Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Pendleton King Park

We went out on Saturday morning to walk another park.
This one is suppose to be haunted too, which only adds to the fun for the Linderman family! :D
Plus it had a fairly decent disc golf course. 

Our lovely CitiMini GT Jogging Stroller!
It was a huge park, but disappointingly not well taken care of. It felt like it was slowly falling apart. Which is sad. The tennis courts were in need of weeding and the little pond was all mucked up with stagnant water.

There was a circle of 'totems' designed by an elementary school class. Kinda cool! There were different ones all in a circle.


Hey, we're an army family - we love tanks! hehe...little random that there was a tank in the middle of the park, but that's ok. It was fun to climb on!
A stage!
Actually there was great acoustics here too. No need for a microphone on this stage. As you can see though, it was extremely dusty and dirty. I wonder if it even gets used anymore. Poor neglected stage... I will come and hang my silk on you! :) 

Pretty flowers growing in the cracks

The haunted cemetery
So, we wanted to find the cemetery cause, well, you know. :D
We looked around and found a park map. Then saw on the map where this cemetery was, but still couldn't find it. It was hidden with the brick wall, and the entrance was facing away from the walking paths. We off roaded to get to it. Very anti-climatic too... not much of a cemetery. Though there was a gravestone from the 17--'s! OLD!

So that was our walk on Saturday.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Still a Flowergirl?

So today was special.
My mom's cousin and his family came to visit us! I was actually the flowergirl in their wedding!
What an incredible gift to be able to visit with family that we haven't seen in so long. What a gift to be able to visit with my Great Aunt Kate as well!

Great Great Aunt Kate
2nd cousin once removed? Maybe...
Adalynn seemed to enjoy visiting with everyone.
I am so grateful to be able to visit with them and meet Alane and Steve's children!
Family!
God brought us down to GA and in doing so, has allowed us to visit with family and friends we would not be able to otherwise. What a true blessing!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Refine Me

I come into this place, burning to receive your peace
I come with my own chains, for wars I fought for my own selfish gains

Your my God and my father, I've accepted your son
But my soul feels so empty now, what have I become?

Lord...
Come with your fire, burn my desires
Refine me
Lord...
My will has deceived me, please come and free me
Refine me

My heart can't see, when I only look at me
My soul can't hear, when I only think of my own fears.

And they are gone in a moment, your forever the same
Why did I look away from you, how can i speak your name?

Lord...
Come with your fire, burn my desires
Refine me
Lord...
My has deceived me, please come and free me
Come rescue this child, cause long to be reconciled to you...
It's all I can do, to give my heart and soul to you
and pray..... and pray..... and I will pray...

Lord...
Come with your fire, burn my desires
Refine me
Lord...
My will has deceived me, please come and free me
Refine me

Refine me... Refine me...
Refine me............

Words and Music by Jennifer Knapp

Saturday, July 14, 2012

A Southern Stroll Through Magonias

Are We Lost?
This morning we wanted to venture out ... so we did! South Carolina here we come! (Honestly, it's only 20 minutes away).  I found a plantation nearby and since we both love history we went, plus we don't have plantations up north. If you want to learn more about where we went HERE is a link to the website. It is called Redcliffe Plantation.

Now, to get there our GPS said we would be taking unpaved roads, which is fine (adds to the adventure really). We didn't realize that we'd be traveling a long ways on them with no signs about the plantation. The picture above is the road we took to get there, it was fun!

"Um, Nadj - some hillbilly is gonna come at us with a gun"
Donkeys!
Yes, we passed by several homes along this dirt road and one had goats and donkey's! Being the city girl that I am, I made Stephen stop in the middle of the road and I got a picture. I had to hurry though because a huge dog across the road started barking at me and did not seem so happy.

Let's Do This!
We arrived right as the "park" opened at 9am. So the weather was still slightly cool, which was nice because the sun was hot. We were able to walk around the grounds, which were so quiet. We walked through the slave quarters and the stables. The big house didn't open until 1pm for tours, so we weren't able to go there this time, but below is me on the steps!

