Getting Settled in Georgia

We arrived to Columbus, GA on December 29 and spent most of January getting settled.  I found my way to the grocery store, shopping center, and Target (priorities, right?).  I worked on my new role as a stay-at-home mom (I still am) and worked on getting Levi on a schedule somewhat.  Luke worked on getting used to being a big brother and learning what big brothers do.  I think Levi learned he was really stuck with us as his family.  Drew learned all about being in the Army (or something like that).  We learned to make Georgia feel like home as much as was possible. 

We found a great little Christian school pretty close to our home and decided to send Luke 2-3 days a week to keep him on a schedule, keep him socialized, etc.  They sent a folder home every weekend with "homework" in it.  I just had to take a picture of his first homework.

We took Luke to the Space Center here it town.  He loved to play on the simulators but he also got to see his first IMAX movie.  It was about the stars and it was set in Sesame Street.  Pretty cute stuff.

Luke still didn't want to make physical contact with Levi at this point.

We were driving around one of our first days in Columbus and saw this sign.  Awesome.

There is this cute little restaurant close to Columbus.  It's called The Farmhouse and it's in a little old house in the country.  It's real home cooking and only open on Fridays and Saturdays.  They also have animals and gardens on the property.  It's a really neat place to go.  One of the funnest things we've done in Georgia is finding interesting eateries.  I feel a future post about it all coming eventually.

A favorite place of ours became Callaway Gardens.  We first discovered it in January.  It was a little cold on our first trip but we went many times while in Georgia.  It's a huge nature reserve with lakes, a beach, trails, a butterfly house, and much more.  It was always free for military families and was a nice place to go to get away for a while.  They'll be future posts about it as well I'm sure.

When we found out we would be going to Georgia for a little while, we had a goal of getting out and doing  lots of things as a family.  It seemed like we were never able to get away in Colorado much due to Drew's job and we regret not experiencing a lot of things while there.  We knew Drew's schedule would be pretty easy and predictable at Ft. Benning so we really wanted to take advantage of some leisure time.  After settling in, we think we did a pretty good job in the months to follow of being adventurous in Georgia.

(January 2011)  

December 2010

Practically all of December was spent in Joplin/Stockton.  Drew spent the first part of the month in Colorado finishing things up with work and prepping for the move.  He stopped in Missouri for a few days and then drove to meet the movers down in Georgia to get moved in.  He then flew back to Missouri to spend Christmas and a few more days of leave.  Since he left his vehicle in Georgia, we were able to all drive down together as a family for the long drive to Columbus.  It's SO much easier when we're able to travel in one car together (we're definitely not looking forward to that part when we make our trip to California in September). 

We rented an apartment in Georgia since we were only going to be there for a few months.  We would prefer it to be our last stay in an apartment ever.  There are perks, but we have found it to be more of a nuisance for many reasons.  Drew's parents kept Roxie for us while we're away and my parents kept Rico.  It was so nice to be able to leave the pets there so we wouldn't have to pay a ridiculous amount in pet deposits and worry about dog barks/howls in an apartment.  

Here are some highlights from December:

The boys and I were able to visit my friend Erika.  Luke didn't find Mom and Erika yapping for a few hours to be too entertaining.  He fell asleep under the tree.

I love this picture of Luke because he's actually smiling.  He almost never smiles for pictures anymore.  I don't love this picture because he's got the horrible chapped face/chin we dealt with all winter long.

While we were in Joplin, Luke "helped" a lot around the kitchen at Nana and Papa's.  I'm not sure eating out of the serving dish before we sat down for dinner constitutes as helping, but we're all family, right?

Helping Papa feed the puppy dogs

My grandma and aunt were able to come down from Nebraska in early December to visit and to meet Levi.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to recover those photos from the camera fiasco.  It's always great to see them.  We sure wished we lived closer to be able to see them more often. 


We always have a list of things we want to make sure we do when we're "back home". This trip back it was Bass Pro and Lambert's.  Who knows what we'll decide we can't live without next time.

This is totally random, but there's this little church somewhere in between Springfield and Stockton that still has outhouses.  I finally stopped and took a picture.  At least they are very nice outhouses, being gender specific and providing privacy!

We were able to celebrate in Stockton the weekend before Christmas.  Drew's brother and his family were there and we had a lot of fun with them. 

Luke was obsessed with Grandma's train set

Opening presents with cousin Avery

I found a Nancy Pelosi book on the clearance rack for a buck.  Drew was less than amused by my gag gift.

Luke and Avery had a lot of fun together and maybe made just a little bit of trouble.  Next year's Christmas should be really interesting with all 10 grandkids there.

Tractor rides and/or golf cart rides are a must when we're at Grandpa's

We spent actual Christmas in Joplin with my parents.  My brother was able to come down so that was great to see him.  Drew's parents were able to come down and eat Christmas dinner with us as well.  It's so nice our parents live so close together so we're able to spend time with both while we're there.

And here are just some other random shots...

November 2010

I don't have many pictures from November due to the malfunction of our camera.  I was able to restore some pictures from the year, but the November ones were gone for the most part. 

We had Levi's baptism on November 14.  Drew's parents were able to come out.  Grandpa (Drew's dad) has baptized all ten grandkids so it was special to have them out for that.  Our friends from Denver, Zach and Kelsey, were able to stand in as sponsors.  Aunt Meredith and Uncle Steven are his sponsors on paper but their little Laura had just arrived five days previous to Levi.  Plus, they lived in Wisconsin.  Here are the only two pictures where you can kind of tell what's going on:

Early in November we decided that we would drive home to Missouri for Thanksgiving and that the boys and I would stay there for a while.  It was perfect timing, really.  I was just finishing my maternity leave/vacation time at work and it would nice to spend some time with family before moving to Georgia.  Drew would go back to Colorado and get all the moving and loose ends taken care of.  We were able to spend Thanksgiving at Drew's parents and my parents came up for the day.  Uncle Jon, Aunt Carrie and the girls were there too.  Here are the only pictures I have of the rest of November.

Avery and Luke eating pumpkin pie