First day of school! First day of school!

So we are back in school! We started last week, August 20. And so far, we are all making straight As.... I hope that continues!

One thing I realized is that last Wednesday began the first day of TWELVE (yes, count them, 12) years as a High School mom. Geez, someone drew the short straw, didn't they??? Well, I suppose that by the time it is done I can write a book on how to get through 4 years of it successfully, and make the big bucks. After all, if I can do 12 years non-stop, anyone can do a measly four years, right?

Spencer started classes on his Senior year this week, and is back on campus getting into the swing of things after a good summer off. After he finished his summer class in June, he came here for a couple weeks, then went to Pensacola with his mom, then spent a week fishing in Stuart, FL with Sarah, then did a conference in Nashville and Memphis. He will do an internship beginning in January (and most likely in Memphis) in preparation for graduation. We plan to visit with him sometime soon! He will be coming to WV for Thanksgiving again, and we are very excited for that!

Also last week, Madelyn celebrated birthday #10. Yes, double digits. We had her friends Alexis, Sydney and Anna over and took them to the World's Championship Saddlebred Horse Show at the state fair last Friday (August 22, which is her actual birthday). They had a ball! We had make-your-own-pizzas and cupcakes before we left, but of course they had to have a funnel cake. And do you know that my sweet hubby had never before tasted this most awesome fair delicacy? I know, I couldn't believe it either! But it is true. He wishes he'd never had a bite, because as we all know, those funnel cakes are DE-lish, and once you start eating, it is hard to stop.

Most of my photos came out a bit blurry (OK, a lot blurry) but I hate using a flash at nite, and some of the lights and colors out there are so good! So I sacrifice for that.... I will get better over time I hope. For this shot, I told the girls to smile, and DON'T MOVE! Check out the Farris Wheel! Love it!

So after the big shindig, the little girls went to dad's for the night, while Ben and I had Kaelyn, and we all went to her BFF's parents' 25th anniversary party. We had a nice time, but didn't know too many folks, so Ben and I left about 9:30. We should have stayed, as it turned into quite the event! Molly (the better half of the couple celebrating) broke her foot! Gah! Can you imagine!? Must have been a WHOLE LOTTA fun! :)

We are now into week two of school, and auction meetings are in full swing, and Shelley and I are planning Girl Scouts again. Hard to believe we are in our 5th year of leading these girls. We expect to have about 10 back again, as one moved to TX this summer. We may pick up a few, but it's hard to say. Middle School is when girls move on to other things and drop GS, so we will just have to see. We have big plans too, possibly earning the Bronze Award (highest honor at this level you can earn). But we are not totally sure that is what we will take on at this point, but still in the discussion stages. It should be a very fun year, regardless of what awards/badges we decide to earn!

September is shaping up to be a big busy month for us. But Ben and I do have one very fun and exciting weekend planned. We begin on September 18 with tickets to see Rascal Flatts! When we first started dating, we made a list of things we'd like to do together, and a Rascal Flatts concert was one of those things we put down. So we are really looking forward to that, even this 2 years later! Then Saturday, September 20, we go up to Indy for a fun night, and Sunday we will take in the Colts game! We are so excited about this, as Ben is a huge Colts fan, and I love watching them as well. I hope that Manning will be playing (I believe he is supposed to).... What a fun time!

Otherwise, we will be at many cross country meets (Madelyn is running for the MS this year), intramurals (Kaelyn), dance classes (Peyton and Madelyn) and various other school related functions like Open Houses and Trivia Night.

So it is back to busy-as-ever and trying-to-catch-our-breath. I am sad summer is coming to an end, and that soon the pool will be close, it will be dark at 5:30pm, and the cold will be here. I will do all I can to enjoy these waning days of SUMMER!

PS.... can you spot a pseudo-celebrity in any of the above photos??? It is Carson Kressly from QEFSG handing out the ribbon to the horse winner. He has on a light blue jacket... You can barely make him out. But he comes every year for the show - he's big into the Saddlebreds.

Busy, busy

As usual, it's been life hectic around here. I wish I could get to this more often, so as not to feel like I have to write a novella in order to catch up! Oh well, it is what it is. I figure some updating is better than no updating, right? Right??

