Summer

I guess I've been busy enjoying the summer and have once again neglected this blog. I can't believe there are only 2 weeks left till school starts. Wow, it's gone by fast. Let me see if I can recap the highlights.

Baseball season ended for both the boys and lasted a little longer than usual for Riley. His team competed in the Grand Slam World Series of Baseball in Panama City, FL. Although his team didn't fair too well in the tournament, they played their best and held their own against some very competitive teams. We made the most of the week enjoying the beach and some downtime together away from home.

The beach time was great. Megan was not a huge fan of the sun and sand, but she took to the shady area near the pool pretty well. As the week progressed, we worked out our routine. I'd head to the beach with the boys while Lance stayed with a napping Megan. He'd call when she wake and we'd all meet at the pool. The boys loved the ocean, especially Riley. The water was clear, so he was always wearing his goggles and carrying his net trying to catch something. He loved jumping the waves too. Owen was quite proud of himself for venturing out to the nearby sandbar and going to the 'deep' part too (up to his chest). The week went by way too fast, but we had a lot of fun.

This week the boys are camping in Parrott with Nanny and PawPaw, Kaitlyn, Jacob and Ethan. No doubt they'll have tons of fun but I don't envy the heat or the nats they'll be living with this week. Lance and I are enjoying a quiet week at home with our sweet Meg. It's nice to have some one on one time with her, something that is not so easy to come by with baby number three.

She's now 4.5 months old and doing great. She's been a wonderful sleeping baby for a couple months now. Last night I layed her down about 9pm and she didn't wake this morning till about 9:45am! My boys were never such great sleepers, she's spoiling me! At her 4 month check up she was up to 12 pounds and 5 ounces and already 24" long. She's on the small side for her age (I have no idea where those genes came from!) and she is happy and healthy and full of smiles. She's the perfect kaboose to our family of five.

I can't believe my Owen will be heading to Kindergarten in a couple weeks and Riley to 3rd grade. Kaitlyn said to me last night, "Riley will be in middle school soon." Whoa! Slow down! Not so fast! Somehow I don't think of 3rd grade as 'almost middle school'. But I guess 3 years is really not that far away.

We'll savor these next 2 weeks, but I know they will slip away all too fast and we'll be back into the hectic schedules of school, homework and soon football season.

My Cup Runneth Over

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog. Sorry. Life is very good, just very busy and I’ve let this blog take the backseat lately. Baseball is in full swing for both boys, so that adds the chaotic schedule in our home. We enjoy it though and the boys are doing so well this year in ball. Riley’s league especially has become so much fun to watch as the boys are now turning double plays and hitting the ball over the fence on occasion. It’s cool to see how far they’ve come, from playing in the dirt (which they still do on occasion) and fighting over the ball in the outfield to where they are this year.

Baseball was on hold for Spring break and that week also coincided with my last week of maternity leave. I was glad to have the full week to spend with them and Baby Girl. We spent most of the week camping in Parrott with PawPaw and Nanny. The first part of the week was pretty cool and very windy, but by Thursday and Friday it was sunny and warm. We had a lot of fun riding through the woods on the 4-wheelers. We all enjoyed introducing Megan to camping and the woods. She did a lot of sleeping while we were there and it was sweet to watch her be mesmerized by the campfire at night.

Coloring Eggs While Camping

Looking for Lizards

We returned from camping on Friday and prepared for a full day on Easter with our families. The kids woke up to their treats from the Easter Bunny. The boys each got a movie and of course lots of candy. Megan’s basket had a rubber duck, rattle and a shorts outfit. After church we headed to visit both sets of grandparents and do the traditional Easter egg hunts. Riley, Owen, Jacob and Ethan (we missed you Zach and Kait!) had fun running through Nanny’s yard and finding all the hidden eggs. And of course we had a great meal of ham with all the fixin’s from Nanny. We left there and headed to the GG’s house to do another egg hunt and eat some more ham. Needless to say, by the end of the day our bellies were full and the baskets were overflowing. Coincidently, Riley is learning the 23rd Psalm for Awana. He’s learning it verse by verse and then at the end he’ll have to put it all together. I was explaining to him about what it meant by ‘my cup runneth over’ as he was memorizing that portion last week. No doubt our cups do run over and our blessings are abundant in more ways than one!

