Stone Mountain, NC

Last weekend we packed up the family....destination: Stone Mountain, NC.
We had an AMAZING time camping.   The weather was perfect, river and grounds were beautiful, and fellow campers were so kind and courteous!  It was a packed house at Stone Mountain, but still I was pleasantly surprised by how serene and peaceful it was. 



The kids and I were "exploring" as we stumbled upon this bridge. 



G is still attached to his "snugnut", and brought it along for our exploration.



It was fun to see S in his happy place....FLY FISHING.  Yes, all caps, because he. loves. it.  After returning home I see that this little taste of fly fishing has only scratched the surface and has made him want more.  (He currently sits flipping through a fly fishing book as I type).







We enjoyed hanging out in the river whilst (that's for you T) S fished.  The kids spent most of this time in their suits wading in the water.

Allie was in butterfly heaven...trying to catch little purple butterflies as they fed on the green moss.

G quicklky found a "fishing rod" (stick) and had fun pretending to fish.

I had a book in the car but decided to spend my time chasing the kids with my camera. 



As you can tell, my approach to chasing the kids with my camera went well with G.



Our campsite.  Thanks so much to our sweet Hickory friends who hooked us up with their gear so our trip was comfortable!  Otherwise, the four of us would have been sleeping on the ground in a 2 man tent.



There was a bath house yards away, but S wanted to teach the kids how to brush their teeth in the wilderness. 



BACON.  Enough said.  Pretty sure I saw our neighboring campers looking over their shoulder when the smell of bacon wafted their way.




So, this....this was the fun part of the trip.  The 3.5 mile hike to the summit of Stone Mounain was definitely worth the work.  Allie was a trooper and hiked most of it herself with only short piggy back rides to give her little legs a break. 

G, on the other hand, was a different story.  He pooped out on us on the connector trail to the main trail. He comfortably sat on our shoulders the enitre trek.  Needless to say, it was a nice workout.  My shoulders were sore.






This cracks me up....G and his "walking stick" which WE carried....as he comfortably sat on our shoulders on the hike down.



This swimming hole was our bribery to Allie and her motivation to hike back down the mountain.  I would say this was the kids favorite part of our camping trip. 

The water was FRIGID!  It stung my legs to wade in ankle deep....but the kids didn't seem to mind!

I'm unsure why it took our family so long to take a family trip camping, but I do know this is only the beginning of many fun camping outtings with the kids.
 

M Family Preview

Let the games begin.

It's heeeeerrrrrrreeeee!

We have reached t-ball age in the Patton household.  Our little G is playing on the 3-4 age group and they cannot possibly be any cuter out there!

Allie asked me, "Mom how will we know which one is Gabe since they are dressed the same". Me: "Honey, just look for the smallest one".



 

Here's our little all-star grinning with the best fake smile he can put on. Rest assured....he had a HUGE natural grin on the inside.  This child loves t-ball.  





At one point I overhear Gabe on the field (as he exaggerates his breathing), "This is hard work".




No G isn't pointing to where his homer will land, his coach just wanted to make sure he knew to run when he hit the ball.




If I only knew what was going on in his little mind.  T-ball wouldn't be t-ball without mindless distraction. During this moment, another teammate had hit the ball and G was suppose to be running to 2nd. 




Pappy, thank you for working with G last weekend.  He was the only one on the field in this stance...ready and waiting for the balls.  For the record, he did field 2 balls and run to touch 1st base for two outs! (Not that anybody is keeping count.)  So proud of our little guy. 




Goodgame G.  Until next Monday.

Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's Day and me still being officially "off duty" (and a bit lazy), I bring to you my Mother's Day in photos SOOC.





Above answers from Miss A.




Above answers from my adorable husband.




This has been my favorite part of my day - Mother's Day Tea put on by my favorite kids and husband.  I even had a homemade placemat to eat on.





The above answers are compliments of Gabe.  I love the vacation answer - I would go a long way away! 



The above answers are compliments of my sweet 6 year old.   I am as pretty as a hrat (heart).  LOVE that!  But what's the deal with she is as smart as "a dad"?  Hmmmm.....




VOUCHERS!!!!!! My favorite favorite FAVORITE!  I don't even have to redeem one tonight - it's on the house because it will still be my special day.




My favorite card ever - cats and dogs high kicking singing barber shop quartet,  "M" is for your many matchless talents. "O" cause your the only one for me. Another "M" because you deserve much more applause. We love our Moooooom (we love her), Mooooom (we love her), we love our mooooooooooom".  (I love all things random!)

Thank you amazing family for everything you have done for me today.  I love you!

And Happy Mother's Day to all of the MOMs in my life!  Thank you for everything you continue to do for us!  We appreciate you and love you!

Grand Central Station

Our life is full. Full of GRANDS! But, we love it! Every weekend full of them! One set in last weekend, the other coming in this weekend.

This is what you get for having the only set of grandkids in on both sides. 

Life, as we know it.

Life as we know it means spending time with the ones we love.




Life as we know it means endless hours of playing cars/dolls with your brother/sister.




Life as we know it means halloween is any day you choose.




Life as we know it means daddy reading to curious ears.




Life as we know it means boasting dandelion bouquets on my kithcen table.




Life as we know it means hours of entertainment thanks to a water hose.


 

Life as we know it means watching your baby girl grow up WAY too fast!

I am thankful for our life as we know it.  Thanks be to God for blessing us with more than enough.

....at the old ballgame....

The Crawdads are baaaaaack, and we loaded up the kids to support them on opening weekend.

The kids are "Claw Club Members" this year. Basically this means they have a ticket to every home game, a handful of free parent tix, and a few special perks seen below.





Miss A was the "paint the plate kid". This was right up her alley with her being so crafty; but she was a little confused why they didn't let her paint it rainbow colors.





G was "play ball kid", and after the national anthem was suppose to yell "play ball" in the mic. We have a video of this. He looked right down at the microphone, opened his mouth, looked up, and FROZE! The words did eventually come out of his mouth but it was a group effort.




This was the scene minutes before G had the microphone shoved in his face. I crouched there taking pics and watched S flip little G over with a little much momentum. He landed right smack on his back and the tears began to flow. S just smiled and shrugged.