After a traffic slowdown in Chattanooga, detour on I-75, and normal congestion around Atlanta, we finally arrived at Stone Mountain Park Campground around 2:30 pm. After we got set up and in our sites, Tafanie came over with Bell, Emmaline and Ruby for a couple of hours. They met Ken and Bonnie and after a tour of their motorhome, we walked to the playground. Bell and Emmaline immediately started going up and down the slides.
Ruby wanted in on the action too!
When we put her on the slide, she would try to crawl up to the top.
With a little help from mom, they took turns racing down the slide...
...and then sliding down all together.
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| Pa helping Emmaline hold on to Ruby. It seems like just yesterday Bell was learning how to slide. |
On Friday morning, we drove over to Crystal and Grant's house and then went on a walking tour of downtown Decatur from Crystal's house.
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| With 4 granddaughters of their own, Mr. Ken knows how to get Miss Hannah buckled into the stroller. |
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| It was a perfect day for a walking tour of Decatur. |
As we walked, Crystal pointed out all the restaurants and shops along the way. Decatur is known for its huge number of very good (and different) restaurants.
We stopped at Toy Park in downtown Decatur where the girls had a blast playing with all the riding toys and playhouses that have been donated to the park over the years.
After we left Toy Park, we walked back toward downtown Decatur for lunch. By the time we arrived at Victory, a small sandwich shop, the girls had fallen asleep in their stroller.
Avery did wake up and eat some lunch with us but Hannah slept the entire time we were at the restaurant. After lunch, we walked through Agnes Scott College campus on our way back to Crystal & Grant's house. It is a beautiful campus.
Crystal ran into a friend of hers who is the events coordinator for the campus and we got to go inside the chapel on the campus which was beautiful.
When we got back to Crystal & Grant's house, Hannah and Avery showed us their big pumpkin for Halloween.
Ken and Bonnie and Chuck and I went back to Stone Mountain to rest awhile at our campers. Later than evening, all of us got together over at Tafanie and Cory's for some of Tafanie's delicious taco soup! Boy, was it good!
We played with the girls for awhile and finally got a picture of Chuck and I with all 5 of them at the same time. We hadn't been able to do that since last year when Ruby was just 2 weeks old.
Then....
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| August 2014 |
Now....
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| October 2015 |
They've changed just a little bit, wouldn't you agree??
After the girls had all gone to bed, we played a game called Snitch that Craig and Fos, Cory's parents had taught us how to play. It had been a couple of years since we had played, so Cory had to call Craig and Fos 3 or 4 times to get the rules down correctly. They probably thought we were crazy or just really wanted to play Snitch. :)
On Saturday morning, Crystal, Grant, Avery and Hannah, met Ken, Bonnie, Chuck and I at the Walk-Up trail to hike up to the top of Stone Mountain.
Hannah wanted to hike too but her little legs didn't move quite as fast as the rest of us.
So, her mom (Crystal), carried her in her pack up the mountain.
Her older sister Avery, hiked a lot of the way up...
...but she got a ride on her daddy's (Grant's) shoulders when she would get a little tired.
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| The Happy Hiking Family! :) |
The hike had a couple of steep parts but it really wasn't that bad and before we knew it, we had reached the top.
It was a windy, cloudy day on top of Stone Mountain, but the sun peeked out once and allowed me to get this cool picture from the top.
We could see the campground and even downtown Atlanta from the top of Stone Mountain.
After walking around the top for about 15 minutes, we began heading back down the mountain.
Miss Hannah wanted no part of riding on mommy's back on the way back down so Crystal and I walked with each of us holding one of her hands most of the way back down. Of course, Stone Mountain is like one big playground to a one year old so we had to keep her going with a "1-2-3 jump" every 10 steps or so.
When we were almost to the bottom, 3 buses had just let out about 200 teenagers who came storming up the hill. We felt like we were in the middle of the "running with the bulls" in Spain! We just stayed put until they had all gone by.
Crystal and Grant and their girls came back to our camper for lunch while we waited for Cory, Emmaline and Ruby to join us for the campground Halloween festivities. Bell and Tafanie were unable to come because Bell had a birthday party and they also had a mission fundraiser at church they were helping with.
After lunch, Pa (Chuck), MiMa (me), Crystal, Grant, Avery, Hannah, Cory, Emmaline and Ruby all went on a hay ride.
We rode to a pumpkin patch where the girls got to pick their own pumpkin.
After we returned from the hayride, they took their pumpkins to the campground pavilion so they could paint them and eat some popcorn.
While we waited for the pumpkins to dry, we walked over to the playground so the girls could play a little while longer. After Cory, Emmaline and Ruby went back home for naps, Crystal, Grant, Avery and Hannah stayed at our motorhome and watched some college football games. Crystal got a little nap in herself while Avery and I played Uno. She beat me twice!
Chuck and I stopped at Tafanie and Cory's so Chuck could help Cory move a playhouse to their yard that had been given to them by one of their neighbors whose kids were grown up. Ruby and I had fun making selfies! :)
Chuck tried on the wig that Tafanie was wearing to their community group's trick-or-treating outing.
Below is how the Van Wyngardens dressed up for trick-or treating. Cory went as a Kansas City Royal baseball player, Tafanie dressed up as Cory, and Bell, Emmaline and Ruby dressed up as Sofia, Sofia, and Sofia. :)
We finished our Halloween evening by going over to Crystal and Grant's. Avery and Hannah dressed up as a chicken and a duck.
Avery was a little nervous about the scary masks and noises, but when she saw her little sister Hannah going right up to the front doors to get some candy, she wasn't so scared. :)
Chuck and I stopped at Tafanie and Cory's so Chuck could help Cory move a playhouse to their yard that had been given to them by one of their neighbors whose kids were grown up. Ruby and I had fun making selfies! :)
Chuck tried on the wig that Tafanie was wearing to their community group's trick-or-treating outing.
Below is how the Van Wyngardens dressed up for trick-or treating. Cory went as a Kansas City Royal baseball player, Tafanie dressed up as Cory, and Bell, Emmaline and Ruby dressed up as Sofia, Sofia, and Sofia. :)
We finished our Halloween evening by going over to Crystal and Grant's. Avery and Hannah dressed up as a chicken and a duck.
Avery was a little nervous about the scary masks and noises, but when she saw her little sister Hannah going right up to the front doors to get some candy, she wasn't so scared. :)
Although we only went to about a dozen houses, Avery and Hannah were treated to lots of candy. We stayed at Crystal and Grant's for pizza and watched the first half of the Tennessee game before heading back to the camper for the evening.
We finished our trip in Atlanta by going to church with the girls and their families on Sunday morning. Wow! What a crazy, busy, fun, and wonderful time in Atlanta!
Ken & Bonnie and Chuck & I are so very, very blessed to have such awesome families and now we are even more blessed to have been able to have meet so many of each others' families on our 2015 Great American Fall Leaf Tour.
Ken & Bonnie and Chuck & I are so very, very blessed to have such awesome families and now we are even more blessed to have been able to have meet so many of each others' families on our 2015 Great American Fall Leaf Tour.
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