zipline!!!

Trey and Connor tandem


We had an unusually non-humid, clear Saturday with the high only in the 70's here in Knoxville.  We were excited that this PICTURE PERFECT day coincided with our planned trip to do the zipline course in Sevierville with the Langford family.  Connor was a little nervous, but with a pep talk from Jared who had been before and was equally nervous at the start, even he was tentatively excited.  All I can say is:  amazing, beautifully breathtaking, awesome, fun for the whole family.

Carter and Allie tandem and then racing each other

Trey and David racing

Tanner and Jared about to go tandem

swim team

I know summer is over, but I finally have time to catch up on blogging so here it goes.  Summer meant sleeping in, lots of friends, no homework and swim team.  All 5 kids participated again this year.  Connor, Tanner and Sydney moved up to the 9-10 age group this year.  Sydney swam against someone as tall as Allie at one of the meets!  The boys were excited to master breast stroke enough this year to consistently be able to compete in that race.  Connor and Tanner usually raced each other, were very evenly matched, and were always good sports with the outcome .  Sydney, Allie and Trey all took turns racing in the IM again this year.  They all claim to dislike that event immensely, but I think the girls secretly like it.(:  We love swim team because of the routine in gives the summer, the exercise, but mostly because of the friends!

Allie's makeover

Have you ever wondered what Allie would look like with makeup on?  Well some of the Young women in our ward like to do make-overs on Allie for dances and such.  The other day Natalie, Cortney and Lizzy came over to do a back-to-school makeover, manicure and pedicure included- thanks girls!   Lookin' good Allie!

Back to School

This year the first day of school went pretty smoothly.  It helped that the triplets had "meet the teacher" night last night.  The 4th grade has about 18 classes so the hopes of getting a good friend in your class or a teacher you're hoping for seems pretty slim, but somehow it worked out for Connor, Tanner and Sydney.  Before they found out what class they were in they all told me who they wanted to get for a teacher and somehow they got who they wanted!  (they based their wishes on how nice some of the teachers were to them in the hall and what they had heard from other kids, except Sydney wanted a particular teacher who she noticed dancing and singing a lot)

Sydney was all about the clothes of coarse.  She has begged for converse shoes for a year and I finally relented so the outfit was carefully picked out with the shoes in mind.  Sydney also wanted to try a "bag" instead of backpack this year.  She has her best friend from last year in her class.  Her first words to me about her first day at school were:  "my teacher is hyper!"  Lots of dancing and singing I guess!

Connor somehow got a teacher from heaven again, who's personality is exactly what he needs.  He was not nervous at all this year, but didn't like that the poison ivy he got while camping hadn't gone away yet.      His teacher is the former TAG teacher, which was evident on this first half day of school orienting as she somehow had time to do 2 experiments with them involving coke and diet coke.

I told Tanner he could pick out his first day of school clothes if he wanted, something the boys have never cared about doing.  He grabbed a star wars/aquarium black t-shirt, looked at me, and then said "hmm, I think I'll wear something nice instead since it's the first day of school" (whew)

Allie tried to con me into a new backpack again this year until I reminded her that last year she got a more expensive backpack with the promise of keeping it more that one year.  So she quickly started working the angle that because she wasn't getting a backpack then she surely deserved to get a new pair of $80 shoes for school.  What? HAHA! I don't think so.  She was excited to welcome new students to school as part of her SGA duties, but was not excited that she had to wear an SGA t-shirt on the first day of school.

Trey was as casual as he was last year, asking me as he walked out the door "what class do I have 4th block again?"  I asked him if he wished he was graduated already and going to college instead, to which he quickly replied "no!  I'm ready to be a senior!"  Excited to go to lunch and the gym after school with friends.

We love to read

 

David and I love to read. When we both have a good book at the same time it's even better. Trey and Allie both loved to read at an early age. They would choose reading over other activities then and now. Trey got hooked when he read the Redwall series and for Allie it was probably the Harry Potter books. They both still love to read and do it all the time. Tanner, Connor and Sydney like to read, but I rarely see them picking to read over say watching a show on TV or riding their bikes. It was more of a "ok, it's close to bedtime, I'll read for 30 minutes before I go to sleep". And for Connor in particular he never really stuck with a book (besides small chapter books like Harry the Horrible) til the end. He'd just read parts of a book and then move on to something else. Until now. A friend told him about the series Warriors. It's about the adventures that different clans of cats have as they battle and enforce laws in a forest that they share. There are 6 books in the first series and then it goes on to a second series and so on. Well the light clicked for Connor and now he reads all the time. He chooses to read. He started reading them right before school got out and has just started the second series. It has also inspired him to start writing his own Warriors book called The Desperate Rise.

Oak Island 2010

Oak Island never disappoints. May is especially nice, the weather is good and local schools are not out yet so the beach is uncroweded. The Cruze Family made our trip even more pleasurable. Highlights included: "survivor" game on the beach, year two of buying the raft/boat, digging for clams, catching fish, adults + Trey Puerto Rico tournament, adult dinner out, Provisions with the kids and outside games for Allie's birthday.

Happy Beachy Birthday Allie!

Allie is now 15!  I'd say more than half of Allie's birthdays have been spent at the beach.  Most of the time there are aunts, uncles and cousins there to make it even more special.  Allie was pampered by her cousins with a good 6 person (that's 12 hands and 2 feet than belonged to Josh) massage.  

p.s.  she has been on me everyday to take her to get her driver's permit....watch out motorists!