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Camellias & Copper

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Making Memories in the Mountains

November 1, 2020 by Michelle Filed Under: Life, Outside, Travel 2 Comments

Over the years I would often wonder what people enjoyed so much about going to the mountains. Call me naive, ignorant, whatever you will. I just couldn’t understand, with kids especially, why you would go and what on earth would you do.

Being in the middle of no where with small children seemed like a nightmare to me. Kids bored to tears asking ‘what are we going to do’ a thousand times a day was not my idea of a family getaway or any level of what I would call fun.

That was then…As Andrew and I have had the great privilege of taking our kids to the mountains three times now this fall, each trip has been more wonderful than the last. We’ve had different destinations, different reasons for going, thus making each adventure totally unique.

This past week we were doomed to quarantine like so many have had to do over the last ten months. Once again we were stuck at home doing school, playing and trying not to make each other go completely bonkers. Some sweet friends of ours who have a mountain house in Blue Ridge, GA found out that we were quarantining so they reached out and told us to go isolate at their home in the woods. {We all tested negative, FYI}

The kids were thrilled with the prospect of going to the mountains again because to them the mountains meant hiking through the woods because that’s a lot of what we’ve done so far on our little trips.

We packed our bags quickly and hit the road Saturday morning to make the trek across South Carolina into the north Georgia mountains. The closer we got to the house, the more beautiful the scenery became. The Toccoa River snaking her way around the mountains, cows and horses dotted the green landscape. Trees just past their Fall-colored prime and the clouds resting just below the peaks of the mountain tops. Ah, this is why people come.

The scenery. The peace and quiet. The sounds of the birds and the rooster crowing in the woods. The slower pace. The not-having-to-rush-around doing all the things. The adventure of the unknown in the forest. The discovery of new things and places and people, and being with my people.

I get it now.

So far we have hiked, roast marshmallows and made s’mores, carved pumpkins, sat by the roaring fire and read books, eaten out at new restaurants, mined for gems and gold, and met a few of the neighbors. I guess you could say it’s been everything I hoped for and more.

photo cred: Reynolds

I’ve heard it said that the best memories are made in the mountains, and while I’m not yet fully convinced of it…we are well on our way to finding out.

Until next time…

Our Ark Encounter :: Part 1

October 13, 2020 by Michelle Filed Under: Life, Travel Leave a Comment

{I started writing this last Friday, 10/9}

This morning as we pulled into the parking lot and caught the first glimpses of the ark perched up on the hill and we all said “WOW!” We had seen the photos online and understood that the ark was enormous, but WOW, this was going to be a really cool day.

When we got off the bus and fully took in the magnitude of this enormous ship, with no sail or oars, we were completely blown away. It was beautiful and breathtaking. Skillfully crafted, we just couldn’t get over how unbelievable it was in person.

Just like the one Noah would have built. It all came to life in that very moment. Genesis in real life. I was recalling in my mind a Little People Noah’s Ark book I’d read a thousand times to the kids – “…and two by two God sent them to the boat” and could envision the animals walking the long ramp up to the door…

There’s SO much to tell you about it, I cannot fit it all in one blog post.

With that said, in this post, I’m going to stick to photos of the ark itself…and urge you to book a trip. You will not regret it.

God told Noah in Genesis chapter 6 how big the ark would be – 300 Cubits long, 50 Cubits wide and 30 Cubits tall. In our modern day measurements, the ark is 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet tall. It.is.massive.

It took Noah somewhere between 55-75 years max to build the ark; the real life replica took a mere 18 months to complete.

Inside the ark, there were several areas that showed what cages for animals could have looked like. Complete with feeding and watering methods, they were even stacked in a particular way to show how waste could have been removed. It was completely fascinating.

The massive beams {above} were mostly from trees removed in Colorado and Utah.
The feed sacks {below} show how they could have stored food for the duration of their time on the ark.

The many children’s books that have portrayed the story of Noah and the Ark….

The Door {below} “reminds us that we need to go through a door to be saved. Jesus Christ is our one door to salvation.” There was only one door to the ark, per God’s instructions. One way in for Noah, his family and the animals to be saved. The same remains true for us, even today.

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

The workmanship, skill and craft that went into planning not only this magnificent ship, but also all of the life-like exhibits were so thoroughly created – there was no detail spared. I cannot imagine the time and attention that all the workers put into bringing this all to life.

