Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Scarecrow Trail at Huntsville Botanical Gardens

Each year for fall Huntsville Botanical  Gardens puts together ''Scarecrow Trail'' various businesses, schools, groups etc. get together and make a scarecrow for the trail. It's always fun to go to the Botanical Gardens, we go multiple times a year.

 Fall is always extra fun though, we get to see all the creativity and hard work that is put into each scarecrow. This years theme was ''traditonal''

So one day Making Connections got together to set up the Autism Awareness Scarecrow. I don't get to be as involved with the group as I would like to be, and I was off the day they were setting up so I decided to go. Debbie did a fantastic job with the design. It's hair was spray painted and it had cute little iron on puzzle pieces all over it's overalls.

It turned out to be such a cute scarecrow too! After that my friend Whitney, my daughter and I all enjoyed a lunch at Clementine's at the Gardens. Then we took a short tour around the gardens, skipping most of the different sections of the gardens. It was so hot that day, and I had to pick up my little man from school so we were rushed for time.
Whitney working on the hair.

Little Miss Sassy working on his ''stuffing''
After it was all finished


How cool is this? I love the sunflowers, they add a nice touch!



Angry Birds made out of gourds and plastic jugs.... pretty neat! 


 
 
Giant Lilly pads in the water garden.
If you've never been you really should make plans to go. Fall is the perfect time, the weather is cooler, the leaves are changing and who doesn't love scarecrows?
 

Little Gymnast

Our little princess fell in love with all the jumps, flips and pageantry of the Olympics. She is obsessed with Gabby Douglas! She begged and begged to take gymnastics so I finally went and got her registered. She absolutely loves it!

doing a roll

Jumping on the AIRTRACK

Very first time on the bar


So proud of getting her hand stamped after completing her first class

Balance Beam

 
 
This Saturday is ''Open Gym Day'' for members and they get to bring a sibling or a friend. She  is going to take her older sister Lindsey! Super excited!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Gatlinburg,TN

Our friends invited us to go to Gatlinburg with them, they completely paid for everything. The hotel,food, and attractions. The only thing I paid for was a few things for the kids and having a few ''Old time photos'' made. Such a blessing that we were able to go and that we have such thoughtful friends!



a train at the Chattanooga Choo Choo museum
 Saturday October 8th was the day we left. We stopped in Chattanooga. First we went to the Chattanooga Choo Choo and toured the museum, went on a trolley ride, then visited the gift shop. It was a lot of fun and my little conductor had tons of fun!


After that we took a trolley over to the Creative Discovery Museum it was a blast for all of us. We spent several hours there. I would love to take the kids back again sometime.



We stopped and got something to eat then made the rest of the trip to Gatlinburg. The weather was beautiful there, mostly in the 70's. The tree's were beautiful! We spent an entire day at Over Gatlinburg, we did the chair lift multiple times. We did the alpine slides, the water slides, the animal exhibit,the playground, the maze, and the train.                                                                      




We visited Fannie Farkles multiple times when we were there. The kids loved it, I loved it, lol everyone loves that place! The babies got airbrushed t-shirts, lil man picked Angry Birds, and Miss Priss picked out a ballerina one. She had her photos made at Ole' Thyme Photo. I think they turned out really cute despite the fact that she had a boo boo under her nose due to her runny nose that started Saturday.




One night we were standing outside of a candy store, watching them make the taffy. All of a sudden there was a man dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow! Not only did he look like him, he talked like him, and his movements were exactly like they are in the movies! We were quite entertained by him. My sweet angel said ''don't let him shoot my mommy'' gotta love the way little ones think! We explained to her that it wasn't a real gun, and that he was only wearing a costume sort of like Halloween, only it wasn't Halloween. She was happy with that and wasn't afraid of him anymore.


We went to eat at Texas Roadhouse, which has great food but poor service. The police were called there because the waitress added gratuity to a check, probably because she knew she wasn't going to get a tip. They wanted her to remove the gratuity, and so they called the police. There was a lot of yelling involved. Anyways I was amused by their high-chairs for the little ones! They are made out of old saddles! Cute idea if you ask me!



We had a wonderful time with our friends. I'm glad that my step-daughter was out of school for fall break and got to go too! I enjoyed spending time with her and the babies.


Monday we ate at the Pancake Pantry, lil man fell asleep waiting on his food. Out of the dozens of times I have been to Gatlinburg it was my first time eating there, I absolutely loved it.