Our Pretty Girl on Easter

All 3 on Easter Morning

The Helton Grands
(minus Nathan who was napping and Zach and Kait)

PawPaw and Megan

The Boys at the GG's

The Foster Great-Grands

Returning to work has gone well. I’ve been back for 2 weeks now and it really couldn’t have gone smoother. Megan is taking a bottle easily and I’ve been successful at pumping plenty of milk for her in my absence. Of course I miss her, but knowing she’s at home with her Daddy and in great care has made the transition easier. I also am able to telecommute from home each Wednesday, so having that middle of the week day with her makes it much more doable as well.

This past Sunday was another awesome example of our overflowing cups. Riley was baptized Sunday morning and we had Megan dedicated in the same service. All of our family was able to attend and what an awesome day. I can’t help but get teary whenever I see anyone baptized, so it was even more special to watch my eldest son take the plunge. We tried to reiterate all week what he was doing and make sure he really understood. He was excited and I believe he really understood the significance of his baptism. Funny, as we walked into the changing room before the baptism and were met by a gentleman who had Riley’s robe ready for him to put on Riley turned towards me and said under his breath, “I ain’t wearing that, Mom!” He didn’t put up much of a fight though and everything went well.

Megan’s dedication was also very sweet. The pastor had all five of us come up on stage and then had our family (all 23 of them) stand in the congregation. He asked each of them to agree in helping us to raise Megan in a Christian home and pray that one day she too would make the decision her oldest brother had demonstrated that same day.

Our cups are overflowing! I pray yours are as well!

Apple Pickin'

Well it's back to business as usual this week, but we enjoyed a little break from the routine last week. School was out for "Fall Break" and I took Thursday and Friday off from work.

Tuesday Lance took the boys to see the new Star Wars Clone Wars movie. They thought it was the greatest movie ever although Lance didn't agree. It sounded like they had a lot of fun.

Wednesday night the boys spent the night with their three Foster cousins. I think they all had a lot of fun. Trina was on her own for the night since Scotty was out of town. She had all 5 of them by herself. Really though, they entertain each other pretty well and play together good. Usually Riley and Tyler end up in his room while Owen plays with Abby and Kaylee in theirs.

Friday we headed North to find an orchard and some fun Fall things to do for the day. We ended up in Ellijay, GA and visited two orchards. The first one is where we picked our apples. The boys were way more excited about it than I really expected them to be. Maybe they were just relieved to get out of the truck after the 2 hour ride! Really though, they seemed to have a lot of fun. Riley was excited to purchase a new bottle of honey and has enjoyed several peanut-butter and honey sandwiches since we got home. Both boys loved the apple cider and of course we had to visit the ice cream counter too.

The second orchard we visited was more for fun and play. They had a petting zoo and a cool playground with a zip-line and a long slide built into the side of a hill. The boys may have had more fun on that playground than they did in the orchard.

After leaving the orchards we stopped by Lance's friends' house, Tommy, who lives in Ellijay. We had a great time visiting with him and it was a nice coincidence that we timed our visit to the arrival of his son and his family (with 2 little boys of his own) who had driven from Alabama for the weekend. We ate dinner with Tommy and his family, visited his garden (he's quite a gardner) and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery around his cabin. We headed home after that and made it to our beds at about 11pm. We were tired but had a great day.

The finale for the weekend was having the three Foster cousins over to our house Saturday night for a sleepover. The kids had a great time together and really played great, with very little arguing. They were outside most of the day Saturday - jumping on the trampoline, playing 'army' and hiking in the woods beside our house, riding bikes and we made a trip to the school playground for an hour or so too. Needless to say, I think they all slept good Sunday night!

We enjoyed our fun week but are getting back to our regular routine this week. Awana tonight. Football tomorrow night with a game Saturday morning. Life is busy but oh so full, I wouldn't want it any other way. I think this first picture says it all (and it wasn't even posed!).

Catch up Post....

A lot has happened in a couple weeks since I last updated. Let's see if I can cover it all in one post.

