Insect Encounter at Callaway Gardens

We grabbed a quick bite to eat after our Cockatoo Encounter, and then it was back to the Butterfly Center for the Insect Encounter. Connor has said he wants to be an entomologist when he grows up, so this was right up his alley. Noelle was not at all scared of all the critters, and held her little hands out to hold every one after Connor. The super nice lady who ran this event was so good with kids (and with bugs), and just rattled off tons of interesting facts.

This is a hissing cockroach, which really did hiss.

I was just hoping it wouldn't crawl up Connor's sleeve.

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Noelle held it briefly before dropping it on the floor.

It was quickly recovered and seemed not to mind the adventure.

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This was a Giant Brazilian Cockroach, and since it had wings and could fly away, the lady kept a firm hold on it while Connor held it.

These emit a smell, kind of like chili pepper and garlic; quite tasty if you close your eyes and forget your smelling a giant flying cockroach!

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This frog would be poisonous except for the fact that it is only fed crickets.

The lady told us "you are what you eat" and the reason the frog is normally poisonous in its natural habitat is because of its diet!

I've actually been thinking about this in relation to my diet...

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I would say that I cannot remember what this is, but I don't think I ever knew what it was called. I don't think it's a scorpion, although its tail curls up like it. Noelle did not hold this one.

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We don't have any photos of the butterflies, but you can see the Butterfly Center in the background of this picture. It was full of beautiful flowering plants and hundred of amazing butterflies.

Cockatoo Encounter at Callaway Gardens

They call this event the "Parrot Encounter" at Callaway Gardens, but the bird was actually a cockatoo. It was the sweetest bird I've ever been around, and very pretty. It was so tame that it would step over onto our arms very easily, liked being petted, and especially loved being called a pretty girl.

Birds of Prey Show at Callaway Gardens

One of the first things we did at Callaway Gardens was attend the Birds of Prey Show. We were a little late, but still got to see a red tailed falcon and two different owls. They would perch in front of us, then on cue fly to a perch behind us. It was cool to see the owls turn their heads so far around, and to experience how silently they fly.

Spring Break at Callaway Gardens

A couple of weeks ago during our kids' Spring Break, we went to Pine Mountain, GA, to Callaway Gardens (and then to the to nearby Wild Animal Safari!). We had a great time, and were impressed with how many things they had for kids. We want to go back when it is a bit warmer, and rent their bikes, because there are so many beautiful bike trails throughout the gardens. Here are a few pictures we took:

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a very special Thanksgiving in 2008, because we were able to celebrate it with so much of our family. All the "local" family was there, of course. My brother & his 4 kids were able to drive up from Atlanta. Trevor was home from college, and best of all my grandmother was able to join us. (Trevor drove all the way to Memphis to get her.) My mom cooked - so much that no one could even sample everything she made.

Of course we missed my dad, and there were some sad moments, like when my mom said that the corn we were eating was planted and harvested by him. I think we're just barely starting to reach the point where we can talk about him without having to immediately stop because we get too emotional. For me, thinking about the corn brought back memories of my dad being so happy to pick & shuck corn - who is happy about that? He would get home from work, change, and ask who wanted to join him picking corn? I remember taking Connor, when he couldn't even walk, and he sat in the grass and tried to eat the raw corn that we had just picked & shucked.

That is a trait I wish I had more of - doing what needs to be done with enthusiasm and happiness. My dad did that. I want to do a better job of it.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

This is Noelle & Hannah (the two youngest cousins) collaborating on their Scrabble game. We think they are the smartest (and cutest) in the family.

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It wouldn't be a trip to Nana's house without jumping on the trampoline. Noelle loves to jump!

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And here we all are. I hope I have a lot of my grandmother's genes, because doesn't she look fantastic for being one week shy of 90 years old???

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Fall Creek Falls 2008

In October of 2008, we went hiking at Fall Creek Falls. It was beautiful, and we hope to go back as soon as the weather warms up. Here are a few photos of the day:

Photos from Noelle's party

My mom made her a little pillow with some soft pillow cases, and Noelle had to try it out.

