Ocmulgee (Pope's Ferry to Waterworks Park)

 
Mom came up last weekend and brought Nico for a kayak trip.

 

We got up, had breakfast a la Eric, and loaded the vehicles.  Off we went to drop the last vehicle at Waterworks park.  We put in at Pope's Ferry, the river was listed at 4.5' at Dame's Ferry and around 1500cfs.  The run started out pretty good, but we quickly started running into shoals which became the story of the day. 

 

 
 We stopped less than an hour in when we found a swimming hole.  What a great way to cool off!

 

 

We have piece by piece completed the length of the Ocmulgee from Jackson to Macon.

 

 
Check out this strange flower we found on the island where we stopped to swim.

 
What we thought would be a 3-4 hour trip kept getting longer and longer, eventually ending at 7 hours.  What took the most time was Clay and Eric and mom getting stuck on rock after rock.  Mom and Eric dumped out at one point, losing her glasses and her chewbacca shirt.   Even though it was a long stretch it was one of the prettiest parts of the river.  I would like to do it again, but Clay isn't so sure.  He thinks maybe if the river was another 1.5 feet higher.

 
There were beautiful rocky outcroppings and sections with homes on the banks which provided some eye candy.

 
By the time we got finished we were so hungry we each devoured Five Guys burgers and fries in record breaking time.  

 

Weekend Shenanigans

 

We had a full weekend: Eric came up Friday night, mom came up Saturday, and Sarah and Drew came up Sunday.  Eric, Clay, and I took Lily to the Towaliga River right up the road on Saturday.  It was her first time at the river.  The weather was warm but the water was still cold but she hopped right in after sticks.  She seemed to have a great time!  Eric and I both ended up in the mud.  There was some slippery mud hiding under leaves and he slipped and landed on his butt and I slipped and landed chest first ( which is why my white zip up in brown).  Clay and Lily laughed at us.

 

On Saturday night we went to Hampton and Clay and Eric went to the Jailhouse Brewery.  Mom and I looked around the town and took a few pictures.  We stopped in the bookstore there and had a nice chat with the owner.  When Clay and Eric were done left there and went to Morrow to VN Pho for some food and avocado milkshakes while being serenaded in the car by Clay.  

When we got home we made a fire and literally chilled out around the fire.  I made a sore attempt at making pretzels, I will have to redo them some other time to redeem myself.  They may or may not have been called salt-dough ornaments.

 
Mom and I got up Sunday and went to work-out with Joey.  We did a tough ab workout and I took Lily for a 2 mile run when we got home.  Clay made some delicious food for a late lunch and he and Eric watched the Falcons.  Sarah and Drew got here later (she is staying here for photography classes in Atlanta).  It was GREAT to see her and Drew.  I got up this morning with them and had breakfast and coffee before they headed out.  It is just 0730 and I have already been up 3 hours, I am alone with the dogs now just chilling with my coffee and the fireplace since Georgia decided to give us a little wintry weather for a day or two.

Mother's Day

 
I went down to Dudley for Mother's day.  I got to visit with Mema, Shelley, Walker, Norah, Johannah, Scott, Mom, Drew, and Sarah.  I hung out Saturday over at Aunt Johannah's with Mema, Shelley, and Norah.  She is about to have her first birthday.  We have the same birthday which I think is neat!  She is such a little doll, so well behaved!  She was holding my necklace and thought it was hilarious to pretend she was going to give it to me but when I reached for it she would pull it back.  You can see her little nose all scrunched up in the picture above, the first time she did this I was talking to her and I thought she was about to cry.  Come to find out she apparently makes that face when she is happy.  Too cute!

