Easter Weekend in the South

For the weekend of Easter Dan, Halle, and I went to South Georgia to visit all of my family. Saturday we attended Rincon Church of God picnic and got to see and catch up with many of our friends. The afternoon was full of great food, great fellowship, good eatin, easter egg huntin, and a good old game of softball.

Halle fell asleep with Papa.
I love my Meme. She is soo sweet.
After the picnic, Dan, Halle and I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in downtown Savannah and Tybee Island. This was Halle's first visit to the beach. She got really excited when the waves would come up close to her but didn't like the very cold water to touch her. Of course she liked to play in the sand and then eat it.


We enjoyed some really great food at the Crab Shack on Tybee that evening.  Dan and I took our very first date here.

For Easter Sunday we went to Rincon Church of God in the morning and had a big family lunch at Papa and Meme's.
My mom's husband Jon was trying to get Halle to smile for the camera.
It was really nice to spend the afternoon with my family. This is my mom, Halle, and Jon.
This is my brother Jon and my cousin Ben.
Easter Evening we went to Uncle Joey's farm for dinner. Halle had fun watching all the animals, playing in the dirt, swimming in the pool, playing on the playground with her cousins, and hunting for Easter eggs.

Halle playing with her cousin, Alexis.
This is Sam, Uncle Joey's dog. He likes to lounge in chairs not dirt. 

My brother Brandon loves Dan-o.
We played in our family get-together ritual...a tournament of horse shoes. Here's my brother Jon and Uncle Joey in an intense game of horse shoes.
My brother Brandon entertained us with his scooter and home made ramps. 

We really again enjoyed spending time with our family. We will miss being so close. GREAT WEEKEND!! 

Pocket Wilderness and Callaway Gardens

Daddy and Amanda came to visit this past weekend. On Saturday they took us to Callaway Gardens near La Grange, GA. We really enjoyed  a beautiful sun shiny day. Halle did so well, she loved being outside all day.
All these photos were taken by Amanda. She is a wonderful photographer!
The Gardens have an amazing Butterfly Sanctuary FULL of every kind of butterfly. Halle liked following them around and watching them fly by her head.
She would not stop SMILING all day.
Daddy and Halle with the Easter Bunny.
Halle having fun in the Easter basket.
Halle catching a ride with Papa.
Yeah...she wanted to eat the pine straw.

SWEET GIRL!

On Sunday we took a trip up to Tennessee to a favorite spot of Dan and I's...Pocket Wilderness and Laurel Falls. Dan and I knew it would be beautiful as usual but we were completely breath taken when we got there. From the rain we've received, the streams, waterfalls, and  rivers were LOADED with water which made for a really scenic five mile hike along the river (usually a creek.)  The hike was so gorgeous and refreshing.

Dan and I have taken many hiking and camping trips to Pocket Wilderness while dating, with college friends and youth trips when we were youth pastoring. But never have we seen this water fall so full before. Yep...that's Daddy up there on the dead tree.

We love when daddy and Amanda come to visit. We know we are going to have a blast. Growing up with daddy was so spontaneous and fun. We went on random, really cool trips for the weekends all the time. Things have not changed with daddy. He is still an adventurer. We love you you guys alot and are going to miss your monthly visits. 

 Amanda was the photographer for the weekend. She took some amazing pictures. Thank you G-Ma Amanda. 

Laughing Halle

I love being a Daddy. One of my favorite things to do with Halle is simply to get here to laugh and smile. As many of you know, Jessica has a, well, contagious laugh. I wonder what type of hybrid laugher we will have in our little girl as she grows. This is a short video of Halle just laughing as I play a little game of peek-a-boo with her.

Dan

Two cultures in love

Dan, Halle, and I had the privilege of attending some beyond beautiful wedding festivities this past weekend of our friends Matthew and Melanny. Matthew is the brother of some of our best friends Laurie and Jason Lefevers.  Matthew is from a christian american family while Mellany is from a hindu/sikh indian family. The wedding contained both american and indian customs. It is always so interesting and exciting to see different cultures and their customs. The whole wedding event lasted from  3:30 that afternoon until late into the night. The groom was welcomed into the hotel by a dancing party, bongos, shouting, and crowds of people on the streets of Atlanta. This is called a barat. Then the wedding ceremony began shortly after. The ceremony was just beautiful. Not only were the decorations, bridal party's dresses, bride's dress breathtaking, but the content and depth of the actual ceremony was profound and so sweet!  

The decorations were gorgeous!! Every seat was covered in gold colored satin.
Laurie was a bridesmaid which all wore sarees or lehngas. It was so FUN to look at all those women in those beautiful dresses all night. Jason was a groomsmen.
Here is the bride, Mellany and her dad. Her dress left me speechless...WOW...beautiful! It was designed by her family and hand made in India. She said she had a hard time even walking in the dress because it weighed 30 pounds.
Look at that bead and jewel work detail!!
The bride and groom's parents sat with them on stage during the ceremony. There was a REAL fire pit on stage and Laurie actually tied them together. (literally)
This is the american traditional part led by Jason's dad.
They were so HAPPY!! She was BEAUTIFUL!

Every woman in attendance received a REAL pearl bracelet when arriving at the reception.

Between the ceremony and reception there was a cocktail room where there were open bars and indian food appetizers.
Laurie was absolutely gorgeous in her lehnga!! Could not even tell she was pregnant.
Really COOL indian decorations. 
The bride changed into a different dress for the reception which was also hand made  just for her in India and was just as beautiful.
The indian culture loves to dance. Here is a dance they performed at the reception, which was super cool to see. 
YEAH....my favorite...lots and lots of indian food! It was soooo good and REALLY SPICY!
Here's Daddy's girl! Halle's first dance.
She was the life of the party..hehe!
We were so honored to spend such a memorable beautiful event with some really great friends. What an amazing weekend. We wish the VERY best for Matthew and Mellany in their new life together.

Our trek to Missouri and back home again

Dan, Halle and I started our 13 hour trek to Trenton, Missouri last Thursday. This was Halle's first LONG road trip and indeed it was VERY LONG!! We stayed in a little Bed and Breakfast in Trenton that was so unique and beautiful. 

This old COMFORTABLE bed we had in the Bed and Breakfast was my favorite!!

After a great weekend in Missouri we started our trip back to Atlanta. We split the trip into two days. The first night we stayed in a Drury Inn with an indoor pool. Dan took Halle for her first swim in a pool. She absolutely LOVED it. We have never heard her laugh so MUCH!! She never stopped smiling. Dan would pop out from under the water and make water fountains with his mouth...she would cackle so loud!

The next day we stopped off at Mammoth cave for a two hour tour of the longest cave in the world. The cave was so massive...I couldn't believe it. And we only saw a fraction of it on our two hour tour.

There were some tight spots.
Halle didn't really enjoy those tight spots.
This is one of the natural openings to Mammoth cave. This is where we began and ended our tour. It was a great trip!