Break 1 – Winter Break: We went to Vermont and the boys skied at Killington (aka the beast of the east). They had a great time but ranked it a close second behind Colorado. We went to a maple and cheese farm (those activities I did participate in!) and even got to drive over a quaint covered bridge on our way back to the airport.

Bananas: After several years on the wait list, we FINALLY got tickets to see the Savanah Bananas! Did some other fun stuff in this time-between-the-breaks like a girl’s trip to Chattanooga and a candlelight concert of music by one of Tyson’s fav Japanese composers.

Break 2 – Spring Break: This was a collection of events. Mom and I went to visit Ben, the boys stayed home and smashed things (plates, drums…). Midweek Tyson, Mom, and I did a daytrip down south where we drove around Senoia, had lunch at the Hawaiian Chic-fil-a, and went on a tour of the Trilith Movie Studios. We wrapped up the week in Chapel Hill for Mike’s wedding!

Photos here

Well, the second half of 2024 was a rough ride, to put it mildly—a mix of life-altering events and changes. Some welcome (career shifts, milestone birthdays), some very unwelcome (loss of my father), and plenty in between. I’m not one to ramble, so I’ll do what I do and let the photos tell the story.

– Travis

A photo tribute to Dad | Other things that happened

こんにちは。タイソンはここに書いています。(Hello. Tyson writes here.)

Hello traveler. Rest here and listen, as I am obligated from here forth to share with you the tale of my journey to the country of Nihon. Twas’ a long journey. I traveled for many moons to reach the sacred land, and after hours of grueling travel, I had arrived. In Toronto. Because it was cheaper to do a layover. But then after a 14 hour flight I was in Japan!! Konnichiwa senpai arigato uwu!!!

So anyways, there was a third flight, but now we’re in Osaka. Highlights here include the cup noodle museum, where you make your own cup of noodles. Osaka castle, a literal castle with two moats in the middle of a city. A big street, with food, because I like food. A park with hundreds of deer you can pet, or feed, with more castles around them. And a mountain where we were late to get back to the group and a chaperone got heatstroke.

NOW, we take the bullet train that travels at speeds up to like 180 MPH!!!!!!!!!!!!! And upon arriving in the great city of Tokyo (largest population in the world) we immediately went to another park. And highlights in Tokyo include Tokyo Tower, which is just knock-off eiffel tower. A science place with robot dogs and marble stuff. A fourth park. And yet another castle thing in the city where I bought upwards of $200 worth of merchandise.

Then I went home and ate cake.

Japan Photos here

…to the Spring. We had some back-to-back-to-back holidays: St. Patty’s, our 26^th Anniversary, and Easter. Right after that was the solar eclipse. Due to poor planning on our part, we did not get eclipse glasses ahead of time. Travis found a local library that still had them on the day of, but the librarian was wielding her power in a high demand / low supply market and required everyone to FULLY complete the Solar Eclipse Activity Book first, which included puzzles and a coloring page! And speaking of my great husband, he donned a mullet wig so we could relive our high school dance photos prior to a girl’s night out at an 80s Prom Party! For Mother’s Day, the boys took me to brunch at the Atlanta Zoo, where we also got a chance to see the pandas (currently the last ones left in the USA). In mid-May, we rendezvoused with Trav’s family in Nashville. When we could tear ourselves away from the karaoke microphones, we visited a Dukes of Hazzard Museum and did a Redneck Comedy Tour of the city. We also had lots of great family time around the firepit (with the cicadas). For Trav’s birthday, we took him to a really cool art installation called The Balloon Museum and made him a 3 layer chocolate cheesecake. Check out all the photos here!

Right now, we sit in a quiet house while Tyson is 7,000 miles away in Japan. Our next post will be dedicated to his amazing adventure!

Sending love and good health to all of you.

