great in the triathlon and we had a good time watching him. Don trains with an old rugby teammate, Jamie, and he also did the race. Max and I hung out with Jamie's wife and adorable son, Christine and Zeke. Check out our weekend in pictures (you can click on some of them to make them larger).

My man was # 256.

Jamie and Don. No pre-race jitters from these guys!And he's off! Time to turn and swim the other way...See you in the next lane!This was hilarious! Max and Zeke got super close to where the swimmers had to touch the side before they turned and went the other way. Well, every time someones head popped out of the water they would scream and laugh so hard - very cute!Don's out of the pool and running to the transition area where he dried off, put on shirt and shoes and climbed on his bike. Looks a little like Lance Armstrong - don't ya think!He's almost there...THE END!!!Go Daddy!

The triathlon was held on the Marine base and I loved being there. My brother, Paul, was in the Marines for 6 years (Gulf War veteran) and did his basic training at Parris Island. I can remember going to his graduation there way back in 1987. I just finished reading Lone Survivor about a Navy Seal. I appreciated our soldiers before, but this book gave me a new respect for what they do. Here's Max (Cheetos face and all) with The Few, The Proud, The Marines!Chillin at Iwo Jima.Max and Zeke. Not long after these pictures were taken, Max proceeded to stick his hand in a huge ant pile and got ant bites all over his left hand. He had an allergic reaction to it on Sunday (the day after it happened) and by Sunday night had hives all over his body. NICE. He's much better today.

Off to Hilton Head...ahhhh! Can you say COLD water!I'm tired...let's go home.Last but not least, a proud mommy moment...Max wrote his name and traced his hand all by himself!! (just realized I wrote the wrong month on the paper - should have said 3/14/08)