Wednesday, August 26, 2015
And They're Off!
And just like that, summer is gone! We LOVE summerime! As schedule-oriented as I am, I can totally embrace that "non-scheduling" that comes with summer. And we really embrace it! I should be embarrassed to admit, but in the summer, we sleep in, eat late breakfasts which leads to snacking through lunch, and then by dinner....well, we just tend to wing it. We swim until we're bored, go home for a break, and then maybe swim again. When we're over the pool, we hit the beach...and repeat all summer. We play baseball through June, take July off, and start back in August. We watch too much TV, play too many games on the IPad, totally adopt ice cream as a food group. We just love every minute of feeling footloose and fancy free. We enjoy it so much that when it comes time for school to start back up, we're actually a little ready for it. We feel like we sowed our wild oats. :)
The boys started back to school this Monday. They were pumped! Both hopped out of bed ready to take on the world.....or at least 1st and 3rd grades. I walked them in savoring the fact that they both still hold my hand, kissed their sweet little cheeks, and prayed the whole way home. I couldn't wait to here how their day went and I was thrilled to hear on a scale of 1 to 10 it was a 12. The best answer I could have gotten. The boys are excited about their teachers and we're praying for a happy and healthy school year.
Texas on My Mind
It's been a week since we've returned from our summer trip to Texas and I'm just now getting the chance to write about it. First of all, I know it's a little overkill with the pictures, but Texas is my happy place. Going back there is truly the place I'm at ease. I feel my shoulders go down, I sleep better, and I fall right back into the rhythm I love so much. Sadly, due to busy schedules, flight fares, and life in general, it had been a full year since the boys had been back.
We started our visit this year flying into Amarillo. Grammy and Papa (my dad and stepmom) had arranged for us to go up to Dodge City, Kansas for the Dodge City Days. They have a great longhorn cattle drive, a big western gunfight, and an awesome rodeo, so it was perfect for the boys. I loved it too! After two nights in Dodge City, Kansas, we headed back to Papa and Grammy's in Lipscomb, Texas. The boys couldn't wait to get there because they have old friends there waiting to greet them. Their old friends include Rio (Papa's & Grammy's dog), Belle, Jack, Hank (their horses), and Charlie (the unruly jackass). They absolutely love it out there. Bennett and Beau spent their days outside riding horses, looking for arrowheads, practicing their lassos, riding the mechanical steer.....and then doing it again. They helped their Papa get ready to go to the sale barn and got to go along for the ride. It's a special place for us. The boys learn so much every time we're at the ranch and they love every minute of it. I love the special relationship Bennett and Beau have with their papa. He takes the time to talk to them and teach them what being a cowboy really means. They want to be just like him when they grow up and even though they've never actually gotten to live in Texas, they claim to be Texas by birth. It suits them well.
We left the ranch in Lipscomb and flew into Midland. Nina and Pa (my mom and stepdad) picked us up at the airport and we headed to Fort Davis. This is an annual trip that has held a spot on our calendars for most of my life. Pa has been attending Camp meeting in the Davis Mountains since he was a child. It's a little piece of heaven and a place I have made lifelong friends and memories. I feel so grateful that my boys are getting that same experience. With no television, limited phone reception, and tons of fresh air, you can't help but unplug from the world and plug into the Word. The boys climbed trees, went to church, and made lots of friends, while I took long morning walks, caught up on some reading in the porch swing, and put together puzzles with Mom. We would "run to town" each afternoon and make our stop by the Ft. Davis Drugstore for old-fashioned milkshakes and pop into the local shops. It's just a special place. We headed home refreshed, renewed, and ready to take on a new school year.
