The GA Guinn Trips

We made our annual trek to Harry Stacy Strawberry Farms for our Strawberry picking...and by trek, I mean less than 1/4 of mile from our house!  Farmer Harry opened on Tuesday, but was picked out in one day, so we had to wait until today for more to ripen! 

We got there around 10 am and the place was packed.

This year we did two big baskets and three little ones!  Here we are getting ready to go!

The girls were very excited to start picking!  They even remember the correct twist and pull method to not damage the plants.

Makenna was on a roll!

These girls picked and picked!  Although they only like to pick the small strawberries, I couldn't seem to convince them that the big ones were the ones they needed to be picking!

Lovely strawberry!

Makenna and her strawberry!  Notice I have no pic of Alyssa and a strawberry!  She wouldn't slow down long enough to take one!

This is about the only pose I got out of her!

Makenna showing off her basket of strawberries!

Wandering down the path!

Dirty hands!

I did pick some too!  (Oh MY GOD!  I NEED A NEW PAIR OF JEANS!  THOSE ARE HORRID! MOM, why didn't you say something about how bad they looked in the back! Time to go down a size! Not complaining!)

Our haul!

Then we went over and visited the chickens

Alyssa checking out the chickens

Issy checking out the chicken!

Makenna and Alyssa checking them out!

It was a GREAT MORNING!  And we are lucky we got there when we did, because they were sold out almost an hour after we got home!  So we'll have to wait for more to ripen!  And these girls went crazy over them!  They ate almost an entire small basket (they would have, but I made them stop, because they needed to let their tummies rest a bit!)

We then headed home and had a little nap, because the girls are still recovering from their sinus infections. After nap, we decided to go have our pictures done with the easter bunny!  They came our well, although this momma is not HAPPY with how grown up three little girls look!

These girls DON'T look like FIVE YEAR OLDS!  It is upsetting to this momma!

Do you see that arm cross?  Alyssa is already acting like a teen!  Issy was being Issy, and Makenna was getting ready to be funny...In the pic after this, she stuck her tongue out!

Our traditional look at the Easter Bunny Pic, although this isn't anywhere near as cute as it has been in the past! 

So the last month, I've been running like crazy!  I continue to use the Hal Higdon running program and am getting lots of advice from Aunt Sandra and Uncle Andrew on how to run. 

I did two runs this last month:  The GA Publix Half Marathon and The Color Run

When I ran the Rock and Roll Savannah Half, I had NO GOOD PICTURES AT ALL! Luckily, this one I did.

At the start!  Frank and I went down the night before and stayed at the Omni hotel...This is the WAY to do it!  Having a hotel at the start of the course makes life AMAZING! I will be doing this from now on!

Me running! Not sure where this is in the race, but I think it was around mile 9 or so!  I was still in a pretty good mood here, and ahead of the 2:45 pace team...

Apparently I was still in a good enough mood to smile...although I look crazy!

Me crossing the finish line!

Me at the end!  Still smiling and not dead!

My medal at the end...and a new PR of 2:47:48 (on a much harder course, in warmer weather, with a potty break!)...I didn't make the 2:45, so that's my next goal!  I may try to run with the pace group just to see if I pace slower at the beginning if I will have enough to last it out at the end!

And after all that, I had my first ice bath!  It was HORRIBLE, but my legs weren't dead at all the next day! However, my feet were shot and have my first black toe nail!

The next run was ONLY for fun and it was the Atlanta Color Run!

Color Run Shirt

Color Run color packet!

ME all clean at the start!

Waiting to start!

Me after two hits...Yellow and Pink

Me at the end of the run, but before the full throw!

Color Throw!

Me at the very end!

This was a HUGELY FUN RACE, but be prepared your sinuses take a licking on this one!  I should have covered my mouth with a bandana and taken a clartin before the run, but it was so much fun otherwise!  I can't wait to do it again!

Now to decide on my next runs!  I know I'll do the Swift Cantrell Mother's Day Run and then the Warrior Dash in May, so those are set!  But really want to find a Marathon to do soon! Yep, I said it!  I want to run a full! I've just got to get brave enough to actually sign up and do it!

One of the things that makes the career of Fire fighting so special is the traditions that surround the department.  One of the biggest things that I have missed since Frank went to City of Atlanta Fire was the lack of special recognition for all the hard work these guys do,but I can't begin to say how that has changed...This year, the department held the first ever pinning ceremony for all the fire fighters who received the rank of Sergeant.  Frank was one of those fire fighters and the girls and I were so excited to be apart of this special event!

This year, they had each of the fire fighters called by name, had their families pin their badges onto their coats, and then they were sworn in.  It was a beautiful ceremony!  (and the big wigs were very impressed with our girls!  They even were mentioned in the speeches! Got to love the triplet attention!)

Frank getting his handshake from the Chief of the Atlanta Fire Department.

The girls and I pinning Frank

All the bigwigs making their presentations

More Pinning

Frank and the Guys from Station 21

Frank and the Chief

Frank and the girls!

