1st Camping of the Summer

We ventured out on our first camping trip of the summer.  Headed west about 3 1/2 hours to Stone Mountain right outside of Atlanta.  We rode the sky lift to the top of the mountain, which by the way is a 10 mile deep piece of granite and is the largest one in the world.  Only about 1/4 of the mountain is exposed.  At the top there was a great view of Atlanta and the rest of the park.  Next we hopped aboard the train and went around the mountain.  We had a blast.

Aside from the park, we had a ball in the campground.  Took in a little bit of swimming, beach volleyball, and of course a great campfire.

Best of all Grammy from Michigan was able to making it down for the trip.  Such wonderful memories were made and a great time was had by all.

Ultimatums

Lately Bryson’s world has revolved around ultimatums. “If you take your bath, you can play with Momma’s iPod.”…..”If you sit quietly, you can have a milkshake”, etc. And in some cases we have even had to revert to the negative ultimatum: “If you do not listen, you will not be able to ride your four-wheeler”. He is defiantly learning the power of negotiation.


Well…two nights ago the tables turned. All three of us were sitting on the couch watching Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse and sharing a banana. Bryson would take a bite and then he would graciously share a bite with Daddy. After Daddy’s bite he turned to me. With my mouth wide open waiting for my yummy bite, Bryson looked at me, started to extend his banana my way and then suddenly stopped and said, “No bite for Momma…please have IPOD”.

WHAT??? Was this an ultimatum? After several more minutes of asking for a bite, he made it perfectly clear that those were the stipulations. Jason just about died laughing. On me…..talk about what goes around comes around.

Easter Bunny Train Ride

This morning Bryson and I headed to Winnsboro for a train ride with the Eater Bunny at the SC Railroad Museum.  Bryson was just in awe of train....the Eater Bunny...not so much.  Either way it was a great fun ride.  During the ride we pasted this really neat old granite wall at Greenbrier School, so on the way home we had to stop and take a look.  What a wonderful piece of art.  Too neat. Here are a few pics from the trip.

 

Spring Oyster Roast

At the beginning of the month Jason and Boy Jamie (neighbor) put on a great oyster roast in our back yard.  We had steamed and fried oysters, fried shrimp, and crab legs and all kinds of yummy dips and sides.....AND tons of fun company!!  A great night was had by all!

Check out all the kidos....

https://picasaweb.google.com/virginiawetzel/AprilOysterRoast?authkey=Gv1sRgCL2ehYyS5KjjRw&feat=directlink

Captain Bryce

It is hard to believe that we put the old girl in the water mid-March. This has to be a record.  The earliest I can remember putting the boat in was from a couple of years ago in mid april.  We had such a fun afternoon.  Captain Bryson drove us all the way to the dam and back.

 

Sowing our seeds

I'm so excited to report that we finished planting our very first vegetable garden this weekend. I've always loved hearing stories from Jason and Pa about the wonderful gardens they both had growing up. Stories of Grammy Wetzel growing their own tomatoes and then canning them for spaghetti sauce or stories of Granny Giltner canning her own berries for jam. In fact just yesterday Pa was telling me how neat it was as a child to have his very own row of vegetables he was in charge of from the planting to the harvesting.

Jason prepared several really neat raised beds in the backyard and a wonderful tilled patch out at the land and we are going to give it a go. Cucumbers, peppers, carrots, peas, tomatoes, and corn. Bryson had a ball digging in the dirt and helping us map out each row. Here are a few pics to get us going. I hope to follow up with more in the next few weeks as our garden starts to HOPEFULLY grow.  :)



Tomatoes

 


Cucumbers, Peppers, Carrots



Garden at the Land



Covering the seeds





The Water's Edge

This past weekend Jason and I were able to go canoeing at Congaree National Park. It was absolutely amazing.  This picture says it all.  The water was so calm that you could hardly tell where the trees stopped and the reflection began.

From Canoeing with FLP

Fun Report

Major Excitement:
We were able to Skype with Bryson’s cousins Jackson (age 6) and Miya (age 2) this week. Grammy was visiting them in Poplar Grove right outside of Chicago and was able to take her computer camera. Thank you so much Grammy!! She is always so on top of things. It was sooooo much fun. We got to see how tall they both are getting and how long and pretty Miya’s hair is getting. We practiced making faces back and forth and giving all kinds of kisses. So much fun.

Bryson’s favorites for this week:
Words: Apple Juice and iPod.
Potty Training: Getting better. Of course the apple juice intake created many opportunities to use the big boy potty.
Hobby: Riding his power wheel four-wheeler with the utility trailer attached (Little Jason Wetzel in the making).
Foods: Butterscotch pudding.

Great February Afternoon

We had a wonderful Sunday afternoon enjoying this awesome warm weather. Hard to believe it can be 80 degrees this time of year. We worked in the yard, played with sky girl, and then enjoyed a great family dinner on the back porch. So much fun! Thank you Mr. Groundhog for seeing your shadow and sending us an early spring. Have a marvelous week everyone!

Video

From Feb 2011

Happy Day!

I had about the best birthday I can remember this past Tuesday. I got home to a marvelous home cooked meal of Chicken Marsala. Jason went all out and recreated our favorite meal at our favorite restaurant, Carrabba's. Then I was surprised with an ice cream birthday cake as well. Ice cream and cake in one little yummy package. Little B and my favorite!! Then to make things even more exciting, Uncle Harv showed up with several yummy cupcakes from the Cupcake store downtown.

Of course with all of the yummy desserts, we all had a sugar rush so we headed outside to play in the yard. The weather was amazing. We kicked off our shoes and raked the yard. I'll tell ya...nothing quite like fun times with the family. Here are a few pics and a video from our evening.

From Feb 2011