Let me just start off by saying that I am truly grateful for Jimmy Diemer's BBQ which is right up the road from my house. It's been a life saver today and at other times when I've needed to go to the grocery but simply can't muster up the stamina to go. Something about being on vacation for a week (and then coming back home) makes me go into mad-crazy, OCD, clean out everything-mode (yes, I totally made that disorder up). Nothing in the house is safe.
We got back from Destin last night...so let's back up a week or two and cover
that and other important events that have been missed...
Labor Day weekend at Nolin lake. We packed up the kids and headed to Nolin for one last hurrah for the summer. We spent most of the day on the lake ~ the kids tubed, we visited with family, spent some time at the dam, telling dam jokes and jumping off the dam rock.
We love making stops at the
candy dock for ice cream and goodies, even though we already have coolers and loads of goodies on the boat.
Just a couple of wild and crazy kids (and a Randy) on top of the Super Man rock. I can't even count the number of times I've been on this rock, so many dam memories at Nolin lake. The kids are making the same ones!
Volleyball is officially OVER people! Can I get a toot toot?!? Can I
get a beep beep?!? I have loved every minute of seeing Karson play this
season, but it (and SWHS golf)
literally, in my best
Parks and Rec. Rob Lowe voice, takes up about three months of our
lives. Karson and the 8th grade girls finished as the District Champs.
It's been an exciting season, complete with popcorn dinners, smelly
knee pads and ankle braces, Reese's peanut butter pumpkins, and spending
time with my favorite friends from South.
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| Karson and her Plano Elementary peeps! Love these four! |
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| There's always that kid in the family that makes the picture oh so perfect! |
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| Karson and her friend Sydney were awarded with the All-Season team award. | | | | | | | | | |
District Champs 2016! We sure will miss Coach Jackson next year and truly appreciate everything he's done to coach, support, love and encourage Karson in her three year ride at South Middle. Forever grateful to him!
Golf team goes to STATE! I know zilch about golf besides the fact that both Matt and Miles loves it, AND that Matt and the SWHS golf team won the regional tournament last week and made it to state! They compete today and tomorrow at Bowling Green Country Club. Let's go SOUTH! Matt adores the kids and was super excited about the win and could not wait for today (although he's currently laying down with a migraine).
To DESTIN we go! Our Fall Break was cut short, not by Hurricane Matthew, but because of the State Tournament. However, we honestly felt like we had a nice, full week of vacation in Florida. Plus, we weren't about to spend $300 on a plane ticket for one day - we're just Scrooges like that =). Plus, I didn't want to think about driving the kids back home by myself.
We stayed in a new area of Destin called Frangista Beach in a ginormous house. When you've got 17 people in your party though, you kind of need a lot of space. This was PERFECT and even had a pool, hot tub and indoor elevator.
We couldn't have asked for a more perfect week. The weather was hot and sunny everyday! We got to eat at all of our favorite places like Pompano Joe's, The Donut Hole and Bonefish Grill. We ran into Lisa Holman, one of our favorite people one morning on our walk! We were super close to the outlet malls and got some shopping in!
Karson was tickled getting to hang out with Tanner and Tucker for the day on Sunday. The three of them always have a good time together!
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| Most of us enjoy Pompano Joe's, some of us, not so much! |
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| Haley using some fun effects with the camera! Quite clever indeed! |
A smattering of family pictures for your enjoyment!
We got back home around 9:30 PM last night and crashed hard! I've spent today on a rampage of unpacking, doing laundry, working on fall clothes and clearing out all the junk-ola! I made a trip to Goodwill with a huge backseat full of stuff.
However, I told Miles I was going to take him to Jackson's Orchard today and we did that too! He loves playing on the slides and haybales. I love going out there for fresh apples and pumpkin bread! Groceries tomorrow! BBQ tonight!
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| We finished this afternoon with a shaving cream fight! Miles has been wanting to do this for sometime as well! |
This is a BIG month like every year! I have two kids celebrating birthdays - Miles will turn 10, eeeeek double digits. Karson will be 14, what?!?!
I can't believe I have a 10 year old son and NOW 14 year old daughter this month. Although it's nice having back to back birthdays, it sure makes me feel OLD twice. Karson desperately wanted a new phone for her birthday and has been a very responsible teen with hers the last two years, so it was time. We got her an updated one last month, but I did have to surprise with her with something on her actual birthday. I grabbed her some chicken-mini's from CFA for breakfast and surprised her with...a gigantic Rice Krispy Treat (thanks Cracker Barrel). She'd seen this in Destin during our Fall Break trip and wanted it, but dad said 'no.' Thank goodness CB carries ridiculously large goodies this time of the year. She was tickled to death!
We celebrated her 14th - haunted-style this year! She and a group of girlfriends went to dinner at Culvers, complete with DQ Blizzard cake, her favorite, and afterwards headed to Scottsville for some SCARES! I had debated on Skeleton's Lair and Haunted Hospital. I'd heard different things about both places. I figured Scottsville might be the better choice since I'd planned to take all the girls back home after the visit, and it's closer to our side of town. I had put the location in my phone, and we took off. I knew we were in trouble when I landed out in the middle of nowhere (on Holland Road). Sometimes google maps is just WRONG. We had gone about 2.5 miles the wrong way so had to turn around. 
We finally found it (thank goodness Scottsville isn't too big to navigate). The parking attendant at HH was incredibly rude and scolded me immediately for not following her flashlight motioning. Call me crazy, but when someone waves a flashlight and you see another vehicle pulling out, you assume they mean go to the empty space. However, I failed to take "Flashlight 101" as an elective at WKU. She proceeded to growl at me, and told me since I didn't LISTEN (listen to the flashlight, humph?), I had to park around back. WHAT?!? Not the back - anything but the back! Sheesh. At any rate, I wasn't going to let her spoil our night and pulled to the back of the hospital, a whoppin' 20 feet or so from the other parking spaces. My car was banished from all the other cars who understood proper flashlight motioning. We walked around the hospital and got our PANIC passes which included the hospital tour, escape rooms, dumping grounds and mini-golf. I stood in line with the girls for a little bit, but once we arrived at the entrance, I sent them in SOLO and headed back to the car. It was COLD last night. There was lots of chatter among the girls about who was going to walk where and that the "actors" were allowed to touch you -eeeek!!! There were a few freakish people standing in line around us that made it extra spooky because they weren't even part of the show (just oddballs). The entire experience lasted around an hour, and the girls made their way back to car when it was all over. They all survived! It was a super fun night, and they even made plans for tonight to go see Boo! A Madea Halloween which will be a little more light-hearted, not-so-spooky fun! I love her group of friends and appreciate their willingness to humor Karson by being FORCED into a Haunted Hospital =)!
