Trains, Planes & Inflatable Slides

Saturday afternoon Jack and I joined several friends and their sons at the Family Fun Fest hosted by the local United Way. I must admit I expected to leave having forked out at least $20 for food, games and whatever else they dangled in front of Jack. I left having only spent $6 and with a child who had a blast. This was a first-time event and it was so well planned and executed. Tickets, games and rides were very affordable. They didn't gouge us on the necessities either...food was a steal. Jack had a grand time with Gus, Mack, Brit, Tate & Andrew. These boys were full speed the entire time...well, except for little Mack who just grinned at all the excitement!

I hope the event raised a good bit of money and the organizers will do it again. It was fantastic. Jack loved all the inflatables (although an older boy had to help him climb to the top of the big slide). He was a big fan of the train ride and the helicopter too. There are many more pictures in our August album, which is rapidly expanding.

After church on Sunday, we headed to Athens for a shower for my sister. It was great getting to see my grandparents and catch up with cousins. One of my cousins, Jenna, was a sweetie to entertain Jack. He even talked her into reading him a book. I think we have a great babysitter in training here!

Fun weekend

We had a busy, exhausting and fun weekend. I'm trying to figure out if I'm still recovering from it or I just feel tired because I'm pregnant. Either way, we packed a lot into our Saturday & Sunday. We ran several errands Sat morning, and around mid-afternoon we headed over to the Bluster's cabin for our Sunday School party. Technically, we were the planners/hosts, but when Don & Denise offered the cabin...we jumped at the opportunity to have a family gathering with lots of space and activities for the kids. It was a perfect evening. We grilled hotdogs and had lots of great food...including homemade ice cream. I'm sort of ashamed to admit it was our first churn of the summer. I realized what we had been missing! Homemade ice cream is one of my favorite summer delights.


The kids (and adults) enjoyed roaming in the river. Most of the kids were thoroughly soaked. We got up close and personal with the neighboring horses, roasted marshmallows and did some fishing. Our little one was definitely worn out after the evening was over.

After Sunday School, we left town to meet Josh's family in Canton for lunch to celebrate his dad's birthday (which was Saturday). We met at Williamson Brothers, a barbeque joint that everyone loves. After lunch we moved our party outside and Sean & Jack goofed around with each other in and around the cars...until everyone was exhausted. It was great to spend time with everyone, and Jack really enjoyed horsing around with cousin Sean.

There are more pictures in our August album.

It's not much, but...

I've finally updated our Project 365 album a bit. At least now it has pictures from July & some of August. I'm not totally caught up, but I didn't want any of you to pass out from shock, so I'll add some more once you've had time to sort through all these. As you can see I missed a few days. Oops! Let's just hope I remembered to feed Jack on those days!

A Rockin' Weekend

Along with about 40,000 other people, Josh and I rocked with Paul McCartney at Piedmont Park in Atlanta this weekend. It was a terrific show. James & Andrea joined us for the fun. We passed the time before hand playing cards and scarfing plenty of food. I realize that I didn't really know what to expect from a 67-year-old performer, but Sir Paul was simply phenomenal. It seemed as though he gave each song his all, but made it all look quite effortless. His banter between songs was engaging and really made you feel like he cared you were there. I have to admit I haven't been to a lot of concerts lately, but I can't remember one where an artist seems to so deeply thank his audience for listening to each song. It was if he realized any concert might be his last, and was humbly drinking in every moment of the affection paid toward him, including a rain-soaked bra!

We made a weekend of it and stayed at a hotel nearby. We headed down to the park about an hour before the doors were set to open to find that about 5-6,000 other people had already had the same idea. Waiting in line was pretty hot and boring, but we hadn't planned on stampeding to the stage once we entered anyway. We found a nice spot on an incline that would allow us to see pretty well and was also in the shade since we had about 4 hours to kill before Paul took the stage. I expected we would encounter a pretty foul smell. But, I didn't notice anything, which was good. Once it got dark and soon after McCartney reminded everyone this was the 40th anniversary of Woodstock we began to notice another type of smell, which made Josh hungry. Coincidentally, McCartney also said it was the 45th anniversary of the Beatles first show at Shea Stadium. The fact that no one budged during the 25-minute torrential downpour (not just a summer shower), was evidence that this was a greatful crowd represented by folks from so many generations that realized they were witnessing history.