From the Desk of Tyson Cook:

Yo whats up yall, no shizzle, i finna tell you bout our winter vay-cay, so buckle up, and quackle down. We went to Colorado, the land of many rocking chairs, and skied upon the slopes of Keystone. Here you will find dozens upon dozens of slopes to ski upon, including a 3.5 mile one, the schoolmarm. After waiting for 3 hours to rent a car, we ascended toward our crunchy abode, resting at a crisp 10,000 feet in elevation. Here, we rented our skis and waited the night. Upon the crisp morning air of the first day, we awoke, waiting for the slopes to open. Not only us though, our neighbors had come along as well, plus Mike (family friend). Mike , us, and our neighbors skied for many moments that first day, and as the sun began to set behind the rolling mountainous terrain of the Rockies, we retreated back to the warmth of our lodge. Repeat x3 and that’s the majority of the trip! On the last day, our neighbors left, leaving us and Mike to explore the tall snowy hill as we please. Upon the last day, we packed our bags, returned our skies, and began our slippery descent back to KDEN. Before our plane took off, we explored the Colorado history museum while we waited, however had a run in with some threatening 1^st graders. Eventually, ‘twas time for us to leave Colorado, the land of threatening 1^st graders, and come back here, to Georgia, the land of pears.

Enjoy the photos

We are off to Colorado soon for a ski trip, which makes me think of snow, which makes me think of Christmas, which made me realize we never posted our Christmas blog…so here we are!

It was a pretty quiet holiday – saw lots of friends and family. We even made a trip up to Chattanooga to see Uncle John and family. Good to see all the cousins (and second cousins…or is it first cousins once removed?).

For Christmas, we gave Tyson a new TV. He gave us an elaborate scavenger hunt throughout the city that took us several days to solve – it was amazing – such a clever kid.

Hope your holidays were good too! Here are the photos.

The Fall always goes by so fast… but wanted to slide in this quick update before the Christmas craziness starts (OK, we may have our tree up and already sent out cards…but it is still technically November). Our Autumn started in Florida with Tyson’s first visit to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. While the boys hit all the haunted houses, I enjoyed a solo night out shopping over at that OTHER amusement park in Orlando. Then we headed to Pennsylvania Dutch Country with Ben – FINALLY found Amish gluten free whoopie pies! Tyson had his 13^th birthday – VR with friends and sushi with family. That dinner and some of his presents were inspired by his upcoming trip to JAPAN next year! He has started learning Japanese with the Duolingo app and he ended up dressing up as their mascot (Duo the owl) for Halloween. Thanksgiving was lovely, made too much food as usual! Tyson’s brass ensemble instructor was in the Macy’s parade – fingers crossed he’ll be in it one day too (already warned him I’ll be chaperoning that one).

Check out the photos here and see if you can spot the extra special “treat” Tyson got trick or treating!

Have you been wondering what the Cooks have been up to for the last 6 months? Do you have a lot of free time on your hands to look through countless photos? Well, this is the blog for you!

Our First (and Last) Family Camping Trip: Even though Tyson left the Boy Scouts last year, we decided to take all that accumulated outdoorsy equipment and go on a family camping trip for Spring Break. We spent 2 nights at the Okefenokee Swamp and then 2 nights on Amelia Island. We had some great memories (Capt. Travis, sunsets on the beach, seeing a Space X rocket launch in the middle of the night) and some not so great memories (rain, bugs, unidentified wildlife roaming around our tent at night). Overall, it was a good trip, but I think we will stick to hotels moving forward…

Caribbean Cruise: In honor of Trav’s mom turning 75, we took a family cruise to the Caribbean. We were also joined by her BFF Rosalie, her sister Janet, and Trav’s sister Erin. It was filled with food and fun! Tyson especially enjoyed exploring the boat on his own and having unlimited access to ice cream. We stopped at 3 ports – Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; Labadee, Haiti; and Coco Cay, Bahamas – which includ​ed varying amounts of sightseeing, shopping, beach time, waterslides, pottery painting, and ziplining. It was a trip we will all not soon forget!

