Fall is coming

Not a lot has been going on really, Tom scored another goal at football last weekend so his team won by 4-1. An improvement on the previous game which they lost. Nick worked all last weekend so we didn't really do anything. The children had a day off school on Monday so Deanna came round with Ethan & Willa for the afternoon.
I harvested some tomatoes that mysteriously started growing in the garden a month or so ago, for doing very little with them, I have a pretty good crop.
The weather has finally started to cool down so I have felt a bit better about my running again.
Oh, and I started going to a book club again, first meeting was last night so now I need to go and buy some books to read.
We have a busier weekend coming up so more to write about next time.

Goal

The weather is still hideously humid here with lots of rain and thunderstorms, wish it would end so my running might improve. I am finding it very hard at the moment to run in this heat and am eagerly awaiting the cooler temperatures that will hopefully come when autumn finally arrives. I'm also struggling with personal training at the moment, last week was very hard.

I didn't get out golfing because of the weather but managed to go out for coffee and a mooch round the shops with Bernice instead. Think I prefer this to golfing.
Both of Tom's soccer practices were cancelled due to the weather but that didn't stop him scoring 2 goals at their first match on Saturday. His team, Arrows, ended up winning their game 3-1.
We had an unexpected visitor for dinner last Monday when Don Supon turned up at Nick's work. It was nice to catch up with him, he was on the same course with Nick when we arrived here but moved to Idaho 14months ago.
Then on Saturday we had Ray & Kate round for dinner.
Yesterday we went to the cinema to see'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs' which we all enjoyed, well 3 of us enjoyed it, Nick tolerated it.

Coosa River Adventure

Another reasonably quiet week. Kevin, Bernice & Craig came round for dinner on Tuesday which was fun and Tom started his outdoor soccer season with a practice on Friday.Then yesterday we had our kayaking adventure.

We had great fun canoeing down the Coosa River and even managed a few sets of rapids (Grade 2 for those in the know about these things) . After 3 and a half hours I was glad to stop though.

We rewarded ourselves with a big lunch at Jim n Nicks BBQ and then got home for a big game of Monopoly and a relax.

Labor Day Weekend

Another fairly quiet week followed by a busy weekend. We got up early on Saturday and drove up to Atlanta and went to the Dialogue in the Dark exhibition . http://www.dialogue-in-the-dark.com/exhibition/scenario/ This was really interesting but unfortunately Lily found it a bit too scary and cried for most of it. After this we went onto the Bodies Exhibition http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/bodies.html which was fascinating. Tom & Lily inevitably had a snigger at their first naked male body for obvious reasons. This made me laugh at them and I think a few people got a bit annoyed with us. Oops. You've got to admit, naked can be funny, especially when you are 9 & 7.
After all this education we went on to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens where they had a Henry Moore Expo so I got to see lots of his sculptures. I have posted all the photos onto my facebook page.

Not a Henry Moore, but pretty cool all the same.

On Sunday we set off to Stone Mountain, which happens to be the worlds largest piece of exposed granite. To make this more fun the park people made a huge skywalk park and various other attractions, so after walking along ropes about 10 - 50 feet above the ground attached to harnesses for an hour or so we had a game of crazy golf, rode the 'scenic' railroad, looked round an antebellum house and plantation, spent a fortune on food ($3 for a bottle of water!!!) we finally rode the cable car to the top of the lump of granite.

Today, being Labor Day the children are off school and have gone round to a friend's house to watch movies and eat pizza. Nice one.

Monopoly Moneybags

A fairly quiet week, we went to Neil & Dorothy's for dinner last Saturday and just relaxed at home the rest of the weekend. This week I have been out running 3 times and played golf with Bernice on Thursday. Just remembered, we all 4 of us played golf last Sunday, Tom was pretty good and now has a set of his own clubs. He is meant to be playing today with Nick, Tim & Ethan but the weather doesn't look too great so they may not get out. I am finally back into my running and am enjoying it immensely. Thank goodness, as it has taken a long time to get back into it.
Last night we had our first family game of Monopoly and Lily wiped the floor with us all. We had to continue the game this morning as it was getting late and Lily needed to go to bed. So today she ended up owning all the property and having £1840 while she managed to bankrupt everyone else. Nice one Lily.

Both Tom & Lily are sniffing away and seem to have a mild cold so I reckon I will have to keep them off school tomorrow due to the swine flu that is currently rampaging its way through the school. Bummer.

The hardest part of my blog seems to be thinking up a title each week

We had a boozy Saturday night last weekend when Ray, Kate, Barb, Greg & Briony came round for dinner along with Pete & Barbara. We were able to sit outside, eat, drink and generally be very noisy. I don't think we disturbed the neighbours as I don't think anyone else was outside. Anyway, that was a late night and so the next day I had a bit of a lie in and didn't get up until about midday. Then it was a fry up and a shower and I felt like new again. Ray & Kate were going up to the lake so Tom, Lily and I joined them for the afternoon.

In between rain showers Tom & Lily had a great time out on the lake. The water was so warm, definitely a very different experience from water skiing/ragging about a lake or loch back home. No wetsuits required here.

On Tuesday this week we had a couple of Nick's colleagues round for dinner, thankfully a more subdued affair than our Saturday bash, however I was still a bit rough around the edges on Wednesday and so missed out on my run and just lounged about all day and watched telly. Brilliant.

Back to school and routine at last.

It's been two weeks since my last blog and I'm trying to think what we have been doing. Gosh, that sounds like a confession or something.
Deanna took us on a visit to the bamboo forest out in Prattville, Tom didn't want to go because it would be 'boring' but as you can see he thoroughly enjoyed himself and managed to get filthy in the process. Then on Saturday we had Deanna and family round for the afternoon and evening along with Olivier, Aurelie and their 3 children and another Olivier, his wife Amelie and their 2 children. Not surprisingly, Sunday was a restful day.

Monday dawned and it was my birthday, I got 'Gone with the Wind' which I have seen in part many times on the tv but never in its entirety. I have to say I am enjoying reading the book very much so far. I also got a book token from Nick as well and I am really looking forward to going to browse the book store for some new books.

Tom and Lily bought me a jigsaw and I got 2 lovely tops and a scarf from Nick's mum & dad. I am wearing one in the picture, it goes perfectly with a couple of my skirts, "nice one Lesley, they were great choices and definitely me."

Wednesday finally arrived and the children went back to school, yay!! Boy, it's been another long summer. They both seem happy with their classes and teachers and now just need to get used to the early mornings again, I had to wake both of them this morning, I hate doing that. Hopefully they will have a lie in tomorrow morning.

I went running on Wednesday and again this morning and today was very hard, I ended up having to power walk as I was so tired after yesterdays session with the personal trainer (lots of squats and lunges = very tired legs today). Also it was hot, sunny and very humid. Not a nice combination, give me a cool British day instead please.