Boy Heaven

Looking at tadpoles......

We went to Ijams today with some friends. It was pretty much, as close to boy heaven as I can imagine with all of the dirt, bugs, and frogs. I have only been there twice now (in the past 10ish years-embarassing, I know) so I didn't even know they have a play area. On the website it looks like a "fairy land" type place-but to me, as a "Boy Mom" I saw it as an Ewok Village/where the lost boys from Peter Pan live. The boys had a blast and we'll be going again soon!

First Day of School-Kindergarten

I knew it was coming. I mean, we've been talking it up all Summer. However, as Summer days started to dwindle-the word "Kindergarten" would bring tears to my eyes almost imediately. It was a little embarassing-I could get about 2 sentences out and then needed to change the subject. I don't know if it was Abram going out into the big, wide, world without me. Maybe it's the "all day" thing. I just got use to the idea of half day Kindergarten, telling myself it would be like everyday preschool-and preschool I could handle. That day, no joke, my friend who teaches fifth grade sends me a text that she had heard next year would be all day. My baby, overnight had turned into a five year old and he was going to be in school all day.

The first day was this past Friday and I was a little worried I would give Abram and anxiety disorder because every five seconds "THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST DAY EVER! YOU ARE SO BIG!" came out of my mouth. Now I know, those words were being said to comfort myself as much as they were to comfort him. And just as we were walking up to the school, a girl from church who is a fifth grader walked up to us and smiled warmly at Abram, took his hand and followed us into the building. It was so sweet and perfect, just the calming we all needed and they were able to chat until they had to seperate so she could go to her hallway. We walked to his classroom and I could tell he was nervous, but he smiled and hung up his things.




Funny that I got this picture of how he may have felt.....

But he put on a brave face......

He was happy to be there and we left, and I didn't cry. I think it's because I was there to walk him in and make sure he got to his seat. I will be able to walk him in again, on his next staggered day. It'll be the day when I drop him off and watch him walk into the building on his own that I will lose it. I can feel it coming.

He liked school, but was worried he "disappointed his teacher" because she looked like she had a "disappointed face" when he was having trouble following directions. Abram kept saying, "Mom, I really didn't know what I was doing! I really didn't!" I felt he was being genuine, and I started to worry. Upon lengthy, dragging out the whole story, while wondering if the first email needed to be sent, he explained. His version is this, he was supposed to color and picture, then draw himself.....and he didn't. He colored the apple, but didn't draw himself. I held back the laughter. "Sooooo, it sounds like you were having trouble following directions." I said, then asked, "You know how you can fix that?" He looked at me wide eyed like I was about to give him the world's biggest secret to success. "Do what your teacher asks."

Here's to hoping that he isn't already labeled, and that this won't be a long year.

12 Years

We celebrated our 12th anniversary this past weekend. Friday night we had a date night, courtesy of Aunt Natalie (thanks for watching the kiddos!) and Saturday we headed out to Cades Cove. It has been WAY TOO long since I have been there. I didn't want to promise the kids we would see animals, so we just called it our "Adventure Day" and let what happen, happen.

We saw horses....

We walked up to see cabins.....

And checked out their "backyards"...

and realized that when you decide to leave late, and are on adventure during naptime you get pictures like this...

and this (Reese covering his face screaming, "No! I won't smile ever again!)....

(I promise, we did really have fun!)

We decided some swinging was in order to get rid of the grumps....

We will do this soon Abram, just for you.....

We had only seen horses and one deer by this point, and started to get a little sad, so someone decided a joke was in order....

(Get it? Hardy har har) We took a break and climbed a tree..

Just when we thought we wouldn't see any other animals,

Kris spotted this....

Sometimes he has a tough time focusing the camera, but in this case I liked it because it looks like one of those "Bigfoot" pictures. Luckily this fella was going the same direction as we were and needed to cross the road...

But our car was in the way, he thought about turning around....



 We moved instead, and let him cross. This bear was probably 6 feet from our car.

Did I mention I love Tennessee? Because I do.

Are you looking at me?

It was a fantastic day, ending with a trip to Subway and a country store for some treats and apple butter. 12 down, forever to go...

Metcalf Bottoms

My friend Lori is awesome. She has a fun blog, makes cool things, makes fun movies, can talk you into just about anything, and has awesome ideas like going to Metcalf Bottoms. It's a swimming hole sort of place, in the mountains. It was the. Best. Day. Ever. It was one of those "Bucket List" kinda of days. Play in the mountain water with the kiddos-check. Catch crawdads with the boys-check. Float on tubes with the boys-check. Jump off rocks into the water with Abram-check. Leave your camera so you don't get any pictures-check. Luckily, my friend Brianna is an amazing photographer and always has her handy dandy camera with her, she got some great candid photos.