We started our visit this year flying into Amarillo. Grammy and Papa (my dad and stepmom) had arranged for us to go up to Dodge City, Kansas for the Dodge City Days. They have a great longhorn cattle drive, a big western gunfight, and an awesome rodeo, so it was perfect for the boys. I loved it too! After two nights in Dodge City, Kansas, we headed back to Papa and Grammy's in Lipscomb, Texas. The boys couldn't wait to get there because they have old friends there waiting to greet them. Their old friends include Rio (Papa's & Grammy's dog), Belle, Jack, Hank (their horses), and Charlie (the unruly jackass). They absolutely love it out there. Bennett and Beau spent their days outside riding horses, looking for arrowheads, practicing their lassos, riding the mechanical steer.....and then doing it again. They helped their Papa get ready to go to the sale barn and got to go along for the ride. It's a special place for us. The boys learn so much every time we're at the ranch and they love every minute of it. I love the special relationship Bennett and Beau have with their papa. He takes the time to talk to them and teach them what being a cowboy really means. They want to be just like him when they grow up and even though they've never actually gotten to live in Texas, they claim to be Texas by birth. It suits them well.
We left the ranch in Lipscomb and flew into Midland. Nina and Pa (my mom and stepdad) picked us up at the airport and we headed to Fort Davis. This is an annual trip that has held a spot on our calendars for most of my life. Pa has been attending Camp meeting in the Davis Mountains since he was a child. It's a little piece of heaven and a place I have made lifelong friends and memories. I feel so grateful that my boys are getting that same experience. With no television, limited phone reception, and tons of fresh air, you can't help but unplug from the world and plug into the Word. The boys climbed trees, went to church, and made lots of friends, while I took long morning walks, caught up on some reading in the porch swing, and put together puzzles with Mom. We would "run to town" each afternoon and make our stop by the Ft. Davis Drugstore for old-fashioned milkshakes and pop into the local shops. It's just a special place. We headed home refreshed, renewed, and ready to take on a new school year.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Staycation 2015
As I said in my previous post, we had originally planned on heading south last week. It was the week before Fletcher started his new job an we had a break in commitments. It seemed like a good plan until the month of June hit. It was an overwhelming month with more going on than I can get into. Needless to say, the thought of packing and heading out for a week had lost its excitement and the idea of staying home and recouping was calling our names. Staying home doesn't really mean not doing anything. Have you met my children? They are busy, busy, busy! We planned out some fun things to do around our local area and got to play tourist. We started Monday off with a 7-mile canoe trip down the Coldwater River. It was beautiful and a good workout. One observation: River people really exist....it was hard to ignore the sign that read "Paddle faster! I hear banjos!"
Tuesday I took the boys to the Blue Angels practice at the Naval Aviation Museum. They do their full show in these rehearsals without all the crowds.....LOVE! We've seen them fly several times and it never gets old. I'm always amazed and impressed!
Wednesday was our down day. Our sweet friends invited us to a low country boil and swimming later in the afternoon, so I used the morning to catch up on a few things. I thought for sure the boys could entertain themselves for a bit while I caught up on laundry and cleaning, etc. Well, they definitely entertained themselves! It got a little quiet in the house, so Fletcher checked outside on them only to find them swimming in the reclaimed water "new pond" they found. YUCK! Fletcher threw the boys in the bathtub and scrubbed them clean. All was well....aside from the shoe Bennett lost in the "new YUCKY pond." About 30 minutes later we heard some shuffling in the garage only to find Beau had climbed up on the top of the storage shelves with a bungee cord trying to make a "zipline." A zipline?! To where? Why would this be a good idea? Questions that never entered his mind! Then, I'm working in the kitchen on a dessert to take to our friends' house when I hear banging in the playroom. The boys had gotten all my almonds, pistachios, and crackers and were crushing them with the hammer. What in the world?!!!! They're making homemade birdseed.....yes, homemade birdseed. That's expensive birdseed! Almonds are expensive! We've got a new rule now that I didn't know I needed in place.....no making birdseed in the house. Luckily the boys survived the day and made it to our friends for the low country boil. Fletcher and I, on the other hand, felt like we'd been put through the ringer!
Thursday we road our bikes to our neighborhood pool and then took the boys to the Wahoos game. It's one of our favorite things to do! It never disappoints to spend a night cheering on our Blue Wahoos!
Friday we spent the afternoon on the boat with friends. Beau paddle boarded, I visited with friends, and Fletcher fished. Fun was had by all!
