Summer Fun!

first swim meet

The summer of 2014 has been a VERY busy one!  Some families look forward to not having schedules and being carefree....however we are not one of those families.  We all thrive on routines and being kept busy, so that is what we have done.

Bennett and Preston joined the Homewood swim team, and have been involved in Homewood day camp which started June 8th and goes until Aug 1st.  In addition, they did vacation bible school, went to the beach for two week long trips, went to the lake a couple of weekends, did a couple of specialty camps (Bennett did Camp Winnataska for a week, and Preston attended zoo camp), and had some down time where they could just veg in front of the TV or play with friends.  It has worked out well for all of us!



kind of looks like a swimmer, right?

Just a few recaps....Swim team has been an awesome experience for both kids!  Though we have missed a lot of meets due to being on vacation, they have consistently improved.  They both have improved their times every meet, and have walked away with ribbons for placing in various strokes.  The biggest accomplishment went to Preston who did not know how to swim any stroke at the beginning of the summer, and cried whenever the coaches made him practice backstroke.  However, he finally got the hang of all of them.  In fact, at his last two meets, he swam backstroke, and did it so well that he got a "senior county" time.    During the last meet, he even qualified for SC with freestyle!  He was very excited about that!  Sadly, he is missing this coveted meet due to another vacation.  Next year maybe...



6 months old and happy as a clam

During one of our lake visits, both kids got up on the knee board and learned to drive the jet ski.

However, this summer wasn't all about Bennett and Pres....Walker has enjoyed it too!  He has spent a lot of time with both sets of grandparents, has learned to roll over both ways and can now get to different places in a room by scooching backward and rolling.  He LOVES the pool, and splashing around is his favorite thing to do.  He still loves the beach, and is an awesome traveler for a little guy.

Selfie with W to prove that he looks like me...just a little

Father's Day with the best Daddy!

Bennett kneeboarding

Pres kneeboarding

W can nap anywhere - even on a boat

Bennett swimming butterfly (smiling at me)

The kids before their last meet

Pres swimming butterfly

Walker hanging out at their swim meet

It is hard to believe that summer is almost over, but school starts in less than 2 weeks!  We still have more fun things planned....Pres is going to Peoria with Christian to visit my parents for 6 days, and Bennett has several activities planned while her brother is away.

4th of July Weekend!

As we typically do over the 4th of July weekend, we headed to the Mizerany lake house for the long weekend.  Steve took off Thursday before the weekend too, so we had four days to hang out.  Since I sometimes get a little stir crazy, we drove two cars up so I could leave when I wanted.  We brought Beckham, and all of our gear, and made it up by lunch.  The kids immediately hit the lake with some of their cousins, while we got unpacked and settled.

kids with Jennifer Rawlings

Myra did all of the cooking for our side of the house, and we just contributed where we could.  For someone who isn't all fired up about coming back to the house to cook, this worked out very well for me.  The first night, we touched base with Steve's cousin, Jennifer, who was at the lake with her parents.  She came and picked us up on their boat and took us out for a little drive and back to their house where the kids jumped off their diving board about fifty times.  By the time we finally made it back to the house, Louis and the girls had arrived.  We enjoyed a nice Mexican dinner, and went to bed at a relatively decent time.

fishing 4th of July morning

Beck hopped on all by himself

morning snuggles



Daddy with Walker supervising cornhole tournament

Sadly, John Michael was ill with a stomach bug, so he and Michelle missed the first couple of days.  Friday morning, we awoke to the briskest summer morning I can recall in a LONG time.  It was about 60 degrees, so I decided to take a run with Beck.  That day, we hung on the pier all day enjoying the low humidity.  It was a little too chilly for Walker, so he stayed back with Steve's parents.  Since it was the 4th of July, we had BBQ, ribs, wings, potato salad and Asian slaw.  The kids started a cornhole tournament, and everyone got it on it.  That evening, people all around us were letting off fireworks....and pretty big ones, so we enjoyed the show.

Saturday, we did more of the same, but with John Michael and Michelle who finally made it up.  The kids got their fill of swimming, fishing and riding on the jet ski all weekend with their cousins.  We always had full stomachs and had fun with the family.  By Sunday morning, I was ready to go home and get back to my routine.  Steve stayed back with the kids and Beck, and when we finally all were together again that night....everyone was POOPED!  It was a busy weekend!  Beck had the best time of all though, running wild all day long, playing with other dogs, floating on tube and swimming a little.  The dog slept for days after we returned.

Camp Winnataska...AGAIN!

