My How They've Grown

The summer is coming to an end and on the last day of watching Lucas' friends, I found myself sitting on the porch thinking about how much they've grown this summer (both the boys and the seeds they planted,)

Monday at the Park

The last few days have been so gorgeous outside! Monday we spent the day at Forsyth with our playgroup. We had a picnic, flew kites, and the kids ran around and enjoyed just being outside. The fountain is dyed green for St.Patrick's Day. Before we left the park Lucas picked a few azaleas to put in a vase on our kitchen table.

I'm a Swinger

Today I took Lucas to the park so he could play with some of his friends. He wanted me to push him on the swing, which I did for a while before deciding I would try and teach him to pump his legs. I tried by just telling him to move his feet up and back and then I tried illustrating it with my fingers. Finally, when he still wasn't fully understanding what I was saying I reluctantly sat myself in the swing next to him.

I haven't sat in a swing in quite a while and the main reason for this is my rear end just did not fit in one comfortably. The sides of the swing would dig in to my sides and hurt and I felt embarrassed for even smashing myself into a child's swing. Today though my slowly shrinking behind actually fit!!! Before I knew it I was pumping my legs up and down and being cheered on by my very impressed three year old son to go "faster Mommy!" I forgot just how much fun swinging could be. Lucas then asked me to hold his hand and we swung hand-in-hand while we both giggled for several minutes before he saw kids on the playground and he decided he would rather play with them.

Lately, I've been a little bummed by how slowly the weight has been coming off this last round. This summer I was losing weight at double even triple the rate of what I am doing now. I've just been so focused on watching the numbers on the scale go down and my clothing shrink that I've forgotten to pat myself on the back for how far I've come already. The feeling of being able to swing right next to Lucas today was amazing! It was even better than fitting into a smaller size jeans for the first time.

Fall Festival

Curt really wanted us to go and do something together so we packed Lucas and Lori up and headed to a local fall festival. We all had a blast! Curt even had the camera most of the day which is a nice change since I'm actually in some of the pictures for once.

Lucas was so excited to ride a pony. Waiting in line he said he wanted to ride the horse he ended up getting. The horses name was "Red."

During the pony ride he said "Mommy this horse is bumpy!"

Then it was over to the fire truck. Lucas was trying his hardest to figure out how to get the siren to go off.

Then he checked out the inside of an ambulance.

Which he also tried to turn on.

Next up was the moon bounce.

He got his face painted for the first time ever. The lady who painted his face said he was the first kid she painted that actually sit still.

He chose a bat because he is going to be Batman for Halloween.

Checking out the bat on his cheek.

Holding a baby chick.

Holding a crab.

Lucas and Aunt Lori posing with a scarecrow.

Checking out a helicopter (and probably wondering if he can start that baby up and take her for a spin)

He kept asking for a helmet so he could take the scooter for a ride.

Helen, GA 2008

B&W Bubbles

Fun in Forsyth Park

Yay, Daddy is Home!

Big Kids

The weather wasn't too terribly hot today so we had our meet-up at a local park. Lucas was so excited to get to play outside with his friends. I can't believe how grown up Lucas and his friends all look! It's crazy to think Lucas and I have been in our playgroup since Lucas was just 8 months old. I didn't know back then I was going to make some really great friends. It would be pretty cool if our kids all hang out still as they grow up.

Seacoast White Water Rafting 2008

Thursday night I dropped Lucas off at Tony and Lori's house with a bag of clothes, a bag of toys, some snacks, and his sleeping bag. He was so excited to be over there he didn't even care that I was leaving. I had to chase him down to get a kiss goodbye. I headed to dinner with a few friends and then I headed home to pack for our trip.

Friday morning we got up a little after 5AM and got dressed and made sure we had everything ready. We were on the road at 7 and were at the White Water Rafting place in Tennessee about 12:30 pm. We went and ate lunch, set up camp, and then went swimming in the river.

The water was so clear you could see the bottom and you could watch the fish swim under your feet. We took a water proof camera with us and I can't wait to see the pictures we took. We got out of the water a little after 5 and just as we were drying off the rest of our rafting crew arrived. Less than an hour after we were out of the water the dam up the river opened and the calm shallow river was now a lot deeper and faster. When we were swimming everyone was climbing this tree that stretched over the water and with the dam opened it was completely underwater. We were all glad we were out of the water before the dam opened!

Most of the group ended up going to this place 20 minutes away to go swimming again but Curt and I were so tired we stayed back and just hung around while the hamburgers for dinner were being cooked. Once everyone got back we ate dinner.

After dinner everyone sat around the campfire and introduced themselves. There was a total of 28 of us and not everyone knew each other since a lot of people had invited friends or family. Then it was time for s'mores before we all headed to bed. I was so tired that the minute I laid down in our tent I was out. I woke up once because I was cold (which is a NICE problem in July) and crawled in my sleeping bag and feel right back to sleep.

In the morning we all got up and started to get ready to go White Water Rafting. We knew we needed to eat breakfast so we headed up the hill to this little Cafe on site to eat. They had these really cool swings for chairs at the table.

We all got together for a short orientation on what to do and not to do and then we all picked up our helmets, life jackets, and paddles and loaded up on a bus. I was so excited but when we actually got out of the bus and saw the water I was actually getting kind of scared.

Once we got into the water we hit our first rapid pretty quickly and it was a lot of fun. The water was a little chilly but it felt so good because I'm sure we were all sweating from working so hard to paddle.

Our guide asked for a volunteer to sit on front of the boat and hold on to the strap around the raft to "ride the bull." I'm glad someone else volunteered because there was no way I was going to do that!

Everything was going smoothly when all of a sudden our raft hit a rock and wrapped around it and all of a sudden the water was rushing in and we were all holding on so we wouldn't fall out. For a minute there it looked like Curt was about to be swept down river. Our guide knew what to do and we got the raft back in the water with all of us still in the raft.

When the raft was righted most of us ended up in different seats on different sides of the raft and we had no time to adjust to paddling on a different side before we hit more rapids.

Near the end of the trip we hit a big rapid and the two big guys on the front of our raft go flying in the air out of the boat. We had to pull them back in while still going down the river. I think we were all glad that we were wearing helmets and life jackets.

When we were back on land I was very glad that we had gone because I had a lot of fun but I decided that I could go a few more years before going again. Curt who didn't originally even want to go wanted to go again the second we were out of the boat. He told me "I'd go again next year." So we might very well be doing this again in a year.

We loaded back up on the bus and were taken back and turned in our paddles, helmets, and life jackets before heading back to camp. Everyone changed into dried clothes, took down their tents and packed up. We loaded back in the cars and headed back to Savannah. We got caught in traffic a few times so to entertain ourselves we just started taking random pictures. It was just so much fun!

When we got home a little before 9pm we found our cars vandalized. We had to wait for the cops so we could file a police report before we could pick up Lucas from Lori's house. We ended up picking him up a little before 11pm. He had a blast with Lori and Tony and I don't even know if he missed us at all. I hope this is the first of many kid free trips we get to go on. Our next camping trip (with Lucas) is in September and I think we are all looking forward to it!