Owen started preschool last week and is doing great. He's usually not excited to go in the mornings but always has a good time and comes home happy to tell you what all they did. He started last Monday, but since I was in training all week I couldn't be there for his first day. I was able to work from home today, I had the privilege of driving him to and from today. Since the church where he goes to preschool had just put down new sod a couple of weeks ago, today was the first day they were allowed to go on the playground. That and snack time seemed to be the highlights.

We had a great Labor Day weekend. We spent Saturday and Sunday at Lake Oconee at the GG's (Lance's grandparents). His Mom, Dad, Brother and his family all joined us there. We had lots of fun boating, swimming and jet-skiing. Owen is still not a huge fan of the water at all but did get in at least once to swim with me and rode a couple times on the jet skii's. Riley is a fish. He loves the water. Surprisingly he, and all the kids, prefer to swim around the boat more than anything else. They all rode the jet skii's at least a few times but would rather jump off the boat into the lake and swim more than anything else.

A couple of weeks ago, Riley had the "most exicing-est day of his life." He had been anticipating this day since football season began. His coach managed to arrange for his team to play a 10 minute game during the Falcon's half-time at the Georgia Dome. What a cool thing! No doubt something he'll remember for the rest of his life. I think all of the Dad's were envious of their sons. It was very cool. They arrived at the Dome about 2 hours before kick-off. They were able to go on the field with the Falcons during their warm-up. A few of the players even tossed the ball back and forth with our boys. Then they had their picture taken with the cheerleaders. Unfortunately all the parents were watching this from the nose-bleed section so I don't have any pictures to share. I plan to get copies of all the close-up ones that the coaches were able to get though. During the 10 minute half-time game Riley made a good tackle that made it onto the big screen in slow-motion. That was the best view of him we had the whole night. That was cool! Lance did go down to the lower-level to video the game, but I don't have anything I can share here.

The pregnancy is going great. No real news to report. I won't see the Dr. again till the end of the month and I'll have another ultrasound then which should tell us with more certainty whether we're having a girl or a boy.

As you can tell, things are as busy around here as ever. I'm thankful that I'm allowed to work from home 1 day a week. That started today and has worked well. I got up a couple hours before Riley did for school and got some work done that way and then once he and Owen were both off to school, I had a good 3 hours to work in quiet. It's worked well. I feel like I'm getting my work done and still able to spend more time home with my guys. It's only 3:30 and dinner is already on the stove and Riley is working on his verses for Awana's. This is going to work out great!

Callaway

Since our vacation, I had planned to take one more day off work this summer to do something fun with the boys before school started back. When my buddy, Dan offered me his season pass to Callaway Gardens a couple of weeks ago, that settled our plans. I called Alice and Mom and we made plans to go this past Wednesday.

I have a lot of fond memories at Callaway, so it was particularly special. Every summer when I would spend a week with Granny, she would take us to spend a day at Callaway. We'd take one of our Dawson friends and she would take Mrs. Edith and off we'd go. She and Mrs. Edith would sit under the pavillion reading books in their rocking chairs and my buddy and I would swim in the lake, ride the train, ride paddle boats and have lots of summer fun. Callaway is special because of those memories and I was excited to share some of that with my boys.

It has changed some over the years, but really is a lot like it was when I was a kid. Riley, Owen and Jacob loved the water and spent most of the day splashing around. Ethan wasn't very interested in the water but hung out with Nanny in the shade while the others swam. They have a play area out in the water with lots of inflatable toys - rock climbing walls with slides on one side, 2 huge trampolines and several smaller ones. Riley and Jacob loved playing there, especially jumping on the trampolines and landing in the water. Owen tried one of the smaller trampolines but was a little more cautious and ended up watching the older two. You'll notice in all the pictures below, his hair is dry. He absolutely hates to have water over his head or get splashed in the face. We'll have to overcome that sooner or later, but for now he prefers to stay in water where he can stand.

We all enjoyed a game of putt-putt too and a ride on the paddle boats. Unfortunately the train was out for repair and the circus didn't have a showing on Wednesdays but I don't think the kids missed either of those, there was plenty else to keep them busy.

