Category Archives: Kids

Road trip!

Waycross, GA. or as I like to refer to our little trip as Waaaaaaaay-‘cross Georgia..

School is upon us and we can no longer deny the fact that the lazy days of summer are crashing to a close.  The kids will be grudgingly turning in sooner, waking earlier and submitting to whatever form of homework their teachers proffer (while Hubby and I pray we can keep up and help them if needed–mostly we just stay out-of-the-way!).  With the addition of cheer and soccer (which I’ve mentioned a zillion times already) as well as band commitments, I realized my traveling-for-fun weekends are done.  So, I decided to take a “quick” 8 hour road trip up to spend time with my girlfriend in Atlanta.  Her Hubby was traveling for work and her boys were on a school retreat, so the girls and I made the trek for a super-quick all-girls Road trip.  Let’s just say, I’ve cured myself for a bit.  I’m not as young as I used to be, but I can definitely say…..it was well worth the effort!

A visual “Quick Takes” of our road trip and the you can check in with Jen @ Conversion Diary and LOTS of other people, too!  Enjoy!!

1.

Our sassy girl found a little mailbox that reminded her of our cat during our little exploration of Roswell’s “Alive after Five” event in historic downtown Roswell. Tons to do and see and eat (if you want to wait an hour….)

2.

Bulloch Hall. A pic for my Hubby who is a big Teddy Roosevelt fan….so this will do until he can see the childhood plantation home of President Roosevelt’s mum!

3.

A pic for my meat and sausage and BACON loving boy! Provisions…quite the happenin’ spot as we picked up some sausage for my girlfriend’s lasagna the next day…sadly it was forgotten in the trunk until the next day! OOPS!

4.

The girls enjoyed the burlap chairs and couches @ Provisions (a super quaint and old-timey spot) as well as great people watching and super tempting delicacies all around…dinner was CALLING!

5.

The. BEST. Part of the evening (for the girls)…topless in the Beamer….”put your hands in the air like you don’t care!” They loved it and are now spoiled for all other vehicles. Poor dears.

6.

Cruising through downtown ATL. The girls were fascinated by the toll booths–apparently they forgot we actually have a few in Orlando…***the girls were iPhone-shooting all pics from the car, not me.…PuhLEEZE!! I was white gripping that wheel like a maniac!!

7.

Had to stop and get a photo OP with ‘Mater in a little used car parts/pieces place just south of Waycross. Although that doesn’t explain why our youngest’s shorts are pulled up like Erkel….ah well, whatcha gonna do?

***a couple bonus shots…

8.

My girlfriend’s AHHHHHH-some deck. We most certainly spent ALL morning on this baby, chatting, reading, drinking coffee and enjoying the breeze, the shade and each other’s company. Simply the best part of their renovation–and their kitchen is to die for–but this….this is beyond peaceful.

 

Taz enjoys the deck also. What he wasn’t all the interested in were 2 little paparazzi who wanted to use his image on their Baldify app….

 

9.

Nothing like a rainbow to settle your nerves after a good storm on the road

Happy weekend y’all!

 

 

 

 

 

Summertime and the living is easy….for those who have off that is!

My view from the track for the next few months…BUT….it’s guaranteed cardio, so there’s that!

‘Tis the last week of summer for us and I’m taking off Wed-Fri to chill and occupy the children.  Except that I panicked at the thought of the next 4 months being utterly sucked up by soccer and cheer practice/games and any opportunity of any travel outside of games is POOF, gone, so I decided to make an somewhat-impromptu visit to see my girlfriend in Atlanta.  Taking my girls, of course.  (the boys aren’t interested…they are too cool for that, besides her boys won’t be there…)

what bored soccer players do at cheer practice…

It will be a busy few days, because that’s how I roll….all busy and hectic and such…it’s black and white with me sometimes–ok mostly.  Balls to the wall busy or slug.

Anyway, possibly a day trip to Gainesville to see my pregnant friend before she enters the world of 4 kiddos, birthday skateboard shopping for our almost 15-year-old!  WHhAaTt?!??!?!  Meet the teachers.  Pick up middle schooler’s schedule/locker/etc.

But first….let me get my arse off the chair and get ready to GO VOTE!

Have a great day and hopefully will have some fun stuff for you at the end of the week!

Ciao!

