Happy Halloween!

Blogging for Books

I love to read. I love to get free books. I love to blog. So, when I came across this site, I had to join up. It's Christian books that you can receive advanced reader copies of. Once you join, you select a book from a list to review. They will ship it to you (or give you the link to download an ebook). The only 'fee' is to blog about your review when you're ready. Then you can request a new book for review and repeat the process. It's really a great way to be introduced to new authors.

Chattahoochee Nature Center

After having a day unplugged from computers/video games on Saturday (and doing a lot of cleaning), I decided we should get out for a while. I've never been to the Nature Center before, so my suggestion was to head there. Ultimately, my family went along with me.

We got there just as they were doing a critter encounter. Note the possum on the staff person's back.

We wandered through the aviary trail after. My photos of most didn't come out. This one, fortunately, did. He decided he liked my daughter and followed her up and down the cage line.

We wandered up the forest trail and saw lots of beautiful colors in the trees. My favorite was this view.

At the top of the hill is a small cemetary.

From there we wandered over to the River trail.

There were at least 3 other trails that we didn't do. They had a guided nature hike as well, though my kids preferred doing it on their own. All in all, a very nice trip for a pretty Fall day.

Wordless Wednesday

This is from the FDR memorial in Washington, D.C. I think it speaks for itself.

Belle & Jasmine join our home

Jasmine and Belle have joined our household. No, I don't mean these..

---

I went out on errands Saturday and stopped at a couple of yard sales. A dangerous thing under the best circumstances, but I did it any way. The first I stopped at I purchased two Star Wars books for my son and a suede poncho for my daughter. At a different one, though, there was a new college student that found taking care of her two pets was too much. So, now they live with us. I already had the tank, just had to pick up a heater and a filter. As best as I can tell, they're yellow sliders. They're really too little to identify their sex yet, but Jasmine & Belle came with their names. They may change in the future.

---

This is Belle.. This is Jasmine.. And those are my fingers, just to show you how little they really are.

Am I insane? Probably. Hubby huffed at me when he found out about them. It's not like they're difficult to keep, nor will they eat that much compared to other members of this household.

Hidden gem in Roswell

My kids went on a field trip with one of the Social Studies teachers at GCA. We went to the Roswell visitor center, where we learned something about the history of city. The focus for the group was primarily the civil war time frame.

From there we went on a short hike. Behind "The Mills" (and just down from the visitor center) is the old mill machinery shop and a covered bridge. The bridge crosses Vickery Creek.

There are several trails you can follow. We crossed the bridge and followed it back to the dam.

It was a gorgeous day for the hike. We only did a portion of the trail, though I'd like to go back and do the rest of it. We did return back to the visitor center before heading home. I got this shot of my two before we left.

Book Review: Thank you, God, for blessing me

Thank you, God, for blessing me by Max Lucado

A very sweet little book. It's a child's book about Little Hermie, meant to be read and shared by a parent. The wonderful little caterpillar returns and in it he gives thanks to God for all the things he has given him. It's a great read and will help younger children (and older) learn how to pray.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fernbank Museum of Natural History

Fernbank was having a "Space" weekend this past weekend. My husband has been wanting to go see the Hubble Imax movie and it was one of the things being shown. Since we hadn't had the chance to check out the Darwin exhibit yet, we headed out there on Sunday. I was somewhat disppointed in what was presented, though it was a reasonably thorough look at his life. I'm not sure what I was expecting, so I can't say exactly what was disappointing.

Some of the highlights from the exhibit

We visited the Georgia exhibit as well

At the end of our visit, I wanted to visit the rose garden as well. This is located at the top of the second parking lot by the museum. If you get a chance to visit while the flowers are in bloom, it's definitely worth the time.

About.me

I don't have a Wordless Wednesday entry for today, so I'm going another direction. I recently found out about a word of mouth site called 'about.me'. It creates a great little summary of your self that you can share with friends, new associates and more. It's very customizable and very easy to do.

All about about.me from about.me on Vimeo.

I don't want to make this too simple (most of you that have found me know the basics, I'm sure). But, the first thing to do is to create your account. The system mostly prompts you for your starting information. You can create your title (I used my name), then enter your information. I started with my blog description and altered it somewhat since I wasn't talking about my blog.

