Chattahoochee Nature Center

The weekend before leaving Atlanta we decided to check out the Chattahoochee Nature Center.  Alex had been there for a school field trip and really liked it so we brought her back to check it out.  They had quite a few owls, hawks, and other fowl.  I loved seeing the owls, they are so cute!  Unfortunately, they were contained in a cage and the pictures didn't look to good, otherwise I would post them.

We are back in the cities now and have a lot of catching up to do on the blog!  I will post more later.

Appalachian Trail

One of the areas Keith and I wanted to check out before leaving Georgia was the southern most point of the Appalachian Trail.  The trail head is kind of hard to get to: located at the top of Springer Mountain.  We drove through some windy dirt roads to get to a parking spot and walked the mile up the mountain to where we found the trail head along with some markers.  We walked for about ten miles before heading home.  We would of loved to of spent more time there, but we had packing to do for our move!  We would love to check out some other points along the trail, which runs from Georgia to Maine.  Check out some of the pictures we took:

Appalachian Trail

Lemonade Days

Last weekend, Alex and I met up with some friends at Lemonade Days in Dunwoody, GA.  Alex even met up with some of her preschool friends that she went to Lemonade Days last year with and met up with some new friends.  She is really going to miss all of her friends when we move, which is only a month away!

Click below for pictures:

Lemonade Days- Dunwoody, GA

Red Top Mountain State Park

On Easter we decided to go hiking since it was such a nice day.  We chose Red Top Mountain State Park because it wasn't too far away and we had not been there before.  There is so much to do there; camp, hike, rent boats, water skiing, they have cabins to rent.  We decided to hike the Homestead Trail and did not realize it was going to be as long of a hike as it was.  We hiked a total of 7.5 miles with Alex with us.  Luckily, she was a trooper and didn't complain at all.  We saw quite a few snakes.  I took a picture of one of them, which you can check out at the link below.   Someone told us they thought it was a King Snake, but after looking it up I don't think so.  I think it is a Common Garter Snake.  You can check out the picture and let me know what you think.  We also so a baby snake that had a diamond mark on its head.  Not sure what kind that was, but figured it may have been poisonous.  I think the snakes may have freaked Alex out a bit.  We almost stepped on two of them and the talk of poisonous snakes made Alex just want to get out of there!

Click below for pictures:

Red Top Mountain State Park- Georgia

Stone Mountain

We went to Stone Mountain on Monday with some friends.  Usually we just go to climb up the mountain but a friend had a friend pass to go on the rides, so Alex went along and had a blast.

Kolb's Farm

The other day, while Alex was at school, Keith and I hiked 12 miles around the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield area.  There are so many trails in this area that we still have not covered them all.  Last week we went to Kolb Farm, a restored farmhouse build in 1836 and is the last standing building from the civil war.

Unfortunately, the home is not open to look, but there was a family cemetery right on the front lawn. After spending a few minutes walking around the area we walked back to our car.  I think we were pretty sore after walking 12 miles.

Michael C Carlos Museum

Since Alex had the day off yesterday we decided to visit the Michael C Carlos Museum on the Emory University campus.  I really enjoyed it and wished we could of stayed longer, but the girls (Sarah and Alex) just didn't seem too interested in anything other than the mummies.  Click below for the couple of pics I took.

Michael C Carlos Museum

Sweetwater Creek State Park in Georgia

The next day, after hiking Arabia Mountain, we decided to check out Sweetwater Creek State Park in Lithia Springs, GA.  We really liked this park and Keith thought this was the best hiking out of all the places we have been in Georgia.  We hiked the trails in the park for about 6 miles.  Inside the park, right next to the creek, we saw an old mill that used to be used to make clothing for confederate soldiers.  The name of the mill used to be New Manchester Manufacturing Company.  The area was fenced in so we didn't walk around inside of the structure, but we wanted to.  There is so much history here!  The views were really beautiful and we would love to go back.  Click below for more pictures:

Sweetwater Creek State Park- Georgia

Arabia Mountain

Keith has had a lot of time off this week.  He started a new rotation on Monday and had a few days off this week so we decided to head to Arabia Mountain, located in the southeast corner of Dekalb County.  We walked around the mountain, which was basically a big slab of granite rock.  There were occasional spots nestled in between the granite with a small plant with bright red leaves, called Diamorpha.  We also found some areas with Cacti.  After walking around the mountain area we headed over to the Lyon Farmhouse, possibly the oldest standing farmhouse in Dekalb County.  The farmhouse was all boarded up so we couldn't get inside, but we could see the inside of the basement.  It sounds like from a news article I read online that a Lyon family member lived in the house until 2006, when he moved to Tennessee.

Click below for pictures.

Arabia Mountain

Spring Weather

Even though it's still February, the weather here in Atlanta has been beautiful.  This past weekend, we took one of Alex's little friend and walked up Stone Mountain.  It was still a little chilly (low 60's) but we all had to take our coats off because we were so warm.  As soon as we got to the top and stopped moving we got chilly again and put our coats back on. 

Today the temperature was in the mid 70's.  Since Keith doesn't go in to work until 9pm tonight (He is doing an ER rotation) and was home all day today we decided to go for a long walk in the morning.  Then, after picking Alex up from school, we decided to take Alex out for a bike ride.  She hasn't been on her bike since the fall and was a little scared to go down hills, so daddy had to show her how it's done.  It's a good thing Alex's bike had training wheels!

