Weekend Adventures

This weekend, we had a few family adventures. Saturday, we decided to go to Stone Mountain, and take the walk-up trail.



We actually made it all the way up to the top! Zachary did a good job climbing up there, and seemed to have fun. The climb down was a bit rougher for him, because he was really tired, and it was really HOT Saturday. But we had a lot of fun.


On Sunday afternoon, we went out to Patrick and Holly's and grilled out some ribs! Before we left, Zachary had to go see the horses. He actually petted a couple this time!


It was a good weekend, and we had a lot of fun!

~E~

Get on your trike and ride!

So, we went up to see Nana and Papa this weekend, and took some time to ride Papa's newest toy, his Harley-Davidson Tri Glide. It is a factory direct trike from Harley and it is sweet.

It was the first time I had ever ridden a motorcycle, but I didn't do too terrible -- I only killed it a couple of times. It was a blast to ride, and everyone enjoyed themselves.


Zachary isn't really sure about it yet, though. Loves to see motorcycles and even Papa's trike, but he doesn't want to get on it yet.

I'm sure that will change sometime soon.

~E~

Happy Birthday Nana!

Today is my mom's birthday! She's a wonderful....well, I'm not going to say how old, because I value my life ;).

Love you mom!
~E~

Random Zachary Pics

Well, no real theme today. But since I haven't had time to update recently, I'm just gonna post some random pics we've taken in the last few weeks. Above is Zachary in my cowboy hat. He is such a little farmer.

Here's a couple that Jess took that are precious.



Jess caught him sneaking some Cool Whip out of the fridge!


I love this picture! I took it on Christmas day, when Zachary was playing with his new tractor at Nana and Papa's.

Like Father, like son. He loves biscuits and jelly.

Yummy.

Well, that's it for now. Just figured I'd throw some stuff out there while I had a moment.

~E~

Under the Weather....

The joys of winter. Those wonderful, bitterly cold days, when you have so much sinus pressure that it feels like you need to take a drill directly to your forehead, just to get some relief.

Ahhh...such a great feeling!

So, it has been a yucky few days (or, more realistically, weeks). Zachary has had croup and impetigo again, and as he got over that, he had a cold to back it up.

Meanwhile, I had a cold that turned into a sinus infection, that turned into a sinus infection plus an ear infection. Yay me!

And while all of that was going on, Jessica came down with a sinus infection too!

So it has been a wonderful few weeks at our house. And there is nothing like force-feeding a toddler medicine, let me tell you that! Jessica is a lifesaver, because I can't do it. I don't know how she did it during the day -- holding him down (that is both arms and legs), holding his head, and shooting the antibiotic/steroid/fever reducer down his throat, and avoiding the inevitable spray as he tries not to swallow it. All that on her own. Crazy. Moms are superheroes, straight up.

Anyway, that is the main reason for the lack of bloggage here. Well that, and the fact that we have been so busy lately as a family, and I've been so busy at work. Just a crazy time.

Who says things slow down after the holidays?

Later,
~E~

They did it!

Holly and Patrick got married this past weekend. The wedding went well, and it was beautiful.

Both Jessica and I were in the wedding, and Zachary was a ring bearer.

He was the life of the party, too. I think the photographers got more shots of him than they did of Patrick and Holly!

I, along with Holly's friend Amy sung one of her favorite songs, "100 Years," by Five for Fighting. Ashley, Holly's sister, played the keyboard on the song.

It was a fun day, but very exhausting.

Special thanks to Sandra Oglesby for the pictures.

~E~

Fire up that Ol' John Deere...

We're still at Papa and Nana's, and today, Zachary played on the tractor. He loved looking at it, and even playing on it, but he doesn't like it when Papa tries to crank it up.

Here Papa is showing him some of the switches.
"Hmmm...I wonder what happens if I do this?"
When Papa tried to fire it up, Zachary almost jumped off the seat into Mommy's arms.
Zachary loves tractors, and loves John Deere. He's our little country boy.

~E~

Christmas Time is Here!

Merry Christmas! Zachary got tons of toys, and had a blast. He got a pedal tractor from Papa and Nana.

Jess got some more sewing stuff, and I got a Star Wars trivia book (and of course, I already found a question that is keyed with the wrong answer. Go figure!). Zachary also got some train stuff.

It has been a great Christmas so far, and we're at Nana and Papa's with Ken, Terri, and the girls now.

We rarely do the "traditional" thing, so this year for Christmas dinner, we are doing home made pizza. We're cooking them now, so it is gonna be yummy!

Love ya all, and Merry Christmas!

~E~

Christmas at Grandma's

We had Christmas at Grandma's house today. Jessica, Zachary, and I spent the day with her parents, Pat and Jackie, and her brother Patrick and his fiance Holly. It was a good time.

After lunch, we opened presents. It took Zachary a few minutes to get into it, but he finally got the hang of it.

Here's Zachary and Grandpa with his new School Bus toy.

Zachary gets help from Grandpa and Patrick opening his train set from Great Grandpa Downs and Great Grandma Mary.
Jessica got a sewing machine (note the totally fake surprised look).
She also got a new UGA purse.
I got a cool display. It is a set of Star Wars watches; one for each Star Wars movie. They are from some Burger King give away, and Pat and Jackie found them at an antique store. It was really neat.
We had a lot of fun!

~E~

Vacation!

Well, we're actually back from vacation, but here are a few pictures from our vacation in the Smokey Mountains.

Above is a view from the cabin we stayed in. The view was great, but the drive up was brutal. The driveway was about 35 degrees up. The (dirt) road leading up to it was also pretty steep and winding. But, it was worth it.

Here are some more pictures:
You can't really see how steep the driveway is from that picture, but it is crazy steep.

We went to Dollywood on the first day we were there.


We went to Wonderworks the second day, and went to NASCAR Speedpark the day after that.

The last day, we went to Gatlinburg.

Zachary really enjoyed himself during his vacation. So did the rest of the family!

~E~

Another Tech Win (feels good to say that!)

Well, The Wreck won again, this time at Boston College, and I've gotta say, it was a little shocking.  I didn't get to see the game, but I listened to what I could, and we didn't play all that well.  But we pulled out the win, and that is all that matters.  We've got Virginia Tech coming up, and I know they will be tough.  We always have problems with them, and they are looking to show they still rule the ACC.  I think we can beat them, but we need to play better than we did this weekend.

As I did last week, here is my obligotory bragging picture:

Also, I feel compelled (by my wife, and most of my family) to say that UGA did win this weekend as well.

The family is doing well.  Zachary has started saying more words in the past week or so.  He is really starting to talk.  It is pretty neat.

~E~

Ready, Set, Go...

Well, so much for those World Series aspirations, huh? Can't believe the Braves are this bad this year. Tough year with injuries, though.

Oh well, I guess there is always football. Maybe my Jackets can surprise everyone with the new regime and rough up the ACC (and, of course, take it to those dirty rotten Dawgs). Will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

Zachary and Jessica are on their way to Ohio, Michigan, and Canada. They have to take a couple of puppies to Canada, and are visiting Grandpa and Mary and Grandma and Grandpa Hodge while up there. They'll be gone all week...so it will be a bit like being single again for me. I guess that means some TLC for my guitar!

Here is a video of Zachary yesterday, "getting ready to go." He was holding two boxes of puppy food like suitcases at the door. It was cute.

~E~