Wisconsin / Indiana / Illinois: We are on a family quest to visit all 50 states. Tyson used a random generator to select our next destination and it picked – WISCONSIN! When we realized we could easy tag on Indiana and Illinois, we made it a three-fer. We packed a lot in and it was a surprisingly fun trip! Wisconsin – The Dells boat tour, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, National Mustard Museum, Botanical Gardens, Milwaukee brewery tour, Mars Cheese Castle; Indiana – Lake Michigan and Indiana Dunes State Park; Illinois – all the Chicago things.

General Family Updates: Tyson designed and built a doghouse for Sophia; We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with alpacas; ​Tyson successfully completed his first year of middle school (and playing the French horn); ​Travis turned 50 and we surprised him with driving lessons in a Porsche (car not included as gift); we celebrated my birthday with Oppen-Barbie; Tyson started 7th grade this month!

Hopefully it won’t be as long between our posts next time! Enjoy the rest of summer!

Check out the photos here:

• Spring Break
• Caribbean Cruise
• Wisconsin / Indiana / Illinois
• General Family Updates

Hello, Family. It is I, the small one of the Cook family: Tyson. I am here to inform you that we have recently gotten back from my second ski trip. We went to Snowshoe, WV, which was about an 11 hour drive. We stayed for three nights at the top of the mountain. We rented a small Airbnb which just so happened to be one story above the entrance to the slopes. This means that extreme heat was being blasted up into our room, making it as hot as 80 degrees at some points. The slopes were great. It was an elevation of 4800 ft, and 1800 ft from top to bottom, so the runs down were quite lengthy. We ended up going down every accessible slope except for black diamonds, including Silver Creek, the other mountain that was about 10 mins away. Overall, it was thoroughly enjoyable, and further enforced my love of skiing. Ok, bye now.

Check out the photos here

We have been busy! The Fall started off with a rainy zipline camping trip. Turns out that was Tyson’s final Scout outing, as he has decided to leave after 6 years. Lots of good memories, but it seems he’s not as “outdoorsy” as needed for this next level and also he wants to focus on middle school and his new endeavor – playing the French Horn!

At the end of September, we took a 10-day action-packed, family fun road trip. Started out in West Virginia (another new state to cross off our list!). We visited the Greenbrier Resort and took a tour of the declassified cold war bunker. It was really neat but seems a little obvious to hide the government under a building that looks like the white house! We then stopped by to see the New River Gorge Bridge – the longest steel span in the western hemisphere.

The next morning, we toured Fallingwater. Tyson, the future architect, really enjoyed seeing Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in person. After a quick night in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, we picked up Ben and headed to the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Our rental house was right a little cove, which was great for bird watching and kayaking. We visited our usual spots in Havre de Grace and drove out to the Conowingo Dam. It was 3 relaxing days (in one spot!).

On our way back to drop off Ben, we were in a car accident! Everyone was fine and it was the other driver’s fault. All of the side air bags deployed – it was quite an experience. The police officers were so kind. They were able to help Ben (and Mom) get to where they needed to be and also sent a another officer for us and all of our stuff. Luckily it was a rental car!

After a night of decompressing, we headed for Norfolk, VA. We went to the Nauticus Maritime Museum and also toured the Naval base. The next morning, Tyson and I went to Busch Gardens to get our roller coaster fix. Then we FINALLY headed home!

October was full of birthday activities (Tyson had a sushi themed party) and Halloween activities (Tyson went to his first legit haunted houses at Six Flags).

In November Travis, his dad, and Tyson went on a guys trip to Greenville, SC. They stayed right on the river and were able to walk to all sorts of restaurants and fun (indoor putt putt, Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum…). On their final day, they toured the BMW plant.

We had a pretty quiet Thanksgiving and now it’s time to decorate the tree!

