This New Years rather than stay at home, we decided to head down to our family ranch in Monticello, GA. I was a little bummed that it was just going to be us, but looking back I couldn't have asked for more.
We tried to leave as early as possible, but still got there until just after lunch. We walked down to our favorite spot on the property. The previous owner harvested most of the property, leaving just a few pockets of hardwoods like this one (see picture below).
Isabella was so excited running around, and I even more so by trying to capture every waking moment of our holiday. I am sure Tim is kicking himself for getting me a camera for Christmas.
Isabella, as she often does when in an exciting environment, chose to skip her nap. Finally taking her out of her pack and play around 4ish, Tim took her for a ride on the tractor. Abigail and I had fun snapping pictures.
When we first toured the property it was a hot summer day, I remember thinking that we wouldn't get much wind. How wrong we were! The entire time we were there we had a very pleasant breeze. My favorite aspect of the wind is being able to hear it rustle amongst the tree tops in the distance and then make it's way to a loud roar as it approached us. It's just not a sound that we are privileged to here in the city.
That night, we ate a typical ranch dinner: hamburgers, asparagus & cookies. We realized too late that we were out of lighter fluid; however, Tim was determined to grill out! After significant delay & my insistance that he give up, he eventually got the fire started thanks to a bottle of rubbing alcohol. In the spirit of the New Year, Tim put on a fireworks display with fireworks purchased at WalMart. A bit lame, compared to what I am use to back in Texas, but just the right level of boom for our sweet girls. Once the girls were down, we opened a bottle of Costco champagne to ring in the New Year. We both realized that the higher the rating of the champagne the less we like it. It's just too bitter for our taste, we like the cheap stuff. :)
New Years day we played around the ranch: Isabella with her hammock swing, Tim with his skeet shooter, and I with my camera. Our intention was to leave after Isabella's nap, so we spent her nap time packing up as it began raining pretty heavily. Tim kept saying that we would be fine getting out, so I didn't rush. We'll let's just say we weren't ok getting out. We got stuck and when I say stuck, I MEAN STUCK. After several failed attempts, Tim finally decided to walk (in the rain) across the property to our only neighbor that isn't the Federal Government. The girls & I stayed behind in the Escape. After nearly an hour, I was relieved to see the lights from the neighbors truck coming to pull us out. Not sure how to get home, we decided to stay another night to figure things out. Fortunately we had just enough food to get us through the night.
After talking to my dad and sister, we figured an alternate route that got us out the following morning. It was a day longer than we intended to stay, but what an adventure.
As we say goodbye to 2010, it was a year that brought us so much joy. Joy in welcoming Abigail to our family & in watching Isabella grow into a vibrant, sweet, smart, and beautiful little toddler. We are excited to see what blessings we have in store for us in 2011.
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