The cousins all played really great together and except for a few arguments over who was going to pick the movie for the ride back, they got along great. Thanks, Dan for sharing your pass with us, we had a great time!

Owen playing putt-putt.

I guess we need to work on his form.

Riley playing putt-putt with Ethan watching.

Three silly boys.

Three Muskateers

You wouldn't believe how many shots I have like this with none of them looking at the camera. At least Jake and Ethan are smiling in this one, better than my two managed to do for the camera.

Water Park and Fish Fry

Sorry I didn't get a chance to blog the last 2 days of our vacation. We had a lot of fun and were exhausted at the end of each day. I had good intentions to blog Thursday night but when I went to write, I realized our laptop was in Scotty's side of the cabin and they already had their lights out and doors closed.

Thursday the Dad's stayed at the cabin to fish all day and I think they managed to get in about 14 hours worth of fishing. They started at 6am, stopped for lunch about noon and then were back out on the water till about 9pm. They did catch 8-9 fish between them, 2 were keepers.

Trina and I decided to take the kids to a local water park while they fished. The kids loved it and all had a lot of fun. It was a small park with a walk-in pool, lazy river, 2 water slides and a kiddie area with 4 smaller slides. Riley, Tyler and Abby tried it all, but spent most of the day doing the 2 bigger water slides, over and over and over again. Kaylee and Owen preferred the smaller slides in the kiddie area. They were both so proud of themselves for doing a slide all on their own. Trina and I took turns, one of us with the younger ones and the other with the older kids.

Since it was late when the guys got back from fishing, we decided to have our fish fry on Friday at lunch, before we headed home. They also managed to get in a round of golf on the 9-hole golf course that morning too. The Dad's hit the drives and let the Abby and Riley putt them in on the green. The kids got in a few more bike rides Friday morning too. Owen even discovered that his bike with training wheels could make it all the way to the pool with the big kids (Mom walking closely behind).

The fish fry was a success. The kids all surprised us by liking the fish. None of them were excited about eating it, but all ate a plate full. After cleaning up lunch, it was time to pack up and head home. We did stop for dinner at Cracker Barrel (Owen's only request for our vacation, we had to eat there!), which was good but delayed us almost 2 hours. It was after midnight when we got home. What a great trip! The kids had trouble deciding what activity was their favorite. I think it was a tie between the water park and the beach for most of them. But they all loved the bike riding (and the freedom that involved) and the battleship visit too.

Although it's always nice to get home after a trip, it was sort of sad that it had to end. We had a great time and no doubt will visit there again on a future vacation.

Beach

Today was another full one. We had a 9am appointment for skeet shooting, which was a lot of fun. The Dad's and Tyler shot and I even shot about 5 shells too. The highlight of the trip so far for all the guys, they loved it. And I must admit it was pretty fun.

After that, we all suited up and drove out to Folly Beach. It was a great day for it. My lobster-red thighs are proof of that. I was so careful to cover the kids and my shoulders and back and Lance's, that somehow I forgot my legs and that is what suffered. Riley loved the water and playing in the waves. He was the one kid of the 5 that preferred the water over the sand. Everyone had a lot of fun and everyone was very tired and very hungry when we got back to the cabin. We grilled out our steaks and made homeade ice cream for dessert. Yum!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday and today. There are so many beach pictures, I had a hard time picking but here are a few....

All five of the kids saluting in front of a Naval helicopter aboard the USS Yorktown. (Click on pictures to make bigger)

The four who were too young to shoot at the skeet range, eating their breakfast and watching with their ear protection

Here are the 3 shooters. No pictures of them actually shooting since I got to be the "puller" and press the trigger when they yelled "Pull!" for the clay to release. The ranger wanted to be by Tyler's side as he shot, so he asked me to take that duty.

Owen, enjoying the beach.

This lasted for a good 30 minutes or more, all 5 of them working on a sand structure.

Battleship

Today we all slept in the latest we have all week (except Scotty who got up early to fish). It was 10:30 before everyone had eaten breakfast and was ready to step outside. We had our 11am wagon ride, which was OK but not all that exciting. After about 10 minutes of pine tree's and deer stands, you can't take much more and this was a 1 hour ride full of just that. It was a covered wagon-style trailer that was pulled by a tractor.

