Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Vacation Day 1

What a week! My one goal was to make some lasting memories for my kids, memories like I have of summer vacation spent in Pensacola. I truly think this goal was achieved. Our day-by-day beginning with Day 1:

Saturday, June 30, 2012 we left Jack, Alabama bright and early to make it to Pensacola prior to Aunt Sue’s and Uncle Bob’s departure for the airport. The kids were hoping to see their plane take off, but with security the way it is now we thought it best not to take them to the airport if we weren’t actually flying out. So, we arrived at the Braithwaite Bayou House about an hour before Aunt Sue and Uncle Bob had to leave. We went over a few housekeeping items and then spent some time chatting prior to Aunt Sue’s best friend Renee taking them to the airport. We (read I) unloaded our bags and put everything in our bedroom for the week. Caroline and Austin Kieff wanted to go straight to the water, but I had a few errands that needed to be ran.

First on my list was a trip to Life Way. I wanted to pick up the Frazzled Female bible study. The study I am going to attend actually started the week before, so by the end of our trip I was two weeks behind, but that’s okay! However, this Mommy had a surprise; Kazoo was at a local car dealership. For those of you who do not know, Kazoo is the mascot for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. The kids enjoyed meeting Kazoo in a less intimidating environment than game day (hundreds of fans swarming and or yelling) and even met some of the baseball team and obtained their autographs! Fun start to our vacation!!





 Note:  Caroline is still apprehensive of some mascots...make that all mascots with the exception of
Big Al!

We did knock out item one and having the memory of an elephant (so I thought since I did navigate us through Mobile, Mt. Vernon, McIntosh and Sunflower the weekend before and was feeling pretty confident) I felt like I could disregard the directions of the GPS and skip getting back on the interstate to find 9 mile road to accomplish the next item on my revised list.

Second on my list was a little shopping for strappy plastic footwear, but two very tired kiddos nipped that one in the bud. Instead, we decided to head to the Cock of the Walk for lunch. Back to that memory of an elephant…boy was I SO wrong. The kids lucked up with a trip to the airport anyway and even saw a few planes in the air. Depending on what time the actual flight left it could have even been Aunt Sue and Uncle Bob’s flight! Well, after two other almost right treks I decided enough was enough and listened to the GPS. We did find 9 mile road, but much to our disappointment, the Cock of the Walk serves supper and doesn’t start serving until 4:00! Chick-fil-a to the rescue!! Grilled chicken nuggets, an ice dream and a cursory perusal of my Bible study later…I mean two 6 counts, fries and a half hour in the play area later…we decided to run into Target prior to heading out to see our Nanny.

Me and my silly kids at Chick-fil-a

Now, remember my errand of wanting to shop for strappy plastic footwear? Well, we did shop and find strappy leather footwear for Caroline…so technically I guess I could cross that off my list, ha! We finished the day with a visit to Nanny and Papa John’s pizza…and cheese bread…and bread sticks. Nanny wasn’t feeling very good so we did not stay too long. Austin Kieff slept through supper, but enjoyed a late night snack when we arrived back at the Bayou House.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Look Who's Riding a Bike

From the title, some of our dear readers may have assumed this post would be about Caroline, after all, Austin Kieff is,  as he so sweetly reminded us, six years old now.  However, thanks to living in the country, a very bumpy drive and very few opportunities to ride his bike (insert parents' fault), the poor little guy has had very limited opportunity to ride his bicycle.  I will qualify this statement by saying he has been an excellent bike rider with training wheels for quite some time.  But, as Austin Kieff so boldly said, enough is enough. 

So, this past Sunday after two days of creative pleading and persistent persuasion (insert begging), David removed Austin Kieff's training wheels.  The first go was a little shaky.  Yes, there was a wreck.  The second go was equally shaky.  By the third go he was riding like a pro...well almost!  This mom is feeling a little bad about the delay, especially since it only took about ten minutes to go from "what have we done" to "way to go!!"

Our new training wheel-less bike rider is so proud of himself.  His mom, a little more nervous than before when he asks to go ride his bike.  His dad, a little more thankful that he removed those training wheels that often had to be pushed a little in the sandy portions of our drive!  Sandy portions which thanks to Daddy and Papa are almost all gone!!

Our proud bike rider:


He even does pretty good on the grass!