Visting People....Lots of People

This summer I really wanted to connect with friends and family.  One of favorite little trips I took was to Illinois where my great uncle Rollie and great aunt Gladyce live.  Uncle Rollie has cancer, but God is getting him through it.  He is still has his spunky personality.

 I drove the six hours over to their house with my second cousin Tiffiany who is a missionary at Texas A & M and her grandma and my great aunt Ruth Anna.    Here we are: Tiffany & Ruth Anna Bixel, Rollie and Gladyce Lowen, and me.

 Here are the sister-in-laws...Ruth Anna, and Gladyce.

 And Uncle Rollie and Tiffany enjoy the afternoon.  We spent quite a bit of time playing games. What a great time!

 I also hung out with my Grandpa for his 83rd birthday.  Here are Grandpa and Grandma Stemen with me and my uncle Greg.  My mom and her sister Elaine and her husband Terry were also along for the fun.

 The next thing I know my wonderful friend Stephanie Skaar and her mom Emily popped over on their way to Virginia to see her grandparents.  Stephanie and I were both RAs at BFA together.  This was her last year at BFA, so I flew a bag home for her and she was able to pick it up.  I was also able to show her the big town of Bluffton, Ohio.

 I also had to get over to my Aunt Nancy's house.  She had Olivia, her granddaughter, over as well.  Olivia entertained us with her gymnastic skills.  We chatted it up and we even saw Olivia put earrings on my uncle Jim...not his best look.

 I also got to spend a lot of time with my very cool nephew ELI.  How cute is he!

 When I went to Alanta, I hung out with my cousin Tricia and her daughter, Audrey.  Tricia's husband Krik and sister Leisl were also there.

 I of course spent quality time with my MOM and my Dad...aren't they great?

I also got over to my Aunt Karen and Uncle Dave's house.  I saw them and their 3 kids, Ashley, Courtney, and Chris, but I forgot to take a pic...silly me.  I am sure there are others too...but this is just part of the list.

Camping In Indiana

 In mid-July my family went camping at Chain-O-Lakes, an Indian State Park.  We had a grand time enjoying the HEAT!!!!!  Luckily my sister-in-law Amy brought her dad and step mom and their air conditioned camper!  RELIEF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 It was the weekend of Eli, my nephew's third birthday.  He really likes Buzz Lightyear and he loves the Toy Story movies.....so Auntie Bonnie came through.  Look at this beautiful cake I made for him.  Now we had a few issues getting to the campground and Mom and I brought Eli and his cake in the 1991 Blazer I owned when I lived in Alaska.   This beautiful SUV of mine did not have air conditioning....so it was plenty warm in the car.

 And this is what the cake looked like when we arrived less than 2 hours later.  Oppssey!!!  That doesn't even look like an alien.  When Eli saw this, he cried and cried.  I told him that maybe it will look better when it cools down...but a miracle did not happen.  He survived it!

Here Eli and Granpy (my dad) enjoy the day and we wait to open presents!!!!

Eli then begins ripping his presents open.  So much fun being 3! Notice the Buzz ribbon he is wearing...

 Julian also enjoys the summertime fun!!!  We also fit some fun bike riding, hiking, canoeing, and swimming into the weekend.  What a great time to bond with the family.

The Georgia Aquarium

 The Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the world.  It is built to house up to 6 full grown whale sharks and it is the size of a football field minus the end zones.

 Here is one of the 4 whale sharks.  This is only a juvinile and is about 15 feet long.  They expect this shark to get at least 31 feet long.

Check out this guy's forehead...nice and huge.

Sea annonemies and pretty purple star fish.

Check out this guy...it is a sea dragon and is very small.  It is related to a sea horse.

This is a really HUGE fish and is called a grouter.  Even though it is big and sort of slow, it is very aggressive.  They like to keep these guys well fed so they don't attack any other fish.

The grouter close up!

Here is a giant sting ray and he is doing some sweet flips.

Anna and the sea!

Bonnie and the fishes!

Watch out for a SHARK attack!  Da...Dunt...Da...Dunt...Da...Dunt...

The cool water tunnel!

Then we finished out the day with a visit to the Mall of Georgia!  I even found some flip flops!

The beautiful Waterfalls of Georgia

The Tallulah Falls are in a Georgia State Park in a beautiful gorge.

Anna enjoys the spectacular view from up above.

 Anna, the So-Cal girl was very excited to be surrounded and enclosed by green leaves...she felt like it was a sancuary.

Anna, the crazy adventurer laughs in the face of danger...well maybe not...

The man made water falls are not as impressive as God's wateralls.  Compare this one and the one below...

One waterfall we traveled to was Taoccoa  Falls which is also on the campus of Taoccoa Falls College.  It is a Christian liberal arts undergraduate college.  Beautiful.

 Me and the falls.  This is taller than the Niagra Falls...pretty impressive.

Check out how huge this waterfall actually is.  This is also the site of a memorial for a huge flood that happen in 1977 where 39 people died.

Anna and I enjoy God's beautiful creation!

What a great place to relax and just chill out.

The World of Coke and Stone Mountain

The World of Coke is in Atlanta, GA and is where Coke was created.  It is the biggest collection of Coke memorbilia in the world.

Anna and Bonnie are excited to be at the Coke museum.

The Classic Coke Santa Clause...

 Coke stuff....

and more Coke stuff....

 We then ended our day going to Stone Mountain in GA.  It is this amazing park and they do this cool laser show at dark... it was amazing and very Southern.  In the moutian there is a carving of General Lee.

Here I am with the cool Stone Mountain.  What a great day.