After the wagon ride we headed to downtown Charleston. Our main objective was to see the battleship, USS Yorktown and that is what we did. Our tickets also got us in to tour a submarine, a destroyer and a Coast Guard ship. Most of the crew was done after the USS Yorktown, which is a huge air craft carrier. Riley wanted more and insisted we see them all. He loved it and is such a big military fan, it was fun to see it all with him. I think all the kids liked it, but the heat and all the walking got the better of most of them. No doubt they all enjoyed the air-conditioned souvenier shop. Owen came away with a air-craft carrier toy and several mini-airplanes to land on the deck. Riley bought a plastic, camo gun that shoots darts with little suction cups on the ends. Tyler and Abby bought Pirates of the Carribean, replica guns and Kaylee got a Pirate dress-up kit. They all enjoyed spending the money PawPaw and Nana sent them for their souvenier shopping. Riley has about $10 of his money left, but I think everyone else spent it all in that one shop.

Dinner was at Hyman Seafood in Charleston. Outstanding! It was so good. If you're ever in Charleston, this is a great spot to eat! A co-worker had recommended it and now we know why. Owen ordered crab legs and loved them, he's now hooked. And did I mention those aren't on the kid's menu?! An expensive meal for a 4 year old, but it was worth it to watch him down them so fast. Abby ordered them too, but wasn't a fan of the meat although I think she enjoyed cracking them open.

It turned into a late night back at the cabin. They are all just settling in for the night. Tomorrow will be another day of adventure but this time at the beach. Before we head out though, the Dad's and Tyler are scheduled to do clay shooting at the shooting range at 9am. That will be fun to watch. Riley is so evious, but you have to be 10 to shoot so he has a few more years to wait.

I have more pictures, but they'll have to wait. It's late and I'm tired.

Lots of Fishin'

Fishing is indeed what today was all about. Scotty started at about 6am on the Bass pond and had some success with 2 fish on his hook. After breakfast we all headed out to get on the john boats and troll around the lake. It was fun, except it was getting pretty hot by the time we made it on the lake. Owen absolutely hated it. He was terrified that the boat would turn over and freaked out anytime anyone moved. Needless to say, he and I were back on dry land after about 30 minutes. Everyone else stayed out another hour or so and then fished on the bank for another hour after that. They caught 3-4 fish in all. The most successful fishing adventure was this evening. Lance, Scotty and Abby headed down to the Catfish and Bass ponds and caught about a dozen fish. The keeper was a 5 pound catfish that Lance caught. He is still on the stringer and they're going to go get him after dinner and clean it to cook later this week.

Of course we also made a trip to the pool which was necessary after the very hot, boating and fishing adventures this morning. The Dad's and big boys played a game outside with their air assault riffles this afternoon and had a lot of fun doing that too. And of course the day was filled with lots of bicycle riding and eating too.

Tomorrow we have our wagon/tractor ride scheduled for 11am. That will give us a chance to see more of the 6000 acres here at the Forest. I think we are going to go into Charleston tomorrow too and tour the big battleship and whatever else Charleston has to offer.

And as promised, here are some pictures from our day...

Owen doing what he loves to do at home and on vacation, play his Gameboy.

Riley climbing a tree.

Owen and Kaylee, best buddies.

Ready for an air-assault war. Can we just fight, Mom?! Enough pictures already!

Another pic in my fighting gear.

A Full Day

Our first full day here. It was nice. There were a few rain showers, but nothing that kept us from doing what we wanted to do.

Everyone slept well last night but I suspect we'll all sleep even better tonight. That is what a 4 hour visit to the pool usually means for our nights sleep. We are all tired. Poor Owen and Kaylee were so tired at dinner, they looked sad.

The Dad's made a trip to Walmart this afternoon to pick up a few needed grocery items and came back with a few new toys for the big boys. Pellet guns. They had a quick pellet gun war around the trees in front of the cabin before dinner. Riley was *so* excited about his new gun and all of them (Dad's included) can't wait to have more fun with them tomorrow.