Check out the photos here

After several years, we finally got to mark another state off our list – Maine! Our trip was early in the summer before all the travel craziness, but we still had a few challenges – unexpected flight changes, boat cancellations, and fog so thick we couldn’t tell we were at the highest point on the eastern seaboard. However, we had an amazing time! We visited Belfast, Camden, Bar Harbor, and Rockland. We ate a lot of lobster and saw a lot of lighthouses (Marshall Point was our favorite – the one from Forrest Gump). We took the CAT ferry over to Nova Scotia for a couple of days (cut short by previously mentioned challenges) but got a sampling of Canada and really enjoyed our house on the coast. The temperature difference when we returned home was shocking.

We spent the rest of the summer trying to stay cool and dry. Tyson did neither of those during his week at Scout camp! He clocked almost 60 miles and had quite the stories to tell. He is already back to school – 6^th grade! He has signed up for band and we’ll find out soon what instrument he has selected. Until then, we will enjoy the peace and quiet.

See photos here

Wow, our last blog update was in September of last year!? How in the world do I summarize what we’ve been up to for the past eight months? Bullet points and photos to the rescue…

• 2 trips to Orlando
• 1 eleventh birthday
• 1 camping adventure
• 1 first place Jack-o’-lantern
• 1 World Series Championship
• 3000 Marvel puzzle pieces
• 1 dog in a box
• 1 second degree karate brown belt
• 2 crazy Christmas games
• 3 dangerous gifts with wheels for Tyson
• 2 broken ankles (ironically NOT due to afore mentioned gifts)
• 1 trip to Blairsville GA to see some snow
• 1 inaugural rock concert (Imagine Dragons)
• 2 days of skiing Sugar Mountain, NC
• 1 school field trip to Tybee Island, GA
• 1 Arrow of Light award (highest Cub Scout rank)

Check out the photos here

School is back in session (full time, in person, with masks!), Halloween decorations have been in the stores for weeks, and we’ve been busy dodging hurricanes (and variants) …must be Fall!

Summer went by fast. We spent a week on Jekyll Island and a week in Missouri visiting family. To top it off, mom and I were FINALLY able to go see Ben after a 21-month pandemic hiatus. Everyone is doing well and hope you are too!

Check out the photos here

Ok – not technically, but school is out, it’s already hit 90 degrees, and we’re heading to the beach next week so that fits my definition!

We’ve spent the last few months slowly and cautiously moving back towards normalcy. Tyson did return to school in person (half days) for his last quarter of 4th grade. Our jobs are still both 100% remote, so plenty of family time to be had. Here are some highlights:

• For spring break, we stayed in a cabin for a few days with family – first full get together of Trav’s Georgia family members since pre-pandemic! We’ll see the Missouri half later this summer. Tyson and I also went zip lining one day – no photos of that because I was holding on for dear life and did not trust my phone would stay in my pocket!
• Travis FINALLY got his new car…after 18 years and a COVID supply chain delay.
• We wrapped up the scout year with an outdoor pinewood derby race and awards ceremony. Tyson is now a Webelo 2 – one more year of cub scouts (and one more year of popcorn sales…check your inbox this fall for your final chance at overpriced snacks, for a good cause!).
• Spent Memorial Day at the lake with some family friends. The boys are definitely into jet skiing!
• For Trav’s birthday, we took him to a camera museum – he was in heaven.
• See photos of these events and much much more right here: photos

Hope to see you all IN PERSON soon!!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of when we went into lock down… I remember because Friday the 13th was ironically the first day our school and offices were closed. As I finished up my latest puzzle last night, I started counting how many I’ve done since we went into quarantine…16 (totaling 13,300 pieces – yes, I’m bragging). I guess I can officially call it a hobby! I thought about all the other new things we’ve done in this past year: really gotten to know our neighbors, became obsessed with Marvel movies (and many, many other series), mastered the video call (FaceTime, Zoom, Teams, WebEx…), and SO MUCH FAMILY TIME. All good things that I hope continue. Stay well and go get your shot if you can!

I was prepared to write up my usual recap of activities, until Tyson showed us one of his school assignments – a “Mini Monologue”. I decided it would be better to just share that instead:

Need to be inspired?

