Imagination and soccer

The boys are playing soccer at the Y again this fall. We've had some out of town trips and things planned, so they've unfortunately missed a few weeks of this season. That said, I can already tell a difference in the amount of focus and attention they pay versus last year. Last year it was all about running around and looking for piles of dirt on the field. This year they seem like they're actually paying attention, listening to their coach during the drills and making an effort to get to the ball. Stokes especially is taking it seriously and putting forth some energy and effort.

This past Saturday, he came out between periods to get some water and he told me that he got bonked in the head. I'm not sure if it was by an elbow or another head or something else all together, but somewhere in the scramble to get to the ball, he got bonked. It wasn't hard and he wasn't hurt or crying or anything, he was just telling me about it. The best part? He followed that up by saying that they "bumped his imagination". I just busted out laughing! I loved that. And where does he get these things from?

Go Falcons!
#3 (Stokes) and #2 (William)

Action!

Water break

It was a beautiful morning for some soccer

Florida Family Time

We took a weekend to do a long-overdue trip down to Jacksonville to see Grandpa Stokes and Shanghai during the weekend of Sept 7-9. The boys did AWESOME on the car ride. You read that right, and no, I'm not being sarcastic. We really, really lucked out with great car riders.

We took a 1/2 day off work and school to start the trek so we were able to make it down at a decent time on Friday evening.

Beautiful sunset on our way in to town

On Saturday, we drove to the beach and attempted to do a little crabbing. This was my dad's first attempt to crab at this location and we realized that we were a little late and our bounty was being caught before it ever made it to us. There were some legit crabbers that got there and got set up way earlier than us and they probably caught all the crabs in that area. So, all in all, we caught a whopping total of zero crabs, but had lots of fun regardless. In all honesty, Shanghai caught about 10 or so hermit crabs, so I think that actually counts. ;)

Ry-guy

Pretty bird

He loves the water

building sand castles

Happy at the shore!

One of Shanghai's hermit crabs

Playtime

getting serious about crabbing -
Thomas took the bait and the net and went a little further out...
no luck.

When we got hungry and tired of waiting on crabs that weren't biting, we went down to St. Augustine. I had never been before so it was cool to see something new. Did you know that it's the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement within the borders of the continental  US? Now you do. We went to Castillo de San Marcos, an old fort, to take a look around.

Sitting on the wall

Castillo de San Marcos

We got there at the perfect time to see a re-enactment of the firing of the canon. It was really loud and I think the boys were impressed!

Family pic in St. Augustine

Close-up

From there we drove back towards Jacksonville and went to this little oceanfront restaurant, Palms Fish Camp. This place was great! There was a nice breeze, live music playing, football on tv, cold beer and fresh seafood - what else could you want?!?! We ended up staying there for a while with my Dad's friends, Scott and Teresa, just hanging out and enjoying a nice afternoon. The kids were entertained by looking for fiddler crabs in the marsh right next to the restaurant and listening (and dancing a little) to the music. We even ended up getting Phyllis and Jerry to come by for a little while to visit with us!

Ryan ready for a late lunch!

My dad asked for an encore, and he got a
personal serenade of "I Shot the Sheriff"!

Stokes, Shanghai and William

The boys loved seeing Jerry!

Cutie boy!

Phyllis held Ryan and they laughed and laughed!

Stokes with Dada

Ryan and me

William loves Shanghai!

The two Stokeses - did I spell that right?!?!?

Cool breeze

We couldn't stay alllllll day though because we had to get back to watch some real football! Clemson was playing Texas A&M that night and we didn't want to miss a second of the action. Everyone got baths and the Clemson gear on and we watched right up until the final seconds. It was a nail biter, but Clemson won!

Go Tigers!

That pretty much ended the weekend. We got up on Sunday, had breakfast, then got back on the road to come back home. It was a fun, although short, trip for us. We got some time on the water and time with family, which is a win-win. Till next time, Jacksonville!

Compound Kids

The summer really just seemed to fly by. With our move during the spring and then all the stuff we've been doing around the house, not to mention all the travel, I blinked and the boys were five years old, summer was over and a new school year had begun.

The sad thing about being busy is missing out on impromptu gatherings. We had our "compound kids" + Matt Owings over for a Labor Day cookout and it was one of the first times we've been all together in a long, long time!

We all kind of realized that we didn't have plans so we decided to "not have plans" all together! We went to our pool for a while in the afternoon and then came back to our house to cookout and hang out.

Saying the blessing at the kids' table

Cute kids!
Stokes, Caroline, Ryan, Ava Lane, William

After dinner, we put a movie on for the kids in the playroom and we played adult games (side note: if you've never played What Do You Meme?, you're missing out) until it got late...way later than we had planned on! It was a fun, easy night with great friends!

Happy Labor Day! I love 3 day weekends!!!!

