Monday, May 26, 2008

Happy Memorial Day

Today was Memorial Day so Phil and I took Sophia into downtown Senoia to enjoy the festivities! They had a lot more booths this year and had a little bit of something for everyone. They had a whole kids area set up the year with jump castles, an obstacle course, ring toss, pony rides and a lot more. We didn't get to stay for the parade because it was at 2 and Sophia is usually asleep then. We don't skip naps at this house just because she can make everyone else miserable if we do. :) I heard it was really nice and really long we are hoping to get to see it next year.

We did let Sophia ride the ponies and she loved it!! She rode a little horse called Levi. He was very sweet and gentle. She petted his mane a lot and I'm surprised she didn't try to kiss him. I patted his rump and he jumped a little I think he thought I was goosing him. :) When she had to get off the horse it reminded me of when she rode the carousel at the zoo. She didn't want to get off when they stopped and started screaming. It didn't last long when she discovered all the other things to do. :)

We had a good time downtown and by the end of it Sophia had gotten two balloons and a flag. So she made out like a fat cat and had something to play with on the walk home.

This afternoon we went over to some neighbors house who have a pool. This was Sophia's first time in a real pool and needless to say she liked it a lot. We didn't have any floats or floaty vests for her so we had to run out and get some. We got her a ladybug float that is really cute and she just sat in that the whole time and watched the other kids. There was one little girl that kept jumping into the pool from the diving board doing cannon balls and the "pencil" Sophia thought this was really funny and would laugh whenever she jumped in. By the end she was getting cold and was ddd done! :) We grilled out with them and had hot dogs, baked beans and mac and cheese. It was all very tasty and very american. :)

Well here are a few pics from today we forgot our camera at the house when we went to the pool so there aren't any from there. We are hoping to use their pool again so I will get some then. :)

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day!

Thank you to all the men and women who are and have served our country you have done a great job and we appreciate all your hard work!

Sophia and Phil on our way to downtown Senoia. Check our her knees isn't that just so girly! :)

Sophia waving to a really big show chicken.

Sophia petting levi.

Sophia going home. Notice the two balloon strings and she is holding the flag. Very patriotic! :)

Monday, May 19, 2008

Pops in the Park

We went to Pops in the Park Friday night and had a great time. We ended up running into our neighbors so we stood around with them for a little bit. Sophia thought it was great that she was getting to eat dinner outside and play on the playground again. The middle school and high school bands were really good and Sophia's favorite for two years running is the drum line. :) She really shook a tail feather when they started playing. I've added a video of her further down. You can see the tail end of her dancing and then she just stands there watching. This seems to be her new thing. We pick up the camera and she stops what she is doing. :) It was a wonderful night though and Sophia was in hog heaven getting to say hi and bye to everyone who passed. :)

Sophia eating watermelon and grilled cheese in the park.

The neighbors dog maggie. Sophia loves this dog and will stand at the front door looking for her. :)

I caught her mid twirl

Phil chillin in the stroller. We didn't bring a blanket because we knew Sophia was going to sit still.


Video of Sophia at Pops in the Park

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Pops in the Park

This is just a quick post to let everyone know that East Coweta High School is doing pops in the park again this year. It is held at the Senoia Park off of Seavy street if anyone is interested in coming. Phil and I had a really good time last year and plan to attend again this year. Sophia's favorite was the drumline last year we will see what she thinks this year. :) Here is also an article that the Times-Herald wrote about the event : Pops in the Park

Hope to see you there!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Harwell Photography

Sophia is getting her pictures taken tomorrow with Jeremy. He does such great work but wish me luck because I'm taking her by myself. Phil has a meeting he has to be at so it is just going to be me and the peanut. :)

Here is his link if anyone is interested in looking at his web page Harwell Photography

These are some pictures he took for us this same time last year. :)




Saturday, May 10, 2008

A Visit to Adam's Farm and Mother's Day

Phil, Sophia and I decided to go to Adam's Farm this morning. Emorie, Isabella and Mrs. Casey came along too to help us pick some strawberries. Sophia was especially well behaved and really got into the spirit of it - as you can see from the Photos. She also learned a valuable lesson about what happens when you run with strawberries.