I want a porch someday!
This porch was amazing! We almost went and got a blanket to set down for Addie to play and Stephen and I could sit down on the rockers that were provided :P.  It was just us; it was fun!

Adalynn had so much fun!
Honestly, this little girl was having such a good time. Looking at everything and laughing and kicking her legs. She was just a contained bundle of energy! It made looking around the house and land more entertaining!
The Mansion

Stray Dogs
Alright - story here... (oh, and I so wanted to adopt the little guy, I named him Charles...)
On with the story. So we were almost done looking around when a park worker came walking up, she was going to open up the "gift shop" (just a few books), so we talked with her. Very sweet lady, lives walking distance away! We were asking her questions about the house and, of course, Stephen asked about ghosts. There are none by the way.
Anyhoo - these two black puppies came walking around soon after she arrived and she started telling us about them. They just showed up one day and she has tried to adopt them out, with not luck. She cannot seem to get one of them to come near her right now. What is interesting is that the last owners of the mansion back in the '60's owned 2 black dogs. Literally, identical to the ones that showed up now. What's more interesting is that the owner in the '60's found his dogs when they came wondering around the house after a rainstorm. Hmm... she brought us into her office and showed us pictures of the dogs from before. So strange!
I befriended one of the dogs, so sweet. She said she'd even let us take him, but that would be way to much for us now and I wouldn't want to separate the two puppies.

Over 100 year old magnolia trees.
These trees were planted by slaves back in the 1860's I believe. They were beautiful! It's so crazy when you hear the story about something you can see. To know that over 100 years ago slaves were planting the very trees I was looking at. Wow.

She zonked out minutes after getting in the car.
Sleepy baby! She did so well, loved all the traveling and even laughed at the dogs! hehe.
We're going back to look through the mansion too, not sure when, but we will!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Solution for My Fussy Child

So, Adalynn has been fussy all day. Not sure if it's teething or just wanting to work those lungs (which I have to understand since I like to work my lungs too at times). Anyhoo - I found this idea on pinterest I believe and thought Addie would like it. So simple and we had everything at home! (Well, had to buy $1 hair gel, but that's easy enough.)

* Hair Gel
* Freezer Bag
* Misc. items to put in bag
* Duct Tape (for ours Stephen had this wonderful skull tape that I used, maybe not a great design choice, but the colors are vibrant!)

It turned out well and Addie loves it! I might hang it in the tub so she can play with it while bathing :D
Oh, and yes... those are bed bugs from the game "Bed Bugs" - I have been carting those little, plastic critters around for years!
The Finished Product!
Boy, was she obsessed with it :D

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Taking a Walk - Through a Church!

Father Moment - All geared up :)
So, we decided to go visit the Sacred Heart Cultural Center this morning. I really wanted to go do something before the hot weather hit and this was Stephen's last day off. We both love old churches and thought this would be wonderful!
Let's Go!
We're Ready!
It is over 100 years old and used to be a Catholic Church. It was actually abandoned for 10 years and was vandalized and had pigeons living in it. It took a lot to clear out the wildlife and restore the church. It's beautiful, the stained glass everything.
Love the brick walls!
Stephen was smart in using the snugli for Adalynn. She enjoyed it too! She was so enthralled with the stained glass, which lined both walls in the main hall. All the stained glass windows were shipped to Wisconsin to get restored. (We found out a lot of the history through a very sweet old lady who worked there.) Actually this lady was so sweet and we found out her that she grew up in Augusta, her father had been a veterinarian in Augusta for 50 years, her nephew is struggling with an alcohol problem and was a Marine and that she was slightly racist. It was interesting how much these southern ladies share with you! HAH!



It was fun to go out as a family. We even went down the road a bit and stopped by another church that was 200 years old and still active. It was absolutely breathtaking, we didn't get any pictures because they were getting ready for Mass, but it was amazing! Adalynn fell asleep by the end, she was pooped :D

Needless to say - with the hot weather it's hard to take a walk outside (though we Addie and I still take a morning walk together), but we are trying to find fun places inside to walk around!