Bottoms up! Family history and turning 40 meant that Heather had to clean her colon to prepare for inspection
Our January snow total was this measly few inches that melted the next day
We did manage 2 ice skating outings. Caroline is a great glider, Erin figured it out this year, and Tessie was the right size for the crates
It was actually too muddy in spots for our January biking
For the first time we could celebrate Grandma Lu's birthday by going out to Legal Seafoods as a family
One science experiment was testing the effect of biscuit size on puffiness using the hand-rolled technique
It looks like bigger was better, but they were all delicious
Erin was quite possessive of her biscuits
As a reward for all the swim practices and meets we got Nutella crepes from MA France
After Christmas the girls sleeping arrangements started evolving. After a while we charted the permutations but soon realized we had a long way to try them all out.
After 2 hours of questing and many fails, we finished our evening at Boda Borg with 5 completion stamps. It's our new favorite indoor winter activity.
With Grandma Lu already moved into Boston but non-refundable tickets to Atlanta in hand, we decided to head down there after Christmas to visit some NPS sites in GA and AL
One of our last trips on the ATL intraterminal tram?
The azaleas weren't in bloom, but the butterflies were worth the visit
Our last trip to Alabama lasted less than an hour. This time we stayed overnight, bringing Dad's count of states having spent a night in to 38.
Is it so wrong to associate NPS sites with Doritos to indoctrinate Tessie?
Cannon outside means National Military Park, this time to recall the slaughter of the Creeks by Andrew Jackson at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. It's a sad topic but a funny name. Tallapoosa. Horrible tragedy on the Tallapoosa. 1,000 Red Stick warriors murdered on the Tallapoosa. Mad Dog Jackson firing guns and cannons into the men until they were all dead on the Tallapoosa.
Southern home cookin' with fried okra, collards, and a bowl of vegetables for Tessie
If it's written on a sign, in chalk, in Alabama, then it must be true
The Tuskegee Airmen site was on a windswept airfield in Tuskegee, AL
Tuskegee Institute had its own site, but the visitor center and George Washington Carver Museum were closed. We did get a tour of Booker T. Washington's hous, where our historic house photographer Erin took this one of the state-of-the-art 19th century sauna.
We are fans of boiled peanuts and Plains, GA celebrates the goober
and their local son, the 39th POTUS, who at age 92 still teaches Sunday school at the local baptist church
Far and away the best part of Jimmy Carter's restored 1920s era peanut farm were the resident cats, Scaredy and Fraidy, who were anything but
They might have been dirt poor, but they had a tennis court in the backyard
The rewards overflowed for becoming Junior Rangers: a metal badge, a patch, and a water bottle
Another pleasant surprise awaited us in nearby Americus, where our hotel turned out to be this restored grand Victorian gem, complete with 12-foot ceilings and beautiful period decor.
Caroline is our official thank-you note writer
Now this was weird. We were told that there was a skating rink in town set up for the holidays. Really? In south Georgia? And it was true, complete with fake snow and fake ice. Now the soap bubbles could be forgiven, but the skating surface was made of hard plastic, and the skates rented were real. The skates couldn't really dig into the ice, and so everyone was content to slide around, mostly out of control. The girls were not impressed.
That's our daily dose of boiled peanuts, always served in a giant styrofoam cup
The gravity of POW atrocities didn't sink in with the girls during our trip to Andersonville
Wait a minute, aren't those the words of some house from Game of Thrones?
The sky was brilliant blue as we wandered around the recreated POW site
The fence at the base of the stockade marked the deadline and crossing it was a capital offense
On the way back to Atlanta we passed acres of pecan trees
and a surprising amount of cotton
Now to Macon and Ocmulgee National Monument, where the Mississippian people built a series of mounds to be used as ceremonial spaces
Sadly, whenever I hear the word "mounds" I think of the TV ad jingle for one of the world's worst candy bars
Back in Atlanta we spent a night with Uncle Joe, Aunt Tracy, and Jenna
and then on New Year's Eve we jetted home in time to attend a special Italian feast at Gary and Dana's house
Tessie filled in all the letters herself
She thought the guy in the plane was real
Suvvy, sivvy, and yelliger will soon be lost from Tessie's vernacular
Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't
