Football Banquet

Last night was the MS football banquet.  Andy and Ra went to the banquet together.  It was an opportunity for the kids and coaches to reflect back on a fun season!  

Ra and his buddy Connor at the banquet

Getting his award from Coach Durden

Ra really enjoyed being a part of the team this year and is looking forward to what is in store for him in the future.

Let My People Go

Sis learned about Moses and Pharaoh this week in her Bible lesson.  They had to pretend they were Moses and write a letter to Pharaoh.  This was her letter - She was pretty firm in her demands!

Dear Pharaoh,

I demand you to LET THEM FREE! I am angry that they have to live in slavery!  SET MY PEOPLE FREE!  I'm MAD at you.

From,

Moses

Sense of Humor

The kids and I were behind this truck the other day...It cracked us up so we had to snap a pic of it!  

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We typically wait to get pumpkins here in the Sunshine State because the humidity will rot them within a day or two.  We picked up Sis from practice and dropped Ra off at church for youth group.  It was hard to be upset that this wasn't going to be a family affair like we originally planned since he ditched us for his first youth group on Wednesday night.  Now that football is over, he has the time to attend.

Anyhoo...Andy and I took Sis to the Pumpkin Patch and she savored the time with both of our attention!

Here she is with her Prince Charming!

This little pumpkin keeps growing!

We had a blast picking out pumpkins together and watching Sis have a ton of fun going through the mazes, playing on the hay bales, crossing the bridges, etc.

Can't wait to see what the kids carve on Saturday!

Compare & Contrast

Sis came home from school talking about how they've been exploring the concept of compare & contrast in reading. She was excited to show me that she understood how to use a Venn diagram. She created on on how she & I were alike and different.

When Andy came home from work, she did the same with him. It was so cute to see what she came up with as things that are the same and different from her Daddy. 

Her list of contrasting items cracks me up!  She is "good" and Dad is "bad!"  She is a gymnast and Dad works.  Dad likes beer and she doesn't!  

The comparison was equally as funny. She typically argues against her similar characteristics to her Dad. She insists that she's like Mommy not Daddy!  She wrote down that they both like ice cream and music. They both fart - but she was quick to say that everybody farts!  They both like to dance with each other and are both a bit crazy!!!  

Well, it appears she should be able to ace her fresh read test this week!  lol!

More Fall Baking

It's safe to say my boys are happy and full these days!  Ra devoured two of these bad boys in one sitting!  We love apple dumplings, especially in the fall.  You can take me out of Pennsylvania, but you can't take the Dutch Girl outta me!  

Flying High

Sorry for the poor quality.  I really wish Blogger would upgrade it's video link to HD.  It looks so good everywhere but here! 

Sis is going to be a level 3 gymnast this season but she's been working hard with her teammates learning the level 4 routines.  She still struggles with her kip, but does well with the rest of it.  Here is part of the level 4 routine from the cast squat on.  They are having the girls practice on the low bar as if it was the high bar.  They are so clever in how they set things up so the girls gain confidence instead of being scared (and it's easier to spot on the low bar verses the high bar with little ones).  

I'm so proud of her.  She's doing so well!!!  I can't wait for her Warm Up meet in Ocala in December!

End of an Era

Our favorite little local coffee shop is closing it's doors on 10/30.  We are beyond saddened by this news.  When I talked with the owner 2 weeks ago she said it was because of an issue with renewing their lease.  So many of my friends, neighbors and I are disappointed they couldn't find a way to keep this staple here in our community.  I got the impression that the landlords had someone else ready to move in, but I could be wrong.  Lillie's has been a great supporter of our beaches community.  They are what brings the people in to support the other local businesses.  It's ALWAYS crowded, no matter what time or year or day of the week.

Andy has fallen in love with Lillie's too.  We've been going there on Saturday mornings for a coffee date for about 6 months.  It's something we both look forward to each weekend, especially after a travel week.  We share a bagel and I enjoy a cup of Joe while we talk about everything and anything.  We are going to miss Lillie's and their staff.  I'm sure there will be some other place to move in - I remember when it was Shelby's before Lillie's but now that I'm a beach resident, Lillie's will be hard to see go...


