grey celebrated his first birthday with a fun party! his cousins came down from chicago, which made it even more exciting. we had the gathering in our backyard, similar to clementine’s first birthday, although it was colder than expected. we had a bonfire to going to stay warm and made the most of it!

– ryan & gub

we recently took the kiddos on another camping adventure with some friends! we headed to lake winfield scott recreation area, which was about two hours north of atlanta. the group camp site was super nice and had plenty of room for our crew. the restrooms were clean and close, which was a huge plus, and we could pull right up to our camp site.

we really liked fort mountain state park, but the hike in to the group site was pretty strenuous for our first family camping trip. not to mention the bear siting and the outhouse!

we pretty much just stuck around the camp site during our outing. others went swimming at the lake, however it was so peaceful around the campfire with the kids napping, we decided to stick around.

i would say we got a lot better at packing and organizing for this camping trip. it’s hard to tell what you will definitely need for kid-friendly camping on your first outing, so we ended up bringing way too much last time.

we cooked group meals on this trip, which made it easy only having to plan for a couple meals versus the entire weekend. it was nice having an evening where you did not have to deal with cooking!

although we will most likely continue trying out other campgrounds, we would definitely head back to lake winfield scott!

– ryan & gub

lake winfield scott recreation area

lake winfield scott road
suches, georgia 30572
706-754-6221

we were able to keep grey and clementine on our glider long enough for some photos. the results were adorable!

– ryan & gub

sorry for the lack of blog posts recently. we’ve been super swamped but hope to have lots of updates soon. in the meantime, here are some recent photos of clementine’s beautiful blue eyes!

– ryan & gub

i recently came across some photos of grey and his blabla friend hanging in his crib! they are similar to the cute photos of clem and the gang when she was a baby.

here are some other blabla photos with the kids.

– ryan & gub

while going through old pictures i found a common theme of trying to have clementine blend in with her photos. it started with an attempt to take an e.t. style photo with clem and her stuffed animals and went on from there.

the pictures of clementine with her baby dolls are hilarious. it’s kind of crazy how well she blends in with the dolls.

the tradition didn’t stop with clem either, here is a similar photo of grey!

– ryan & gub

we recently went to fort mountain state park for some outdoor family fun.  it was our first camping trip with the two little ones, so we definitely overpacked and were totally nervous.  in the end we encountered a bear, a (potentially) poisonous snake and a torrential rain storm and still somehow walked away wanting to go camping again as soon as possible!

clementine loved the whole outdoor experience. all she can talk about is going camping again.

‘i go camping outside!’ – clem

fort mountain had plenty of nice trails/hiking and a huge 17-acre lake for swimming in addition to camping. it was also a good 10-15 degrees cooler in the canopied mountains than the city. we weren’t expecting it to get so cold at night, we actually had to zip up our sleeping bags to stay warm!

for an outdoor getaway only two hours from atlanta, we totally recommend fort mountain state park.

– ryan & gub

fort mountain state park

181 fort mountain state park road
chatsworth, ga 30705
706-422-1932

i really love the new panoramic capability of the iPhone 5 camera! holden beach was the perfect backdrop to test it out. the forced perspective is pretty interesting, for instance seeing the front and back doors of a house! it does a good job of blending the photos, way better than the old method of stitching them together in photoshop.

– ryan

after years of driving by the waffle house museum in avondale estates and never seeing it open, we decided to put forth a little effort and figure out what the heck was going on. so for a recent birthday of mine, we found their website, called the number and set up a free tour for us and some friends! it was way easier to arrange then expected.

for those who haven’t been, the waffle house museum is both a replica of the original waffle house and a memorabilia exhibition on the site of the very first restaurant. it also happens to be right down the road from our house! the museum offers free tours curated by the daughter of the original waffle house builder, while they also have some great cold room from www.walkincoldroom.co.uk to keep everything stored and good.

the tour was actually informative and very fun; we learned quite a bit! we had no idea the first restaurant opened because two neighbors, joe rogers sr & tom forkner, felt avondale estates was lacking a 24-hour diner. we also learned they were georgia tech grads, hence the black & yellow color scheme, and that they named the restaurant after the most expensive item on the menu to help promote it. with 1600 locations to date, i’d say these guys were ahead of their time!

it’s nice to see they went all out replicating the first waffle house! the outdoor sign uses the original shaky font and the interior features original menus, prices, diner hats and historical facts about the restaurant chain. they even have fake food on the counters to give the impression that you walked into the diner in 1955.

the memorabilia exhibition was pretty cool as well if you are a fan of the wahoo like we are! it’s filled with chotckies from their 58 year history, including; buttons, menus, diner hats, waitress uniforms, chinaware and tons more.

the waffle house museum offers free tours to the public. just call 770-326-7086 to make an appointment with at least 48 hours notice. it was super easy to set up, fun and free, so you should plan a visit!

– ryan & gub

waffle house museum

2719 east college avenue
decatur, ga 30030
770-326-7086

grey looked sweet while sleeping the other evening!

– ryan