Vacation Day 4–Cradle of Forestry and Sliding Rock

The Cradle of Forestry is a pretty cool place.  It is a indoor/outdoor museum of the life and preservation of the forest.  The kids loved doing a scavenger hunt for all types of things found in the forest and products made from the forest.

We then saw a most “interesting” movie about the forest and how each of us has a responsibility to see that is it managed properly.  The movie was seriously good times, with magical seeds, forest spirits, and even a bit of the black smoke monster from Lost.  After that we took a tour of some of the original buildings from the forestry school established in the late 1800s/early 1900s.

Along the way, Nathan needed to take a little bathroom break for what he referred as a growler.

We’re thinking maybe he needed a little of this to help him out:

After touring the Cradle of Forestry we took a short trip down the road to Sliding Rock, where the water is frigid and the slide is fast!

The facial expressions just before they hit the water were awesome!

Look at little Layton as Nathan pops him up out of the water:

Crazy thing is that I think he went down more times than anybody!  He loved it!

Vacation Day 3–Tallulah Gorge

Monday we headed north to meet up with the rest of the Jarvis clan in North Carolina.  Along the way we stopped at Tallulah Gorge for a little sight seeing and geocaching.  It was a beautiful day for a hike!

And the gorge is amazing!

We got a little turned around in our geocaching this time.  Maybe it was our guide???

Just kidding.  We did eventually find it though. 

If there is a toy car in it, that is what Layton ALWAYS trades for.

Good times!

Vacation Day 2–Father’s Day and Parks

Our second day of vacation fell on Father’s Day.  As Nathan’s Father’s day gift, we went as a family to see a Braves game.  But before the game started that afternoon, we took the kids to a local park along the Chattahoochee River.

It was a brand new park and SOOO nice.  In the area of the playground, the ground is covered in artificial turf.

The park is located at the home site of the man who owned the land and built the dam near that location.  They have preserved the chimney of his original home.

We loved the swings that lined the overlook of the river and the beautiful flowers everywhere.

And of course the kids loved the playground!

While swinging beside this little girl, the mom heard me say something to Layton.  She told us that the girl’s name is also Layton – only spelled slightly differently – Leighton.  Apparently she was named that because it is the little girl’s dad’s mother’s maiden name.  Which is essentially the same way we got Layton’s name – it is Nathan’s grandmother’s maiden name.  That is one crazy coincidence!!!!

After leaving this park we headed to the ballpark.  Dallin wanted to wait in line to have a ball signed.

It was signed by Mark Lemke.  This of course didn’t mean a whole lot to Dallin – but Nathan was pretty excited because Lemke was the second baseman who played for the Braves during Nathan’s teenage years.  Now he is the radio announcer for the Brave’s pregame show.  

Then we of course needed a few pictures at the huge Coca-Cola chairs. 

Play Ball!!!!!

The Braves lost, but we still had a great time.  We were going to stay after the game and let the kids run the bases out on the field – BUT – the line was so long it was going to be over an hour wait.  Hopefully they weren’t too disappointed, and they did get to run the mini-kid’s bases up at the top of the stadium.

GO BRAVES!!!!