It really was a spectacular sight. A blessing beyond measure to have this real life replica to point us back to Genesis – back thousands of years ago, when this ark would have been built to save Noah, his family and the animals from God’s just judgement.

Lord, have mercy on us…

Disney : The Middle Two Days

June 6, 2016 by Michelle Filed Under: Being a Mom, Life, Travel Leave a Comment

Y’all, I totally didn’t expect there to be a week between posts and I’m really sorry!  The first post, if you want a re-cap, was of Epcot and Universal Studios.

Here’s the next post on Days three {Wednesday} and four {Thursday} of our trip to Disney.

Day three was Daddy’s visit to Gatorland {nothankyou} but I thought I would share some pictures with you of his adventures in the swamp as well as what we did!

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PLEASE NOTE THE SIGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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There is NOTHING between my husband and the hungry gators. NOTHING….NOTHING.

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I do feel sorry for this guy ↑…he’s like an old man with barely any teeth.  Still, he could have had my husband for dessert, had he really wanted…

 

Since WE were not planning on the gator visit with crazy Daddy, we opted to hang out at Disney Springs for part of the day.  Mind you, the kids had barely napped the two days we’d been there so far, so they were both in need of a serious nap-day.  And, Reynolds was battling some major allergies with swollen, red, watery eyes so he needed a break.

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He was so proud to be wearing his brand-new Spiderman shirt

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I’ll have one of everything, please.

009 008 007 155 154 This was also the day that we spent some quality time at the Lego store…and Reynolds made some new friends, who helped him build a really cool rocket ship.

129R legosEJ legos

These guys...they made R feel so special.  I wanted to hug them all before they left.

These guys…they made R feel so special. I wanted to hug them all before they left.

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We had even more fun after nap time, and daddy was back from nearly been eaten by those gators…

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A small sword fight followed, with Eliza Jane full-on charging her big brother!153152

That was all for Wednesday.

 

Thursday was SeaWorld and WOW, what an amazing place!  We dropped Daddy off early at Discovery Cove and made our way across the street to SeaWorld.

I cannot say enough great things about SeaWorld…by this point in the week, it quickly became my favorite park for the kids – they were able to see, do, feel and experience so much than they had at the other parks we’d been to so far.

We visited the Dolphin cove first where we watched them swim, play and “talk” to each other

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The kids literally wanted to jump in and swim with them 🙂

At 10 o’clock was the Dolphin show…and it really was spectacular!

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My kids were completely enthralled.

After the dolphins we made our way around to the manatees and sea turtles that were in rehab172 166 165170171

And I was having such anxiety about one of my kids falling into the water that we left shortly thereafter to go visit the sea lions, who were just basking in the glorious sun

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I mean….this is the life ↑, right?!

After the sea lions, we went to Antarctica, to visit the penguins →it was 31° inside with them!!!!214 216 217

It was really cold, especially after having been outside sweating for however long.  Eliza Jane had no patience for the cold and was quickly trying to get inside my shirt…

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She’s crazy.

After a short visit with some sharks229we found Daddy and got some lunch {yep, all that happened before we ate!}.

After lunch we met an Owl and some Macaws235 237

And then rode a choo-choo train, where guess who?! was the conductor!266

Last but certainly not least was getting to see Shamu and friends…this show was just as fantastic as the dolphin show!260 257 256 254 251 249 245

These magnificent creatures do amazing things and left us truly wanting more!

That evening we went back to Disney Springs for supper and some fun racing Legos!  I posted on Instagram that night that the Lego racing was serious…and it was.  Just look at these faces!

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One proud Lego-racecar-maker!20160526_182716

The last picture of the night…Reynolds wanted to have his picture taken with the Lego family 🙂

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We are nearing the end…only one post left of the Magic Kingdom…hopefully tomorrow!

Paradise Savings

May 5, 2015 by Michelle Filed Under: Life, Travel Leave a Comment

In yesterday’s post about our fabulous trip to the island of Great Exuma, Bahamas, I mentioned that today’s post would be about how Andrew and I save for our vacations.

1.  We don’t go on vacation every year.

We recognize that we need time away….from the laundry, the dishes, the craziness of life.  Often I’ll take time off of work and keep the routine of kids going to school, etc. but I like rest from the normal routine.  We also take weekends away from our home to get out of the ruts that can come.

Also, part of the reason we haven’t gone on vacation every year is that I’ve been pregnant or had a newborn almost the last three years {count in all the pregnancy time}.

