C.A.R. Picnic

We had our final C.A.R. meeting for the year. Emma conducted the meeting as Vice President. We had a pot luck on our deck. For business we inducted our new member, showed off our new flag, handed out awards, and installed our new officers. Emma is now serving as President and Rebekah as Corresponding Secretary.

Camping

This year we went up to Pine Grove Furnace State Park for our annual camping trip. We invited the Michaux family to join us. Rebekah started the evening by climbing up the bear pole.

The park gets it's name from this old furnace used to make iron. The other bonus is that the one and only Appalachian Trail Museum is right there. Clay was very excited to visit the museum and we all hiked on the trail for a bit. The final perk was this nice lake that the girls could go swimming in. I enjoyed my time in the shade reading a book and putting my feet up. 

 

We are a little goofy

The girls thought it would be funny to all get on the scale and see how much we weighed together.

Right before spring break Clay & I joined a friendly Biggest Loser competition with 4 other couples. We have been weighing in every Saturday morning.  The girls have been asking us how we are doing and very excited to know who is in the lead each week. The competition lasts 10 weeks. 

Springtime plantings

Spring is in the air! We went out to my favorite nursery to buy flowers and hanging baskets. They always have a beautiful display before Mother's Day. Rebekah loved this giant Adirondack chair.

 Emma got a hanging wall planter from Grandad & Kris for Christmas. It was just like the one they worked on together last summer. We worked on it together. Then I realized that I did not buy enough plants for the top of the hanging. Emma had a packet of wild flower seeds, so we added those on top. 

Noche Lantina

Our ward (or congregation) at church has been meeting at the same time as the Spanish group. They have a separate sacrament meeting (main worship service) from us but the youth and children are combined with ours for sunday school. In order for all the adults to get to know each other better we had a Noche Latino activity. The Spanish group brought authentic foods from their countries of origin and we had fun cultural activities. Here is Rebekah trying to hit the pinata. It was a fun evening.

Music Show

The music show this year combined 1st and 2nd grade students. It made for a lot of kids and even more parents. Rebekah ended up right in the center of the stage. She did a great job singing and doing all the action movements with the songs. In the hallway they had the Art show. Rebekah was excited to show us her artwork.

Time with Grandma

One of the things we do when the Murrays get together is play Shove-it. It's a fun card game similar to Five Crowns or Phase 10. Uncle Jay came up to visit with us too.

Savannah, GA

On our way out of Charleston in the morning we stopped for breakfast at Early Bird Diner. We got there just minutes before they opened and got the last available seats. It was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Clay had a traditional southern breakfast of fried chicken and waffles. It was yummy but a little odd for us. I ordered a la carte eggs, grits, bacon and pancakes. The pancakes were excellent and the grits were the best I've ever had.

When we got to Savannah we headed straight for River Street. There was a seafood festival going on down by the river. Right as we came down we got to watch a huge container ship come into port. One of the best parts was sampling pralines from River Street Sweets. 

 

We walked around the historic district and visited the Juliette Gordon Low home. We did not take a tour but did visit the gift shop.

Just 2 months ago, Rebekah bought a pretty puzzle at a silent auction. It was a painting by Thomas Kinkade, titles Savannah Romance. It had so many flowers and was so pretty. When Clay & I finally decided to go to Savannah as part of our trip we said we must go to where this painting depicts. It wasn't hard to find out that it was a painting of Forsyth Park. 

Forsythe Park is a beautiful lush green park. Huge old trees with Spanish moss growing everywhere. Beautiful crisp white fountains. But I was disappointed. Mr. Kinkade led me astray. There was not a single flower in bloom anywhere. 

We had lunch at Zunzi's, they had a gyro and great sauce. We also stopped at Leopold's for ice cream. We had a great time exploring the city. I loved how the city had all these Squares -little garden parks. As we walked around we saw weddings taking place in several of the Squares. Everything was green and lush. Just not so many flowers. All the homes had really cool details.

 

We had perhaps our best dinner ever at The Olde Pink House! They had amazing biscuits. We tried fried green tomatoes. Then we had the best filet mignon and braised pork shanks. Since Clay & I started a "Biggest Loser" competition we didn't want to order dessert. Our waitress brought us strawberries and cream  for dessert. We even spotted a bride we saw earlier in Forsyth Park having a quite dinner together at the Olde Pink House.

Many thanks to Deanna for watching the girls making it possible for us to take this trip!!