Gilkes Journal

Georgia Vacation

2008-01-07T20:38:00.000-05:00

This year we vacationed for the week of New Years in the Georgia Mountains. We joined my two aunts, uncles, cousins and Grandma on the trip, so there was a total of 11 of us.

A real "FAMILY" vacation!

It was so beautiful. J.J. had never seen mountains before! Every few minutes on the car trip I kept saying to J.J. "You don't see that in Florida!"

Our first stop was in Helen, Georgia. It's this cute little town that has a definite German theme to it as you can see in these pictures.

In Helen, Georgia there was the Habersham Winery, we sampled a few wines and purchased a few too!

Our next stop was our cabin in Blue Ridge, Georgia. A beautiful 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom cabin.

It even had a game room that had a bar, jukebox, pool table, fuse ball table, and several video games (no money required)! Can you guess where the kids (and the adults) spent most of their time?

Our very first night at the cabin (we were there for 4 nights) we got SNOW!!!!!! This was J.J.'s first time seeing snow also. It only snowed the one night but the ground was still covered the next day and even when we left 4 days later there were still areas with snow on it. We all rushed out side and started collecting the snow off the vehicles to have a mini snowball fight. It was great!

Then we we left to start to head home on Saturday we stopped off in Atlanta, Georgia to see Stone Mountain. Most of it was closed down due to Inventory and the winter season but we were able to still ride the sky ride to the top of the mountain and look around. It was incredible.

We also were able to "Ride the Ducks". It was so much fun. It's this open like bus that drives on land and then drives you into the water for a cruise around the lake. Our tour guide was soooooo funny! While we were cruising around the lake he took each kid up front one by one to drive it and he told so many jokes. We were all given these "quackers" that were like duck bill shaped whistles but sounds like a duck call. (We had to set the rule that J.J. could not use it once we got back to our car)

All in all it was a spectacular trip!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-28T00:14:00.001-05:00

Kyra & JJ got to see Santa at the mall.

Our Christmas Eve tradition...Dad & Elaine come over to our house and read Twas the Night Before Christmas to J.J. (this year J.J. did most of the reading!) Then we all go outside and set out carrots for the reindeer and sprinkle magic dust on the ground to help Santa see our house. Then we set out the milk and cookies and then it is off to bed so Santa can deliver the presents.

Kyra's Scrapbook

2007-12-27T23:03:00.001-05:00

For the past year I have been working on a scrapbook for my niece, Krya. Since her parents passed away while Kyra is so young I wanted to give her something special to help her not only remember her parents but also to see that even though they had a short amount of time with each other they made the most of the time they had. Here are the pages of the scrapbook.

Kip & Cindy

Cindy's Childhood and Family

Cindy's Modeling Photos

Kip's Lanscaping business he had when they first met

Cindy's Career

Kip became a pool tile artist when Cindy passed away

Kip used to love Kung Fu

Eric & I joined Kip & Cindy for a Cruise to Cozumel

Cindy & Kip's Wedding

When Kyra came along ...

Halloween

2007-12-27T22:40:00.000-05:00

J.J. decided to dress like Josie and the Pussycats this year.
This is Kyra(J.J.'s cousin), J.J., and Heather (J.J.'s best friend)

18 Years!!!

2007-10-01T23:02:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been 18 years that Eric and I have been married! Sometimes it doesn't seem that long but yet other times it seems like we've been together forever (in a good way). This year we celebrated our Anniversay at The Melting Pot and we took J.J. with us. It was fun to share the Melting Pot experience with her on such a special night.

We had to convice J.J. that apples really do taste good dipped in cheese.

She tried it and finally agreed.

But of course her favorite part of the meal was the DESSERT!

Isn't it everyone's favorite?

J.J. - The Social Butterfly

2007-10-01T22:14:00.001-04:00

J.J. went to a birthday party a week ago Sunday for her friend Abbey. The party was at Andretti Park. The kids had soooooo much fun!

This is J.J., Abbey and Desiree. When they were all in Dr. Rose's class last year I called them "Partners in Crime" because they used to all seem to get into trouble together.

But I guess that's the best thing about having friends.

At Andretti Park they rode in the Slime buckets. (Their version of the Disney Teacups) This was after Pizza and Ice Cream Cake. I don't know how the kids kept it down.

They rode this ride at least 6 times!

They also got to drive their own Go-Carts! This was J.J's first time.

I think I was more nervous than she was.

J.J. also played the Dance Machine with Abbey's sister.

Besides all this, they played miniature golf and rode a train.

This place was awesome!

**************

Then this past Sunday, she was invited to a birthday party for her friend Hailey.

