The Grand Canyon

Yesterday we decided to take a day trip to the Grand Canyon. Ok ok....it's a little far for a day trip, so we compromised and went to Providence Canyon State Park, also known as "Georgia's Little Grand Canyon".

It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get there, and we couldn't get over some of the hills we encountered on our drive as we got closer....it almost felt like we were actually in the mountains!! My ears even popped a couple of times. The park is near Lumpkin, GA, just South of Columbus. We paid our entrance fee, and started exploring.

Apparently in the early 1800"s. the early settlers' poor farming practices caused erosion to create little ditches. In the 1850's, the ditches were only 3-5 feet deep. They are now up to 150 feet deep....extremely shallow in comparison to the real Grand Canyon, but we'll take what we can get, for a day trip.

 

There was a trail that you can hike down to the bottom and back up, but it takes a couple of hours, so we decided to save that for next time. Or maybe we'll just wait to ride mules down into the real Grand Canyon. We hit Cracker Barrel for an early dinner on the way home, and overall had an AWESOME day!

Birthdays

So I got the chance to visit my favorites in South Carolina, and got to be part of the birthday celebrations of two very special kiddos.

On Friday, this cutie patootie turned 6 months old!!

And on Sunday, this special boy turned 3 years old!!

Maddie was helping us set up for Quinn's party on Saturday, but we worked her too hard and she needed a break.

When she finally woke up, she was ready to party!

This handsome fellow was trying SO hard to be patient as he waited for all of his friends to arrive.

Hmm....are they ever going to get here?

Finally, Q's friend Sarah showed up, and Q took her for a ride.

When Christian arrived, he got chauffered around a little also.

Grandma was there to help celebrate!

Quinn is so excited that everyone sings "Happy Dirt-day" to him.

Q's favorite: Lightning McQueen

And since Uncle Wade couldn't come to his party, Quinn wanted to make sure he showed him his motorcycle riding skills. "Look Uncle Wade....no hands!!"

I'm so blessed to get to be "Auntie Trish" these two special kiddos. They fill my heart with so much joy!

Crabbing

A photo progression of last Saturday's supper of fresh seafood:

As the storm rolled in...

and the sky grew darker...

And as I took photos...

...of said storm...

and dark skies...

The husband was too busy collecting to worry about a lil' old storm....

and as his pile grew & grew....

I jumped in to help a little....

                                         
                                  But mostly I just took pictures....

....because it's what I do...

...and then he cooked...

....and then I finally put the camera down....

...because it was time to eat!

Wouldn't want to get fresh blue crab all over my camera, now would I?

Oh yeah, and it was fabulous.