Dinner was a BBQ buffet in the main lodge tonight and an overview video of all that The Forest has to offer, as well as a few safety reminders. The dinner was good and Lance and Scotty had the ranger cornered for a while afterwards with questions about skeet shooting and fishing limits. Plans for tomorrow will definately revolve around fishing. The Dad's have plans to rig all the lines tonight so they can hit the water with their rods first thing in the morning. Depending on how successful the day is, tomorrow night we might have our fish fry.

We are all having a lot of fun. Owen has referred to our cabin, more than once, as our camper. "I'm ready to go back to the camper." "Is this one our camper, Mom?" The big kids have corrected him several times and I think he'll be calling it cabin from now on, but I sort-of preferred calling it the camper. I know it will make Nanny and PawPaw proud!

Riley has had a lot of fun too and has perfected his cannon-ball into the pool. I suspect before the week is over he'll be brave enough to try that in the deep end. He came close today, but would change his mind and head to the shallow end each time he tried. He was beside himself with excitement over his new pellet gun. It's a battery-operated gun that shoots little plastic pellets. They sting a little when they hit, not quite as bad as a paintball, but it's perfect for hunting and playing capture the flag out among all the trees. They are wearing goggles when they play so no one is hit in the eye.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring tall tales of our fish adventures. I will get the camera out too and will try to have some pictures to share here then.

We're Here!

We made it to The Forest. Safe and sound and without too much whining in the 4 hour car ride. We are glad to be here and so far, impressed with the facilities and all that is offered to us here.

We checked in about 5pm and after finding our cabin, explored the grounds some. We walked around the lake, skipped some rocks, rode our bikes and took a quick dip in the pool. Not a bad start to what we expect to be a great week. Scotty and his crew should arrive late tonight, around midnight. I'm sure after a full day tomorrow, there'll be more to report. I'll try to include some pictures throughout the week too.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad! Happy Father's day, Steve! Sorry we are not with you this year but plan to celebrate what great Dad's we have when we get home.

It's almost time....

As I told Owen tonight, only 3 more darks till we're off on vacation. I can't wait!

We are going to a company owned resort that the railroad owns. We'll be staying in a log cabin, enjoying lots of fishing, bike riding, golfing, swimming and hit the beach a few times too. We'll be about 30 minutes outside Charleston, SC so there'll be lots of things to do when we leave the resort/park area as well as all the fun things to do on site.

No doubt I'll overload you with stories and pictures when we return. And if I get really inspired, I may try to blog a few times from our cabin. Keep us in your prayers for safe travel and lots of time to make precious new memories.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend and although I didn’t get to any of my projects I had planned, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed our time together playing and relaxing. Our grass is still tall and my azalea’s are still in their pots, but we shared lots of fun and laughs and for that I am grateful.

Saturday was of course the big day for our now 7 year old. He enjoyed the day and as I described in my previous entry, had us pampering his every whim.

Sunday we headed out to the lake after dropping off Owen with PawPaw and Nanny who were taking him and Jacob camping for the week. It sounds like they are having a lot of fun. We talked to them last night as Owen and Jacob were playing in the water, splashing in the irrigation system that was spraying across the road from the neighboring sod farm. They had enjoyed the day riding four wheelers and playing in the sand and a sprinkler. Nanny was worried her earlier bath had already been un-done and they would be heading to the tub again before bed time.

Lance, Riley and I had a fun Sunday and Monday at the lake with his family. We took full advantage of the beautiful weather on their boat and riding their two jet ski’s around the lake. Riley enjoyed a couple of rides on the jet ski’s but I think enjoyed swimming and jumping off the boat more than anything else. After getting a late start on the water Sunday, everyone voted to spend the night with the GG’s so we could start all over again on Monday. Unfortunately my sister-in-law ended up miserable all night and after a Monday morning visit to the emergency room learned she had a kidney stone. After a dose of some powerful narcotics, she slept the day away while the rest of us played some more on the water. PawPaw bought all the grandkids new fishing rods that were very cool and sparked a new interest in fishing for all of them. They were rocket-launching fishing rods which meant no casting skill was required and added a whole new element of fun to the day. They alternated fishing and jumping into the lake for a swim to cool off. Of course our sweet O was missed terribly but knowing that he was having the time of his life on his camping trip put a smile on my face. It was a fun day and a great end to a great weekend.

