This past weekend was "Member Day" all over Birmingham. Basically if you are a member of any one of these participating organizations, you get in free to any of the others on Saturday. So, since we were zoo members, we decided to go check out the McWane Center (kids' science museum) this past weekend. Sarah Katherine and a couple of her buddies go together and had a great time playing. We even got to hear a local theatre company perform pieces from the Sound of Music. Our girl loves singing, so she had a good time getting down to "Do a Dear..."!



After nap time, David got his second wind and wanted to go take SK somewhere else fun (I guess he's getting his time in for all those weekends he had to work, but man this is kicking my tail! Lots of excitement for me.) His first suggestion was to go to Chuck E Cheese. We went in, and in about 5 minutes we left. That place is a madhouse! Maybe I am not an "experienced" enough mom to handle that place. We may try again in a few years, but for now riding the carousel in the mall was much more our speed!

Seeing ALL of Chattanooga

The weekend of our 7th anniversary, we loaded up to Chattanooga to see Aunt Susan and Uncle Fred AND to see all the sights Chattanooga had to offer. It was so great to visit with family and to spend time together making our family memories!


We love you Aunt Susan and Uncle Fred - your the best hosts!

On Friday night we went to see Fred and Susan's son and his family at a local camping area. They had a sweet set up with a fancy camper and a boat, so we got to take Sarah Katherine on her very first boat ride...

At first she wasn't too sure about this whole thing, but...

As we picked up speed the whole boating idea started to grow on her and...

Finally she said scoot over Stephen, I'm going to drive!

Saturday was the bid day of sightseeing - Rock City, Ruby Falls, AND the aquarium. All in one day with a fairly well behaved little girl. Considering the girl didn't eat lunch until 1 and didn't get a real nap all day, I'd say we have an angel baby!

Hiking around Rock City - I had never been before, it really is beautiful!

Where we are standing, you can see seven states!

SK enjoyed being Miss Independent and walking around in the Ruby Falls cavern. She of course touched every rock as we walked around. :)

Pretend we have a decent camera and can see the falls behind David and SK!

And then finally came the aquarium. Her most favorite was the jelly fish. Let's hope she stays away from them in the ocean though!

Outside of the aquarium there was a splash pool area and of course SK loved it!

After all of that big day, SK pooped out by 6! David and I were supposed to go out to a nice dinner, but he got a really bad headache - so much for fanciness for us. Luckily BC Powder came to the rescue, and even though we missed our reservations we were able to go to dinner and a movie. Something is better than nothing! :) Time has flown by so fast, I can't believe it's already been 7 years. I am so thankful for a great husband who is also a great father - I love you!

Little Miss Firecracker!

Happy 4th of July from SK! She is getting to be so grown up these days, and Miss Firecracker is a perfect term for her - she always buzzing everywhere, she definitely lights up a room, and the girl can work her red, white, and blue! She is starting to talk more these days, and sadly with that comes "No" and "Mine". We are moving through our "teachable moments", but on the whole our little one is still super sweet!

Celebrating Daddy Being off Work on the Weekends!

So, I know I am averaging once a month for my blogging but at least I'm a binge blogger and put up a bunch of info each month! We are now excited to say David is off on the weekends and we can finally do fun stuff together as a family. He is working as the General Manager of a hotel in Huntsville, so it is a bit of a drive but it is a wonderful opportunity for him. So far, so good and we are LOVING our weekend time together. :)

We took a trip to the zoo and got to show dad all around (we are members of the zoo, but David hasn't been able to go on a lot of our trips up there). He got the royal treatment and even rode the train! The gorillas were so excited they even came out to say hi (the first time I've seen them!).

SK's First Haircut

Well, we have officially completed all items in the baby book (so sad!). We took Sarah Katherine to get her first official haircut last weekend. She did really well sitting in my lap, but was not comfy enough to sit by herself. Not really a drastic change, but the mullet is gone!

Sorry, forgot to rotate the bottom picture, but above is before the big event.

No drama during the cut, she kept her head still and was quiet. We tried for her to sit on her own, and that would not have had such a sweet outcome! :)

After her haircut. NOW she wants to sit on the chair cushion. :) Such a cutie pie!

Zip Lining in Georgia

I am in a leadership development class at work where we are learning about the company as well as other things that are good to know if you seek a leadership position at the company (public speaking class, HR tips and tricks, etc). Well, a standard thing the members of this class do every year is some sort of team building experience. Our class chose to do this crazy ziplining and ropes course in Georgia (http://www.historicbanningmills.com/canopy.html). The zipping was actually the easy part of this experience. The gosh-awful part are the rope "bridges" that you have to cross and attempt not to fall through the gaping holes in the "bridges". Yes, you are tied off during this experience, but that doesn't offer that much comfort because if you do fall off, how in the crud are you supposed to get back up on the bridge??? Anyways I can check this off my list for posterity, but no more rope bridges for me. I will zip with anyone though - that was fun!

Everyone is all smiles as we are gearing up.

Yes, that is A cable I am walking across. So glad this is recorded on film!!!

Zipping over the 3-story lodge, no problem!

I am the dot in the middle of the trees - check out that form!

Graceful landing. :)

My Memorial Day Weekend

I posted below that SK had a great time at Nana and Grandpa's house over Memorial Day weekend, and now I have finally loaded the pic's from my weekend. I went up to see David, who was in Illinois for 3 weeks of training for work. Saturday we went all over Chicago, Sunday we went into St. Louis, then Monday we hung around Champaign (where he was actually doing his training).

At the Field Museum in Chicago. Behind us is "Sue" the T-rex.

Cruising Lake Michigan with the Chicago skyline behind us.

View from the top of the St. Louis arch.

Below are the pictures of our crazy train derainment. It looks like the tracks cracked because they were like spaghetti behind us. The front car stayed on the tracks, but all the others were off the tracks. The back car is even on its side. The crazy thing is the car that flipped is the one where you buy drinks and snacks and David had just sat down from getting a coke! Our trip luck is getting kind of ridiculous now - flood in Napa, fire in Vegas, drunk pilot and cancelled flight going to Charlotte, now train derailment in St. Louis. If you see us - run!!!