In case you're wondering why we call them "compound kids", it's because we joke that we're going to buy land on a compound and all live together and the kids will grow up hanging out on the compound all together. I promise we're not a cult. Ha!

Home Opener - Clemson Football 2018

Thomas and I did not renew our season tickets this year. Remember this post?!?!?! That is basically why. I'm still traumatized. For real. And I was just not that into our terrible seats last year. Corner of the upper deck above all the visiting fans? No thanks. :( That being said, we have some very sweet friends! Carole wasn't planning on going to the first game and gave us her 4 tickets and parking pass in Lot 2. Amazing!!!! We couldn't pass that up! Ryan stayed with MaSha and we took Stokes and William to the game with us.

It was a beautiful day, albeit HOT, and it's always great to be back in Tiger Town. I can't believe how quickly football season caught up to me.

We went to a special tailgate with some friends in memory of their husband and dad, Paul McCurry. The McCurrys have been family friends of ours for years and we wanted to be there to celebrate and honor our friend in a special way on the first game of the season.

Walking with the wagon to the McCurry tailgate

Tiger fans!
Tigers are #1

Getting some grub!

At the Catholic church where the tailgate was

with sweet Brenda

It was a really awesome tailgate and we loved talking to those we knew and meeting new faces too. I was thankful that they invited us and that we were able to go and see everyone for a little while! I think Paul would have loved it!

Since it was a noon game, we had to get back to the stadium so that we wouldn't miss "The Most Exciting 25 Seconds in College Football" - when the Tigers run down the Hill!

Quick pic in Lot 2 before the game

The boys did fairly well. When I mentioned above that it was hot, I wasn't kidding. We were drenched in sweat - yes, true story - and the sun was beating down on us. Despite the heat, we loved seeing the game and the boys were fairly interested....as long as we kept snacks at hand. We got hot dogs, popcorn, shaved ice, Dippin' Dots, waters, etc - whatever was going to keep them satisfied for a few minutes!

Stokes

Stokes

Dada,  William and Dippin' Dots

Happy much?

#1

The best one we got

We ended up throwing in the towel when it was close to the 4th quarter. We were ready for some shade and some AC. The Tigers had a comfortable lead by then.

So many of my posts end with a picture of the inevitable car nap after our super fun adventure, and this one is no exception. Stokes was a goner within minutes. See how wet his hair was?!?! Hot and tired.

Stokes

William - not asleep yet, but also very hot and tired.
It didn't take him long to pass out either.

In all transparency, Thomas had to stop at a gas station on the way home to get us these mondo-size Gatorades so we could replenish from all that sweatin' we did at the game! Whew...

It was a great day, a Tiger win, and fun with the fam. Extra thanks go to Carole for the amazing tickets and parking pass, and of course, to MaSha for keeping Ryan for us so we could go! 

As always, go Tigers! # AllIn

5th Birthday Celebration Weekend!

The 5th birthday is a big one! In lieu of a party, I thought we should do something different this year and I wanted to spend time together as a family. And have some fun! We decided to go to Dollywood for the boys's birthday weekend. I had friends and family that have been and have said wonderful things about Dollywood but I had never been and the boys have never been to any sort of amusement park yet.We were so excited to put these plans into action!

The Dollywood idea had a lot of supporting factors that became a reality. We got to stay in Knoxville at Granddad's lake house, since it's only about 30 minutes or so away from Pigeon Forge where Dollywood is; see Ashley, Zack, Taylor and Anna; and we invited Joey, Lisa and Davis to stay with us and go to the park with us (they are Dollywood pros and former season ticket holders!) and see Jim Ed, Suzy, Stephanie and Ava while in town. So many great things packed into one weekend!

Here's the rundown and photo evidence of our fun!

We met Ashley, Zack and the girls at Calhoun's on the river for dinner. They secured the most perfect table for us! It was surrounded by windows so the kids could look out at the river and the boats and it was away from most of the other restaurant patrons so we wouldn't disturb others. We all had a great time.

Dinner with the Lewis family at Calhoun's on the river

Stokes & birthday dessert

Ryan & birthday dessert

William & birthday dessert

After dinner we went out with the girls to feed the ducks and look at the fish!

Taylor holding William

Feeding the ducks

Family fun

After dinner, we went back to Granddad's house with Joey, Lisa and Davis. We got unpacked and tried to put the kids to bed as early as possible so that they would be well-rested for the big day the next day.

After they were asleep, I snuck in to take pictures of them on their last night as 4 year olds. Thinking about that and how fast time is going makes my heart ache just a little!

Stokes at 4 years old

Ryan at 4 years old

William at 4 years old

I put some balloons in their room so they could wake up
to a birthday celebration!

