The last picture in the series below was taken by Trey himself. He’s showing a lot of promise as a photographer!

The weather wasn’t cooperating much but Trey and I braved the cold and the rain to head to downtown Forsyth and check things out. We saw a country singer, a bluegrass/gospel band, lots of greasy junk food, and plenty of arts & crafts. To warm up we stepped into Jonah’s on Johnston and got some pizza (no we didn’t eat any of the deep fried Oreos for sale at the festival).

Here’s a silly video we put together:

Music by Dan Deacon

Despite the rain that drizzled throughout the morning, “Uncle Kenny” led us on a fun hike through the swamps garnering “ooo’s” and “aaah’s” from the kids. Heidi and her siblings all have such fond memories of their time spent at the cabin while growing up. It’s cool that we now get to see Trey making fond memories of his own at that very same place.

Here’s a photo of Trey watching VeggieTales with his cousin Oliver.

Trey has been to two other circuses (one good, one not-so-good) and this was by far the one he enjoyed the most. It was a new Ringling Bros. tour called “Illuscnination” that was a smaller “one-ring” show. Having just one ring was much better since Trey could focus on one thing happening at a time. It was great to see how enthusiastic he would get about the performers; even giving some of them standing ovations.

His favorite thing? The “Eph-al-ents”.
Least favorite? The horseys. I don’t blame him at all – they were sissy little Shetland ponies with dolls tied to their backs.

Causey celebrated his 3rd birthday this weekend and invited Trey to his airplane themed party. There were tons of kids at their house and Trey had a good time hanging out with them all.

Earlier in the week I took Trey to the store to pick out a present for Causey. He saw a Melissa & Doug wooden Birthday Party Cake set and announced to me that we would be getting Causey a birthday cake for his birthday. I wasn’t sure how much he would like it (seems like pretending to bake cakes would be more of a little girl thing and less interesting to airplane obsessed boys). However, all the kids loved it and insisted on opening it to play as soon as Trey gave it to him.

On Saturday Tommy and Betty Haun joined at the Dinner Bell (another favorite of Peepaw’s) and afterwards we ate cake back at the house. Then Trey, David, and I went down to the nursing home in Madisonville to visit Grammaw. She was in really good spirits that day and we had a nice time with her. I read the story of “Brer Rabbit and Da Tar Baby” to her and Trey and they both really enjoyed it.

This morning he wasn’t too keen on the rain outside because we got wet getting in&out of the car on they way to preschool. As we walked into the building this is the conversation we had.

“Daddy, when I get to heaven I’m gonna hit God!” he said with a scowl.

“Now why would you say that? We don’t hit our friends,” I replied .

Still frowning he answered “But He’s being mean. He’s making it rain on me.”

“Just because you don’t like the rain doesn’t mean you can hit Him. You should tell Him you are sorry,” I suggested.

The tone of his voice softened and with a bit of concern Trey then said “But He can’t hear me. He’s in heaven and that’s all the way in France.”

The Good News is that God forgives Trey (and the rest of us) when we have such bad, selfish attitudes towards Him. It’s also pretty good news that heaven isn’t in France.

Turns out that Scherer Plant is the United States’ largest single point-source for carbon-dioxide emissions (a mere 25.3 million tons per year to be exact). In fact, in 2007 it was ranked 20th highest CO2 emitter in the world (out of 50,000 power plants worldwide)! Their ash ponds have also been of some concern after the disaster in East TN last year. I’ve been here in Macon for almost 18 months and no one told me that polluting, monstrosity was in my backyard.

Now I’m not one to dive into the whole global warming debate, but I do know that that much carbon-dioxide being emitted in one place can’t be good. Trey’s take on it was “I don’t like it. It puts smoke up and down and it hurts my eyes!” I agree, it is a bit of an eye sore in the middle of Lake Juliette.

