Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!! We've had a fun weekend of Halloween-related events. On Thursday, we attended the MBA's Halloween Party. There was dinner, games, and candy to be had. Zara went as a giraffe....


....and David and I went as zoo-keepers. (Or safari sight-seers, as most people guessed. Either one works.) I figure it's a good costume and can be worn year after year. Every time we add a child, we can just dress them up as another animal. It's perfect!

On Saturday, we finally got around to carving the pumpkin we bought at the pumpkin patch. It's been years since I carved a pumpkin and I think ours turned out pretty great.

It's a vamp-kin. Though to be fair, David did most of the carving. I just cleaned out the pumpkin guts. Saturday night we also went to our ward's Trunk or Treat where Zara scored a bunch of candy, some of which she managed to eat, wrappers notwithstanding, and some of which we ate. It's totally cool to steal your child's Halloween candy, right? That's good parenting, wouldn't you say? We're just trying to help her not eat a lot of sugar.

We're looking forward to taking Zara Trick or Treating for her very first time tonight. She's grown quite attached to her plastic pumpkin and really enjoys playing with (and occasionally eating) her candy. She's such a cute giraffe. I might just have to put her in her costume a few more times, even after Halloween. It's way too cute.

I wonder how many trick or treaters will see at our house tonight too. I hope there's not more than 45.....wait, 42 trick or treaters because that's all the candy I bought. Though, let's be honest, it'll probably be more like 39 pieces of candy by the time the trick or treaters actually arrive. That's the problem when you buy your favorite candy for the trick or trickers.....you eat it all.

Roadtrip: Nashville and Kentucky

The morning of July 6th found us in Nashville, Tennessee. After reading about the attractions we could visit in Nashville (The Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame, The Hermitage, or Belle Meade Plantation) we decided to visit Andrew Jackson's house, The Hermitage. If you didn't know that I'd pick the old house of some famous dead person as our one must-see attraction then you seriously don't know me.

We arrived at The Hermitage early in the morning and went through the requisite museum exhibition before heading through the grounds to the mansion house to await our guided tour. Poor tour guides were wearing long-sleeve period costumes and it was already blazing hot.

Oh, this crazy baby face. She's ridiculous. And she looks so different to me, even though this was only four months ago.
The back of the house. Andrew Jackson bought the home in 1804 from its original owner, Nathaniel Hays. Jackson spent little time at his home until 1837, when he retired from public life.

Andrew Jackson died there on June 8, 1845. After his daughter-in-law's death in 1887, the house was given over to the custodianship of the Ladies' Hermitage Society who still operate the house today.

After taking our tour, we walked through the gardens which were quite beautiful.
There were several other buildings on the grounds and the grounds themselves were quite extensive. We would have liked to have seen more but it was so hot and humid that we couldn't stand being outside any longer.

So we high-tailed it back to the museum gift shop where I bought my obligatory Christmas ornament (we buy a Christmas ornament from every place we visit) and decided to hit the road again since our time was already short and we had a whole state to drive through.

We took the I-65 out of Nashville, heading toward Louisville, Kentucky. I wanted to stop at Mammoth Cave National Park on our way. Ruby Falls had been a nice warm-up to the supposedly massive caves in Kentucky and I was looking forward to seeing what the park had to offer. (My original plan for our trip out to Georgia had also included a stop at the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico which we scrapped in order to see all our friends in Texas so I was anxious that we should get to see some good, big caves now!)

I had read on the NPS website that during the peak summer months, the park offered free self-guided tours of the most easily accessible part of the cave system. We arrived at around 2:15pm (I think), only to discover that the last "self-guided" tour departed at 2pm. There was an option to take a longer, guided tour, but that would have set us back a lot of time so we opted to just continue on with our journey. No caves for us. I did, however, get a stamp in my NPS National Passbook so there's that.

In retrospect, it's probably a good thing that we didn't stick around Mammoth Caves for a tour. They were doing a lot of construction on the I-65 and traffic was way backed up. We eventually got off the interstate, and took a bunch of side streets through the Kentucky countryside until we had by-passed the road construction. I don't know if it really saved us a lot of time, but I liked to think that it did. In any case, we got to enjoy a lot of the beautiful Kentucky countryside....and it was beautiful.

We landed in Louisville around dusk and checked into the Downtown Louisville Hampton Inn. We walked around the city a bit (I'll include those pictures in my next post on Louisville) and ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory which was located in this absolutely beautiful renovated Victorian factory.

All in all, the Hermitage was not my favorite presidential home. I wouldn't even rank it in the top ten of my favorite historic houses I've been to but it was worth a visit--at least for me--and I'm glad I can check that off my list. Mammoth Caves may have been a bust but Kentucky was not. I enjoyed the beauty of the Bluegrass State. More on that, later.

Roadtrip: Chattanooga, Tennessee

David, Zara, and I left Atlanta on the 5th of July to begin our return trip to California. We had debated all the way up to the night before on what itinerary we would take to get there. We had to be in Poway by the 15th of July for my mom's 60th birthday and family reunion so we had to cut out some of the spots that we wanted to visit in order to make it back in time. Savannah and Charleston were at the very top of my list of places to visit but I knew that I wouldn't really be happy to spend only one day in each place. We figured that since we'll be back in Georgia many more times in the years to come that we could save that trip for another time. So instead we pointed our car northward and journeyed to Tennessee. Our end point for the day was Nashville. but we spent a delightful afternoon in Chattanooga, which is just across the Georgia border, in Tennessee.

While we ate a delicious lunch at the Mount Vernon Restaurant at the base of Lookout Mountain, we looked up some of the other attractions in the city. Just up the mountain, not far from where we sat, was Ruby Falls, a 145 foot waterfall located inside a mountain cave.

Being a fan of caves, we decided to head up Lookout Mountain to Ruby Falls after our meal.

We rode an elevator 1120 feet below the ground and met up with our excellent cave guide who explained all about the history of the cave and the falls, its discovery by Leo Lambert in the late 1920s, and the various types of cave formations we could see along our journey to the falls.

There were some truly awe-inspiring sights along the way.

My only complaint was that the journey to the falls took a long time not because it was a long and difficult walk, but rather because you had to wait for other tour groups to pass you as they exited the cave and many had very slow stragglers holding them up.

The nice thing was that our return trip took half the time (since other tour groups had to wait for us) but I'm sure on a slow day, a visit to Ruby Falls would be a quick and pleasant journey.

Still, it was nice and cool inside the cave, which was a pleasant break from the heat of a Southern summer day. Finally, slowly, we made our way into the chamber of the cave. It was completely dark when we first entered. And then the light show began:

The waterfall all light up was breathtaking. We were able to walk all around it, look up at it falling and take pictures. They don't know where the water comes from and the guide said that the water pressure varies and can shoot halfway through the room.

You only get five minutes at the falls before you have to leave so that the next group can come in.

Our guide was nice enough to take a photo of us at the falls. I'm really glad we stopped to tour Ruby Falls. We were planning on visiting Mammoth Caves on our way through Kentucky but that ended up not happening, so I was glad that we were at least able to visit on cave system in the Southeast. Apparently the South is full of caves and I'd love to spend more time exploring them in future.

After our pleasant stop in Chattanooga, we hopped on the I-24 and drove up to Nashville where we checked in the Hampton Inn near the Nashville Airport, ate some local BBQ, and planned our next day's adventure.

Atlanta: Fourth of July and Friends

Whenever we visit Atlanta, we always try to visit Tha, one of David's oldest and dearest friends. Tha's family were Cambodian refugees who came to America when Tha was very young. They return to Cambodia every few years; Tha even married a girl from Cambodia in a big, traditional Cambodian wedding ceremony. (I've seen the pictures. It was gorgeous.)

Tha is an artist and put his artistic use to skill in order to become an architect. We went to his office in downtown Atlanta to visit him and get the grand tour of his company's beautiful new office, which included this amazing view of Atlanta. I don't know how much work I'd get done if I could stare out my window at this all day long.

Here's Tha with our silly Zara. We left Tha's office and drove out to East Point to meet Tha's wife and his two kids and ate dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. Man, I love Asian food. So good. Tha was a very influential person in David's life so I always love any chance we get to see him.

Our last day in Atlanta was the Fourth of July. We had finally moved David's parents into their new home in Powder Springs, so they had the whole family over for steaks and pie. Zara was super excited to celebrate her first Fourth of July. (That's her cousin, Jackson, in the background.) It was fun to spend our last day in Georgia with all of David's family.

I don't why, but this face just cracks me up.

Here's Jackson again. David, as many of you know, has four sisters. Fiona is the oldest, then comes David, Sasha, Lorann, and Kristy. This is Sasha's third child. She's got another one on the way. I hope it's a girl because girls are seriously under-represented amongst the grandkids, much to my father-in-law's disappointment.

This is David's youngest sister, Kristy, with Zara and Jackson.
Here's part of the family relaxing in the new family room.

And here's more of David's family: his older sister Fiona and her husband Jeremy are in the background. And David's third sister, Lorann, and her husband Matt are playing with Zara. Lorann was very pregnant at the time. We missed the birth of her baby boy, Ryan, by about two weeks.

The cousins all had a great time playing with each other. Here are almost all of them (except for Fiona's two oldest who were in Florida with their dad for the summer.) From front to back is Jackson, Ashleigh, Cody, Zara, Nolan, and Makayla.

David's dad playing with Zara (who he calls Zoomy) and Jackson.


We all enjoyed our holiday meal. Afterward, we played cards with David's siblings and their spouses and then said our good-byes. I don't know when we'll get a chance to head out to Atlanta again, but the more time I spend out there, the more I like it.

The End of an Era

We interrupt this string of vacation-related blog posts to bring you this special news bulletin… Or something like that….

It seems I am in the writing mood tonight, and as that happens so rarely these days, I decided it would behoove me to make this blog post. After all, I’m way behind on my Mother’s Day quota. Liz has been very kind about not nagging me to post something, though every now and then I think I could use a good nagging to help keep me focused. But that’s beside the point.

As I was saying, since I’m in the mood to write, write I shall!

As any faithful reader of this blog is sure to know, our little family has just made a drastic change of lifestyle in the hopes of making another drastic change of lifestyle in a couple of years. All these drastic changes got me to thinking about all the other drastic changes in my life that led up to the current drastic changes.

I can roughly break my life up into chunks of time: from birth up until high school, from high school until after my mission to Taiwan, and from returning from Taiwan until separation from the Navy. These are categorized much more by feeling than they are by time, but for those interested that’s 14 years, 7 years, and 9 years, respectively. Each was an era defined in my mind by my rate of growth.

As I see it, from birth to high school I changed very little. Everyday life was pretty much the same: go to school, get good grades, be bored all the time. I filled my excess time by playing with my LEGOs. Looking back, everyday seems very much the same and boredom is an overarching theme. Let’s call this era the Era of Boredom.

Let me pause for a moment. Please don’t misunderstand me. There were many great and wonderful activities taking place during this time, but these eras have little to do with how I filled my days and everything to do with how much I learned and how fast I grew during that timeframe. My eras are defined by how my potential was utilized, or underutilized, as the case may be.

From high school until returning from Taiwan, I spent a lot of time deciding who I wanted to be and what I wanted to get out of life. I started observing people, particularly couples, to see how they interacted. I decided what type of husband and father I wanted to be. I decided that I would travel so as to not live my whole life and then die in the same town. I learned that I had talents that I didn’t know I had, like the ability to learn Chinese. (This was especially important after taking four years of Spanish in high school and not remembering any of it.) I decided that people are basically good. This was my Decision Era.

The first part of the next era could almost be its own mini era, but I include it with this one because it led to all of the wonderful things that have happened to me over the last seven years. After I returned from Taiwan, I began to yearn for more personal growth. I tried college, but I couldn’t afford it after the first semester. My work was unsatisfying and I felt my potential was being wasted. My only significant work experience was in the grocery business; I wanted to be something more, but I was limited by my lack of education and experience.

My father suggested I join the Navy, which I did, and I left for basic training about six months later. (One thing I love about the military—they will hire you based on your potential, rather than based on what you’ve already done.) After basic training, I was sent to Monterey, California to learn Korean, and it was here that I met Alicia, who basically walked me through the process of getting an Associate’s degree in Korean. It was also here that I met my lovely wife, Liz, who has inspired me to become everything I’ve only ever dreamed of being. With her encouragement, I completed a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and was successfully admitted into Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management. I’ve become what Liz always wanted in a husband. (This is especially important because I really didn’t have much going for me when we met.) We also have a beautiful daughter, which has been a wonderful experience for both Liz and I as we watch her grow. My little family has been able to experience multiple cultures in the last few years as we traveled throughout Hawaii, Korea, China, Taiwan, and much of the continental United States together. So, what began as an era of no experience or education, ended up being chocked full of both and has been by far the greatest of the all three.

Now that we are settled and I am in school, I feel as though the Education and Experience Era has come to an end. Despite the fact that I am currently pursuing another degree, I feel that the growth associated with this time far outweighs that of the prior era—enough so to start anew. As with so many other things, only time will tell. I will say this much though… I am thoroughly enjoying every bit of what I’m learning and doing now. Combine that with the joys of being with my family every day, and I don’t believe I’ve ever been happier.

While I don’t know everything the future holds, I am very excited for this new season of my life and for what’s in store for me and my little family!

Atlanta: Atlanta History Center and Margaret Mitchell House

This is what you've all been waiting for, folks. This is my very favorite place in Atlanta. For some reason, I thought we'd been to the Atlanta History Center before and when I finally realized that no, we really hadn't, I quickly decided to rectify that situation. I loved it. All of it. If you ever happen to be in Atlanta and you like history at all--even just a tiny smidgen--then this is the place you need to go. But be warned, to see everything the Center offers, you really need to spend the whole day there. (And for the record, if we ever lived in Atlanta, I'd HAVE to work here. I would just have to.) Let's break it down, shall we?

The History Center consists of a museum with several permanent and traveling exhibitions, three historic houses, a few gardens, playhouses, shops, and restaurants. We arrived just after the center opened. We bought our tickets and scheduled our tours of the Swan House and the Tullie Smith House. (They wanted you to have timed tickets to attend tours of these houses, but it seems they only really care about these if the center is really busy. They didn't even bother to look at our tickets when we showed up for our tours because there weren't many other people there.)

We started in one of the exhibitions in the museum, but left before we finished it to visit the Swan House. (I'll get back to the museum later.) Leaving the museum, we had to pass through a wooded area and cross over this bridge, passing a few of the gardens on our way.

The Swan House is one of the most photographed buildings in Atlanta. It was built in 1928 by the Inman Family and was lived in by the family until 1965, when it was turned over the Atlanta Historical Society. It's unique for a historic home in that almost every single item in the house is original to the home and was used by the family.

The back of the house is almost as beautiful as the front. There are lots of swan motifs all throughout the house and structure. Supposedly, Emily Inman bought a pair of pier tables (which now reside in the dining room) with beautifully carved swans on the legs and decided to build the house around these showpieces and incorporate swans into the rest of the house.

This is the view of the gardens. The house was simply one of the most beautiful I've ever been in. Only the Hillwood Estate in Washington, D.C., I think, can compare to the splendor and careful design and decor that went into the building of this house. Despite all the beauty of the house, I think the kitchens were actually my favorite room. I find old kitchens to be terribly fascinating.

In the terrace of the Swan House, there is an exhibit of porcelain, furniture, silver, rugs, and other decorative arts belonging to Phillip Trammell Shutze, the architect of the Swan House and many commercial and residential buildings in Atlanta. After his death in 1982, his collection of decorative arts was given to the Atlanta History Center.

Our next stop was the Tullie Smith Family farm house (including a detached kitchen), a small mid-nineteenth century plantation home which was moved from it's original location in Dekalb County to the Altanta History Center in 1969.

The farm includes many out-buildings including a dairy, blacksmith shop, smokehouse, double corncrib, slave cabin, and barn, as well as traditional vegetable, herb, field, flower, and slave gardens. A farm cat was even hanging out by the well. I always appreciate a place that keeps a cat or two in residence.

I wonder who gets to eat the fruits and vegetables they are actually growing there.

The small one-room slave cabin could have used a little bit more of a dynamic presentation.

After exploring the farm complex, we headed over to the Swan Coach House for lunch. It was pretty busy since it caters to not just museum visitors but a lot of Buckhead residents. Think upper-crust English tea time and ladies all dressed up for lunch with their country club friends. The dining room was decorated in all floral and pink. I think David was one of three men in the whole establishment. The food was good--not spectacular--but our salads and frozen fruit salad were refreshing and filling.

After lunch, we went back to the museum to finish up the exhibit we had already started and to breeze through the rest of them. (Our time was getting short so we really didn't get to spend as much time in the other exhibits as I would have liked.) We spent the bulk of our time in the "Metropolitan Frontiers" exhibit which chronicles the urban history of Atlanta as it moved from a rural town, to transportation hub, to a commercial city, and then a suburban metropolis. (This is a picture of a 1920 Hanson automobile which was built in Atlanta and is one of two known to exist.)

I thought this exhibition was very well done and incredibly fascinating. Atlanta is a very unique city with a very unique history. I thought this exhibit did a remarkable job capturing its growth and culture. We also spent a little bit of time in the "Turning Point: The American Civil War" exhibit though it does not stand out from many of the other Civil War exhibitions we viewed along this trip. I did like the design and layout of the exhibit, though. We by-passed an exhibition on Bobby Jones because neither David nor I particularly care much for golf and I only paused long enough in their Southern folk arts exhibit to admire the quilts. Their temporary exhibition at the time was a display of several pages of the manuscript of Gone with the Wind and the publication of the book. Since we had visited the Margaret Mitchell House the day before, I found it a tad more interesting than I probably normally would have. The last exhibition is their Centennial Olympic Games Museum, all about the Olympics, naturally. David was anxious to get home to help his parents continue with their never-ending move, so we had to speed-walk our way through this part. I definitely plan on going back to the History Center the next time we visit Georgia.

Since the Margaret Mitchell House is run and operated by the Atlanta History Center, I'm including photos of our trip to "the dump," as Mitchell called it. This house (which is really a grand house that was converted into apartments) is located in Midtown. This is the front of the house.....

....and this is the back. The first floor apartment on the left is the one that Mitchell and her husband lived in while she wrote Gone with the Wind. It's a small apartment and so the tour is rather short but still interesting. (Though our docent could have done with a few less personal details.)
To recap: go to the Atlanta History Center.