Saturday was July 4th! It's one of our favorite holidays in the year and we celebrate big. This year we spent the afternoon with some sweet friends, the Owens family. They have a beautiful home on the water, so the kids stayed entertained jumping off the dock and playing on the floats. After the fish fry, we loaded on the boat to head over and watch the fireworks on the Blackwater River. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Independence Day! I would say we had a successful staycation! I hope the boys would agree!
Tuesday I took the boys to the Blue Angels practice at the Naval Aviation Museum. They do their full show in these rehearsals without all the crowds.....LOVE! We've seen them fly several times and it never gets old. I'm always amazed and impressed!
Thursday we road our bikes to our neighborhood pool and then took the boys to the Wahoos game. It's one of our favorite things to do! It never disappoints to spend a night cheering on our Blue Wahoos!
Friday we spent the afternoon on the boat with friends. Beau paddle boarded, I visited with friends, and Fletcher fished. Fun was had by all!
Saturday was July 4th! It's one of our favorite holidays in the year and we celebrate big. This year we spent the afternoon with some sweet friends, the Owens family. They have a beautiful home on the water, so the kids stayed entertained jumping off the dock and playing on the floats. After the fish fry, we loaded on the boat to head over and watch the fireworks on the Blackwater River. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Independence Day! I would say we had a successful staycation! I hope the boys would agree!
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Retirement!!!!
It's been way too long since I've posted on our blog and I can only say it's because we've been more than busy. I have just come up for air! We've been so busy that I actually opted out of a vacation. Crazy, I know! But truthfully, the last 3 weeks have been filled with emotional highs and lows that I couldn't fathom packing a suit case and heading anywhere....even if that anywhere happen to be Key West. South Florida will be there when we're more rested and ready for a road trip. :) And to be honest, our "staycation" has been nothing short of pretty awesome! I think my two sidekicks would agree if they weren't outside having a blast in this summer's heat.
This post is solely in honor of my kindhearted, generous, over-achieving husband and those that love him. He just retired from the Marine Corps on June 19th after just shy of 16 years, and he was so honored by all of our family and friends that made the ceremony and reception. We've been so blessed to always be surrounded by loving people (both family and friends). Everywhere we've moved, we've carried our old friends' love and encouragement and added new ones to the mix. What is so wonderful is that this amazing group seems to blend so well. Our old friends have now gotten to know our new friends and it makes the best extended family we could ever be blessed with. So I guess really this post is about Fletcher and the people that love him (me included).
Funny enough, everyone that sees Fletcher and hears that he's now retired can't believe he's old enough and/or could have enough years in to possibly make that claim. Fletcher looks so young....God love him....he has youthful looks. Not fair, I know! Trust me, I know! I'm married to the youngest looking guy on the planet and I'm adding wrinkles and gray hairs by the day. On a side note, I can explain why my grays are multiplying considering we just found my boys swimming in reclaimed water and had to disinfect them entirely....that was right after we found our youngest on top of our storage shelves in the garage with a bungee cord trying to make his own zip line. Smart kids with no common sense! The joys and hazards of being a boymom. Also, Fletcher took the early retirement which was offered due to the downsizing of the military. Don't get me started on my opinion as a taxpayer of downsizing our military, but I can tell you as a mom and a spouse, it's a big WIN for my family. A big lose for America, but that's a whole different post. :)
A photographer was present at the ceremony and took some really sweet pictures that I wanted to share. I'm so grateful she was there and did such a great job documenting this day because I was all over the place trying to make sure flowers and cake and all that stuff that doesn't really matter was in place.
To say thank you to those of you that have prayed for my family over the years doesn't seem nearly enough, but I am so thankful. It's been those prayers that have given me comfort and strength during the times when Fletcher was away and I really just wanted to pack up and go home to Texas. When I was worried or scared or just plain overwhelmed, it was those prayers that kept me taking one more step. Our family walks by faith, but we couldn't do it without those prayers. This is the longest, round-about way of saying thank you to our prayer warriors.