I've had a wonderful Mother's Day. It started with Phil getting Sophia up and given breakfast then she came busting through the bedroom door while I was getting ready for church with a huge grin on her face and said Mama. :) He also gave me a cute Mother's Day card and a pair of earings that are just beautiful. Later we went over to Perry and Judy Baker's house and visited with them for a bit. Phil was interested in buying Perry's tiller (that is another story). Then we went for a walk around a pond in Peachtree City. They have just renovated this pond/park and it was really fun to watch Sophia play on the new equipment they have. There were also lots of people walking their dogs so everytime we passed one she would yell DOG! :) When we got home Phil had prepared a wonderful roast with vegetables and yorkshire pudding YUM! It has been a really nice weekend. I hope you all had a great one too!


Sophia picking strawberries

Running with her strawberries.....

This is what happens when you run with strawberries! haha! She was fine she didn't even cry..she was just a little sticky until we got home. :)

Mother's Day picture. This is the best we could get and she is pointing to a dog across the street. :)

Thursday, May 8, 2008

A Couple of Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures of Sophia from yesterday. She will finally say her animal sounds and even has one for the sound of a car.

Here is a picture of Sophia telling me the cow says MOOOOO!!! :) She is so cute when she scrunches her little face up.

Reading herself "Goodnight Moon"

This is a singing clock that my dad got her while we were down there. She LOVES this clock and makes the song play over and over while she dances. It plays Hickory Dickory Dock by the way but a more up beat version. :)

This is Sophia's other persona Hollywood. :) She wore these glasses all around Target while I finished shopping so I bought them for her. She thinks she is hot stuff when she has them on. Check out her wheels in the background she likes to try to run Cleveland over with her dump truck. :)

We are suppose to be going to Adams Farm this weekend so I hope to have lots of cute strawberry pickin pictures to post. :)


Sunday, May 4, 2008

Tasmania


Burnie, Tasmnia at Sunset


Someone's Palm tree with the hills in the background


They even have a KFC in Tasmania, the Mcdonalds is a few blocks away!

Tara wanted me to write something about my recent business trip to Tasmania.


The purpose of my trip was to visit a Caterpillar business unit that manufactures Underground mining equipment and visit an underground copper mine. Luckily my visit also co-incided with a public Holiday in Australia - ANZAC day - which commemerates the sacrifices of their armed forces. This long weekend afforded me some time to go site seeing and get to know some of the people that live and work there a little better.

I was hoping to see all kinds of different animals while I was there, unfortunatly most of what I saw was dead on the side of the road. Most of the marsupials are nocturnal so you dont tend to see them out during the day time. At night I managed to see a lot of Wallaby's. Tasmania is home to the famour Tasmanian Devils, but sadly their population is shrinking due to a mysterious disease spreading across the island. I could have visited some devil sanctuaries but most of the activities are in the evening so I didnt end up making the trip. I did discover though that the prolific wallaby has very tasty meat, and no it didnt taste like chicken - more like rabbit.

So I worked most of the time in Burnie on the North coast of Tasmania, but I did visit the mining town of Queenstown near the west coast. Queenstown is very small - about the size of Senoia, and is dominated by the Mt Lyell Copper mine. I was lucky enough to catch the project manager of the mine and take a tour with him, which involved driving down into the mine to depth of about 1500ft below sea level into the hard rock. The mining operations are very interesting, as they use explosives to break up the rock and then use Caterpillar equipment to shovel and truck the ore out of the mine.

Im glad I got to visit Tasmania, and some of the very nice hospitable people who live there. Its a beautiful Island, with awesome scenery and some very large expanses of uninhabited land.