On a side note, I have an Owen quote to share. This was while eating dinner at Longhorns Friday night.
Owen, "Mom, I know what it means when you're full."
Mom, "What?"
Owen, "It means you can't eat anymore, right?"
Mom, "That's right. Good job."
Owen, "Well how come it hurts to be full?"
I went on to try and explain how your tummy was being stretched, etc. I'm not sure I did a good job but thought it was funny that he described being full as painful. He's right! That's exactly how we all felt as wel left Longhorn that night, in pain!

Norfolk

Lance and I are in Norfolk, VA this week. I had to be here for some training and Lance joined me for the trip. We drove up Monday morning. Eleven hours. Not bad at all though. Eleven hours in a car is easy when there's no one whining in the backseat wondering every 5 minutes if we're there yet.

Riley and Owen are enjoying a fun week at home with PawPaw and Nanny who are running our household more efficiently than Lance and I manage to most weeks. They are getting Riley to and from school each day. Owen had pre-k two days this week. Their schedule also included three baseball games, one baseball practice, church on Wednesday night and football sign-ups on Friday. Not to mention feeding the animals and watering the garden and new flowers. Thank you Mom and Dad!

Lance and I have enjoyed ourselves too. Lance has mostly stayed around the hotel while I've been in class but has seen a few things nearby. He saw the USS Wisconsin battleship which is in a port just a couple blocks away and more importantly he's found several good spots for lunch.

Today I'll be done at noon but we won't head home till tomorrow morning. Not exactly sure what we're going to do this afternoon but I think we're going to drive to Williamsburg, VA and see the original U.S. settlement of Jamestown too.

It's been a while

It’s been a while since my last post. No particular reason for the delay, I guess we’ve just been busy with everyday things.

Spring break was nice last week. I took off Monday and Tuesday. The boys and I went go to Kangaroo Kids one afternoon and met Mom, Alice, Jacob and Ethan. They had fun and were exhausted when we left. That is always a good thing. Another afternoon we met Alice and her boys at a park and they played for a couple hours – another energy-expending activity for crazy little boys. It was fun and to top it off we ran into Jennifer and Craig who I hadn’t seen in a long time with their new little one, Gabriel, or as Alice called him, ‘Little Hugh’ (Jennifer’s Dad’s name is Hugh).

Riley had a few baseball practices throughout the week, but no games because of Spring Break. Owen had none. We took the kids to play putt-putt one night, not realizing they stop letting people begin new games at 7:30pm and close at 8pm. We arrived at 7:35pm. Fortunately the lady at the counter was really nice and let us play until 8pm and assuming we wouldn’t be able to finish a game, she let us play for free. Riley and Owen were running through the course with excitement and managed to finish all 18 holes before 8pm. All that rushing was pure excitement since they were completely unaware of the time crunch. We finished our free, quick game of putt-putt and then went to eat dinner at our favorite Mexican spot.

Riley lost another tooth last week. I need to get a picture to post of that, it’s one of the top middle teeth. It really changed his appearance with that big gap there now.

Other than that, Lance finished up the chicken coop. The chicken’s will probably get moved into it this weekend. We had a cold front move through this week, so we were waiting for warmer weather. I think it should be safe now.Nothing big planned for this weekend. Two games tomorrow morning although the forecast is showing rain, we will see.

Lance borrowed an auger so I think he intends to begin digging post-holes for a fence around his garden. Somehow I think I’m going to get sucked into some of that work too.Riley wants to have his birthday at a county park that has a BMX bike track. We have been before, but I think we will make a visit to see how party-friendly the park would be and to let the boys ride their bikes on the track. Not sure if Owen will try the track or not, I’m guessing he’ll stick to the level path near the track.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Vacation Fun

Sorry for the delay in updating. I’ve been enjoying the week off with my kids. They are out of school all week. I had Monday as a holiday and took Tuesday and Wednesday off too. We had originally thought we might go to Parrott to camp and relax, but decided we’d relax more at home. We had a great week. We had a huge bon-fire most of the day Saturday as Lance burned lots of tree limbs and a couple of dead tree’s he’d chopped down.