After last year's wonderful experience at Camp Winnataska, Bennett definitely wanted to return, but for a week this time!  She had several of her friends from school going during the all girl's week, so we decided to send her that week too.  I was shocked to read that they put all five of the SCE incoming second graders in the same cabin though.  However, it worked out great!

We all drove out to camp to drop her off, including my mother who was in town.  Bennett quickly got acclimated, and was then anxious for us to leave.  Since it was about 100 degrees...we weren't complaining about getting back in our air conditioned car either.  I left her a note, along with a journal under her pillow, bought a few items at the canteen
for other days, and we hit the road.

Harper, B, Madeleine Anne, Tate, Caroline

Throughout the week we checked their website for photos of her, and by the looks of them....she had a great time!

Harper and Bennett

"wacky tacky" night

"western night"

When we picked her up 6 days later, she was still all smiles.  Though Bennett admitted to missing us some, she claimed she never cried or got homesick.  She thoroughly enjoyed her "mail" she received each day from all of the family members, and she saved every single letter!  We are so thrilled that she is making these memories at Camp Winnataska, and hope that she returns again next year.

Greeting her brothers

I missed my baby girl!

Bennett and Tate

Sadly, daddy was flying back into town later in the day and couldn't make the pick up.  However, we all enjoyed the stories we heard later that day of her shooting bows and arrows, horseback riding, swimming, canoeing, singing and doing arts and crafts.  She had a ball!

Peoria Girls Reunion

Selfie with Peoria besties

As I get older, I realize how much more I treasure my girlfriends.  With free time being somewhat of a commodity, I have become quite picky about who I choose to hang out with when I am not with my family.  I have made some wonderful friends over the past ten years in Birmingham, but nothing can replace those old friendships I made in college, and during my 20s.  I love those girls!

So every year or two, Chelsea, Betsy and I try to plan a get together.  Since Chelsea's recent move back to the U.S. last year, we haven't gotten together - so it was overdue!  Betsy and I also had not met her last two children, so we planned a getaway to Pittsburgh to visit her family.  Chelsea and Dayven cooked us dinner the first night, which was the perfect way to get to know her kids, and catch up.  That night we stayed up way too late talking....just like we did in our 20s.

The next morning, we ate breakfast and went into Pittsburgh.  Chelsea thought it would be fun to rent bikes and bike on the wonderful trail system they have along the river.
We biked all morning, had lunch at a little place overlooking the river, and biked back.  It was a beautiful day, and the perfect way to spend several hours.

Downtown Pittsburgh

That night we drove to a neighboring town and had a delicious Italian dinner.  We first enjoyed a couple of cocktails at the bar, and then ate dinner out on their patio.  We split several items, which allowed us the opportunity to sample more than we could had we had our own dish.

Amaro Smash

Dinner on the patio

friends forever

Wednesday morning Betsy and I slept in some (I guess those Amaro Smash cocktails got to us). Once we finally got moving, we had a couple of hours to burn, so we hit TJ Maxx.  We hung out with the kids that afternoon, before getting ready for dinner.  That evening, we rode the train into Pittsburgh, where we enjoyed another fun night together.  We started off our night, having a drink at a rooftop bar, and then walked to a trendy little restaurant where we split several items and drank more cocktails.  We talked for several hours, and had a great time together!

Sadly, Thursday was our final day.  After packing our items and getting Wyatt off to summer camp, we drove to a section of Pittsburgh that had a Lululemon store, and some other cute little stores.  We did some shopping and grabbed lunch with Hadley and Tate before Chelsea dropped us off at the airport.  Though we only spent several days together...it was awesome.  We all got to share, vent and enjoy our time together.  So until next time....


Barbarian Challenge

Before the Race!

The day after I gave birth to Walker, I was surfing the internet and came across an adventure race that sounded appealing.  I was bound and determined to lose the pregnancy weight and get back into shape quickly, so this gave me something to work towards.  Knowing how much more fun it would be to have a team, I discussed my intentions with my friend and workout buddy, Lauren Tanner.  By that evening, we were signed up as a team of four: "Mudders and Fathers."  I can't say that our husbands were thrilled about it, but we all had 6 months to get ready, so it wasn't that scary.

As soon as I was released by my doctor, I began working out and jumping back into my normal routine of spinning, doing bootcamp, running and lifting some.  I felt great, and ready to conquer the Barbarian Challenge until I learned about some of the challenges the week before the race.  This race was the Warrior Dash (which I did before I got pregnant with Walker) on steroids.  It was a 5.8 mile course through the Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, Alabama. 

The yellow things are electrodes, see how many there are?

