almost in the banking business!

Have you ever wondered what people are doing when they don't put up a blog for a day or two? Here is what we have been up to! If you have been hanging out with us for a while, you may remember the middle building that we started working on in January. If you are new to our world then let me fill you in. We have 3 antique buildings in Sasser, Ga. One of them is used for our online store and the other is used for our retail store. The building in the middle has been a project just waiting to happen for a few years now! The picture is what the building looked like in January but we had already been working on it for the last few years so it looked MUCH worse than this when I bought it!

This building is the old Bank of Sasser. It still has the original vault that was built in the 1800's. It had been vandalized before I purchased it, but it still has 2 old safes inside the vault.

The large safe against the wall will have a permanent home in the vault as it weighs almost as much as the building. I think it will make a lovely accessory!

Safe #2 was able to removed with lots and lots of man power. It is amazing how something so small can weigh SO much. Just in case you are wondering...the only treasure I have found is a penny! And it wasn't even an old one!

Here is the same view as the first picture a couple of weeks ago. We have a new roof and are getting ready for a new floor!

Jay decided that the roof of the vault was just way too cool to not expose some of it. It has a brick dome roof that was hand laid and absolutely beautiful.

Here is the top of the vault. You can kind of see the dome.

I hope that when we get the new floor, you will be able to see the details of the vault.

This week, we have all of the wood down and we are sandblasting the brick! It looks so pretty!

Our goal is to have this building open and complete by our Halloween Open House in mid September! I keep you up on the progress of this sleeping beauty!

African sunsets

May the sun rise gently upon your smile in the morning and wake you to a beautiful day
No matter what continent you find yourself upon

hotels????

Hop aboard and I will take you on a mini tour of some of the "hotels" that Kelsey stayed in while adventuring in Africa.

Before we begin, these pictures really touched my heart. The next time you go to your fridge for a cold glass of water...think about these pictures...

These kids were from the local village and THIS is their water supply...

which comes from this little hole behind these sticks! This really makes me realize all of the things that I take for granted on a daily basis.

On to hotels...Kelsey stayed in some very interesting places in Africa. Here is where she stayed while they were in Kruger National Park. It almost looks like a little house, doesn't it?

Next was a hostel in Swaziland. Check out the sign!

Here are the bathrooms at her campsite in Swaziland. They spent 2 weeks out here camping in tents and doing research on animals.

This was the main hut where she said they cooked all of their meals and ate.

Check out this shower. You have to look closely but you can see the shower head off the top of the long pipe. She said there was an opening in the pipe where you filled it with paraffin, then lit the paraffin to heat the water. Bear in mind that it is winter in Swaziland and it usually was in the 40's at night. I would have to have lots of paraffin in order to take a shower here!

The advantage to this outdoor shower.... Here is the view! Kelsey said that she could watch all kinds of animals around the river while she washed her hair!

Next up were these neat beehive huts!

Isn't that door handle the best.

After the beehives, they moved on to Mozambique where she stayed in these bamboo huts along the Indian Ocean.

She said they only were allowed to have electricity for a couple of hours a day.

I think the view may have been worth the lack of modern conveniences!

Tomorrow, I want to show you the amazing sunset pictures! I hope that you can join me. Happy Saturday and don't forget to make it silly!

Have you ever?

Have you ever had a dream come true? The little blonde sunshine on the right has! My daughter is back from Africa and her Mom is delighted! Delighted she went and delighted that she came home looking like she had been having the time of her life. Have you ever been kissed by an elephant? Look at the huge dirty kiss print on these happy girls faces!

Have you ever walked an elephant around by her trunk? Kelsey said that they totally relax and just let the weight of the trunk fall in your hand.

Have you ever had morning coffee with a baboon? Kelsey said this little Mama and her baby were waiting outside their hut every morning.

Have you ever had that "I just want to see...." dream come true? Kelsey has always dreamed of seeing a male lion in the wild.

Have you ever been driving down the road and seen...

elephants...and

Impala...and

Water Buffalo...and

monkeys...and

hippos...and

giraffe...and

funny birds....and

rhinos...and

warthogs...and

ostrich...and

lions? Not me! The pictures she took are absolutely amazing and I can't wait to share some of them with everyone! Tonight, I am just thankful to have my baby back at home tucked safely in her own bed. So, I am off to enjoy her and I will share some more of her adventures tomorrow. Thanks for looking!