Go Spartans!

This weekend we went to Mark's alumni weekend at UNCG. Mark visited with some college friends and played in an old guy soccer game. To our disbelief, no one was injured! We all had a great time doing kid's activities, hanging out at the band party, and taking in the homecoming game.

An Apple a Day....

Emily and I went on her first field trip of the year today. We went to Sky Top Apple Orchard in Flat Rock, NC. It was a perfect day for picking apples...crisp air and lots of sunshine! They told us about apples and how the trees grow. They bring in thousands of bees in the spring to pollinate flowers on the apple trees. Without those bees, the fruit would never grow. Another little piece of trivia that we learned today is that it takes the energy from 100 leaves on the apple tree to produce 1 apple! Who knew?? After the lecture, we went on a hayride around the orchard, picked 1/4 of a peck of apples, and had a picnic lunch. It was a great day! The pictures above show Emily Appleseed and her friends: Journey, Chapman, and Jackson.

Look who we found on a Sunday afternoon!

We meet the oddest people in Greenville, SC. This time round it appears the top of the ticket for the Republican party showed up to encourage the state of South Carolina to vote for the elephants. Maybe next week we'll see Governor Palin. In any case, the girls learned alot about what it takes to be a politician -- a great hand wave, and a big smile :)

It's a Hard Knock Life for Emily & Ellie

We went to see the SC Children's Theatre production of Annie tonight. It was wonderful! Emily's drama teacher from summer class was the Director, and one of her friends from class was in the play. It was a late night, but we all had a good time. Earlier in the afternoon, Mark required a little work from us. We spent a good part of the day planting flowers, and I spent the rest of the day trying to get dirt off of the girls! Emily learned that no matter how flushed her face gets, there is still work to do. Ellie learned that she will live even after getting dirt in her mouth. And I learned that breaking out the camera and taking a few pics gives you an excuse to take a break. Look for more and more pictures of Emily, Ellie, and Mark working in the yard!

A Trip to the Fair

We went to the Upstate South Carolina Fair last night. I told Mark that the fair looks a lot different in your 30's than it does when you are a kid. We had never noticed the peeling paint on rides before, and we tried to figure out if these were the same rides that we had ridden as kids...probably so! Emily and Ellie had a blast (they didn't notice the peeling paint)! There was so much for them to take in...rides, games, animals, and fair food! We had a great time and can't wait to go back...and you still can't beat a monster- size bag of cotton candy! Yummmmmmm!!!

Pink Pink Pink

This is just half of the story ... not only were there pink wigs, but there were pink cupcakes, pink napkins, pink forks and plates, pink invitations, and much much more. Ellie had a great turnout, with 11 friends showing up to fancy it up. Michelle had pizza's brought in, a craft project to work on, decorate your own cupcakes (which was way messy) and of course "Pin the Pinktail on Pinkalicious."

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.