Hi, I’m Tyson. If you’re here, you want to be inspired. Well, you can’t just be inspired. It takes feelings, confidence, and love. Do you have those? If not, then be the best you, you can be. There is never a good reason to give up, not even if you are trying to do the impossible. After all, I’m possible. Have you tried, tried and tried again? Keep going, don’t give up. Push yourself more, harder, and maybe you’ll achieve your dreams.

If you’re discouraged, find the thing that’s doing that. Block it, and keep going, moving, running. Reach the end of your mini marathon. Finish the climb to the top of mount imagination. Explore the caves of your mind, and make it out alive. But not the breathing, living kind of alive. Alive as in excited and exhilarated. Don’t be the ordinary, be the extraordinary.

Are you making a book and you have “writer’s block?” Then read your story thus far and see what your character would do next. Are you trying to invent “the next best thing?” Then revise your blueprints, go through each and every equation, then spot and fix your mistakes. If that doesn’t work, then talk to someone, you’re never in something alone, even if it may seem that way. Your friends and family will always be right there with you.

I encourage you to remember what I have told you today, and don’t just know it and then stuff it back into your mind, remember it for the rest of your life, tell people, motivate and encourage them. I’m Tyson Cook, and you are?

Enjoy the holiday photos

I can’t believe Christmas is almost here again! OK, well, we did do Christmas in July so it hasn’t actually been that long for us…

Fall has gone by quickly. Tyson’s school has remained 100% virtual, so we are now well practiced in juggling our home / office / classroom responsibilities within these four walls.

Tyson turned 10 in October! We surprised him with a trip to Florida, with his main gift being a day at ATX (Astronaut Training Experience), which was basically like a condensed space camp. We spent another day visiting the Kennedy Space Center (saw our 3rd space shuttle – only one more to go!), went to Cocoa Beach, toured the Daytona International Speedway, and the boys even went on a night time kayaking trip to see the bioluminescent creatures off Cape Canaveral.

Halloween was quite different this year. Our neighborhood did “reverse trick or treating” – everyone dressed up but stayed in their driveway and the homeowner’s board brought the candy to you. We also won Spookiest Pumpkin and Most Creative house decorations. You might notice we have a new member in our family – Gilly the skeleton. What started as a birthday gift from mom has become a fixture in our house. She even went to Florida with us…

Thanksgiving was pretty much the usual for us (except for that weird parade).

Wishing you all well in this holiday season!

Enjoy the photos

Tyson has started virtual school and he had a one-on-one video conference with his new teacher last week. She asked him how his summer was, and he responded “Great! Since all the camps were closed, we just took a bunch of vacations!”. My first instinct was to run over and justify that all our travels were safe, socially distanced, and we have been diligent about masks and handwashing (so know that as you look at all the photos). But then I realized that we did make the most of our pandemic summer – especially the little dude! He spent a lot of quality time with the in-state grandparents. We also went to Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina. We managed to entertain ourselves on the homefront as well. Notably – a pirate themed Father’s day, Christmas in July for my birthday, and a scavenger hunt at a historic cemetery.

Hope everyone is safe and well!

Enjoy the photos

First of all, we hope everyone out there is doing OK – staying safe and well. I can’t believe we are 6 weeks into this. It’s hard to imagine returning back to normal at this point. When gathering all the photos for this post, it was weird to see pictures of us out in public, in large crowds, and there was definitely nothing distant about our socializing! We did it all – sporting events, concerts, even got our hair cut – and without masks! 

