Bragg Family South

 Lots of news with Bragg Family South since our last posting...where to begin...Well, I should start by wishing Kenny a happy 12th birthday!  Rather than posting an embarrassing picture of him, as parents are wont to do, I'll post this one taken of us on his second birthday.  Hard to believe the near teenager was ever this small...This picture was taken shortly after we had moved into the house we had just bought, so that is another anniversary to mark--we've lived here at McKnight Drive for a decade now!  Hard to believe next March I'll have been working here in southeastern Arkansas for the US Forest Service for 14 years!!  Our other really big news relates to the young lady pictured below: Y'all may recall that we have a tradition with Bragg Family South of taking pictures of the kids at the door each year as they start their march off to school in the fall...Now we have a new star of the show...The picture above is of Hope heading out for her first d...

The last couple weeks after the government reopened have been particularly hectic for Bragg Family South.  With things back to "normal", we were able to do the business trip/family trip to Charleston, South Carolina, as we planned.  First major stop, though, was at the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta, on Beth's birthday.  Below, the kids enjoyed the "petting zoo" part of the aquarium, where they let you touch a number of different sea creatures--here were urchins, starfish, and hermit crabs: This is an amazing aquarium, with all sorts of exhibits, including the albino alligator that really impressed the kids: Not everything at the Georgia Aquarium was fish, as you can see Kenny getting a close-up of some penguins: I think my favorite part was watching their big ocean tank, which had whale sharks, large stingrays, and lots of other big fish.  I could probably sit for hours just watching them swim by: Later that evening we arrived a...

Well, the clouds of uncertainty have at least temporarily blown away from Bragg Family South...we weathered the 2+week furlough of the federal government as well as could be expected, and though it was highly disruptive, we are catching up and moving on...  Not all of the last month since my last blog post have been as troubling as the last two weeks...  I was able to get out for a couple days during this period to volunteer on a couple digs, including the one below in a pine plantation in central Arkansas: We were also blessed to be able to join our former neighbor Liz (the state trooper who lived across the street from us for a couple years) and her fiance at their wedding west of Little Rock.  Prior to the afternoon ceremony, we spent a little time visiting nearby sites on the Ouachita National Forest, including the restored buildings of a former Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) site: We also visited a park at a nearby reservoir, and as you can see, it wa...