I don't care for most pictures taken of me any more, so I selected one I do, then I used that as my background. From there it was just a matter of playing with the fonts, colors and layouts until I got it the way I wanted. I think it took me all of 30 minutes to get it set up. You can see the final product.. Check out my about.me profile!

I signed up and received a pack of free moo business cards (very nice quality, by the way). If you sign up with about.me, you can receive a pack of cards too. I use mine on outings with GCA so that I can keep in touch with new families.

I did this through BZZAgent (I receive free samples and coupons in return for my honest opinion).

Book Review: The Scroll

The Scroll by Grant R. Jeffry and Alton L. Gansky

An archeological dig in Israel by the top biblical archeologists of their time. Dr. David Chambers, the lead archeologist, is having a hard time resolving his faith and his past. He has lost the energy that attracted his former fiance, Amber. An old friend reaches out to David, luring him to join and lead the dig. Can he resolve his past? Will the dig unlock something that could ultimately change the future?

An interesting mix of characters, it adds in Dr. Ben-Judah. David's mentor and lead contact in joining the dig. Nuri, another archaeologist with a focus on the technology that can assist. Amber, Chamber's former fiance and archaeologist in her own right. Trent, US billionaire and financer of the dig. Finally, there's Landau, the former marine and current operative in charge of keeping everyone safe.

The dig is a treasure map leading to a treasure of untold value. There is someone that wants it all gone, including the archaeologists. It adds unknown danger to a mystery. A wonderful tale, though I'm not sure about the ending. With today's views of the middle east, it does, perhaps, represent a potential to at least a partial truth. Whether the finds of the dig would ever be found, the tension that builds between the countries already exists.

A fairly short read, for me. I suspect most anyone would have it finished in a couple of days. Well written and enjoyable, I would recommend it.

I was given this book by Waterbrook Multnomah in exchange for my honest review.

Braselton & Mayfield

I took the kids out to Braselton to visit the Mayfield Visitor Center. I'd heard of the tours ending and center closing, so on their day off from school, we made the drive. Unfortunately, tours stopped on Friday, Oct. 14th. The visitor center closes at the end of the month. They recommend calling Mayfield and asking them to reconsider this.

The front of the Visitor Center

We weren't allowed to use our cameras on the tour, but I can summarize it. We started with a video about the history of Mayfield Dairies. We were then led back to view the processing area (homogenizing/etc) for the milk. From there we moved down a bit to see the lab where they test the milk. They test it as soon as it's brought in on the trucks and again randomly on the lines.

Our 4th stop was to see where the trucks came in and were unloaded and to view a second video about how the containers are made. We didn't get the chance to enter any of these rooms. They were all viewed through windows. My kids still thought it was interesting, though, especially to get a chance to ask questions of our tour guide about what we DID see.

We returned to the Visitor Center/Gift Shop. They have several displays in the room showing the history of the company. This was one of them.

I think the highlight of the tour was having ice cream afterward.

This was outside (of course) and the kids just had to visit it. Which meant that I just had to get a photo of them with it.

Review - Disney On Ice Dare to Dream

I was fortunate enough to be invited to take my daughter to see this show Wednesday night. We brought along her best friend and her best friend's mom since my boys weren't interested in princesses. Once we arrived at Philip's Arena, we were given passes to go 'behind the scenes' to a press conference. While there, we participated in interviewing two of the Disney skaters.

About the skaters

The gentleman on the left played Aladdin. A brief summary of his bio is that he's been skating since he was 11 and joined the Disney team right out of High School. He's been with Disney for 4 years.

The lady on the right plays Mamma Odie. She is originally from Toronto, has been skating for 24 years and with Disney for 10. From their interview, you can tell they're a close group, skating together 10 months out of the year. For holidays, they like to get involved in the community they're currently staying in. Anything from working in a soup kitchen to collecting donations.

We only had a limited amount of time with those two as they had to prepare for the show. What was fun to see, though, was my daughter's friend's reaction to the next guests.

The Show

After meeting the skaters, we went down to our seats. We were lucky that we had excellent seats and a great view of the skaters. I tried to take pictures of the show, but my camera isn't quite that good. What I did get were these..