What's next? We're thrilled to get to stay in Pensacola. I'm raising beach boys and it suits them well. The boys love their school and are learning so much about academics and more importantly about God's purpose for their lives. Right now, they both think it's baseball, but we're hoping that will evolve. Fletcher starts his new job on Monday with a wonderful company called Johnson Controls. He's excited about the opportunity to learn and serve in a new capacity. The future is bright!
This post is solely in honor of my kindhearted, generous, over-achieving husband and those that love him. He just retired from the Marine Corps on June 19th after just shy of 16 years, and he was so honored by all of our family and friends that made the ceremony and reception. We've been so blessed to always be surrounded by loving people (both family and friends). Everywhere we've moved, we've carried our old friends' love and encouragement and added new ones to the mix. What is so wonderful is that this amazing group seems to blend so well. Our old friends have now gotten to know our new friends and it makes the best extended family we could ever be blessed with. So I guess really this post is about Fletcher and the people that love him (me included).
Funny enough, everyone that sees Fletcher and hears that he's now retired can't believe he's old enough and/or could have enough years in to possibly make that claim. Fletcher looks so young....God love him....he has youthful looks. Not fair, I know! Trust me, I know! I'm married to the youngest looking guy on the planet and I'm adding wrinkles and gray hairs by the day. On a side note, I can explain why my grays are multiplying considering we just found my boys swimming in reclaimed water and had to disinfect them entirely....that was right after we found our youngest on top of our storage shelves in the garage with a bungee cord trying to make his own zip line. Smart kids with no common sense! The joys and hazards of being a boymom. Also, Fletcher took the early retirement which was offered due to the downsizing of the military. Don't get me started on my opinion as a taxpayer of downsizing our military, but I can tell you as a mom and a spouse, it's a big WIN for my family. A big lose for America, but that's a whole different post. :)
A photographer was present at the ceremony and took some really sweet pictures that I wanted to share. I'm so grateful she was there and did such a great job documenting this day because I was all over the place trying to make sure flowers and cake and all that stuff that doesn't really matter was in place.
To say thank you to those of you that have prayed for my family over the years doesn't seem nearly enough, but I am so thankful. It's been those prayers that have given me comfort and strength during the times when Fletcher was away and I really just wanted to pack up and go home to Texas. When I was worried or scared or just plain overwhelmed, it was those prayers that kept me taking one more step. Our family walks by faith, but we couldn't do it without those prayers. This is the longest, round-about way of saying thank you to our prayer warriors.
What's next? We're thrilled to get to stay in Pensacola. I'm raising beach boys and it suits them well. The boys love their school and are learning so much about academics and more importantly about God's purpose for their lives. Right now, they both think it's baseball, but we're hoping that will evolve. Fletcher starts his new job on Monday with a wonderful company called Johnson Controls. He's excited about the opportunity to learn and serve in a new capacity. The future is bright!
Monday, February 2, 2015
Beads & Beignets!
Beads & Beignets and there are more "B's" to go along with those when I think about New Orleans, but I'm going to leave it with the beads and beignets. :) We snuck away this past weekend to the Big Easy to meet Fletcher for a couple of nights. He had a cross country with a few students and it was the perfect timing before baseball season starts in full force. The boys and I drove over on Friday afternoon and checked into the hotel just before Fletcher arrived. Beau was ready to "suck the heads off some crawfish" which I'm guessing meant he was hungry. I never say that, so I'm going to have to give credit to his dad for that constant reminder of what he'd wanted to eat the whole weekend. We hopped the train and headed to the French Market which is where I realized I need to return with girls. The little shops looked fun, but only from the street did I get to admire. Boys hate to shop! I'm good with that because I've come to realize I hate to shop with boys. :P We made it to Jackson Park where Beau got to see the statue of one of his all-time faves....good ol' Andrew. We swung past Café Du monde and headed back to our hotel for dinner. Yummmmm!!!! Another observation, there is no healthy eating in New Orleans and I'm totally fine with that! Every calorie we took in was completely worth it! Saturday morning we started with breakfast at Mother's (http://www.mothersrestaurant.net/) and it was beyond fantastic (which is why we made ourselves run the stairs at the WWII museum shortly thereafter). They claim to be the home of World's Best Baked Ham and it's fair to say my boys agreed! Ham, biscuits, grits, OH MY!