We ended up at the school parking lot no less than 4 times for the boys to ride their bikes. If it’s possible I think Owen is now into riding his bike more than his brother. My car and Lance’s truck stayed out of the garage most of the week to accommodate their riding. Our gravel driveway doesn’t make for a great racetrack. They prefer the garage and then flying down the paved portion of the driveway and into the pasture. Lance is nearly done with his chicken-coop. That’s right, we’re hoping by early Spring we’ll have chickens. Lance wants them for the eggs, I think the kids are more looking forward to having them as pets. Owen has already named his – “Chicken Coop”. He said all week, “Chicken Coop is going to live in the chicken coop.” He cracks himself up.

Sunday afternoon Jacob and Ethan came over so Alice and Ronnie could go to a NASCAR party ({cough} redneck {cough} ). It was raining most of the time so the four boys stayed inside. Not as bad as it sounds, they played well together. We broke out the play-dough and they had fun ducking and hiding from bad-guys while armed with their nerf guns. Ethan kept calling me “Nanny.” I had to laugh but I really don’t mind. I liked having him all to myself. If his Mommy or his real Nanny is around, he never wants me but on Sunday he didn’t have many other choices (sorry Lance).

Tuesday the boys and I met Alice and her two at Pump-It-Up (an inflatable indoor playground). They all had fun doing that and then eating lunch afterwards. Ethan was still calling me Nanny, but that is OK. At least he let me hold him in Alice’s presence. I’ll take it.

Wednesday we took the boys to the Georgia Aquarium. We all enjoyed that. Lance and I had been, but not with the boys. There were lots of “Wows” and jaw-dropping moments to witness. There are several spots where the kids can crawl through a little tunnels and pop their head up in a plexi-glass bubble so it looks like they are in the aquarium or habitat with the animals. They especially loved doing that with the penguins. The beluga whales are mine and Lance’s favorites, they are really fun to watch. It seems like they are performing for you as they swim in front of the glass for you to watch. Riley said he liked the alligators, piranhas and the sea lions. Owen liked the sea lions and the whale sharks. It wasn’t a cheap afternoon (over $100 for the four of us to get in plus lunch!) but it was a lot of fun.

After the aquarium, we headed to Byron to meet Mom and Dad. Byron is a good half-way point for meeting between home and Parrott. They took the boys with them to Parrot for the rest of the week. I had to go back to work Thursday and Friday. It’s been raining since they’ve been there. Poor PawPaw and Nanny are stuck in a camper with my two wild boys. They did find a few breaks in the clouds yesterday to get some 4-wheeler riding done. Hopefully they’ll be more of that today and then Saturday it is supposed to be nice a sunny. I definitely enjoy the break when they are gone, but Lance and I both commented on how quiet and boring it is without them around. I started on our taxes last night (didn’t get much farther than installing Turbo Tax) and we watched Survivor and American Idol (flipping back and forth). We really know how to have an exciting, kid-free night – pizza, taxes, American Idol and Survivor.

I’m not sure what the plan is for tonight. Maybe we’ll treat ourselves to a date night – dinner and a movie sounds good.

Disney 2007

I’m not sure how I did it, but somehow I “summed” up our year in our annual Christmas letter but didn’t include the great vacation we took to Disney in September! Duh!

For the record – it was an awesome trip. Owen’s first time to Disney and since Riley was only 2 when he went before; this was his first memorable trip there too. We squeezed it all in – Blizzard Beach, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM and Animal Kingdom. All that in only 3 days at Disney, it was a packed vacation but we had so much fun. Steve and Jackie treated us and Scotty’s family to an incredible vacation. I’m not sure what the highlight of the trip would be, all of the parks are great but I suppose it’s tough to top Magic Kingdom, which has always been my favorite. Riley was all about the roller coasters and rides and Owen was more cautious in that department but loved seeing all the characters. He was a Mickey fan before we went so seeing all-things-Mickey at every turn we made was exciting for him. Adding to the excitement that they were with their cousins for 3 full days, the boys were in their element and soaked up every ounce of fun to be had at Disney.

Thanks PawPaw and Nana for lots of great new memories and a trip we will remember forever!