Our first response to the quarantine was to head to the wilderness (mostly inspired by a cancelled cub scout trip). We discovered yurt camping and kayaking! Those first 2 weekends were great – crowds were light and it was something fun to do away from home. It was a fleeting escape plan, as everyone soon flocked to the outdoors when everything else shut down. Meanwhile, we have been pretty content at home. We tend to be homebodies anyway and Tyson is pretty good at entertaining himself. We’ve adapted to the virtual lifestyle – working remotely, virtual learning, YouTube karate classes, FaceTime piano lessons, Zoom happy hours, and a whole lot of Netflix. Tyson’s school still had a Spring Break (???) and we are lucky to have family friends with a cabin in the mountains. We headed to North Carolina for a few days to shelter in another place. Now we’re back home… again…

Check out the photos here

Hello everyone! Hope you are settling in to 2020 – we didn’t want to disturb you while you got all your decorations put away and your resolutions sorted out…

Alright, let’s back up a few months. Tyson’s birthday aligned with one of his current areas of interest – rocks and gems! We got him a rock tumbler and took a trip to the Dahlonega gold mines. We did not strike it rich, but we did have the ruby he found for me last summer cut and put in a ring (and secretly also had a necklace made for G-mom). The rest of the month was a bit stressful, as Ed suffered a heart attack and had to be airlifted to a hospital. He had a triple bypass and has made a remarkable recovery (show off) – just in time to celebrate his 75th birthday! Later in November we took a fun trip to North Carolina and toured the Biltmore house – all decked out for Christmas. We did have Thanksgiving before we put up our own decorations (hopefully you can tell the difference between the houses in the photos). Tyson got his own tree this year for his room – picked out a nice silver number. He also got a Santa suit, which spurred a new event: the Santa Olympics, where family members are tested on holiday skills and festive competitiveness. It was a hit and we hope to expand it next year to include new challenges and maybe rival relatives…

Christmas itself was fun and laid back. Tyson’s “big gift” this year was a bigger bed! We toyed with the idea of having it ready just in time for Christmas morning, but went with the easier option of just putting it together one day when he wasn’t home. Still a good surprise! Mom’s big surprise was a trip to Medieval Times! Food you eat with your hands, entertainment on horseback, your own crown and a full-service bar – what’s not to like? The next day, we headed up to Missouri to visit Trav’s family. We finally helped Pat enter the world of smart phones. After years of resistance, she’s now texting (and emoji-ing) up a storm. Maybe she’s reading this blog on her iPhone right now!

Enjoy the photos

Howdy. Trav has been having fun making videos of our recent adventures. The first one is Tyson getting his purple belt in karate (and with this promotion comes weapons!). The second is Fall Break. We started the week with Ben at a house on the Chesapeake Bay and visited Havre de Grace (where mom’s family is from). We had a great time exploring the old stomping grounds, visiting lighthouses, and eating crabs! We then went to Universal Studios in Florida, which Tyson declared as “EPIC” (we are huge Harry Potter fans). One night, Trav went to Halloween Horror Nights while Tyson and I visited all 9 resort pools – we clocked 10 miles that day!

A few disclaimers:

• Both videos have music
• No children were harmed
• There is no alcohol in the cocktail shaker (we added it in later)

Watch: Purple Belt Promotion | Fall Break

Tyson is in his third year of Cub Scouts, and his third year of selling popcorn. You all know the drill! Watch the video here (written, produced, and edited by Tyson) and help him out by purchasing/donating here.

I started working on writing this a couple weeks ago and was planning to report that in the 6 months since we last posted, Tyson has remained injury free – no stitches, trips to the ER, or broken bones. Well, that is no longer true. Tyson broke his ankle (again), same one as last year. This time it happened at a trampoline park. So, he’s back in a boot but will luckily get it off the day before school starts. In other news, Travis and I both went through major reorganizations with our employers, but both managed to find new and better jobs as a result (still with our respective employers). On to fun stuff – here is a monthly recap of what else we’ve been up to:

January: Blood Moon/Lunar Eclipse (we all stayed up late to see it), Infinity Mirrors art exhibit

February: Seabrook Island trip with G-mom and her posse, snow tubing at Stone Mountain (only snow we saw this year…and it was fake)

March: Pinewood Derby, Mardi Gras, boys ran a 1 mile race (Tyson left Travis in the dust), boys climbed Stone Mountain (maybe not the greatest idea 2 days after running a 1 mile race), Tyson planned and hosted a St. Patrick’s Day party, Scout trip to Rock Eagle (dissecting a fish was his favorite part), our 21st wedding anniversary, Tyson and Sofia were in a dog show.