So where was I? Florida trip! So after we finally got to bed Wednesday nite, we both slept like rocks. I was beat, and I know Peyton was too. But we had SO MUCH FUN! Totally worth it!

My aunt works for Discovery Cove, which is a part of the Sea World, Aquatica Busch Family parks in FL. She was able to bring Peyton and I to see DC, and to meet one of the dolphins. Who coincidentally just had a baby about two months prior! Now that was something, to see the little fin.... really cool! We were able to go back with a trainer and do some hand and body signals with the mamma, Morayah, which Peyton loved, and we each gave her a kiss! I've never been that close to a dolphin, so I was totally thrilled! We weren't allowed to take cameras there, so no cool photos, but I did get some of the dolphins that were in the water that day with others.

So we got to also go in the bird aviary at DC. Peyton absolutely loved this place! You can feed all kinds of birds, and several got pretty cozy with her. In all, being able to spend a couple hours there was worth the time because of the neat things we got to do (for free!). DC works a bit differently than other parks. You pay one price and get a 30 minute dolphin swim experience. Then you have access all day long to the heated pool, lazy river, bird aviary and snorkling area. Snorkling equipment is included, as are meals, drinks, and beer! (It is after all owned by Anheiser Busch.)

After DC, we headed across the street to Sea World. After a quick lunch and an attempt to feed stingrays, which I must say was a truly strange and disconcerting experience, and Peyton wouldn't even try after witnessing me do it once, we waited some 30 minutes to feed the dolphins! Try as I might to talk her out of this one, she was determined, and it was after all, her trip. Then we went to a cool show with dolphins, whales and acrobats, when of course it started to rain. Only it didn't just shower quickly, it poured! We were fortunate enough to have seats under cover, but still, we got wet anyway. It finally let up enough for us to cruise to a gift shop, or so we thought, but all of a sudden there was some big CRACKS! and huge thunderboomers, and we were right in the middle of a HUGE storm! They made an announcement to seek shelter! Hello! Where exactly?? We happened to be pretty close to the indoor penguin exhibit, so we buzzed in there. It was fine, but you can only watch these fellas (and there were a bloomin' zillion of them) for so long.... The rain didn't really stop, but it did ease up, so we headed to the Seamore and Clyde show... which was funny and cute and perfect for Peyton! We thought the rain had finally stopped, only to have it start again and in sheets too! So we finally made a decision to call it quits. We headed for the exit, and in the meantime, got completely soaked. The rain ponchos only went so far....

That last gem of a photo is right outside the penguin exhibit, just after being poured on my Mother Nature. Nice, eh?

So once in the car, I realized much to my chagrin that I had no clue how to get back to my aunt's house! I tried to call and text her to no avail, then resorted to calling my dad, who would have access to a computer to get me directions, if not tell me himself, only I couldn't reach him either! I was stuck for 45 minutes waiting for someone to call me back! My aunt finally did and asked me to have dinner with her and her hubby while she was on break. Now with the storms, apparently there was a terrible accident on the highway, and traffic was so badly backed up, it took us about an hour to go 1.2 miles up the road! It was nuts! But we did have a good dinner, a calzone, yum!, while Peyton slept. She fell asleep the second we got in the car! Then I was able to follow my uncle home, where I promptly crashed myself!

It was a fun day though, and while I'm sorry we didn't get to see more of Sea World (we didn't see the big whale... what's it called? Shamu! And I had wanted Peyton to get one of the oysters and get a pearl... no such luck...), we did have fun despite the weather.

The Friday of our vacation we ended up hanging out at home. Now, I kid you not, that was the nicest day of the week. I was totally bummed that I didn't go to Epcot, but I did go out to see my grandmother, which was nice. I'm glad I did that. We got up Saturday morning and hit the road to the airport, and that evening Spencer arrived for his 2+ week visit! I'll post some photos of that...

These were taken practically the last nite of his visit! We didn't take many photos, but we sure had a wonderful time hanging out together. We played tennis, went to the pool, Spencer played golf, and we did a big yard project together. I know he wanted to kill me for that, but he was a good sport and I could not have done it without him, and I let him know how very grateful I was for his assistance!

And last but most certainly not least, a photo of me and hubs.... ah! Sweet...