 
That evening mom and I went to Shaffer's in Dublin for dinner and had a great meal.  Then we went to TJ Maxx and got snacks to smuggle into the 10pm showing of Dark Shadows.  I had to work Sunday night so I was going to have to leave the next morning.  When we got in from the movie I whipped up an egg scramble with spinach and oats for the dogs since I forgot their dog food.  They ate then we all attempted to sleep.  Chico was driving me crazy wanting to go out 5-6 times per hour.  After 1.5 hours of this I put him in my car outside since the weather was nice and cool and the sun wasn't out to heat it.  Killer then started bothering me about going out so I put her in the car too so I could get a few hours of sleep. I went out to get them the next morning and my car was covered in throw up.  EWW!  Apparently the egg scramble did not sit well with either of them.  I spent the next half hour cleaning my car.  So much for getting home early in the morning so I could rest before going to work that night.  We went over to Johannah's and we had Tamales that her friend Myra made, some coffee, and a lemon bar.  I got to see Sarah (she was in Augusta shooting a wedding the day before).  Then I drove home, passed out for 3 hours and went to work.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Went out to belatedly celebrate Mom's birthday at La Parilla. The Mema got to come along too. I explained to the waitress that it was mom's birthday but somehow it got lost in translation.

The birthday hat of fun landed on Mema's head. This made all of us happy! I got a picture of Mema in a sombrero, mom didn't have to wear the sombrero and announce that it was her birthday, and I think from her big smile it is evident that Mema just likes wearing a sombrero.

This also means that I had leftover mexican food for after work. Woot Woot!

Scrabble and Mushrooms

Killer and I discussed our strategy while playing mom in scrabble this evening. Enjoyed a glass of lemonade while getting some fresh air and participating in some healthy competition.

For dinner we had awesome veggie portabella pizzas.

Art and Enchilada Kind of Day

Made Sweet Potato and Pinto Enchiladas per HTP's recipe. I must admit that i was very skeptical after mixing everything up and it looked like baby food. The only addition I made was some cumin and fenugreek to spice it up a little. After I pulled these puppies out of the oven I was a convert. The smell was amazing and they got two thumbs up from both me and mom (the taste tester). I did sprinkle a little cheddar on top after baking and they were perfect. Served them up with a side of quinoa with black beans and topped with corn, cucumber, tomato, onion, and cilantro. YUMMY!!!

I hung my new piece of art done by my best friend, Allyson. I love a peacock. Sorry for the glare, I was letting the sun come all in my window which is right beside the picture. I caught the crafty bug myself and started a new collage. I will post my old collage later with *hopefully* a pic of my new finished collage.

New Recipe

After I stepped outside to this beautiful day I decided that I needed to make some fresh LEMONADE. Plus the momster is coming to visit today and Clay has a job interview - great day for lemonade huh? So while in the freshy fresh mood I was cutting up some fresh pineapple and realized that I had some cilantro in the fridge too, after adding a few more items I ended up with this super easy fantastically light tasting salad. This would be even better with a little onion, but I think I will add it right when I am about to eat it.

1/2 fresh cored pineapple diced small

2 long celery stalk diced small

1 rinsed can chick peas

fresh cilantro to taste

Wow! Can you believe it was that easy to make? We couldn't either...we were SHOCKED!!

More fun photos from mine and Ally's crazy cheeseburger yelling weekend.

Hiking Cloudland

We were late getting started on our hike and were worried about going on the 6.7 mile hike when we noticed that the 5 mile hike was posted to take 4 hours and it was already 4 pm. We decided to play it safe and take the West Rim Trail which was 5 miles. It only took us 3 hours and that was with plenty of photo ops. It was a beautiful hike with lots of ROCK formations and breathtaking VIEWS out over the canyon. We did not do the waterfall hike but we could see it spilling over the side of the canyon. Essentially the hike took us down the canyon, over the river back up the mountain on the other side and around the tip of the mountain and back.

One More Night

I've got one more night at work and then ROAD TRIP with the mom. So last year about this same time our road trip looked like this:
I am certain that this year will be just as much fun if not more and will include lots of silly photos hopefully a wooden cut-out to put our faces in and maybe a photo booth.