The last trip we took was to NYC in July 2012.  Reynolds was born the following April – you can do the math 🙂

2.  Vacations take planning – money planning.

Sometime in the Fall of 2009 {I can remember where I was living at the time}, Real Simple magazine {one of my faves} had an article  {that I cannot find…} about a man who wanted to take his family on a really nice vacation the following summer.  All of their friends and neighborhood families were going on trips and he wanted to do something REALLY great the next Summer.  So he came up with a plan and though I can’t remember the exact details of what he specifically did, it was something like this, which is what we do – and how we paid for our honeymoon, a trip out west, NYC and this latest trip to Exuma:

  • Open a savings account that you don’t have direct access to – as in, you can’t transfer money out of it willy-nilly or in “emergencies”.  Ours is out of the way, in town and I have to make a special effort to go there.  I also do not have a debit card for the account.
  • Have a set amount of money direct deposited into it from your paycheck so that you’re constantly adding to it.
  • This is the biggie and for sure the hardest:  Pay for things in cash.  If you get a $5 bill back, don’t spend it.  We call ours “The $5 fund” – genius, I know.  But $5 bills cannot be touched.  They go in a separate area of my wallet and once I’m home, the $5 bills are taken out of my wallet {or Andrew’s pocket} and put in a particular place in our home – not under the mattress!  Once we have $100 or so, it goes into the savings account.  It can build up really quickly….especially if you go to Chick-Fil-A and buy an eight-pack of nuggets with a $20 and get three $5 bills back….none of them can be used…they ALL go into the $5 fund.  It takes some will-power for sure, especially if that was your last $20…ha.  {Can you tell that this has happened to me before?!}
  • When you’re ready to pay for your trip, wait as long as you can, then take the money out.  Put it in the account that you’re using to pay for the trip, PAY FOR THE TRIP before that money gets spent on something else, and then start building back up that fund ASAP!

3.  Take a fantastic trip, go all out {with your $5 fund savings!}.

We don’t have thousands of “extra” dollars just hanging around waiting to be spent on a great vacation, remember we now have 2 kiddos.  {I’m really excited for those of you that do!!}  And we like great vacations.  A true vacation, by definition is a specific trip or journey, usually for the purpose of recreation or tourism.

We’ve done both: tourism, recreation and then we’ve also rested.

In 2011 we took a trip out west with our friends, Dana and DJ.  It was crazy.  We started with a football game between USC & UGA in Athens, GA then boarded a plane the next day for Phoenix, AZ.  From there we went to Flagstaff and drove to the Grand Canyon and stayed for a couple of nights.  From the Grand Canyon, we pit-stopped at the Hoover Dam {we barely made it before it closed!} and then made our way to Las Vegas.  A few nights in Vegas and then we were off to Los Angeles {my fave!}.  We saw, we did, we ate, we were 90-miles an hour the entire time!  It was a crazy fun and expensive trip!

Our trip to NYC three years ago was jam-packed full of adventures as well.  We had most of each day planned out…we walked the city over – it was GO GO GO the entire time and it was amazing!!

This year’s trip to Exuma was more about rest and getting away from the daily grind.  The greatest thing about going thru Sandals, like we did this  year and for our honeymoon, is that you pay for the trip and {snap!} you’re done.  That’s it.  There’s no  additional cost, unless you get a massage {we did}, go golfing or take an excursion {there are some pretty amazing ones}.  If you just want to go and lay on the beach or float in the pool, you’re set.  Not a penny more needs to be spent, other than food you might need in an airport while you wait for your connecting flight.

It’s ok if you don’t go on vacation every year.  You don’t have to keep up with the Jones’ or the Smith’s or the whomever is taking trips every year.  Make yours special, and make a special effort to save for it.  No one needs to have a giant credit card bill hanging over their head because they took an elaborate trip that they couldn’t afford in the first place 🙂

Good luck and get to saving for that next trip!

 

 

Zip lining in Jamaica {Honeymoon!}

Zip lining in Jamaica {Honeymoon! 2010}

Honeymoon 2010 304

Lucas Smith Out West Trip 2011 200

Enjoying the view at the Grand Canyon on our trip out west! {2011}

West Coast, Baby!

West Coast, Baby! {2011}

VEGAS!

VEGAS! {2011}

Lady Liberty - she was absolutely stunning. {2012}

Lady Liberty – she was absolutely stunning. {NYC 2012}

Yankees Game!

Yankees Game! {NYC 2012}

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