My last FREE mocha from Lillies.  One more Saturday morning coffee date this coming weekend.  :(

I Feel the Need....The Need For Speed!

Usually we are in Vegas over the 3rd weekend in October for the Monster Energy Cup Supercross race.  This year I asked if we could stay home - it's such a long flight just for a 3 day weekend.  I wanted to do something different and the boys (along with Uncle Jason) are headed to Daytona for the Supercross race this winter.

Because we stayed home, we were able to catch the Sea and Sky Air Show.  This year they were at the beach.  Every other year they switch from NAS Jax to the beach for the show location.  We got to watch the jets practice Thurs and Fri before the 2 weekend shows.  

The Blue Angels were the big headliner.  The BA went into Providence and spoke to the Upper School.  Ra was pretty excited about that.  He came home telling me all about the pilots, the planes, etc.  We saw them practicing over our house and they were flying over our car on the way home.  We headed out to the beach and got buzzed a few times before practice was over.

Saturday morning we loaded up our bikes and rode down to Jax Beach to get a better view of the show.  There were paratroopers, bi planes, sky writers, jets, etc.  We had a blast!  We packed a lunch and spent the entire day on the beach being entertained by the show.  

The stars of the show!

These two are super cute...Such good friends.

The show also took place on Sunday as well so around 2:30 we headed down our street to the beach to check out the Blue Angel show one last time.  It was great to see it from both locations.  We saw more in Jax Beach, we we got overhead fly bys in Atlantic Beach.

First Field Trip of the Year

The second grade took their first field trip of the year on Friday.  We went to Fort Clinch in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island.  This is a barrier island just like the one we live on in Atlantic Beach - except our island is unnamed.  Fort Clinch is across the St. Mary's River from Cumberland Island in Georgia.  The fort was created to protect the river entrance and the Cumberland Sound.  It was built with bricks from Georgia and from Pennsylvania.  Construction as started in 1847.  The fort was instrumental during the Civil War.  It was a Union fort - Crazy, right?  A Union fort in Florida?!? But that's where the part of it being on a barrier island played an important role.  It was a base of Union operations in the area during the war.

Sissy and some of her friends.  All three of these girls were in class together last year.  Abby isn't in class with Sis and Arabella this year but we were all in the same group for the day.

Arabella is also a gymnast.  They were in class together last year too.  These two have become pretty close this year.

We took a hike on the Willow Pond Trail through the hammocks with large Spanish moss draped live oaks.  We saw alligators, lots of spiders including black widows, frogs and big beetles.  

The fort is double walled and right along the shoreline.  It's a pentagon shaped fort.

Half of the second grade together having fun!

This flag was HUGE.  It looked so patriotic.

Lots of cannons were used in protecting the fort from the confederate army.

Afterwards, we left early instead of eating lunch at the fort.  Sissy was happy to ride home with her friend Gabriella and have a play date until their big brothers were finished with school.  She had a great day!  Those two buddies aren't in the same class this year and they really miss each other!  It was great to let them have some play time together.  

20 Years Just Flew By

We celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary on Wednesday, October 21st.  

Sadly Andy spent the entire week in Texas so the kids thought dinner at Angie's Subs and a rowdie game of Sorry would cheer this momma up! They are so sweet.  We had a great time together as we always do when we hit up Angies.  

Andy did a great job in celebrating our relationship with a surprise date night on Saturday.  Here we all dressed up but I still didn't know where we were headed.

He surprised me with a huge flower arrangement that included stargazer lilies just like the ones from our wedding day!

He took me to Ruth's Chris Steak House for dinner.  Neither of us have ever been there before but his boss has raved about how great this one in Ponte Vedra is before so we were adventurous.  We were seated with a Happy Anniversary and a card signed by the entire staff!  The table was also decorated with rose petals.  We had a very delicious meal and a wonderful time together.  When we were finished, our waitress took our picture and brought it out to us in this little card.  

She also brought us dessert!  Isn't it super sweet?  