Chocolate chip pancakes
 After breakfast we made another visit to Fannie Farkle's. We all played then cashed in our thousands of tickets for prizes. We walked the strip in Gatlinburg one more time, then started the trip back home. We stopped to see a small waterfall.


We stopped at a train museum in Townsend, it was closed but we still took photos of the kids with the old engine outside. Later on we took the Foothills Parkway, we wanted the scenic route home.




Along the parkway there was a place to stop and park. Then we had a half a mile walk up the mountain to get to what is called Look Rock. I managed to get a cramp in my calf during the walk up the mountain. It was well worth the view once we were at the top though. We could see Maryville, Cades Cove, Clingman's Dome and several other places from this one place. We got to see the sunset while we were up there, and it was absolutely beautiful!




Beautiful view from Look Rock

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

in another light

 This past Sunday we went for our regular trip to get groceries for the week. The weather was so beautiful that we decided to take the groceries home, and go to the park.  We took a trip to a nearby elementary school. Normally there aren't any other people there. Its nice to go to when we just want to enjoy time alone at a park/playground  with our kids. They were having a blast. A lady brought five small children there to play. They were all having a good time together. Taking turns and helping each other. I sat there in the grass taking in all the giggles flowing through the air. I then looked up at the sunset through the playground. It was quite beautiful. Most days I'm too busy to even notice a sunset. It reminded me of high school art class when we learned about drawing/painting with negative and positive space. I took a few photos with my iphone. (my camera was dead) They are simple but at the same time beautiful. I think this was a reminder for me to slow down and take in all of my surroundings, to be more appreciative of the simple things in life. To enjoy life more, and to be less serious all the time.




Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Date Night! Yeah!

My husband and I had a rare date night. A friend offered to keep the babies. Jerry had already taken off work so that he could stay home with the babies, while I was to attend the monthly Rocket City Mustang Club meeting. So since we had a free sitter we made the most of it and went to a concert.

It was at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. It was to benefit Tools For Schools. {Its a local organization that takes up school supplies and distributes them to the kids who wouldn't normally be able to afford them}

Admission was a donation of school supplies. We each took a bag, each bag had the same items.

We were excited to see The Eli Young Band, The JaneDear Girls, and Steve Holy!
I have always loved the song ''Good morning beautiful'' by Steve Holy. I got a little teary eyed listening to him sing it in person {he was only feet away from us}, while holding my husband's hand.  It was an awesome concert! We even ran into a couple of friends from the mustang club, who also ditched the meeting!

After the concert we went to dinner at T.G.I. Friday's. We have been going there for six years, its always our first choice! So occasionally they will throw in a discount! Its nice to know that being a loyal customer is appreciated! Its rare these days! Our dinner was free! 




    The Eli Young Band
                                                  The JaneDear Girls
                                  Danelle Leverett of The JaneDear Girls
                                     Susie Brown of The JaneDear Girls
    Steve Holy




  • Free concert + free dinner + date night = AWESOME!!!!

  • Monday, July 18, 2011

    A day at the garden

    Today I took the babies to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens to see Tremendous Tree houses with a ''Splash''
    • We all had a blast! We were there for over five hours.
    • We took our time at each tree house, or water feature.
    • They have lots of new features.  I especially liked the ''storybook garden'', it reminds me of ''The Secret Garden'' {loved that book/movie as a child}
    • I made sure to put sunscreen on the babies, yet forgot to put it on myself. So I look like a lobster! 
    •  If you are ever in the Huntsville area, make sure to stop by there. It's a blast & so worth it!
    • Anyways here are a few photos from our adventures at HBG today!



                                                     Ships Ahoy Treehouse
                                                            Waterlilly garden
                                   I have no idea what flower this is but I really like it!
                                                                 clover flowers
                                              ''Not in Kansas Anymore'' Treehouse
                                                                 HAHA!!!!
                                                          Inside the butterfly house
                                                           Monarch butterfly
                                                                lazy turtle
                                                   found this turtle digging a burrow
     
    They have a cage full of beautiful canaries. This one managed to get stuck under this container. I told the employee's there & they saved him! Yay!
     
    This is a beautiful flower. Really reminds me of the flower in the movie Tangled!
                                                     The Three Little Bear's bed's
                                                             Sunflower maze
                                                       The Storybook Garden