PGA

One of the highlights for Willie and Jer. We obliged by going with them on the practice day. You can take kids, cameras, food, etc. The day was nice and toasty, but we found some shade to make it a little better. Willie and Jer took the older boys early in the morning so that they could see a few more of the players. Kim and I waited until Henry had a nap and then we met up with the boys around noon.

Parker and Lincoln had so much energy. I was amazed at how many times they would go up and down the hill we parked at. Parker still loves to push the stroller. It's his thing. He has always loved pushing toys and he started loving it when he began to walk at about 10 or 11 months old.

One fun thing was watching Willie and Jer be best buds, brothers. Then looking at Parker and Lincoln playing together. The comparison was fun. Henry will get in the mix as he gets older.

One of the main highlights from the PGA was when Parker asked a few of the players if they would like to come over for dinner. Parker made Ernie Els laugh and he had Lee Westwood confirm on a time. He was sweet.

By the end of the day the boys were tuckered. Lincoln fell asleep in the stroller.

Willie and Jer went to the tournament on Saturday. They were a little upset because Tiger missed the cut. In fact all of the notables that they wanted to see weren't doing too great. At the end of the tournament I think it was Keagan Bradley.

The Zoom

The "Zoom" was Lincoln's favorite part of Jer and Kims visit. Our first stop was at the 'falingos' or flamingos. I did enjoy that Willie could get in with a discount using his student pass.
One of the first stops was the bird area. While I was feeding Henry outside of the area everyone else went in and said that it was crazy when all the birds took off at the same time. Talk about a major fly by. There were many birds that looked just like these three.
The warthogs were up and running through their pen. They sure are an interesting breed. One thing that was really good about this trip was that for the most part all of the animals were either active or at least visible. Many times in the past I haven't seen as many of the animals as I did this time. It was great.

I love the pictures on a board with the heads cut out. Here are my prairie dogs.

Giraffes are cool. I was slightly disappointed that we didn't get to have a peek at the new baby. By new I mean I think that she had been introduced to visitor like us the week before. We did get to see her mama though. I think it would be cool to see a giraffe in it's real habitat.
One of my first visits to the zoo the lion made a roar for us and then he hacked up a hair ball. This time he was content to stay in the shade directly behind Parker, a little ways in the back but we did see him.

Roar!
There was a gorilla who used to live in Atlanta and his name was Willie. Now I wish I had Willie in this picture but I think he was taking care of a little Lincoln at the time.
I thought this was a fun place to have all my kids in the picture with me. The gorilla mom and her baby. I do feel at times I have a bunch of gorillas/monkeys running around. The kids are sweet and I love them. They had a great time.
The best part of the day. We did have a new baby Panda born awhile ago and for the first time I saw her. Both of the older Pandas were awake and one was having an afternoon snack. It was great to watch them interact. I do appreciate that we get to see wonderful exotic animals in zoos but at the same time it would really be great to see them thriving in their own habitat.




We stopped to get our hands stamped with a panda. Lincoln wanted to wash his off right away. See how the map is in his hand. He always wanted the map and to know where we were. Even a few weeks after the trip he was still asking for his map. In fact as I write this (in Oct.) he has asked for his map this month. I guess we will have to plan another trip to the zoo.
Parker became a little obsessed with the stamp machine.


Below are a few of our favorite videos. I did have one of a train coming through a tunnel but for some reason it just won't load.

Jer and Kim

My favorite part of Jer and Kim's visit was the Braves game. We were excited to get tickets for this special evening. The Braves have been doing great all season and it turns out that Chipper Jones made it back from an injury just in time for this game. Brian McCann was only a few days away from being back from his injury. That's alright though, Jer was really excited to see Chipper play.

We dressed all the boys up in Braves gear. We have a couple of free hats and then I bought one for Lincoln that I thought was pretty cute. The older boys' shirts were only $3 at Wal-Mart, what a steal! We took pictures of the boys before the game because Henry we felt would be too young to enjoy it and he would be cranky into the night. The game didn't start until his bedtime. Henry is wearing Uncle Jer's new hat. When we went to the mall to get a little Braves gear Jer wore his hat and a man in Dillards gave Jer a little nod. Didn't know the guy, but must have been a Braves fan. You can have friends in unexpected places.
Here is one of my favorite pics. Henry is doing well without crying while he is in Uncle Jer's arms. Henry is a bit of a mama's boy right now (okay always).
An all dude shot. I'm glad they at least let me take their pictures. Great brothers having fun.
Henry stayed with our neighbors (Laura & Scott) and then we were off. I worried about Henry and sleeping not in his bed. We dropped him off at about 5:45 and apparently he fell asleep soon after and never woke up until we picked him up late at night. We were excited heading to the stadium. Willie put Linc on his shoulders and Jer had P-man. We took a couple of mits, you know just in case a ball was hit way past third base.
I was able to snag a photo of Jer and Kim just after entering the gate. I kind of wish we could have slowed down enough to get a family photo as well. We had to hurry though because we would be late for the special dealio with Bobby Cox.
Parker and Uncle Jer hangin' tight getting ready for some baseball!Parker looks pretty excited. Once the actual baseball game started I believe he and Linc enjoyed it fairly well. We went early for a special presentation of Bobby Cox's number 6 being retired.
We saw a few of the greats speak to the crowd and to Bobby. Below is Tom Glavine.
Next we had John Smoltz.
Chipper Jones spoke for the current team.
Good ole Bobby Cox. Thanks.
Bobby Cox threw the first pitch of the game to Chipper Jones. He did a great job. We all loved it.
Aunt Kim and Uncle Jer clearly showing some excitement for the big Braves vs. Cubs game.The game was really enjoyable. The stands were nearly full. The Braves were hitting home runs like crazy, I think they had a 5 home runs but the final score was 10-4 for the Braves. Here is Willie standing up to cheer on one of the home runs perhaps from Freddie Freeman or Dan Uggla. Willie took Linc and then I was able to watch another home run from either Constanza or Jones. There sure were some smiles on our faces.

This is the view that we had. My camera doesn't zoom too well so we could see more but it is a beautiful sight to look at the field.
Linc and P-man were getting a little ancy and so I took them to tour around a little and we found Mickey Mouse. We also picked up some first time certificates for Jer and Kim.
Parker had a great time.
Parker is taking after me. He told me he wanted to take my picture. Not bad bud.
Well we had lots of excitement from the retiring of Bobby Cox's number to the great game in which the Cub's pitcher was thrown out for throwing one at Jones. We had to top it off with a few Friday night Fireworks.

Before leaving we sat by Greg Maddox's number for a group shot. Linc had become injured as we were leaving Turner Field. His poor toe got cut up a little from something. He was a trooper. He did really well lasting so long after his bed time. (months later he is still doing the tomahawk chop and singing the Braves chant)