Since Labor Day, much has needed repairing. Like, the car, the truck, the dryer, and now the washer. When it rains it FLOODS. I think there may be secret meetings between all of the mechanical things that we own. They think it's funny when they all need to be repaired at once. The car just needed an oil change and the brake light was always on. Apparently it was a simple fix but I don't ask me what it was. Ask Mike the mechanic. The truck, not so easy. Also needed some work on the brakes. Thought we had it fixed, then last Sunday, it leaked all of the brake fluid out whilst Mike was at work. He then drove it home from Marietta like that. Crazy man. But of course, he was working for the next two days so that basically means, no time for anything but eating and sleeping. He leaves for work by 4:45 am and gets home around 7:15 pm. But you gotta go to bed early to get up at 4:00 am so we try to get him in bed before 10 pm. That rarely happens. He was finally able to fix that leak yesterday. Yea, the truck has brakes! Last Saturday, in the midst of the car woes, I discovered that the dern dryer was no longer heating. I think I ran it for 3 cycles before I finally realized there was a problem. It was funny 'cuz I kept going downstairs remembering I needed to bring up the clothes that were in the dryer to fold, so I'd open the door, feel that they were still wet, kick myself for forgetting to turn on the dryer, turn it on, and go back upstairs. An hour later, I would go back down there, feel that they were still wet, kick myself for forgetting to turn the dryer on, turn it back on, go upstairs. Repeat. After the third time, I finally realized that it wasn't user error (it usually is) and pulled out the stuff to hang to dry. Okay, hanging all the clothes to dry, not such a big deal. But, three days later, the washer is broken. They live next to each other in the laundry closet, they must have planned this. I cannot live without the washer! After several hours tinkering yesterday, Mike was unable to figure out what they dryer's problem is. I think we need to track down an ohmmeter. Thankfully he has discovered the washer's dirty little secret (pun intended). I was sure I broke it because I moved it about 1 inch while it was running and I was trying to clean around it. It was during that cycle, that it stopped working, when it was trying to drain the water. However, upon closer internal inspection, Mike says (with a grin) that he most likely broke it because he found some rivets, screws, and other sundry hardware, and a baby sock inside the drain pump and it was now broken. So, as we speak Mr. Mike is on his way to Mr. Appliance in Douglasville with Mr. Wyatt to buy Mr. Washer a new drain pump. So if you're all wondering about whether or not your washing machine eats stuff, I don't know, but ours does. I think we would all do well to heed mom's advice. Check your husband's pockets!
Well I have majorly digressed from Labor Day. I guess I felt the need to explain why I have not yet posted pictures from our fun little trip to Cloudland Canyon on Labor Day. Excuses, excuses. So, at long last, here 'tis.
Cloudland Canyon is a state park in Georgia, in the far northwest corner of the state. It is just under 2 hours from our house. We went with our friends, the Girardins - Emil, Marci, and their children, little Emil, Oscar, Zoe, and Grover. Oh how we love hanging out with them. And yes, if you are sensing something familiar, all the children, with the exception of little Emil, have Sesame Street names. So now for the fun part, PICTURES!
Don't let that face fool you, Ginger is having a great time. So is Mike. Ginger loves being strapped into car seats or any other child torturing device. We tried to make it fun - look at the toy!
Them (the Girardins)
Us
Shane climbing on the rocks with Oscar.
More climbing with Dad helping. Something about rocks and trees makes a boy want to climb.
Marci even climbed up. Woo woo! Nice pose!
And then, the rest climbed up. All except for Wyatt. He said, "It's too scary for me."
Especially on any of the stairs. And there were lots! And he was slow, but soooo adorable. And then he found an adorable way to accidentally kick my camera off my belt and into the trees below in this picture. I would have taken a picture of it, but it was in the trees on a steep slope. I was going to rescue it myself but Emil volunteered since Mike jogged the screaming, crying Ginger back to the top of the mountain. Thank you Emil.
I don't have any pictures of us hanging out at the bottom where the waterfall was supposed to be because my camera was still in the trees on the side of that slope. And actually there was no waterfall because it was September and I guess there's not much water left to fall over the rocks by this time of year.
On the way back to the top, all the kiddos wanted to jump off the rocks. This flying cute pink blur is of course, Zoe. Thanks again to Emil for catching all of them. They all jumped off a bunch, but I only have one picture of each one. Wyatt again said, "It's too scary for me."
Grover is a daredevil. He is appropriately wearing a superman t-shirt. Oh wait, I think it's SUPER GROVER!
Big Emil catching not so little Emil.
And here's Shane.
Oscar. Now, if you don't know Oscar, let me tell you, he's a climber. Look at the height!
A thoughtful Zoe. She kept begging for me to take her picture. Isn't she cute?
Hmmm. I think there's someone in that tree. Yeah, it looks like a kid hanging upside down but I can barely see him. Oh, wait, he's wearing a camouflage t-shirt and tree-colored shorts. Who dresses their kid in camouflage on a nature hike? Yep, we kept losing him.
Well, that's our little Labor Day trip in pictures. We barely had enough energy to cook our hamburgers when we got back to the top. The kids of course were still bouncing around and of course very hungry. We had a great little trip and plan to take a few more this fall. Ellijay apple festival, here we come!
