Yankee Laura's March Through Atlanta!

My BFF Laura (Oboe Laura, not to be confused with Horn Laura) came to visit me in January.

Dr. Dahl and Dr. Medisky!

We were both oboe majors at ASU together.

Laura is also a certified Alexander Technique teacher, and so I put her to work at Georgia State. Here she is teaching a masterclass to the woodwind students.

And then a private masterclass with just my oboe students.

And of course I wanted my own turn! Do I look skeptical? I think I was. There's no way to have good posture when you're carrying so much weight on your front!

We didn't work too hard...Greg asked us to test out our new camera and see if it could catch us moving.

And we went on a "Gone with the Wind" tour in Jonesboro. Laura's been reading the book for 2 years now. I think she might finish in another 2. In the meantime we watched the movie and took the tour. Our bus driver was probably 80 years old, and we were the only people on the tour. It was awesome!

Cemetery of the Confederate Dead.

The tour was mostly about Civil War history and especially the Battle of Jonesboro, which is the battle that was taking place when Rhett helped get Scarlett and Melanie out of Atlanta. Oh yeah, and then he deserted them. Tara doesn't actually exist except for as a set in CA, but it was supposed to have been in Jonesboro.

This was my favorite part...the Confederate flag flying...on Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

An intersection in Jonesboro: Rhett Butler and Scarlett meet

This used to be the Clayton County Jail, and is now used as a museum.

Our tour guide locked us up in the jail...

But I figured out how to escape

And Laura followed behind me.

This was our awesome tour guide, Johnny Little. He is demonstrating the corncob stopper for the local moonshine called "White Lightning."

Laura totally wanted this bike!

We didn't think we'd have time to see an MLK Parade, but lo and behold, in the midst of our tour the parade came to us. Literally. My car and the visitors center were in the middle of the parade. I have to say Jonesboro's parade was even better than Fayetteville's last year.

I love marching bands, and I love their soul marching! I wish we could have marched like that in our rural high school in Kansas.

This dancer had some moves!

As did the drum major!

At the "Road to Tara" Museum in downtown Jonesboro.

This is Judd's Country store. It was built in 1894 and used as-is until 1978!!!! People would come to play checkers, get their beer, and hear the gossip of the day.

This carriage house is at Stately Oaks Plantation House, which is the plantation house of Margaret Mitchell's (the author of "Gone with the Wind") grandmother. Margaret used her grandmother as her inspiration for Scarlett.

Nice donkey!

One-room schoolhouse

Creek Indian Village - a waddle and daub hut

The plantation house Margaret Mitchell's grandmother grew up in.

Which restroom should I use???

Greg and Laura, aka Ice Cream Buddies, were reunited after 3 years of separation!

And of course no trip to Peachtree City is complete without driving "Obama."

Laura and Lara...BFF's!

The Canon T2i

Our Christmas present this year to each other was our Canon T2i. We ordered it on Black Friday and just got it last week, but we LOVE it!

Check out the quality of these pictures!

But here's the thing...why in the world did my daffodils bloom in December? It is so embarrassing!!!!

32 Weeks and Counting Down

We had our 32-week ultrasound on Friday. They said everything looks healthy and normal, and it's still a girl!

Here's her face! Can you see it? She's looking right at you - just her face and her shoulders. I think she might have my nose! And no, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have fangs...at least, I'm hoping not!

A picture at 29 weeks...with our Christmas decorations still up in mid-January. They are down now (as of 1 hour ago)!

A picture from today - 32 weeks!

And still growing...

Greg caught this candid picture of me reading the book entitled, "Pregnancy Sucks." I'm not sure what I was reading, but it was shocking!

I think the ultrasound convinced me that I really might be having a baby soon. I haven't nested at all until yesterday, when Greg got the bug too and we finally got a crib. Tada!

Romance in the Okefenokee Swamp

I've read in stupid pregnancy books (I think they're all pretty stupid) and been told by friends that we should go on a Babymoon. Definition - your last honeymoon before the baby comes and ruins your love life. We decided the Okefenokee Swamp would be the perfect place to go over New Year's weekend! What? You don't think a swamp is romantic? We thought it was. Plus, it was the last of the Seven Wonders of Georgia that we hadn't seen!

We arrived at sunset on Saturday afternoon.

Prego shot at 29 weeks

Beautiful sunset

Our cute little cabin.

It was tiny but not too rustic. My one priority was it had to have a modern bathroom!

The next day, New Year's Day, we went hiking...

And biking...

Greg was smart and brought his road bike. I had to rent an old lady's bike...it was awesome!

The Chesser Family Homestead - The Chesser family settled this island in the swamp in the 1800s and lived there up until the 1960s. This is sand in the front yard, used to help prevent fires from burning down the house. They also kept it well-raked so they could see animal tracks leading up to the house...especially snake tracks.

Their modernized bathroom

A baby alligator. It was so hard to spot the alligators because of the black swamp water which is apparently comprised of tannic acid. EVERYTHING reflects in the water!

Another baby alligator

And the third sibling. It's to the left of the pine cone.

This is the first alligator we spotted. Actually, we looked and looked and never could find it, but luckily a red-neck, alligator-hunting, swamp dweller drove up and pointed it out for us. I really wish we had gotten a picture of him.

See how hard they are to spot! This was on our bike ride around Chesser Island, and he was just on the other side of the canal hanging out.

That evening we took a Sunset Boat Tour. Here was an alligator sunning himself on the bank.

Our tour guide Chip owns Okefenokee Adventures on the east side of the swamp. He knew everything, and he loves, loves, loves swamps!

The Canal on the East Side

Can you see the alligator? It's in the water, with its snout pointing out.

A yellow-bellied slider turtle

Chip drove us right up to this alligator and parked. I believe it was a she, and she is always in this spot.

He pointed out the alligator trails in the prairie. By the way, did you know that swamps have prairies? We didn't.

While Chip was taking our picture, the alligator started hissing at us! But she never moved, so we didn't either.

Greg loved Chip...he was thoroughly entertained.

These are carniverous Pitcher Plants. The bugs walk into the plant's mouth and find they can't get out.

Birds foraging - the little white ones are ibis (and the black one is an immature ibis), the taller white one is an egret, and right behind the egret is a blue heron.

Sunset in the prairie

Greg got to jump on the "trembling earth", which is the translation of Okefenokee.

Cute Greg!

The next day we went to the west side of the swamp (Stephen Foster National Park) and went canoeing on the Suwanee Canal. Unfortunately a cold front blew in over night and our 78 degree weather left us in freezing in the 50s.

Canoeing up the canal towards Minnie's Lake

Our snazzy canoe

This is how we pictured a swamp looking with the big cypress trees!

Official verdict: Okefenokee Swamp is AWESOME!

And...the swamp is the perfect place for a Babymoon!