The concert was advertised as a "Green Concert" and everyone was encourage to walk or bike to the park. They also had very strict guidelines about what you could bring in the gates and cameras were prohibited. I assumed we'd have to walk through some metal detector or something. Unfortunately, everyone around us had simply placed their cameras in their pockets and were snapping away. So, these pictures are courtesy of the AJC. Oh, well.

BIG Post

Where to start...I have no idea! Yesterday was my birthday, but I guess it wasn't just any birthday. It was a BIG one: THIRTY. That looks weird in type. I'm so used to that "tw" that started my age for the last decade and now I'm a "th"? Can it be? Several of my friends have turned thirty in the last year and I was always quick to remind them I was still in my twenties. Needless to say, I expected some tiny bit of hoopla to accompany this milestone, (if for nothing else) as my payback for having been so coy about my youth on my many friends' big days!

But, I was a little surprised by the sheer magnitude of the display. Sometime after 6, Josh & I were hanging around (I assumed we be going to get some dinner soon) when a barrage of horns were heard from outside. I opened the front door to a parade of friends honking their horns and streaming balloons from their cars. But it gets better, they weren't just there to inform the neighborhood that it was my birthday, but they also brought dinner. Not a bad deal, huh? So, my sweet friends poured inside with balloons, dinner, cake, ice cream and birthday gifts. It was one to remember for sure.

If you are wondering how I feel, the answer is mostly tired. I'm hoping it's not all to blame on my birthday though. We had a busy weekend celebrating my sister's wedding. It was a lot of fun. The weekend was full of laughter and lots of dancing, even Jack joined in on the fun. There are lots of pictures from the weekend here. I'm hoping my other excuse for being so slack with my blog, project 365 and a lot of other things is pretty valid too. Josh & I are expecting again. That's right...Jack is going to be a big brother. I haven't been too sick, a lot of nausea, but more than anything I've just been incredibly tired. The worst part is feeling like I'm not doing enough for Jack because mommy would really rather lay on the couch than play outside in the 90 degree heat! I remember being tired last time around and taking naps during my lunch break, but I can't remember when it passed. I'm sure Jack & Josh are ready for it to pass though. I'm doing my best to be my normal self, but some days are harder than others. Here's to hoping I'm over the hump soon.

Our due date is February 24, 2010.

Summer Nights...

I was looking at my pictures from the weekend and thinking about what to write about tonight. I settled on a combination of Summer Nights & Jack's favorite things. We had a great weekend pretty much spending time as a family, which was a perfect way to gear up for the busy month ahead...also leading into the craziness that is football season. The fun began Friday night when I served English peas* with dinner. Jack is a fanatic for peas. He loves them and will sit and eat them one by one or two by two until he is completely covered in green pea goo (pretty sure that's the technical term).

After dinner I thought it would be fun for the 3 of us to go to Sonic. I know...small town life is thrilling! But, Josh and I agreed that summer nights basically boil down to a few things: Sonic/DQ (they can be substituted interchangeably); Braves baseball on tv; catching/watching fireflies; and of course a cute little dance number featuring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta. Anyway, Jack was thrilled to have his very own Cherry Limeade*. (Also of note, you can see his new haircut pretty well in this photo.)

Jack is also a big fan of bathtime*, especially if it involves bubbles! He'd probably stay in long enough to get pruney ears if we'd let him. Finally, each night when we're out playing in the yard or on our way home from wherever (most likely Sonic or DQ)...we must find the moon*. Jack is currently obsessed with the moon. He loves following it all the way home, waving to it, finding it in books, and pointing out things crescent shaped and calling them moons.

These are certainly sweet times and we are enjoying every minute of these long summer days with our pea-grubbing, moon-hugging, cherry limeade-slurpin', bubble bath-loving boy. Hope your summer nights are just as much fun as ours.

*denotes a favorite thing