There will be a brighter day...

One of the many promises God so faithfully keeps to all of us, but there will be a brighter day.  We are skipping ahead from the fishing to present day (although you did miss alot in between) b/c my external hard drive (that carried all my pictures (not to mention ALOT of other things) has quit working - to the tune of $600 to maybe fix, quit working) so - we skip ahead to the present.  On our date night the other night Eric and I saw this amazing representation of a Rainbow (reminding me always of the promise God made to us - and of my Pappap.  This was the exact same type of rainbow we saw on the day of his funeral.  Not just one - but two FULL rainbows - amazing!)  How GREAT is our GOD !  

He also gives us great friends and we had a good time with them last night at the Greenjackets game.  It was Will's first baseball game and he came decked in his Chicago gear (Cubs bib for his mama - which he had already spit up on and been stripped down to his White Sox gear - for his dad!) 

He was sooo excited and animatedly watching all that was going on around him.  

Its a running joke that he only cries when the Furman's are around.  Chris wanted to dispel this rumor and proved that it might, in fact, just be Melissa Furman that makes Will cry.  Unfortunately, he might have actually proven his point with this picture!  

(also - I don't think he saw me take this other one)... it was the Seventh Inning Stretch and they were playing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame!" and Chris was singing to Will and doing little 'dances' and 'stretches' with him - SO.STINKING.CUTE!!!

Mason goes Fishing...

Mason loves going out on the boat.  

Eric loves to go fishing - so Mason gets to go out on the boat alot in the Spring.  

But we learned the other night that Mason likes fishing too... 

specifically he likes fishing in the live well for the bait...

while Eric drives the boat and he THINKS no one is looking...

The other night - Mason finally had some luck - and landed himself a herring...

It was hilarious b/c he was trying to hide the fact that he had a fish under his nose from us - looking all innocent.  But then he couldn't control himself and he would lick the fish - and the fish would go nuts.  ha ha ha!  I let him play with the fish for a little bit, then I threw him back in the water.  I figured after the dog dragging him out of the livewell and playing with him he had earned his freedom!  lol

 Cutest dog E.V.E.R! 

(even if he is full of mischief!)

Weekend with Mom - the Wrap-up!

I figure I better get in gear and post the rest of our FUN weekend with Mom b/c I'm falling waaay behind and we have alot more to tell - so this will be alot of pictures, less words (well, I'll try....)

Saturday we went for a walk with the dog and then played frisbee in the park.  Lots of fun - and GREAT weather for enjoying it...

(ha!  I even look athletic here!)

Then we got ready for the Main Event!  A canal tour.  How Much FUN!!  On this tour we saw...
The perfect job for my dad...captain of a canal boat.
Up and down the canal - enjoying the great weather - people clapping for your maneuvering skills!

We also saw the creek that runs through Augusta National

The tour was BYOB (again - how fun!) and we had our own wine and cheese appetizers

The final destination was the Dam at the beginning of the canal...

Then we headed back down the canal - with a gorgeous sunset

and out to dinner.  What a GREAT weekend!
(we miss you mama!  come back soon!!  xoxo!)

Botanical Gardens

After the zoo we did head over to the Botanical Gardens.  We found a lot of cool things, but BY FAR my favorites were the Lenten roses (hellebore) that Eric and I have been wanting for our yard for a couple of years (they had them EVERYWHERE) and a Snowball Viburnum - AMAZING! 

Mom loved the amazing glass 'flowers' they had all over.  So cool!

Entrance to the gardens

more glass 'flowers"

Hellebores

Snowball fight!!  

I love this picture of the sooo full Viburnum bush

Mom and I on a timer with the Viburnum - its a waaay better picture cropped but blogger can't figure out how to load it (keeps flipping it around) - so you'll just have to trust me.

(well here it is...flipped)

Anyway, we also found this really cool tree.  Red heart shaped leaves (BK - what is it?!)