Try Tri…

If you’ve ever had the desire to participate in a triathlon or perhaps even COMPETE in a triathlon, you might be missing a few screws.  Just sayin’ .  I’m not slandering you or anything, because my Hubby falls in that category.  It’s an observation.  My observation.  Just in case you ARE a triathlon person you don’t need to get your athletic panties in a wad…

Today marked Hubby’s return to triathlon competing.  yay him.  It’s all good though.  I’m proud of him.  I can’t run anymore, but even when I did…..NO.  DESIRE.  Mostly because I’m pretty certain I’d panic in the swim and drown.  Not my strong suit.  Plus, I’d be all concerned about what is swimming under and around me…visions of Jaws are seared in my brain.  Oh and biking…eh.  I hate that my rear is so sore….and yes, I know it goes away (I did actually teach spin classes for several years), but I only like to bike easy on the beach, like this on Saturday:

See, my girl likes a little break while biking…nice and easy, little breeze, water break….that’s a good ride!

However, today we got the kids up bright and early…5:30 a.m. on a Sunday.  Good times…..fortunately,  they have one more week of sleeping in to recover!  The bonus was the beautiful sunrise at the start of the race.

And then the race began.  Men first (in yellow caps)….followed by the ladies (in green caps).  The race was:

800 yd. ocean swim/15 mile road bike/4 mile beach run

We haven’t got the final results yet but Hubby did very well, placing roughly 7th in his age group and 40-something out of about 150ish people.  Awesome effort.  Rewarded by Dunkin Donuts at home!  Can I get a WOOP WOOP?!?!!!  Enjoy and hopefully you’ll get a nap today like I plan on doing!

Lining up

And they’re off…..(shooting blind here, had NO idea where Hubby was in the pack)

All I can say is…I was in that water yesterday and it was COLD! No thank you.

Lifeguards. Making sure no one is drowning from a kick to the head.

Go, baby, GO!

Bikes corralled and ready to go….

 

 

 

From fish to firma…on wheels…

the home stretch….all 4 miles of it….phew!

Under 1:40….not bad for an “old” guy…. 😉

The race tent for the record keepers….extremely well run race…no pun intended!

Passing time between clapping, getting sandy, rinsing off and getting on each other’s nerves. However, they were there to cheer on Dad and afterward said, “Eh, it wasn’t so bad. I just didn’t want to get up so early.” pssst…sneak peek into back to school/reality kiddos! (they did actually come over to the finish line to clap/cheer on and high 5 Dad…they come through in the clutch!)

Happy Sunday, ya’ll!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manic Monday

After the whirlwind weekend comes crazy Monday….

Starting off innocently and with bright hopes for the day with a great boot camp, shower, some quiet time and then off to wake up the littlest (our older girl had a sleepover) and then…..at 7:22 a.m. as I was gently waking her and asking what she wanted for breakfast….I realized….I……was the early person.  Yes, the person who “opens up” at 7:30 a.m.  Oh.  crud.  Bless her heart,she opened those eyes and joined “Team Mom” and dressed and got ready in record time as I made lunches and got myself ready.  I made it to work @ 8:06 and FORTUNATELY had NO patients waiting…..phew!!!

Nothing like a little adrenaline to start the day.

The evening was apparently a bit of a peek into what the next few months have in store for us with dueling sports/practices/games going on.  We’ve done this before and I guess enough time must have passed that I forgot how psycho that time was….kind of like being pregnant/giving birth/babies.  So….here we go again.  Lord, have mercy on us.

We have a cheerleader for a Pop Warner football league and a soccer player entering the club bracket for the first time.  We will have NO.  LIFE.   for the next four months. So call me.  maybe.  or text.  or email.  or Facebook me.  or read my blog, it may get interesting as the seasons start (because we’re still in “practice” with no games until September)….on a plus side, I’ll be getting lots of cardio in during the practices, so there’s that.

I thought it went fairly well with Hubby on “deliver-the-girls to practice” duty and me on pick-up.  I had son #2 put dinner in the oven and Hubby would be home in time from his swim to dish it out and get the sides ready, except………somehow…..the oven didn’t actually get turned ON.   Therefore….pancakes, eggs and hash for dinner.  And it was ready.  My Hubby rocks.  and he makes great pancakes, too!  😉

So…..little speedbumps to smooth out…but that’s what practice runs are for, right?   Boys and girls we learned a few good lessons today:

1) Make sure you know WHEN you are supposed to be somewhere.

2) Make lunches the night before.  Time saver here.

3) Teach the boy to push the button PROPERLY…

4)  Always have  pancakes, eggs and hash on hand.  oh, and chocolate chips.  they go good in pancakes and in a REAL crisis you can just eat them by the handful.