We spent the next 4 hours (yes, I said 4) at the WWII Museum and we were completely blown away! If I'm being honest, I was good after the 3rd hour, but I keep the company of war historians, so at that point I was along for the ride. It's a must-see if you have the chance and I now have WWII aficionados in my home. I may have to reiterate how important it is to be the "good" side considering I overheard Bennett and Beau trying to teach neighbor how to march like the Germany Army. I had to shout from the garage, "march like the Americans!!!!".....hopefully we don't offend too many people, but truth be known I've let go of that hope years ago.
After the museum, we snacked on hot beignets down at Café Beignet (http://www.cafebeignet.com/) and again, worth every calorie! That carried us through our afternoon of walking around Jackson Park again, the St. Louis Cathedral, and then onto Bourbon Street for what I like to call life lessons in the Big Easy. Bourbon Street is where the boys learned how important good hygiene really is (ie. brushing your teeth, using soap and water), how important staying in school will be (kindly passed along from a highly intoxicated man on the street corner...I'm not judging, just reporting), and lastly, how important it is to watch where you step (no need to elaborate if you've ever walked there). Never a dull moment in New Orleans.
We had an early dinner at Deanies (http://www.deanies.com/), so we'd be done in time to catch the parade. Little did we know the boys would be front and center for the bead throwing. They got so much loot before the parade, it was like Christmas morning! The parade was a little more than we bargained for, so in an effort to avoid questions I'm not ready to answer, we headed back to our hotel. The boys were beyond thrilled covered in beads, glowing bracelets, and handfuls of mini-king cakes and I was so glad I hadn't wasted $20 on those souvenir dog tags they had begged for earlier. Bourbon Street = free souvenirs!
Sunday morning we headed home in time to unpack, disinfect whatever might have come back with us, and get settled in to watch the Super Bowl.....not that I was that excited about it. In case you don't read my facebook, I didn't have a dog in the fight.....and I might even be a little bitter about how my dog got eliminated from that fight, but who's holding a grudge? BTW, Dez caught it!:)
We spent the next 4 hours (yes, I said 4) at the WWII Museum and we were completely blown away! If I'm being honest, I was good after the 3rd hour, but I keep the company of war historians, so at that point I was along for the ride. It's a must-see if you have the chance and I now have WWII aficionados in my home. I may have to reiterate how important it is to be the "good" side considering I overheard Bennett and Beau trying to teach neighbor how to march like the Germany Army. I had to shout from the garage, "march like the Americans!!!!".....hopefully we don't offend too many people, but truth be known I've let go of that hope years ago.
After the museum, we snacked on hot beignets down at Café Beignet (http://www.cafebeignet.com/) and again, worth every calorie! That carried us through our afternoon of walking around Jackson Park again, the St. Louis Cathedral, and then onto Bourbon Street for what I like to call life lessons in the Big Easy. Bourbon Street is where the boys learned how important good hygiene really is (ie. brushing your teeth, using soap and water), how important staying in school will be (kindly passed along from a highly intoxicated man on the street corner...I'm not judging, just reporting), and lastly, how important it is to watch where you step (no need to elaborate if you've ever walked there). Never a dull moment in New Orleans.
We had an early dinner at Deanies (http://www.deanies.com/), so we'd be done in time to catch the parade. Little did we know the boys would be front and center for the bead throwing. They got so much loot before the parade, it was like Christmas morning! The parade was a little more than we bargained for, so in an effort to avoid questions I'm not ready to answer, we headed back to our hotel. The boys were beyond thrilled covered in beads, glowing bracelets, and handfuls of mini-king cakes and I was so glad I hadn't wasted $20 on those souvenir dog tags they had begged for earlier. Bourbon Street = free souvenirs!
Sunday morning we headed home in time to unpack, disinfect whatever might have come back with us, and get settled in to watch the Super Bowl.....not that I was that excited about it. In case you don't read my facebook, I didn't have a dog in the fight.....and I might even be a little bitter about how my dog got eliminated from that fight, but who's holding a grudge? BTW, Dez caught it!:)
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