Marietta Confederate Cemetery

Marietta Confederate Cemetery

This past week we decided to visit the Marietta Confederate Cemetery after hiking up Kennesaw Mountain.  Some friends of ours who recently moved to Atlanta had gone here so we decided to check it out on our way home.  It looks like there are confederate soldiers buried from all of the southern states in this cemetery.  There is one section of the cemetery called the Slave Lot.  In this spot 19 slaves were buried in unmarked graves and only four have been identified.  This is a great place to visit if you come to the area, there are lots of statues, a cannon, and beautiful grave markers.  Click the picture above to see some more pictures.

Halloween 2011

This past Halloween Alex dressed as a "pretty kitty" and she went trick or treating in a fun Dunwoody neighborhood filled with decorated houses.  The neighborhood is called Briars North and is not too far from where we live.  Alex was scared at one point but had so much fun trick or treating with her friends and seeing some school friends along the way.  I wish I had gotten more pictures of Alex in front of the houses but she was way too scared!  Click below for pictures:

Halloween 2011

Stone Mountain with the Riley's

Two weekends ago, we got together with Lenny and Andrea, some friends we met while living in Dominica.  They are only in town for six weeks so we took them up Stone Mountain.  Here is Alex showing off some of her Karate moves on top of the mountain!  It is such a beautiful view from the top of the mountain!

Today Keith is taking his last big test before becoming a doctor- the Step 2 CS.  He has had a lot of practice and speaks English pretty well so I am pretty sure he will have no problem passing. :)

Chattahoochee River Recreation Area

I have been kind of slacking on my posts.  A few weeks ago, Keith and I headed over to the Chattahoochee River Recreation Area near Sope Creek.  We crossed the creek this time and ran into more paper mill ruins.  It's pretty neat to see all the history here.  We have seen some photos of an old family cemetery near Sope Creek but we have yet to find that and are interested in finding it if anyone could tell us where it is.  Click below for pictures:

2011-08-26 Chattahoochee River Recreational Area

Stone Mountain Park

This weekend we decided to head back to Stone Mountain and walk to the top of it.  Even though this was my third time at Stone Mountain, I had never gone to the top of it.   It was about a mile long hike and a good cardiovascular workout!  The view from the top was amazing!  Alex did it with no problems, in fact she talked, skipped, and played around the whole way up and down.  I wish I had that much energy!  We ended up getting a yearly parking pass (even though we will only be here until June) so we can come back and see the laser show and take advantage of the other activities Stone Mountain has to offer.  We took a ton of pics.  Click below to see the pictures.

Stone Mountain Park

Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield

A few days ago, while Alex was at school, Keith and I decided to head back to Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield. Keith has had a few days off during his Urgent Care rotation so we have been taking advantage of it and getting out to see the area. I think Keith is liking Atlanta more and more, but he still does not want to live here long term. The picture above is at the top of Kennesaw Mountain. We decided to go down the other side and start up the next little mountain called Little Kennesaw Mountain. We could of kept going but our legs were tired. We had hiked a total of about five miles and it was getting a little too hot to keep going.

In other news, Keith applied to a total of 65 residency programs. Wow! I thought that was a lot, but really it is not as many as some of our friends have applied to. I can't wait to find out where he will have some interviews and where we might end up.

Chattahoochee River Recreation Area

2011-08-26 Chattahoochee River Recreational Area

Keith is currently doing an Urgent Care rotation.  He doesn't need to be there every day so on one of his days off we decided to go hiking around the Chattahoochee River National Recreation area- the Cochran Shoals site.  We stumbled upon ruins of an old paper mill which was pretty neat.  I took quite a few pictures so check it out. I am sure we will be heading back because there are so many more trails that we have yet to go on.

Off to Karate with Alex. :)

World of Coca Cola

As everyone knows, Keith likes to drink Coke.  It is his all time favorite drink.  Since we buy so much of it I decided to start accumulating points on mycokerewards.com.  I accumulated enough for one free ticket to World of Coca Cola in downtown Atlanta.  After going there, I really do wish I would of saved up points for all of us to go.  It was fun to try out the different sodas from around the world and see the memorabilia but it wasn't worth the cost of 16.00 per person.  At least we each received a free bottle of Coke before we left.  Click below for pictures:

2011-08-14 World of Coca Cola

Atlanta Zoo x12

Today Alex and I went to the Atlanta Zoo with her friend, Ellie, Ellie's sister, Lonnie, and their mom, Cindy.  Cindy had bought the girls matching lalaloopsy shirts and both girls brought their lalaloopsy dolls (which we ended up carrying after the first five minutes).  The girls had a fun time, but most of all they just wanted to play at the naked mole rat playground.  Click below for some more Atlanta Zoo pictures:

Atlanta Zoo

Friend's Birthday Party

Juhee's 4th Birthday Party

Alex got invited to a birthday party on Sunday.  It was at a crossfit gym with a clown, food, games for the kids, etc.  Alex's favorite part was getting a balloon hat and puppy on a leash.  Unfortunately, the balloons all popped as soon as we got home and Alex cried her heart out!  Oh well, one less piece of junk around the house.  Click on the picture above to see the pictures.