What better way to spend a weekend than with the Johnsons and some beautiful Kentucky scenery. On Labor Day weekend we found a great little spot not too far from home that gave us just what we needed on a hot day.
Fortunately, the Johnsons are always game. Unfortunately, the only person who brought a bathing suit was Emerson. We all wanted to jump in the water with another hot Kentucky day. But at least we got to walk through the Kentucky River and make our way to a local restaurant that we had always wanted to try for some cold beverages and fried food.
September also had our church's annual picnic. This year Sarah organized an inter-generational scavenger hunt as the main activity. Pictured here is the winning team - every team member came from a different family and was in a different decade of their life, all of which scored them extra points. However they performed well on the trivia portion too.
While Sarah and Reese were enjoying themselves at the picnic, John and Callie were at Callie's soccer game against Falls City FC. Callie certainly has hit a confident stride on the field, and this game not only scored a goal but earned the game ball from the coaches. They give it out every game and the player who earns it gets to sign it and bring it to the next game. We were pretty darn proud of her, but more importantly she was proud of herself.
The very next weekend John and Reese drove down to Franklin, Tennessee for her team's games in the Battleground Tournament. It was another extremely hot weekend, and these girls worked extremely hard all weekend long. They played well but had some tough matches, ending the weekend with 1 win and 2 losses. Reese didn't mind, though, because the hotel had a pool, biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and the hotel room she and John stayed was really big. The true marks of a good weekend from an 8 year old's perspective.
On the older side of things, 6th grade brought Callie into a Lexington tradition that took us by surprise. "Is Callie doing Hall's," we were asked. "What is Hall's?" we replied. Oh my, did we learn. To bring you up to speed, Hall's School of Dance is a 9-week rite of passage for many 6th grade boys and girls in Lexington. They learn how to dance, yes, but they are also instructed in a variety of elements of etiquette. Callie was along for the ride because all of her friends were doing it.
So every Thursday night from September through early December Callie and her friends put on their dresses, their panty hose, and white gloves. They took a picture each week to mark the occasion and off they went.
Now before you start imagining some fancy ballroom and debutantes galore, here is a picture of opening night in a local church's gym. The boys are sitting on one side and the girls on the other. Definitely nothing fancy, but they did seem to learn some good dancing basics.
Everyone who we talked to about their Hall's experience growing up mentioned ice cream, and it is likely that is what Callie would bring up first about it as well. The dancing ended at 8:30, and then dozens of boys and girls tossed aside their etiquette and descended on either Baskin Robbins or Graeters, depending on the night.
These will certainly be memories that Callie will cherish as she gets older. It is important to note that the grand finale of the class was a Winter Dance in early December. However, a couple of parents took the evening a step further and hosted a three-course meal at the Lexington Country Club prior to the dance and then of course after the dance everyone still went out for ice cream. Pretty fancy event for 12 year olds.
Callie wasn't the only one getting dressed up, of course. Sarah and Reese made sure to show off their Sunday best before church one day and looked fantastic in their fall colors. September was coming to a close, but the fun of fall was far from over.
No comments:
Post a Comment