Life With Hurricane Katrina Refugees

September 7, 2005

Rod and Jeff traveled back to the Atlanta area on September 7 since Jeff had Seminary duties at the North Georgia Center for NOBTS on Thursday the 8th and was then due to fly to Ft. Worth for a seminary faculty conference on Friday. We had planned to bring the VW van back, but its ignition went out and we couldn't start it.

September 13

Elyse has two little teeth on the bottom, and Darla and Jeff were playing around with brushing them. Elyse really seemed to like the process.

September 14

A period of calm for two active girls. Ashleigh is an avid reader and Jordan is becoming a good reader too. Ashleigh is doing a dramatic reading for Jordan.

September 15

They didn't stay still long. Ashleigh climbs the pear tree in the front yard. They pretty thoroughly explored the whole neighborhood.

Not to be outdone by her big sister, Jordan scrambled up the tree as well. A couple of small pear limbs were casualties, but that was a small price to pay for their adventure.

Elyse shows her two new bottom teeth.

When we put her on the floor, she was trying her best to crawl, but always went backwards.

Here she has scooted herself back under the couch.

We sat around laughing at her efforts. There were all sorts of bad one-liners about her having been born with just a reverse gear, and about her "crawfishing" across the floor. But it won't be long until she is off and running.

We decided to go to Sweetwater Park for a picnic lunch. We tried to keep a hat on Elyse to protect her from the sun, but she wasn't having any of that. Within seconds she would pull the hat off and throw it on the ground. Ashleigh and Jordan have their sandwiches before going off to feed the ducks.

We enjoyed the large group of ducks gathered by the edge of the lake.

This handsome pair stayed behind after I had spooked all the rest into the water.

We could watch the ducks' feet in the clear water as they swam lazily around. They got a lot more excited when we got a bag of duck food and gave it to Ashleigh and Jordan. The duck food was just cracked corn which immediately sank when they threw it in the water. This didn't bother the ducks - they just went bottom-up and went down and got it!

Mark and Stacy fed the pair of black swans, who were new citizens of the park.

Elyse enjoyed a ride on Mom's shoulder. She certainly got Darla's attention when she excitedly grabbed Mom's hair!

After lunch and duck feeding, we went to the trail head and started down the Sweetwater Creek toward the old factory, "Manchester Mill". Jeff, Ashleigh, Jordan and Marty Dye pose by the creek above. At left, Ashleigh and Jordan want to strike a dramatic and ladylike pose. But if you had been with them on the trail, you would know that the pose below was much more typical.

Elyse was in a playful mood and seemed to enjoy the water and the trees.

We got good views of the shoals in Sweetwater Creek as we approached the factory location.

Jordan heaves a big rock into the shoals of Sweetwater Creek. She and Ashleigh, aided and joined by Jeff and Marty, enjoyed trying to skip rocks on the creek.

After rock throwing, the girls ventured out on the rocks of the creek with Marty.

We found some very fresh beaver cuttings. The girls clowned around with acting like they had done the gnawing.

A picture of the group of adventurers with the old factory in the background brings us near the end of our hike, and toward the close of a very satisfying day of family activities.