The next morning was their big BIRTHDAY!!!! The boys all woke up as FIVE YEAR OLDS! Did I mention that Joey's birthday is the same day as the boys'? He is a little older than five though. ;)

We had birthday cake for breakfast!

All the birthday boys!

Homemade (egg-free) cake, per the boys's request:
chocolate cake with strawberry icing.

Make a wish!

Davis wore one of the party hats!

After breakfast everyone got ready and we went on over to Dollywood. I couldn't believe all the traffic! We were able to park in a handicapped space and also got an accessibility pass for Ryan, so that helped us out a lot.

The Peerys take on Dollywood!

We rented strollers for all the boys (I wish I would have thought to pack my double stroller!) and we were SO GLAD that we did. We definitely needed them...a lot. The boys were already complaining about being tired of walking from where we parked in the handicapped lot to the front gates of the park. Eye roll....

We looked down and saw this sweet moment
of Stokes and Davis holding hands!

We had Happy Birthday balloons tied on to Ryan's wheelchair and the Dollywood employees at the front of the park noticed and gave the boys buttons to wear on their shirt indicating it was their birthday. It was an extra special touch because every employee that noticed would comment about it or wish the boys a happy birthday.

Time for rides! The kids were so excited!

William, Stokes and Davis

Stokes (aka Mr Serious) and Davis

William

They all got to ride together on this one!

Bzzzzzzz

Sweet Ryan!

Photo time!

Stokes, Ryan and William

#Reallife

We took a ride on the Dollywood Express. This was a great "rest" time after having walked around a lot and gotten really, really hot. It felt nice to sit for a while in the shade and when the train was moving, there was a great breeze! Definitely a must-do to break up the day!

Tribe on the train

These 3 are besties!

Mama, Ryan and Dada

My heart

Our Dollywood Express Train
If I recall correctly, her name was Klondike Katie! LOL

We split off from the Pruetts for a little while after the train and did a few more rides! We found this River Rampage water ride - we all got so wet and had a blast! When we got on this ride, all the employees working the ride came up to our tube-thing and sang "Happy birthday" to the boys. :)

Ready to go!

Woo hoo!

Yay, Ryan!

Then we meandered over to this vintage car area which was pretty cool!

Ladies man!

Charmers...

Selfie with William on the vintage car ride!

After a few rides, we met back up with the Pruetts to have a snack and gather thoughts...

We love Dollywood!

Birthday boys.!

All these kiddos are so fun!

Our gang

Joey, Lisa and Davis were pretty much done for the day and they decided to head on home...I wasn't quite ready yet! I {somehow} managed to get Thomas to agree to go on a few more rides with the boys. We went back to the little kids area where we spent most of the morning and tried a few more rides that we hadn't been on yet. I could tell the boys were starting to get pretty tired, but they were gamers to do more rides!

Dada on the elephant ride

Dada and Ryan

Dollywood family selfie

Meltdowns were starting, and it became apparent that it was our time to go on as well. Plus, we were all sweaty, hot, and exhausted. As you can see below, it took all of 5 seconds for the boys to crash once we got to the car.

William and Stokes

We headed back towards Knoxville and met up with the Pruetts for dinner at the Smoky Mountain Brewery.

Big Man Ryan

Besties at dinner

It was a fun, casual dinner and a great way to cap off a big birthday for all these guys! I think we were all at the point of exhaustion by the time we got our check at the restaurant. We were pretty much ready to sleep by the time we got back to Granddad's!

In all the excitement of Saturday and going to Dollywood, we didn't give the boys their birthday gifts! We didn't really have time to do it in the morning before going to the park (and I didn't want them to want to bring their new toys with us!) and then by the time we got home, it was BED TIME, so we ended up opening gifts on Sunday morning, the day after their birthday.

Ryan with Baby Jack Jack

Stokes and William opening their gifts

William got a "Flynn Rider" - the guy
from Disney's Tangled. He LOVES Flynn
Rider. Mainly because he wears boots.

We all left to grab breakfast and we parted with the Pruetts. You should have seen these boys! Look at that group hug. They really all get along so, so well! Lisa told me that while they were at Dollywood, Davis called the boys his "brothers"! Love it...

Group hug

From there we stopped by Jim Ed and Suzy's house to see them! It had been so long since we'd seen any of them and the boys had never been to their house before. It was a long overdue visit. We weren't able to stay all that long, but we loved seeing everyone and catching up.

Ava with the boys

Kiddos with Stephanie, Jim Ed and Suzy

Kiddos with Thomas and me

Last few minutes of our Knoxville weekend - bittersweet! We loved visiting Granddad's lake house, had so much fun with friends and family, wore ourselves out at Dollywood and had a blast celebrating our sweet, spunky and fun five year olds. I was sad that our fun weekend was coming to an end.

Granddad's beautiful back yard

Bye bye, lake house! Thanks for the memories!