Georgia Aquarium

Our tour through Atlanta continued at the Georgia Aquarium.

Emma was able to get up close to the wildlife.

Lots of colorful fish.

The fish loved this guy since he was feeding them. See the squirt bottle in his left hand.

Lots of exhibits where you can touch the animals. Claire was content to watch.

To be continued...

Stone Mountain

Leaving Destin, we headed north, using the back roads of Alabama to reach this wonderful spot:

Our first stop in this original colony was Stone Mountain Park, outside Atlanta. Here they commemorate the heroes of the War of Northern Aggression, also known as the Civil War.

Here's Stone Mountain itself:

And a closeup of the carving showing Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson.

If you've gone all this way, you might as well go to the top. To save time, we took the Swiss-made cable car instead of hiking.

On the mountain.

Since the mountain wasn't thrilling enough for the children, Emma decided to tackle the 40-ft high SkyHike. I tagged along to see what all the fuss was about. Cathy stayed behind to take pictures and drink all my Coke.

The climb was a little daunting for Claire, but she found a course more her style - and much closer to the ground.

To be continued...

Destin

Our summer travels found us heading east on the Eisenhower Interstate System. Our first stop - Destin, Florida and a little time on the beautiful white sand beaches.

We relaxed in the cool gulf water.

They even let me get in a picture.

Piano Recital

The 2013-2014 piano concert season ended with the debut of a new talent as Claire performed Butterfly Waltz on the grand stage.

Emma, one of the crowd's favorites, performed Ballade.

Spring Time at the Zoo

We had friends from the north in town, so to show them life without snow we took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent the day at the zoo. And it gave me an excuse to work with a new lens.

Here are the two domesticated animals. Disregard the blue lips - they just finished some blue icy drink.

Now back to the wild animals.

There are more pictures here.

The Great Ice Storm of 2014

Southeast Texas was devastated this morning by a huge ice storm, forcing schools to close and businesses to shutter in the nations's fourth largest city.

I braved the treacherous conditions to document the peril. Be warned - these pictures may be unsettling.

That's all it takes. Impressive, huh?

Claire's Christmas Song

Claire and her classmates celebrated the beginning of the holiday season with this performance at her school's Christmas Concert.