We had a fantastic time but decided to top off the evening with a "real" dessert at one of our favorite special occasion restaurants, Eleven South.  We love going there just for dessert - well, one dessert in particular.  It's a Banana Genoise Cake.  It's got Ghirardelli chocolate marscapone, white chocolate ganache, blurred bananas, spiced candied pecans and Navan Chantilly cream.  Totally worth the splurge!

It was a great way to celebrate all the ups and downs of the past 20 years.  We've been having fun talking about our favorite memories from our wedding day.  I finally found our videos and sent them off to be converted into DVDs.  That was my gift to Andy this year.  I can't wait to get them back and relive that day with him.  I think the kids will enjoy seeing their family members from 20 years ago too.  Uncle Kevin had hair back then!  ;)

My Stallion Scholars

On Monday my Little Man got to go downstairs to the cafeteria where the chef baked up some yummy cinnamon rolls for all the Stallion Scholars.  Ra enjoyed them so much he gorged himself on FOUR!  Can you tell he's gluten deprived!  lol!  If you click on this link HERE and then click to view the middle school Honor Roll, you'll find Ra's name on the A Honor Roll.

Not to be outdone, K came home with her first ever (k & 1st grades weren't eligible for it) A Honor Roll certificate.  She was so excited to show me and to have me hang it up with all of Ra's from Lower School!

I know I'm bragging on my kids, but that and a breakfast out as a family are the only thing they get in return for their good grades!  I'd much rather give them praise for a job well done, then a toy, present or money for their efforts.  We want our kids to understand the value of hard work and to feel good about themselves as their reward.

The End of the Season

Ra played his last football game as a 6th grader for Providence.  Their season came to an end last night with a loss to University Christian School.  The B team played their A team so the fact that they lost 48-6 wasn't so bad.  7th + 8th graders vs. 6th & 7th graders.  Everyone got to play at least!

Ra did a good job and had a lot of fun this season despite his injured finger all season!  Look for my handsome #37 in the pics below!  He played left cornerback during the game.

Some video from his game - Blogger doesn't allow video to be displayed in HD for some dumb reason so if you enlarge it, it gets rather blurry.  He's the player closest to the near sideline.

He's on the far left in this pic

Same here - far left of the pic

He's had so much fun and has created some new friendships with the guys on the team.  It's great to see him so much more outgoing than he's ever been!  It's been such an incredible experience for him and I'm proud of the way he's handled himself this year!

He's looking forward to playing i9 flag football in January and February to keep up his skills.  I'm also looking into getting him in a crossfit class to keep him in shape during the off season. My boy is growing up - and much too quickly for this momma!

New Floor Routine

Last night at practice, one of Sis' coaches spent some time one-on-one with her to make sure she knew the level 3 floor routine.  Last night the girls got to practice their new routines with music for the very first time.  It was so awesome to watch her.  She's improved so much from last year!

I filmed her routine from the parent observation room, through the window.  The music I attached to the video is the music for her routine but it's not timed correctly with her routine.  It gives you an idea of what it will look like though.  I also cut off the recording too soon because I didn't realize that she was skipping her tumbling pass at the end before her routine was complete!  Opps!

I can't wait to see what this season has in store for Sissy.  Her new gym has really given her the tools to be successful and you can see how much she's grown up and how she performs with more confidence.  

My Little Monkey

The kids had a short and easy week due to parent-teacher conferences last week. Monday was a holiday. Tuesday was their only full day. Wednesday through Thursday were half days.  Ra had football practice till 3 o'clock each afternoon while Kendall got out at 11:30.  It was also Homecoming Week so there were a lot of fun activities going on for both Upper and Lower school.

K had a very long play date with one of her gymnastics buddies and one day she and I went to the park to play. She is a monkey bar nut!  I can't get her off them until her hands hurt or rips start tearing!

She loves coming up with challenges for the bars.  Here's her latest challenge - going backwards! 

We ended this fun week with the school's Homecoming Parade and Pep Rally during the school day and the Homecoming football game against Providence's biggest District rival, Episcopal that night.  It was a great football game.  Thankfully we were able to pull off a HUGE victory!