Misty mountain hop

Hangin' with Grandma in the kitchen
makin' biscuits

For Labor Day we headed north to Kentucky which is weird for us since we had been used to heading south to Kentucky. We hung out with the wife's clan for a couple days then headed back home via the scenic route through Smokey Mountain National Park.




The clouds roll over the observation
tower at Clingman's Dome
and Bartlet, Amelia and Julia

It was a rainy and wet Labor Day weekend throughout the Southeast but the scenes were still lovely and the air was clean and sharp up at the higher elevations. We stopped in Cherokee - a tiny strip of a town selling its Indian heritage, had a little fried fish (and macaroni and cheese of course) and then headed back to Atlanta.

The Conquerer

The diminutive Miss Amelia tackles the mighty Stone Mountain - thats 1,686 AMSL boy with no aid from the skylift!

Hurry up with the Biscuits!

Amelia waiting to get in - The Flying Biscuit Cafe.
It's worth the wait.

In the south the do make good biscuits. And, I've come to a better appreciation of grits. The cheesy variety at the Flying Biscuit are fantastic.
After loading up our bellies we trekked around the Candler Park area which is nicely eclectic and homey. Millie of course loved the swings at the playground.



Back home in Buckhead amongst the tall shady Georgia pines to spend the rest of the day poolside to cool off from our journey...

Journey to the Southland

We packed our things in Michigan and readied them for the long trip down to the Southeast to Atlanta, Georgia, our new home.


My God we have a lot of stuff!


Our old house being swallowed by the moving truck.

But, first we had the sad task of saying goodbye to our friends and family...




Julia getting a farewell henna tattoo from
our dear friend Ahklas

After cleaning our empty house and spending a few days with our dear friends the Arnolds, they said goodbye, helped us pack up Amelia and the rest of our worldly belongings that didn't make it on the truck and we headed south.


'Fourteen hours in a car with all this stuff?! Phooey!
I'm going to draw mermaids.'



Our first stop was Kentucky - the mid-way point on our journey South to spend a few days with the parents and aunts and uncles and of course to capture some Kentucky fireflies and other assorted activities they play down south...



Through the mountains of Tennessee and we finally arrived at our new house in Atlanta...
Now we have to unpack all that stuff! But first lets eat...



Amelia has treated the move like a big adventure with dashes of nostalgia for her old school and friends that she left behind but she's excited to explore and live in a new place too...


And luckily for her parents, no matter how different the place we go, there always seems to be a park with a balance beam nearby!


Atlanta at night

1, 2, 3...It's Saturday!!!

On Saturdays, Amelia loves it that neither mommy
or daddy have to rush off anywhere. She comes into our
room, climbs up onto our bed and launches herself
onto our sleepy and indolent bodies. She loves this
almost more than anything:

Pure joy!

School's out for Summer

After several years of having her parents with their head in a stack of books, writing papers for classes and working on dissertations, Millie is finally free to enjoy unlimited attention from them (of course she's always expected this but just didn't get it). So with a PhD in her hand ('Dr. Mommy') and a valid teaching certificate in his (daddy) we're off to new horizons and hopefully, for Millie's sake weekends at the park instead of the university library.

"It's about time my parents got out of school so I could start" - Amelia Hanalei

New kid on the block

Introducing Jameson Randall



Millie with her new cousin.