April: Spring break (woo hoo), Amie’s wedding, piano playing and Easter fun with MawMaw and PawPaw

May: Aunt Vicki’s wedding (Tyson and cousin JP were ring bearers and why yes, I am wearing the same bridesmaid dress…), Emory’s graduation (I volunteered, including helping to set up 14,000 chairs), Tyson’s graduation from Winnona Park lower elementary school (a lot less chairs)

June: Road trip to Mississippi (trying to hit all 50 states as a family, this was #15), Tyson won a gigantic stuffed animal at Six Flags (guess who had to carry it around the rest of the day), went to Candytopia for Father’s Day (sugar themed interactive exhibit with lots of free samples)

Enjoy the photos!

HI EVERYONE! I am Sofia … Tyson’s big gift for Christmas. Tyson taught me to type. Impressive, right? I am really fluffy. And I like eating yard snacks (aka, pinestraw, pinecones, and leaves). I used to live with this nice lady that I hear people call G-mom, then I came to live with this boy who’s awesome and NOT fuzzy like me. Excuse me while I chew on my foot (nom, nom, nom). I also live with this grumpy old dog that never wants to play with me, but I think if I keep trying, maybe she’ll play with me. Maybe.

SOFIA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! GET DOWN FROM THAT OFFICE CHAIR! Tyson here. I don’t understand why she was typing all this. Let me just read it. Okay, I guess all this was true.

Enjoy the photos!

Since Christmas now starts in October, we thought it would be only fair to share Fall photos in December.

Tyson claims this year was the best birthday he has ever had – we surprised him with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge indoor waterpark resort. He also had a joint party with his buddy Freddy at the dojo, where the cake was cut with a samurai sword. Good times.

We had our usual Halloween activities – Pumpkin Festival at Stone Mountain, neighborhood pumpkin decorating contest, Halloween parties, and trick or treating. We also went to an Atlanta Symphony Harry Potter concert. We have just started reading the books with Tyson and he is a fan.

Scouting has kept us busy as well – annual camp out, Veteran’s day service project, and general outdoorsiness.

Thanksgiving was here at home (in our new kitchen!). Tyson really pitched in. We had my mom and Trav’s dad join us. Vicki and Jim stopped for a bit to visit too.

Check out the photos here.

And now you may return to your regularly scheduled Christmas season chaos…

We packed a lot in to the last few weeks of summer. We went to Missouri for Trav’s family reunion (lots of cousins + a serious horseshoe tournament). We spent a lot of time hanging with family and hit up the usual Cape Girardeau haunts – hotel pool, Mississippi River front, and Walmart. We did venture out to St. Louis one day to go up in the arch and see the newly renovated museum/visitors center. After being back in Atlanta for one day, it was time to hit the road again for a quick beach getaway on Tybee Island with Trav’s Dad and Patti. Tyson discovered boogie boarding and is hooked. We explored the Tybee lighthouse and Fort Pulaski on our way home. School started back on August 1st and 5 days later, Tyson broke his ankle at recess! Thank goodness it was the opposite leg of the foot he broke two years ago, and thank goodness they put him in a removable cast this time! It did not slow him down much. Speaking of not slowing down, I got to have some fun at the Porsche Experience Center for a work event – I even went on a ride along and we hit over 100 mph! I might have a few more grey hairs now. Scouts started back up and Tyson shot his first BB gun (more grey hairs for that, too). Over Labor Day weekend, I went on a girls trip/baby shower for Danielle in the Smoky Mountains – so nice. That technically brings us to the end of summer (but not hot weather)…

Check out the photos here

View Tyson’s Scout Fundraising commercial here – (Think of it less as overpriced popcorn and more as a generous donation to Scouts with a free gift!)

Thank you to all who have purchased so far! Click here to join them

Hard to believe summer is halfway over…and that school starts in a couple weeks!