The water was a wee bit chilly (as demonstrated by Kris).....

But not too cold for crawdad huntin.......

We caught, maybe 15 ish??? Reese kept asking to put one in the bucket. I said, "Sure" thinking he would touch it and freak. Nope, he followed directions perfectly and proceeded to put several more in after they were caught. That kid never ceases to amaze me.

It also wasn't too chilly for walking down the trail to jump off rocks.....

or if you're nervous at first, there will be someone to throw you....

There was a 50% chance of rain. And it did, right as it was time to go anyway. The rain POURED DOWN! And we looked at each other and laughed...until we realized all of our stuff was a little ways up the trail! So we ran through the mud filled trail-it was hysterical! And even in the pouring rain, sopping wet, we laughed as we loaded up our wet kiddos full of those droopy eyed smiles-you know the kind-where they are so tired from playing so hard, but have had so much fun they don't even care. The boys have already been asking when we can go back.

Goodbye to Tybee

I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to go back to reality. I wanted to continue taking turns making dinner, shared effort in cleaning up, taking turns entertaining each others children, going to the beach whenever we wanted, laughing at Kris's zebra striped sunburn that he threatened me not to take a picture of. Goobye running on the beach, goodbye boogie boards, goodbye watching "The Ring" for the 100th time and making fun of Lisa because she still gets as scared as the first time, goodbye relaxing while the storm moves in....

Goodbye fireball contests (and whooping the competition)......





Goodbye big house that wasn't really big enough for the people we crammed in........



Goodbye beach (photo by Abram)....



Goodbye....until next year???

Passion Patrol

How could I not brag on myself and tell you I stuck to my running schedule (by the way, I sort of signed up to be part of a relay team) while on vacation!! And made my sister, and cousins do it too!!! Well, let's be honest, my cousin Lisa was the only one who stuck it out with me (we won't mention who stayed back to eat cake instead). It was tricky to find time to run, so a couple times it had to be at night-you know-when it's PITCH BLACK outside and you have one handlight and one bright cell phone? You know, when there are couples bringing out the blankets, and the wine, and you are running by-slightly breaking "the mood" with your flashlight swinging back and forth while you run, kicking up sand and heavy breathing, panting "THIS SUUUUUUUCKS!!! I HATE THIIIIIIIISSSS!!" because you're about to die and you would rather be doing anything other than exercising at that moment.

(one night after running, not as dark as the next night)

Tybee Island Lighthouse

I used to be obsessed with lighthouses. I don't know why. They seemed magical to me. Maybe because I had never been on the coast before, and had only seen them in movies. I worked in California for a couple of Summers when I was in college. One off weekend, some friends and I drove down Highway 1 (BEA-U-TI-FUL!! Gorgeous, magical, out of a magazine, etc) and we came to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. I screamed and begged them to pull over. I hugged the lighthouse (no joke, some people hug trees-which I have, and it was against the law because you could kill a famous redwood-which I did not know, and I might, or might not have a picture hugging the hypothetical tree before I read the sign. But that is a story for another time. And some people hug lighthouses.) Anywho-I am over the obsession (and hugging), though I still find them quite fascinating. That being said, Tybee Island has a couple. And we went to one......

And we each had a partner. Here was mine.....

and we climbed ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY EIGHT STAIRS....

to wave to the little ant people.....

and take pictures that make you wana throw up because you kids keep sticking their arms

through the bars keeping them safe at the top....

the breeze was nice....

and if you want the full experience, you can make your family cram into the blocked off stairs

to the tippy top where it's a million degrees....

Fun Facts of the day:

-To save time, because we were going straight to the beach after, we wore our swimsuits. We justified this idea by telling oursleves, "It's the beach, everyone will have one their suits and cover ups." ...........we were the only ones in suits.

-Abram literally RAN up 178 stairs and wasn't out of breath. I made him stop at every little window we past making it a game to see how high we had climbed, when really it was to catch my breath.

-Susan forgot until we got to the top, she wasn't a fan of heights. Neither was the lady hugging the top of the lighthouse, (and it was not because she was a lighthouse hugger).

-Reese walked all the way up, not so much all the way down.

-According to the older lady who was one of the lighthouse guides/line referees-if I didn't quiet down while trying to entertain the children, I would shatter the glass at the top of the lighthouse.

-When you ask a random stranger to take a picture of you and your family with the lighthouse in the backround, you have to be specific-other wise you get a straight on shot of your family, with the bottom of the lighthouse in the backround.