After the gardens we had a great lunch and headed to the plant sale to get some heriloom tomatoes, meet up with BK and her JoJuice and Eric's mom too!  After we saw all these fun plants at the Botanical Gardens we actually ended up finding a couple of decent priced hellebores (their usual $15-$20 price tag is what kept us from getting them before - but priced at $2 and just needing some love to make them grow we could handle!)  We also found one of the snowball viburnum bushes for sale and got one!  I am sooo excited to see that grow in our yard!

at the plant show with Mom

at the plant show with Miss Kevin.

Whew!  what a weekend - and so far we are only through FRIDAY!  lol  :)

Where we went...

There were Lions...

And Tigers...

...and Bears (oh my!) but I forgot to take a picture of the bears. 
(Quick movie quote trivia time... "I've seen the bears, I wanna see the penguins.  Its a good looking bear though, there is no getting around that"  - Name that Movie!  lol)

Anyway, there were also elephants, giraffes, flamingos,  koalas

And even this strange looking bird (with his creepy 'look!  I caught a rat for you!")

Yeah, yeah - we were at the Zoo!  - But the most fun part was that my MOM was there with me and we had a WONDERFUL weekend!! 

It was a GORGEOUS Friday!  We went and grabbed some coffee (and sunscreen for her Ohio skin that hadn't seen the sun yet this year!)  And headed off to the Columbia Zoo.  After all these fun animals (including the tortoise - that's my fave!)

We headed over to the Botanical Gardens section of the zoo....

Now THAT was really cool! 
To be continued...

Scouting

A new month, a new hunting season.  (who knew?!)  Anyway - this time its turkey.  Which is a short season (so I've learned) and a little more interactive and fun for the whole family (I guess you could say?!)  Last Friday we (Mason and I) got to participate in turkey scouting.  Equipped only with an owl call (Oh how I wished we had BUG SPRAY!) we ventured into the woods.  We were quiet (well Eric and I were) and listening and looking for 'turkey tracks' and  "hooting" every once in awhile to see if we would spook a turkey.  (I have no idea what I'm talking about).

But Mason thoroughly enjoyed the event...  Bounding into 

EVERY

 SINGLE

 PUDDLE

 He could find...

He was one HAPPY (and muddy!) dog.

This is apparently what we were looking for...

? do you see a turkey track here?

Anyway, a happy boy and a happy dog makes for a happy mama.  It was a really nice Friday evening with my boys!

And in case you were wondering - Eric went turkey hunting the next morning where we heard a turkey (or two) the night before.  He 'talked' to one but couldn't 'turn him'.  I've learned this means he wasn't a 'workable' turkey.  But a turkey nonetheless.  Good scouting I say!

Easter Weekend

We had a GREAT Easter weekend here!  It was gorgeous, 85 degrees and sunny, and we had Eric's mom come stay with us as well.  We had big plans  - we had to clean the house before his mom got here, we had all those plants to get into the ground, I had to learn how to cook an Easter meal (and set and Easter table - very important with my MIL - she loves table settings!) and of course we had to go to Church and properly celebrate the Resurrection! 

Saturday was mostly cleaning and preparing (grocery store, Target etc - btw - NEVER EVER go out shopping the day before Easter - its like Black Friday - CRAZY!  I had NO idea!)  Anyway, I waded through the crowds and got us some good food (and some gorgeous Liberty of London dishes for our Eater table!)

Sunday began the festivities with Church (why didn't I take a picture of us all dressed up?) and then gardening while the ham cooked...

We worked up an appetite with all that planting - and luckily I had prepared a gorgeous Easter feast (sorry - I was pretty dog gone proud of my table!)

Even some lovely fresh flowers

Last great accomplishment of the weekend, I finally can say I mastered the art of Sweet Tea.  :)

I am officially a hybrid now!  Hope y'all had a wonderful Easter as well.  We were certainly blessed!