Frank and I

And all of us! 

It was such a great night and we are SO PROUD of Frank!  He worked really hard for this!

So far, this year we've had some really cool adventures.  One day Frank and I were sitting around and decided to head to Rock City and Ruby Falls.  If you haven't heard, I am extremely afraid of tight enclosed spaces, so going into a cave rates right up there with doing laundry or having bamboo shoved under my nails!  But I love my kiddos so I do crazy things like this for them! 

So we loaded up with Super Nana and headed up!

Looking over the Rock Bridge

Cave Exploring

Family Pic

Nana and the girls!

Crossing the swing bridge

Nana and Alyssa decided to take a nap!

Daddy and the girls!

We had a really great time! 

We have also discovered the Tellus Science Museum!  This is Poppa Wallace mecca!  Seriously, it was built for him and he could probably spend weeks in there going through all the exhibits!  The girls really liked it too.  We even got yearly passes, and have gone twice since then!

Outside of the Planetarium

Poppa teaching Issy about gravity!

Panning for gems!

Working with magnets with daddy!

Matching (Don't you just LOVE her outfit with her Cowboy Boots?)

Future Career?  Who knows?  (But Nasa will have to get back on the missions to space again for it to happen!)

Digging for fossils! 

So far, 2012 is off to a great start!

So I am running the Publix Half on Sunday, but am just getting to blogging about actually running my VERY FIRST HALF MARATHON!

A year ago I decided to start running.  I began slow with a few 5ks and then signed up for my first half!  I had two requirements...1. it had to be close and 2. it had to be flat!  The Savannah Rock and Roll Half fit the bill!  So I began trainning using the Hal Higdon training program!  It is great and I did really good with my training.

So here's the few pics I got of the event. 

Frank, the girls, Terri and her daughter all travelled with me!

Waiting in my pace group! I signed up for the 3:45 half time!

Me getting ready to go!

My medal...I finished at 2.51 which was amazing!

Heading home!

We even went to Savannah waterfront and spent some time exploring although momma could barely walk!

Makenna taking our picture!

It was a great time and I am ready to do it again this weekend (but with hills or at least I hope I am!)

...or at least according to my girls!

If I could meet any Celeb, I would choose someone like Brad Pitt, Audrey Hepburn, Anne Hathaway...

But for my girls...Buddy is about a good as you can get!

Alyssa and Buddy!

Makenna and Buddy

Issy and Buddy

And all Three with Buddy!

Horrid pic, but they were the happiest children ever!

As drama director, my life is crazy and I am often stretched to the limit, but I also get the opportunity to do things that I would NEVER get to do otherwise!

This year I had the pleasure of attending Thes Con with my Thespian Troupe....

Here's the crazy (but EXCELLENT) group of kiddos I took to the conference!

We spent three days dancing, acting, and having a blast!  And I got to fly!

Getting Harnessed in!

All ready to go!

Supermomma!

And upside down!

I got to swing and spin!  It was great and I had an absolute blast!

Here is what I found downstairs one day!

This was what was inside!

My little crazy child had gotten inside and put the top on...then one of the sister's snapped it shut!

So I finally became a pinterest fan!  Well fan maybe an understatement!...

It started like this...

And since has turned into this...

Shaving Cream paints

Issy's wall of  paint

Rainbow Cake

The result

I taught the girls' prek class...

We read a story about Olly the Octopus and we all made octopus in a bottle...The girls love it!

Yarn spider web provided hours of fun!

Next stop!  Building these for the girls!

Pinterest...making parents better one click at a time!

The word busy can't begin to describe our lives as of late!  I have ran a half marathon, directed a Holiday Show (that the girls were in), worked full time, had Christmas, went to Louisiana, and have begun work on our spring show!  So to say we are busy is the understatement of the month.  Therefore I am going to play catchup on the blog.  It won't be much, but hey at least its something right?

Because of Cobb County's new school schedule, we got out the day before Christmas Eve, which meant no time for fun Christmas activities!  It really was NOT fun missing out on everything, but Nana and Poppa were there to fill the space!

Getting the "real" tree for the TACKY TREE that the girls and Poppa do every year!

Decorating the tree

Nana, Poppa, Aunt Sandra, myself and the girls meet Frank and the rest of the fire fighters down at Lenox Mall for a twirl around the pink pig!

I was in the front taking pictures!

Aunt Sandra and Uncle Andrew went with us to watch Alyssa perform in her Ice Skating Recital.  Momma and Daddy had to be in Louisiana, because Mee-maw had gotten very sick and passed away during this time. It was very sudden and very sad!

Alyssa is in the middle!

We made a Ginger Bread House

Fed the birds

We visited by a merry elf, who got really creative this year with his pranks!

Such a funny Red Sock Elf

We twrilled some sparklers

We opened presents!

We visited the NICU and took food to the NICU workers and our normal NICU family stocking! That's Dr. Metford! This is the DR that is responsible for Alyssa being her today!

We visited family!

Love Makenna's look on this one!

It was a great holiday season!