Things didn't start off too good. J.J. is still deathly afraid of dogs even after we have tried SEVERAL things to get her over it. I was a bad mommy and forgot to ask if they had dogs, when we got there we were walking up to door, the dog ran out. J.J. ran back to the car, got into the car and the dog chased her in and even jumped up into the car with her. She was trapped! She screamed such a blood curdeling scream. I dropped everything and had to grab the dog.
Thank goodness J.J. didn't let it bother her for long.

As you can see they had a fun "Pool Party"

This is J.J., Desiree and Hailey.

Don't they all look alike, especially J.J. and Hailey.

Toothfairy Time...

2007-09-19T22:22:00.000-04:00

J.J. finally lost one of her top front teeth. She had wiggled it, played with it, tugged at it and had even turned it around before it finally fell out!

Tooth Tidbit - J.J. doesn't like the idea of the Toothfairy coming into her room while she is sleeping, so she sets up a special pillow in our Living Room and puts the tooth under it.

Young at heart...

2007-09-19T22:02:00.000-04:00

Eric, J.J. and I visited Nanny at the nursing home. Nanny is 94 years old and has been doing very well until recently when it was necessary to make sure she had more professional type care. We walked into her room and she was dressed very nice, sitting on the edge of her bed reading a book. We sat down with her to chat and I was trying to find out how she spends her day, I asked if there are games for them to play like checkers or chess or something. Her response tickled me, she said "Yes, they do have those type games there for them but she doesn't play because they are for the older people."

I guess it is true, you are only as old as you feel!

This is a picture of Nanny at her 90th Birthday party!

Let's get caught up!

2007-09-19T21:10:00.000-04:00

Sorry it has taken so long for me to update this site. To say I have been busy would be an understatement. I am the PTO Treasurer at J.J.'s school this year and I have been getting ready for our Fall Fundraiser. It's very time consuming but it's all worth it when we get to see the benefits for the school. The PTO had been saving proceeds from the fundraisers to help get swings for our school playground but the problem was the playground that was there couldn't be used due to the proximity to the portables needed for teaching, our kids have been having to play in an open field. So it turned out the PTO was able to get the ball rolling to have the School Board provide us with a new playground in an acceptable spot, the Scool Board only asked that the PTO contribute the funds they had already raised, we countered that request with a request that they add extra swings to the playground they intended to purchase, they agreed and walah... we were able to get the playground up and running by the start of school. Here are some photos, they're not very good since I took them at night after a PTO meeting and the photos don't do it justice, it is such a nice playground.

This is part of it. Besides this section there are swings, a rcok wall, a tire swing and more!

This is a picture of Melissa and Diana (PTO Board Members) enjoying the fruits of their labor!

This year's fundraiser proceeds will be going towards purchasing a fitness trail to enhance our playground and to help provide teachers a way to use the new State mandated 30 minutes a day of calisthenics (not just free play). The fundraiser kicks off tomorrow and I got to purchase the prizes (with PTO funds) for the Top sellers of the fundraiser. I purchased a couple of scooters, Gift Certificates and I made up a couple of bags filled with outdoor games and toys. I get to take these prizes to the school tomorrow and present them at the kick off show so the kids can see what they are trying to win.

Robby's Birthday

2007-08-26T21:17:00.000-04:00

Today we celebrated Robby's birthday. We had Pizza, cake and ice cream.

Our family always puts 3 candles on the cake no matter how old the person is.

The 3 candles signify the past, present and future.

Robby received some very funny cards...

and some presents he just wasn't sure what they were.

Leave it to Mike to find something unusual.

Mom and J.J. were enjoying themselves too.

Happy Birthday Robby!

Frank's Birthday

2007-08-26T20:44:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we celebrated Frank's Birthday.

We all met at Chili's where we had lots of fun hanging out with friends.

We then headed to Meg O'Malley's to finish off the evening with more drinks and fun.

Good friends....great times.

Second Day of School

2007-08-21T22:47:00.001-04:00

It was the second day of school, things didn't go quite as smoothly, J.J. was a little cranky getting dressed and then when we got to the class she didn't want me to go. I think she was still tired from the previous day.

I'm sure she'll get into the groove soon.

Back to School

2007-08-21T22:37:00.000-04:00

J.J.'s first day back to school. She is now in 1st grade. She picked out her new purple dress to wear. She got the teacher she wanted, Mrs. Pinkley and she found out her best friend from Kindergarten, Desiree, would be in her class this year too. She was excited to start the day, she didn't hesitate to walk into the classroom. I wanted to cry, I just don't want her to grow up. Can't she stay this age forever?

Welcome to the Gilkes Journal!

2007-08-21T18:41:00.000-04:00