Space and Rocket Center

I think this is the third or fourth year we have made the trip to the Space and Rocket Center the week after Christmas. I love taking the kids, and as you can see we drafted some other folks to make the trip with us. In the picture above, we are not actually in space, it was a green screen...just in case you were wondering.

Ashton was the only one to brave the wall. And he made it up twice.

I think Sam and Ashton would ride this all day, and this day they made an attempt to ride it the whole time. We lost count at about 8 times. I think both of them were actually to tall to ride, but they let them ride...and ride...and ride. Davis...well, he was too scared.

The weather outside was great, and wonderful to let the kids just run around and play.

Yes, Magan, Colby, and I decided to try out the spaceshot. Magan was about a second away from aborting the mission, but we talked her into staying for the ride, and we blasted off for about 3 or 4 seconds of some heavy Gs, then a really fun freefall.

Hike at Oak Mountain

We made it back again to Oak Mountain for our hike through the treetops. We did this last year, and you could probably find it in the blogs somewhere. Last year Sam fell and hurt his leg. But this year, we planned ahead, and had all of our first aid equipment ready with us. And we were practicing our "No Trace Left Behind" cub scout lesson, so we made sure that all of the snacks we had did not leave any trash behind. I also realized after taking this first picture, that the battery was almost dead, and I would only have a few remaining pictures.

Our trip began in the morning with the temperature in the 30s...Oh yeah, Davis was definately fully complaining in his dramatic way about how his hands were going to fall off. Luckily it heated up pretty quick and by the end of the day we had shed pretty much all of our layers.

Our first hike was to the bird rescue center which was about 1/3 mile one way. After coming back to the vehicle, we decided that we should try to make it to Peavine Falls, which I have never been to. This was a much steeper trip and longer. The boys had no problem making it down to the falls, although they scared me to death, as it was definately a climb down. Once at the bottom I had enough battery for the one picture below, and it still makes me smile. Those boys love getting out in the woods. Now the way back was a little more difficult. I ended up taking Davis on my shoulders the last 1/4 mile uphill to my car then returning to find Sam where he was moseying up the hill...put him on my shoulders and treked back to the car.

Christmas with the Junkin's

Christmas 2011 fell on a Sunday, and we were able to make it up for lunch at MawMaw's house. It was a great meal as usual, and a great time to visit with everyone.

A couple of pictures from around the house during Christmas...

And for our last Christmas get together for the year, we traveled to Granny and Grandaddy's house.

Colby was showing off the hamburger patties...I mean red velvet cookies...at least Granny didn't burn them. :)

Funny story about Sam that happened on this visit...I happened to notice Sam come out of the bathroom and start looking around like he was lost. I went to him and asked him if he was looking for something. Sam being shy whispered in my ear that Granny did not have any soap. Having been in the restroom earlier, I told him that there was soap right by the sink. We both walked back into the bathroom and I pointed the soap out to him. He said "Where?" Somewhat impatiently, I said "It is right there by the sink". He replied with some frustration "Where? I don't see it".

And that is when I realized that my son had no idea what a block of soap looked like. I just started laughing as I went to the sink and explained how some people don't use soap from bottles or hand sanitizer to wash their hands...they actually use this little block of soap. At this point, he gave me his little grin letting me know he understood, and decided that he could wash his hands "old school" at Granny's. This cracks me up when I think about it...

Davis and Ben were best friends this day, and you couldn't separate them for anything.