Birthday Celebration for Friends

This past weekend, Carter helped two friends from school celebrate their birthdays. The party was held at the Child.ren's Fre.sh Air Fa.rm, which was a venue that I had never been to before. It was actually probably fewer than 5 miles from the house where I grew up!

The twins whose birthday we were celebrating love horses, so there were pony rides for the cowboys and cowgirls at the party! Carter had to be coaxed a little to ride Cookie, but I think he was glad he did.

In addition to a bounce house with a slide, they also had a clown there who did face painting for the children.

When Carter came up to me {while I was talking with another parent} and said, "Mom, I want to get a spider.man, " I said sure. I am not sure I was expecting full-face spidey. It turned out to be quite the topic of conversation as we made a quick run through Home De.pot after the party.
At the end of the party, the birthday girls were gracious enough to take a picture with Carter. {aside: Carter goes back and forth between which of the twins is his "girlfriend." And, yes, he is four. I can't even imagine what I am in for.}
Happy Birthday S. & B.! Thanks for having Carter to your party!

Family Beach Trip

When we got down to the beach for our family beach trip starting Labor Day weekend, we were greeted by Tropical Storm L.ee.

Lots of wind...lots of rain...lots of water...

Typically, the water level is about two feet {at least} below the dock...here it is right under it.
This is a veiw of the dock by the boat launch. Clearly the water is up higher than usual.
During the storms, we played with play doh, watched movies, played with cars, played with the new pirate island set Carter got for his birthday, and generally enjoyed being together with family. I was really proud of my little ones...they seemed not to be disheartened that we were inside for a few days at the beach. I guess being in a new place was entertaining enough.

Then, the sun came out...
These two were pretty excited for that as well. We spent Tuesday {our first day of sun} swimming at Bamma and Big Pat's house and enjoying being outside again. On Wednesday, the temperatures were much cooler in the morning and didn't make for good swimming. So...what to do but pack up and head to the beach!!!

Carter and Callen loved it. Both really enjoyed playing in the sand. This became our morning ritual. Up, eat breakfast, head to the beach until lunch. It was fun, relaxing, and, for the most part, empty because of the storm and the fact that it is September. We just about had the run of the beach.

Callen was ALL. ABOUT. the water. She kept saying "I want to swim in that pool." The water was a little rough the first few days we were there, so we weren't actually able to swim until Friday, but we just about couldn't get them out of the water on Friday. THEY LOVED IT!

One night before dinner, we headed out to the dock to take some pictures. Daddy spotted a crab that was on one of Big Pat's pilings. {this will also give you an idea of "normal" water levels}

We took lots and lots of pictures and here is one of my two children being silly for the camera!
We had a great week at the beach and enjoyed spending time together! We weren't terribly excited to COME home, but it was nice to BE home. We look forward to our next trip!

UA vs Kent State

The Friday before Labor Day, we were gearing up for the kick off of college football season! Carter and Callen have "team spirit" Fridays during the fall, and Carter's class had a Tailgate party at lunch that Friday. According to Carter, it was "really fun" and he even got his face painted like a football player! One of his friend's mom sent me the picture below from the party because I couldn't make it.

After school, we took Callen over to Bamma and Big Pat's so that she could go down to the beach with them. I was a little worried that she wouldn't be too happy about it, but she hopped in the car and never looked back. It seems she was ready to head down to beach.

Bright and early the next morning, we headed to Tusc.aloosa to cheer on the Tide. Carter is always so excited to go!

Before the game

Watching intently

Although he always is so excited to be at the game, his attention span hasn't quite stretched to cover 4 quarters. I think he was finished with football around mid-first quarter. I managed to extend that to halftime with a frozen lemonade {it was HOT, after all}, and we abandoned ship after halftime.

We left Tuscaloosa ahead of the traffic and headed south to the beach {to be greeted by Tropical Storm L.ee}. Someone was truly exhausted by the time we really got underway!

We were excited that the Tide opened the season with a big W, and we look forward to more great games this season!