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Connor with his creation he built from Noelle's new toy called "Superstructs pinklets."

Noelle turns 2 years old!

I can't believe it's already been 2 years since Noelle was born. She is such a delight in our lives. She went for her check up yesterday and in addition to a perfect health report, her doctor raved about her verbal skills. She is quite a talker. She weighed in at 28 pounds, and was 35.5 inches long - right around 75th percentiles for both height and weight.

Happy Halloween 2008!

Hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween. This year Noelle wore Connor's old giraffe costume (which I think came from my sister-in-law Chrissy - thank you!), and Connor was Spiderman. April came over to go trick-or-treating with us. My mom brought a good book, so she stayed in our house, read, and gave out candy to the trick-or-treaters while Lance & I took the kids around the neighborhood.

We tried to get a picture, and while we took several, here are a couple that give you an idea what they all look like. This is the first one, where Noelle is not in the mood for a picture, and Connor wants to be a pumpkin-head. And then the next one I like to call "everyone cut your eyes to one side or another."

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Lance took our kids to a Trunk-Or-Treat thing at a little church right around the corner from us. They had a bounce house there that Connor & Noelle enjoyed (as you can see from the little 3-second video below).

Yearbook Your Husband

Here is a photo from Yearbook Yourself of Lance (using a current photo of him) as he would have looked had he graduated in 1988 (with my class). I love this one, because he looks so much like the guys I remember from my high school class.

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Here is his actual senior picture, taken in 1979, for his 1980 graduating class. (Now you see where Connor & Noelle get their blonde hair!)

Yearbook Yourself

What fun! I highly recommend you hop on over to Yearbook Yourself and see how you would look had you graduated in different years. Above, you see their version of me (my face is from a recent picture) in the classes of 1960, 1966, 1972 and 1984. Thank you Keri for the link.

Just for the fun of it, here's my real high school graduation picture (class of 1988):

Tanya's Visit

We had a great month with Tanya. We were very blessed to host a mature, well-mannered, very intelligent, happy girl who spoke quite a bit of English! I feel like it might not be fair for me to so heartily recommend this program, because I know our experience was exceptionally good. But, it's a great way to be a missionary while staying at home. Chattanooga has a great Chernobyl Children's Program and being a part of it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Here are some photos to help describe some of our adventures with Tanya. There were so many; I'll have to break it up in several posts.

Here we are swimming at my mom's house on the 4th of July. Notice how Tanya is using a floatation device, as she does not yet know how to swim. By the end of the month, not only did she no longer need any floatation device, but she was jumping off the diving board and swimming to the ladder! We swam at least 3 times per week, so she got a lot of practice!

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The group went to the Chattanooga Railroad Museum and the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Tanya really enjoyed the train rides and museums. It was soooo hot that day. I tried to get a picture of Tanya and my kids together by one of the trains, but this was the best I could do.

Tanya is standing with the couple who lives across the street from us. They are super nice folks, and were very interested in Belarus and the Chernobyl Children's Program. They donated many items for Tanya's family, and gave her a gift card to Target so she could get some school supplies and other things for herself. That was a fun shopping trip, because she had never been to a store like Target before. She loved it!

Welcome Tanya

We are having a great time with our Belarus daughter-for-a-month, Tanya. Connor absolutely adores her and wants to play with her every waking moment. She has had some English classes, so we can communicate better than I expected, although there are many times she wants to tell me something and cannot find the words.

We looked up how much her call to Belarus was the first night and discovered, causing our mouths to fall open, that it was over $5 per minute. So, after a recommendation from a neighbor and some online research, we downloaded Skype for free and now she can talk to her parents for around 22 cents per minute (a little better, don't you think?). If her parents had a computer, internet, and downloaded Skype, they could talk for free, with video & sound!!! What a cool age we live in. But, her parents do not have a computer or access to one. So, we just use our computer to call her parents' home phone.

Here are some photos of her over the last day and a half: