A day at Amelia Island

So this past weekend we headed down to Amelia Island Florida where we stayed in a great little boutique hotel just across the street from the beach. If you get the inkling to visit Amelia Island I highly recommend not only the beach and historic district, but the hotel we stayed at. The Amelia Beach Hotel is right in the middle of everything beach oriented, and the rooms have just been remodeled to include a mini fridge, microwave and small sink, great if you have kiddos. The rooms were nice and the beds were comfy and best of all the beach was right across the street. I also have to mention the restaurant across the street from the hotel. Sliders has great affordable food and makes the BEST fired pickles EVER!! Not only that but if you sit outside under the umbrellas and eat there is a Tiki Bar for the parents and a playground for the Kiddies. You can also get to go orders of those awesome pickles and enjoy them down on the beach. Now that is heaven right there.

So anyway Boogie was very excited about the beach and we talked about it a lot and I mentioned maybe we could pick up sharks teeth. Uh Oh! Sharks are in the ocean? Can we swim with sharks. I am always honest with Boogie and told her that while sharks aren't bad we shouldn't probably swim with them because they could bite us. There should be some mom radar that says shut up shut up!! So that conversation led to this picture Saturday morning at the beach.

This is the "No mommy I don't want to get in the water there are sharks that might bite me and lose their teeth." Well it only took Jon and I about 20 minutes to convince her that the sharks were way way way out from where we were and that they wouldn't bother her. Score one for mommy. Still she stuck close to the shore for a bit and threw sand balls at those pesky biting sharks.

Finally we got some personal contact with the ocean, all by herself and it was all downhill from there folks. Now I have to say that the water was pretty rough, and the current was very strong so I was really proud of her for playing in the waves as much as she did. But she had a blast and when Jon pulled out the Boogie Board for our little Boogie, it was all over but the ceremony.

Enjoy!!

Oh my I always thought I wanted the whole world to love me but....

I have heard nothing but; "Hey have you seen that movie trailer?" " You know the one for that movie named after you?" Surely you have seen it, that movie "I love you Beth Cooper". Oh good lord!

Let me break my anonymity; Hello my name is Beth Cooper. Yes, I know there is a book out there called "I love you Beth Cooper". Yes, I know there is a movie coming out today called "I love you Beth Cooper". No, I have not read the book, although my interest is peeked a bit. No, will probably not go and see the movie in the Theatre but will probably rent it on DVD because hey my name is Beth Cooper so why not. Right?

The main character is the popular blond head cheerleader of the high school, I was so far from a cheerleader it was not even funny. Now grant you I was blond, and cute and tan, but not in that click at all. I was focused on my music, me (Beth Cooper) would have shown up in the new comedy Glee, that was my high school experience. I was also one of those smart kids, so the nerdy male lead in the movie probably would have been one of my friends rather then someone I didn't know. So I guess me (Beth Cooper) would have been the antithesis of movie Beth Cooper, the blond hair would be the only thing to link us. :D

I must say that it is really really weird to here your television say "I love you Beth Cooper" It stopped me short the first time really because it's odd. Your TV doesn't usually get that familiar with you, and well now it's professing it's love. Kinda weird.

You know if your interested check out the movie and let me know what you think. Looks like you quintessential teenage/high school coming of age movie. I will confess that in the trailer there does look like there are a few funny parts, but not funny enough for me to shell out $40 to go see it in the theatre, even I don't love myself that much.

If I have peeked your interest too you can check it out at

www.iloveyoubethcoopermovie.com


Have a great weekend everyone...I will tease you in saying that we should have some very exciting tales to tell once we return from our weekend. Until then....

I love you...

Beth Cooper :D

A few Photos of our Anniversary.

As promised here are a few shots from our anniversary. We had a blast!!

This is our rafting trip down the Ocoee. If you ever think about doing it I highly recommend it.

See we had plenty of time to smile and enjoy the river. Only fell out twice!

See smiles all around, of course this was right before the guide dumped us into the river, but hey that was an adventure too. :D

When we went back on Sunday to the Whitewater Center where the Olympic Whitewater course that we went through the day before there was no water. See...

Really nothing just a little trickle and a lot of rocks. I accused Jon of going to the wrong spot, but then they turned the water on literally and this is what we got. Now that was more like what I remember.

10 Year Anniversary

Well this past Saturday was Jon and I's 10 year wedding anniversary. We've actually been together for 14 years if you can believe that. :D So we dropped Boogie off with her fabulous grandparents for a weekend of spoiling and headed to the North GA moutains where we had a cute little cabin reserved. First Jon wanted to do a bit of Off-Roading, I have never done this before but figured what the heck. It was so much fun up steep hills down steep hills, over lots of bumps, enjoying the beautiful forest on the back of a 4-wheeler. It was great until.....we took a trail that was no marked most difficult but turned out to be most difficult once we got to the bottom. For those who might contemplate going Off-Roading at Beasley's Knob outside of Blairsville GA, let me just warn you away from trail 93B as it is marked at the bottom and 93H as it is maked at the top. Not the funnest time of my life. Very very steep slope we went down from the top, and about halfway through, the sliding rock verticle decent, on a 4-wheeler, there is a boulder, a big one that you have to go down on a 4 wheeler. I climbed down mind you cause I really didn't want to flip on the 4-wheeler. Jon went down okay at first...that is important right there..at first. Then the four wheeler started to roll and Jon bailed thank god and the 4-wheeler proceeded to roll 4 times down the mountain. OH FABULOUS! I was done, just wanted out of the woods, 4 1/2 hours of trail riding followed by ATV flipping was enough for me. So we finally found our way out without anymore inccident and headed back to the cabin to rest of for......

WHITE WATER RAFTING!! Woo Hoo!! Now this is will recommend if you are looking for something great to do. It is a must try at least once in your life. I didn't want to go some the tame Nanahala, so instead I signed Jon and I up for a full day on the Ocoee, this river includes the Olympic Whitewater Course and it was AWESOME!! Class 3 and 4 rapids, Jon and I sat in the front so we got the full brunt of the water splashing fun, and I only fell out of the boat two times. Woo Hoo!!! Once I went head first straight over Jon's head, head first and took him and two other people with me. Go me! The rapids were amazing, and we got to swim in the river twice for quite a while, which was so amazing. Jon rode the bull through tw oof the rapids, which meant that he sat on the front of the boat with his legs over the edge holding onto a strap while we went through 2 class 3 rapids. It was fabulous, I am so sad there were no pictures of that. I highly recommend rafting on th Ocoee, do the whole river, not just half it's so worth it, and we went with Rolling Thunder River Company, and they were fantastic. I can not wait to go again.

So that was a great anniversary weekend. Our little cabin was right over a beautiful creek and Jon fished for trout right off the porch. (caught a couple too). There were a couple little cascades there so we could leave the sliding door open and listen to the water too. It was so relaxing and wonderful, I can't wait to be able to do it again. :D

Once I get all the photos uploaded I'll post a few so you can see the fun. :D

Okay only about a month and a half late...but

.. here are a few pictures to continue with the remodel of Boogies Room. We started this project way back in April while she was visiting Florida and I promised updates over Easter but well here we are in June and things happen, so I say better late then never. I think that these pictures pick up where we left off. Enjoy!

This is the start of the reading corner and Boogies princess bed.

This mermaid is beautiful and she is a sticker. Seriously an awesome 5ft sticker from Wallies. I will plug this brand because everything that we bought from them was good quality and looked great once we were finished. So check them out, they have a little bit of everything.

This is the reading nook (left) and the music/art/princess area (above). Charlotte spends most of her time in her room now, reading, drawing and playing on the instruments.

This is the finished project below. There is good storage to keep it pretty clean, and she can find and put away her own toys. I would say that if you really want you little person to enjoy playing and imagining on their own, an inspiring room is the way to go. On a budgeting and construction note. I shopped around for everything, and even found stuff like the bed ($5) at a yard sale to keep costs low. Our total work time mostly after work in the evenings was 5 days including one Sunday, and total budget for all supplies was $450. Not to bad for the great room that we got out of it. Good luck with your remodel projects.

Alligators, Timber Rattlers and a 2 1/2 year old.....

Did I peak your interest? No, I am not talking about out Memorial Day weekend although that was not without incident. I TOLD you, well I will tell you, but I digress.

So this weekend Jon was an absolute angel and packed up all of his stuff and Boogie's stuff and headed down to Papa Edge's farm. I had a huge accounting problem due, which only took me a total of 3 hours to complete. Whew! On top of that there were 4 quizzes on test and a short paper that were due, so an empty house was just what I needed, and Jon realizing that got the heck out of Dodge and took Boogie with him. It was perfect, but again I digress I am sure all you want to hear about is the above mentioned reference.

So Jon, Boogie and Papa Edge, headed out early Saturday morning to look at a piece of property that Papa is leasing to do quail and pheasant hunting for guests throughout the year. The only way to get back there is by 4 wheeler, now people don't freak out, I am not one to condone toddlers on 4 wheelers, but please realize that Jon probably went all of about 5 miles an hour with her on it, and her power wheel goes faster then that. Trust me he called while they were heading out and I put the fear of GOD into him. :D Anyway on the way out to the river they came across the about mentioned Timber Rattler; remember middle GA is either swamp pasture or pine fields, that's it people pick from one of the above three. Jon said it was a very large snake laying right across the road and was not at all happy to see them, so he shot it. Again Jon and I both are very pro snake they are great for the environment, even the rattlers, but on a 4 wheeler with a toddler I don't think I would chance it. Well Charlotte was very excited that daddy shot the bad snake in the face (not the head mind you) and then chopped it's tail off. She was almost as excited about this as she was about the Alligators that they saw at the river. She wanted to pet one and bring it home. Uh no. So once this discussion is finished, Jon's says that they got the 4 wheelers stuck on the way back, I asked where he put Boogie while they got them unstuck and he said that he put her by a tree and told her to stay put. Uh huh...you put a 2 1/2 year old by a tree in the woods with Alligators and Timber Rattlers and told her to stay put. For the love of God!! Apparently the only trouble that she found were the blackberries growing under the pines, so all was good. She did however have another run in with some Alligators at the farm pond.
The pond is a good size but a bit small for 3 full grown alligators, and with cattle, geese, chickens, goats, dogs, and ducks all wondering down to the edge (not to mention Boogie) you don't really want toooo many gators in there. So Jon and Papa Edge trapped 2 of the three (mind you their still small now, between 2 and 3 feet) and moved them too a creek a few miles down the road. Well this was fine with Boogie until they let them go; I might add that I was sent a video of one of the little gators almost getting a chunk of my husbands bicep (do you see what I have to live with, wait till you hear about memorial day). Well when they went to let him go, Boogie was very upset. Jon told her it was okay he was going to a new home, and she said I want him to come to my home. Uh yeah no. *Sigh*
I am happy to say that they did make it back without incident despite their numerous run ins with nature. Boogie had a fabulous time as usual playing with the chickens and the dogs, and the two puppies that are now very roly poly. She also got to see her cow Elsie which was great excitement and there has been the addition of some little goats, which Papa promised her he would get since she said she likes visiting them at the zoo. I am hoping that they are also being used for the milk, and not just for Boogie's enjoyment, which I am sure they are. She loves visiting down there and I am so glad that she is able to see how things work on a farm, it is a great experience. :D

To camp or not to camp that is the question...

Well for those of you that know us it will be no surprise that our plans to rest at home over Memorial Day weekend have changed. For those that don't, this small section of the Cooper clan has a really hard time staying at home on the weekends, relaxation to us, means go and see something. So instead of relaxing at home we will be relaxing in a campsite off of a US Forestry Service Road in the mountains of North Caroline on what I am assured is beautiful Lake Chatuge. Hubby is excited because this means the possibility of at least 2 full days of fishing, to me it means two full days of trying to read while I keep Boogie from falling out of the boat and into beautiful lake Chatuge while he fishes. Should at least prove from some interesting photos if it dosen't rain.

Now hubby and I were both frequent campers as kids, and really before we had Boogie we were pretty frequent campers, but well a baby tends to put a halt on things that you enjoy doing. However, we did get adventurous last summer and not only went hiking with Boogie but also went on an over night camping trip. Poor hubby got to carry the pack up and down the mountain with a 30lb toddler in it. She did great as did hubby, and loved it really, but she was still only slightly mobile and easy to catch up too, and pretty attached to Mommy or Daddy.

This year finds an entirely different Boogie preparing for our camping trip. One that is very independent, and doesn't mind heading off on her own. Not to mention that that little booger is fast. So while I am elated to that Hubby and I get to share our love of the outdoors and camping with our daughter I am also terrified that I will turn my back for one second and she will find the closest bear to befriend, or nearest tree over a gorge to walk out on, or god forbid something that looks interesting to put in her mouth (she is a very orally inquisitive child, NO clue where she might get that from. :D).

So as we pull down the Coleman tent, stove, lanterns, chairs, sleeping bags and backpacks I can't help but wonder if Coleman might make a leash or at least a Toddler Tether specifically designed for the camping enthusiast that doesn't want to leave their child at home. I'm sure that hubby can come up with something but if not look for the pictures of a panicked hubby trying to delicately extracted the 2 1/2 year old from the largest patch of poison ivy ever found by human kind in North Carolina located directly under a buzzing wasp nest on the edge of a deep ravine. I guarantee if a place like this exists up in North Carolina Boogie will be able to find it and put herself right in the middle of it. Alas my sanity I knew it well......