The terrain was super tough, and coupled with typical Alabama summer heat...it was hard!  The hills were atrocious and the very first challenge was crawling through stinky mud, while trying to dodge electric shock cords that hung down.  It was designed in such a fashion where it was impossible to completely miss them, but fortunately my bootie took the brunt of it.

looks easier than it was, especially when you have blisters

Some of the other challenges were crawling over wrecked cars (where there was broken glass and protruding metal), more mud crawling, but under barbed wire, running up and down VERY steep hills, pulling yourself up a 20 foot rope (or doing 50 push-ups if you couldn't lift your own body weight), and the last challenge was the toughest for me...climbing up a piece of flat wood that was on an angle and rested on a bus.  They had three ropes that hung down about a third of the way down, but all of the folks had to wait their turn, and then get a running start to make it up the other 2/3s of the way up the wall.  I tried seven times, and ultimately never made it (I was the only one of our team, which was a huge bummer).

I would be remiss to not mention all of the water on the course.  But for me, it was a welcomed challenge because it gave me the opportunity to cool off and wash off the mud.  When it was all said and done, it took us about 2 hrs to complete.  This time included all of the waiting we did at the various challenges.  Shockingly there were 1200 people that registered and PAID to do this challenge with us.  Though we were in the fourth heat (a group took off every 30 minutes), we still caught up and passed people who began before us, so we all felt good about that.

It is hard to say that we had fun, but it was certainly an accomplishment for all of us.  Though I can't say for sure that we would do this race again (the electrodes were a deal breaker for the Tanners), I do think I convinced Lauren to do another adventure race sometime in the next year.  One thing I learned though...wear gloves!  Though they wouldn't have prevented all of my injuries (we all had road rash, blisters and I got poison ivy), it would have made several of the challenges much easier!

Mudders and Fathers, aka Rainbow Bright

Let's Kick Off the Summer of 2014!

My birthday girl!

On Bennett's 7th birthday, we packed up our car like Sanford and Son (literally had an overhead bag that was stuffed and a hitch that was loaded...not to mention we couldn't see out of the windows), picked up Sara and drove to the beach!  There is nothing better than kicking off our summer with a beach trip!  Everyone traveled wonderfully (the kids watched the movie "Frozen" twice)!  We arrived at lunchtime, and drove straight to Seagrove Market for a delicious lunch.  There is nothing better than kicking off a week at the beach with a great seafood sandwich.

Daddy's little girl

Once we finished, we quickly drove to our house so we could get unpacked and settled.  That part didn't take long, and the kids were ready to hit the pool, so Sara took them swimming while Steve and I hit the liquor and grocery stores for the week.  Once we got back, we met up with the kids at the beach for a few hours.  That night the Jarmons came over for dinner and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the beach!

Sunset with my honey

The next day, we all rode our bikes to the donut truck (the way we always start our first morning at the beach).  Then the kids played in the sprinklers at Alys Beach for a bit before we came back and made our way to the beach.  Since we have to take so much to the beach, we really like to make the most of it, and stay all day long. 

Having Sara helped immensely, as she was great about taking the big kids to the pool every so often for a break.  Walker was just as easy this trip as he was for spring break.  He lounged in our arms, and napped and played in his portable crib.  We thought he might tire of the beach, but he never did.


happy as a clam...as always

underwater camera

Saturday night, we hosted the Passarellas and Tanners over for dinner.  The kids all played, and we ate and chatted.  Since we all had sitters with us, it was a very relaxing evening.  Of course, all of the kids gravitated to "Say Say" and hung on her all week long!

The rest of the week, we did more of the same....bike riding, hanging on the beach with the Tanners, Passarellas, and other Homewood friends, swimming in the pool, and enjoying the occasional meal out.

Dinner at The Pearl, Rosemary Beach

Since we had so much fun last year, Steve and I decided to organize another bonfire with our friends.  We invited a lot of our Homewood friends, and had a great group!  All of the kids played together, enjoyed the s'mores, and tried their hand at crabbing, while the adults hung out.  It was a gorgeous night, and everyone had a ball again!

some of the girls at bonfire

family shot

Pres and his buddies

All of the mamas

kids enjoying the morning

The weather was beautiful all week, except for one afternoon in the middle of the week.  Of course, we used that as our day to dine at Dusty's with friends.  Since we had some other friends staying in Panama City Beach, they met us there for a late lunch.  By the time we finished, the rain had left, so we went to the beach for sunset.

girls at Dusty's

digging crew on the last day at the beach

finished product several hours later, a 20 ft oval!

It really was another wonderful trip to the beach, and we both felt it had a lot to do with Sara accompanying us.  She was a tremendous help to us, and the kids so enjoyed having her there.  I am so glad that it worked out, because now they have these memories for the rest of their life, and they are closer to her because of them. 

The day before we left