A big highlight so far has been a trip to Washington DC. Our sightseeing itinerary was disrupted a little by the Capitals Stanley Cup parade, but we managed around it. During our visit we saw Great Falls (overflowing and muddy due to recent flooding), Tyson’s Corner Mall (for a fun conveyor belt sushi lunch), the National Cathedral, Bureau of Engraving and Printing (watched that money being printed), National Gallery and sculpture garden (a brief jaunt), Museum of Natural History (lots of time in the Geology section – apparently we like rocks), many monuments via evening bus tour, National Building Museum, Chinatown, and the Udvar-Hazy Center (Air and Space Museum at Dulles). Whew, makes me tired just reminiscing. Of course we had lots of family fun time too, as we were there to see cousin Luke graduate from high school. Aunt Jenny was the hostess with the mostess and was game for all our tourist shenanigans.

Otherwise, Tyson has been hopping from camp to camp each week – the favorite thus far being karate camp. We have also survived a full kitchen remodel! There are a few more finishing touches needed before Trav will take the official “after” pictures, so look for those coming soon.

Stay cool and enjoy the photos.

It has finally warmed up here, thank goodness. I might not feel that way in a couple months, but right now I welcome the heat! We’ve had some fun adventures this Spring. For Cub Scouts, we had the Pinewood Derby and a family camping weekend (shout out to those who bought scout popcorn – you helped fund the trip!). There was lots of team building and outdoorsiness. I was relieved we stayed in cabins and the ladies had their own. The boys were up late playing chess and plotting to take down the Weebs (older scouts) next door.

We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in March – quite a milestone! Back when we got married, there were no smartphones, Bill Clinton was president, and Travis had hair. Whew – times have changed. We celebrated with a day at a spa and then dinner downtown at the Polaris – a spinning, spaceship like restaurant with its own rooftop beehive.

Next came Easter and Spring Break. We traveled up to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg Tennessee area. It’s kind of like Vegas for kids – all the tourist traps you can imagine. We also spent some time in the Great Smoky Mountains national park, so it balanced out.

Other happenings: Tyson was in his first dog show (with a very proud G-mom), he sang at the Dogwood Festival with his after-school music program, and I joined some old pals for the Jimmy Buffet concert.

Lastly, we closed the loop on the goats. In case you don’t remember – an inebriated Travis bid a large sum of money at an auction on a herd of goats that come to your house and eat weeds/underbrush. Well, neither this house nor our last had any such weeds or underbrush (darn Travis and his landscaping prowess), so we’ve had a herd of goats on retainer for over a year and nothing for them to eat. Finally, I was able to donate their services to a school foundation who also had a viewing party in their honor.

Enjoy the photos here

And now, a poem from Tyson:

Christmas was a month ago,
We had amazing Georgia snow.
Tyson got everything on his list,
Even a Nintendo Switch.
We went to G-mom’s house,
We did not see a mouse.
Cookies
Friends
Family
Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(and photos)

My oh my, how the time does fly. I feel like we just moved a few weeks ago, yet here I sit, writing about Thanksgiving (Amanda’s favorite holiday, by the way).

As is typical this time of year, we had a whirlwind of family visits! Don and Linda came down from Philly to enjoy some warmer weather and Tyson-time. While here, we took them to a behind-the-scenes tour of the new Mercedes Benz stadium the Atlanta Falcons now call home. They’re diehard Eagles fans, but managed to complete the tour without vandalizing the place.

Next up was Blairsville for Thanksgiving #1 with my clan. In addition to the fantastic spread Patti whipped up, we enjoyed some slide guitar with Pawpaw. Tyson also enjoyed showing off the new, sizable gap in his smile.

Back home for Thanksgiving #2 with G-mom – the first one in our new home. Tyson and I practiced the art of napkin oragami while Amanda and Carol put together an amazing feast, complete with a butter sculpture turkey which Tyson unceremoniously beheaded!

As always, I snapped a few photos.