As for the show itself, a little bit of detail. The story starts with Disney's Princess and the Frog. It tells a majority of the tale, centering primarily on Tiana. It displays the adventure through the bayou to meet Mamma Odie and finishes with Naveen and Tiana returning to their human form. From there, it moves into the story of Cinderella. From the sad tale of a young girl not appreciated by her family, to include audience participation in helping her go to the ball. It finishes with the Prince finding Cinderella. Last (but not least) it moves to Tangled and the story of Rapunzel. With her trusty skillet in hand, follow Rapunzel as she meets Flynn, the Ruffians from the tavern and Maximus. It finishes with Rapunzel being greeted by ALL the Disney Princesses and welcomed 'home'.

The show has just enough special effects to make the show really work and to enhance those special moments of each tale. From Naveen & Tiana turning in to frogs to Rapunzel & Flynn and their high flying stunts with her 'hair'. Cinderella puts a few girls into the story with the fitting of the slipper and Tangled gets one child involved as well.

After the show, I asked the girls what they thought of it all. My daughter's comment was "I would post a one word review... AWESOME!". Her friend was a little more detailed.. "I really enjoyed it. I thought the princesses were great and it was very romantic."

I can honestly say we thoroughly enjoyed the show. We all watched spellbound as the skaters acted out the stories. I, personally, loved watching Rapunzel and Flynn do their aerialist performances. The girls noted ALL the details, including the floating lanterns and Rapunzel's hair glowing when healing Flynn's hand. It was certainly a show worth going to see.

I was given tickets to this show in return for posting my honest review.

Shooting in the Mountains

The view is actually from heading up the road toward Fort Mountain, not where family lives. But it was a gorgeous day and I wanted to stop and get a picture of it anyway. When we visit my husband's grandmother, there's several things that may end up keeping the kids occupied. After hubby mowed part of the yard, we took their grandmother's guns out to a back area and let the kids shoot. We started with the BB gun.. my daughter had never shot anything before, so this was new to her. No, my son is not trying to bother his sister while she's shooting. He's trying to help her fix her stance.. he's just using his foot to do it.. Then moved to the .22 rifle. My daughter shot this as well, though for some reason I missed getting a picture of it.. maybe because I was shooting too.. hm..

My son, though, fell in love with shooting the .410 shotgun.. now he wants to know when he can have one of his own..

Wordless Wednesday - Flower Envy

I always have to admire my husband's grandmother's flowers when I go up. I try to be like her, but haven't quite gotten it down yet. Fortunately, she gives me cuttings and rootings from her garden to try and tips on how to get them best to grow. Maybe one day I'll be as good as she is. Any way, here's the case of my flower envy (and this is just a small sample)..

Of course, you can't forget her vegetable garden which grows a variety of stuff.. this pepper was huge!

Ellijay Apple Festival

My family and I took off for the mountains (literally) Saturday. We headed up to the Ellijay Apple Festival, just to see what we could see. We'd been once before, though it had been many years since then. My husband and I debated how many, but figure at least 5 years. If you go, plan to encounter some traffic on the main strip while you try to get to parking. There is plenty and they have shuttle buses running to. Check out their web site for more info.

This is a view of the fair itself from the hill going up toward the Middle/High shool.

We didn't stop here long, but watching someone carve with a chainsaw is always fascinating to me

As with any large fair, there's crafts galore. I loved this booth. This statue made me think of "Night in the Museum". When I turned to my son, we both said "DumDum gimme GumGum"..

A local wildlife rescue group was out there showing some of the animals that reside at their facility. Each animal has a story, one that's quite sad considering. Most were due to humans (not surprising) doing something they shouldn't.

On the way out, we headed further into the mountains to go visit family in the Chatsworth area. The town of Ellijay itself had an extension of the fair going on, with streets closed and more vendors. Of course, since it's the Apple festival, quite a few orchards had stands in both places, so a wide selection of apple varieties were available. All around town you could also find these guys..

I didn't get a chance to get pictures of all the different set-ups and arrangements, but it looks like most of the store fronts had one. Some local businesses without storefronts had them as well. Most were on the main square, but some were on side streets as well. If you have the chance, you might see the festival itself, then drive over to main street and wander there too.