Wednesday when Clara and Mason were here after school I got them to help me bake a cake to take to church yesterday for our Forever Young meeting and lunch.  It had been a while since we’d done any cooking together, & we were all glad to be back in the kitchen 🙂

Mason was our only grandchild we saw on the first day of school, but he said his day was great.  His smile certainly looks like it was, doesn’t it?

Yesterday morning at church we had a Blessing of the Backpacks, as the kids are starting back to school today.  Kids of all ages, from those just beginning pre-k through college, brought their backpacks down to receive a blessing for their school year.  Teachers and school employees stood and received a blessing, too.  It was very meaningful.  Charlie & Adam were at church with me, and we remembered for them to bring their backpacks, so they were sitting down on the floor with all the others.

Jeff is still hard at work on our driveway, and last week he had to cut some rebar to get it ready to stabilize the concrete blocks.  It did look pretty impressive, I have to admit.

Thursday morning we got up and headed from Marietta to Loganville, where we were able to meet Mackinsey Sue McWhorter, our great niece who was born on May 6 – Clara’s birthday.  She was so happy and had the cutest smile, and I just could hardly keep my hands off of her.  She was the real reason for us even making the trip to Atlanta, and she was certainly more than worth the drive.  So precious.

We especially enjoyed seeing all the different trophies at the College Football Hall of Fame, including the Heismann.  Very cool.

We got to SunTrust Park for the Braves game in time to check out the stadium, since it was the first time either of us had been – and then there was a rain delay.  It only made the game about an hour late starting, though, and just gave Meg and me more time to visit 🙂

Mike dropped Meg & Hope off here at 6 AM Wednesday morning on his way to the men’s prayer breakfast at church, & we got on the road soon afterwards.  A couple of stops for gas/ice and for Dunkin Donuts coffee for Hope, and we got to the Centennial Olympic Park around 11 to meet Hope’s friend Rachel.  They took off to do teenager-y girl things, and Meg & I got busy finding our personalized bricks.  Hers and Mike’s brick didn’t take too long – she knew the general area where it was located, and then it was just a matter of reading the names until she found it.

After we found all the bricks we wanted to see, we headed across the street to the College Football Hall of Fame.  I did not even know that place existed until Lindee and Mallory were in Atlanta a few weeks ago for the Shawn Mendez concert, and they checked it out.  We only had about an hour, but entry is free for the month of August, in celebration of college football’s 150th anniversary, so we went on to see what we could in that amount of time.  One of my favorite things was the helmet wall – a huge wall, three stories high, with a full size helmet from every college football program in the country – all divisions.  I just loved it, & could have spent the entire hour there just looking at all the helmets.  There were plenty of folks there to help you, and when you asked for any helmet, they lit it up for you – like this Tar Heel helmet,.  So cool

Jeff has started pouring the concrete on one side, but since then the weather hasn’t cooperated, & due to rain he hasn’t been able to get any more done.  Sigh.

Still catching up on pictures from our beach adventure last week.  Friday we spent the morning on the beach, and then headed down for an early supper at Murrell’s Inlet.  Food was delicious and company even better.  We got our waitress to take a picture of our crew.

I really never order dessert when we go out to eat, because I’m so stuffed I can hardly stand it.  All of Lee’s desserts are homemade, though, down to the homemade whipped cream, so we got three to share.  The strawberry cake may have been my favorite.  Yum.