After getting directions from GA Power’s friendly security guards we head to the south side of the lake and found a muddy road leading into the woods. The area doesn’t have any hiking trails and I couldn’t find a good map online anywhere (remember I said mysterious) so we just followed an old road into the woods to the lakeside. Trey had a blast playing with his toy digger/bulldozer on all the rocks covered in moss. He also continued to exercise his tree climbing talents (he’s getting good enough to keep his mother very concerned). We actually spent about 2 hours just hanging out in the woods before heading home. Fun times!

From the “do-it-yourself” images on the web site I expected the thing to look like junk but it is actually a really nice polished looking apparatus complete with caps on the ends and foam grips. Definitely worth paying the $39.99 for it instead of building it myself with parts from Home Depot that cost $14.

Before we headed over to see Grammaw we exchanged gifts at the Haun farm. Trey got a lot more presents than we expected so we held off our own gifts for him. We’ll give him those throughout the year as rewards for good behavior.

The nursing home wasn’t the ideal location for a family get-together. A TV was blaring, electronic alarms were beeping, and other residents interrupted our family time asking if we were their family. Grammaw hadn’t been of the best mental health lately and though she did very well that morning, she still didn’t talk much and was emotionally overwhelmed when we arrived an left.

However despite all those negative things, we know it meant a lot to her and my grandfather that we would visit them. Trey will also be able to look back on the experience and be reminded that our family

The second video is Trey opening his presents from his Uncle David and Aunt Brittany. They gave him a monster box of crayons and some massive paper rolls to draw on. In the background you can hear my mom explaining to my Grandfather how to use his new electric razor as well as music from a toy Philip received.

While the educational content of the Health Adventure museum was over Trey’s head, he still enjoyed all the hands-on activities. He got to shoot dust balls into a giant nose, play “The Urine Game” where he pretended to be a kidney, hear a faucet with a runny nose explain the source of snot, and slide down an esophagus, crawl through a stomach, and out a giant rectum.

This week we took Trey down to the farm where he got to see pigs, chickens, cows, and horses. The first day we walked up into the pastures so he could meet the horses. On the second day, after a walk to the old mill, he got to ride Winchester, one of the horses my cousin Tim trained. Trey and Winchester got along just fine and I’ll post video of the ride next week.

Be sure to click the HD button then the Fullscreen one above ↑

Music by Matt & Kim

I tested it out at home that night with my lovely super model wife Heidi. The next day Trey and I took it with us to the Georgia Industrial Children’s Home and played with it some more.

I was really impressed with the lighting control and quality it gives my photos. I can’t wait to play with it more and I’m already getting the itch for a 2nd flash to really start to experiment with controlled light!

Even at a very young age a child understands that a birthday involves receiving gifts. With a “Birthday Party for Jesus” a few important ideas about the true meaning of Christmas are relayed.

1. Christmas is about Jesus’ birth. It is HIS birthday we celebrate.
2. Like a birthday party, Christmas is a time when family and friends get together to have fun and celebrate a very special person that they all love.
3. Normally the birthday boy/girl receives gifts, but on Jesus’ birthday we receive the gifts. Why do we get gifts and not Jesus? We don’t deserve them – it’s not our birthday – it’s His!

That last one may be subtle but it will stick with a child as he grows up and he associates year after year that Jesus’ birthday means undeserved gifts for him. When that child is old enough to understand the Good News about the gift of salvation it will make perfect sense that he would receive such an incredible undeserved gift from Jesus.

Here is a video I made of Trey and the kids at our church party. Follow this link to our church’s Facebook page to see photos (Trey’s in there too!)

Like the music? That track is by Sufjan Stevens who has an amazing 5 CD box set of Christmas songs for only $15! It’s our favorite Christmas album every year.

We followed one of its main trails onto boardwalks that led into mangroves in Tampa Bay. It was a beautiful day and Trey was excited to see some kayakers making their way through the salt water swamps.

Trey was even more excited when we met Heidi at the airport. He hadn’t seen her in two weeks and let out quite a squeal of joy!

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Music by Lullatone
Shot with a Canon 7D, 50mm f/1.8