Callie's 9th Birthday

As hard as it is to believe, Callie turned 9 and is one year away from double digits.  She was especially excited because this year was going to be a slumber party celebration.  And from what we soon realized this appeared to be a trend for 9-year-olds.  She even attended a sleepover birthday party the night before her very own.  And she had two more lined up for later in the month.  Our strategy for the party was to keep all the girls as active as possible for as long as possible so that bedtime would be as easy as possible.  Hence, the balloons, each of which had a time written on the outside and a note describing the scheduled activity on the inside.

Reese was just as excited as the birthday girl, and neither one could wait for the guests to arrive. We harnessed this energy by giving them several last minute tasks to get ready for the party.  But in the hour leading up to arrival all they could do was run around, climb in the tree in the front yard, and think about how much fun they were going to have.

As Callie's friends arrived, she quickly introduced them all to our front yard tree, which tends to be a climber's paradise.  Kids love it and it tends to add another 5-10 minutes to the hellos and goodbyes with parents coming to pick up their children.  We took this opportunity what most likely would be our only group shot of the festivities.  They already were a pretty energetic crew.

Once everyone had arrived, the time had come to pop the first balloon and find out what our first activity was.  In a calculated move, we made sure the first activity was outdoors to give more time and space to those preparing dinner.  Fortunately the weather was nice and the sun was still shining so we were in good shape.

Since all of the girls had either been a Shark or was a sister of a Shark we began the night with some fun soccer drills.  John was in charge of leading these activities and did his best to keep them entertained.  Thus he combined shooting with keeping a cone on your head.  We are not sure if all of the girls appreciated John's humor, but we know Callie did.

The situation outside devolved relatively quickly, and before we knew it John had a bow in his hair and had lost control of the situation.  He called out for help and Sarah let him know that dinner was ready.

The next series of activities were all based around the Minute-To-Win-It games.  In the first one, each girl had sixty seconds to try and work an oreo cookie from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands.  You can see here that hands quickly became optional, especially for those who didn't want to lose their cookie to the ground.

Up next the girls had to successfully transfer M&Ms from one plate to another using only a straw.  They were all pretty confident when this picture was taken, but soon learned that it is not as easy as it looks.  If you know the competitive spirit that lives in our house, you also know that we take our games seriously.  Yes, this means that we kept score for each activity with the idea that we would have a grand prize winner.  This meant that we had some pretty fierce competition for most of the evening.

Lydia and Harper are showing off items necessary for the next game, Junk in the Trunk.  The object was to get the six ping-pong balls out of the kleenex box before the 60-second timer ran out.  Not only were points distributed for completing the activity within the time given, but a strong effort could also give you solid numbers as well.  None of the girls failed when it came to effort.

Holland and Callie definitely enjoyed this activity and went to extreme measures to empty the boxes.  At one point both did full back bends trying to get the last of the ping-pong balls free.  This activity certainly was a crowd pleaser, and all the giggles show that they almost forgot it was a competition.

Of course we had to stop for cake and presents, and everyone was ready for it by this time.  Sarah had truly outdone herself by making a fully three-dimensional soccer ball cake.  Most important, the cake held together over night and maintained its shape for as long as we needed it to.

The next stop was candy and a movie.  Reese and her friend Lola got to the candy buffet first and both made very good use of their time.  In retrospect, an all you can eat candy buffet might not have been our best decision for this party, but you live and you learn.

Keeping with the soccer theme of the party, the girls watched a few episodes of the series Kicks, which is based on stories by Alex Morgan, the famous American soccer player.  The girls seemed to enjoy the show and this allowed time for us to recover from all the activity and prepare for the final push to bedtime.  And when bedtime came, it actually went relatively smoothly.  And by relatively, we mean it only took them about an hour to get them to sleep.

The next morning, following a breakfast of waffles with whipped cream and chocolate chips (we offered strawberries but they weren't as popular as the chocolate chips), we held our medal ceremony.  All of the girls had performed admirably, but Holland took the top prize and first pick of the candy medals.  She was followed by Lily, Harper, Lydia, Callie, and Kennedy.  Callie loved being the person who officially placed the medal over each participant's head.  All had great attitudes except for Reese, who was upstairs crying because she wanted the Skittles and they had already gone to someone else.  Life is tough when you are the sister of the birthday girl.  We were excited to survive our first slumber party and will recover over the next three years to be ready to host one for Reese.

St. Thomas Wedding Bells

Toward the end of September we had the pleasure of leaving Lexington for a Caribbean weekend getaway to celebrate the nuptials of Sarah's brother Zac and his bride Brandi.  The flights went well and within an hour of reaching our hotel the girls were already checking out one of the three pools on site.  As you can see, the view was pretty amazing.

Here is the happy couple poolside on our first day.  It just so happened that they flew with us on the same plane from Atlanta to St. Thomas, so right from the beginning we got to hang out together.  We have to say that they seemed remarkably relaxed for two people who were about to have a wedding planned sight unseen.  But Brandi had a vision and thought of every detail.  Our goal was just to enjoy the whole experience and pitch in where we could.

Grammy Gayle arrived about five hours after us and was just as quick to hit the pools as we were.  Not only did this pool have a fantastic view, but it also had a swim up bar which made it that much more enjoyable for all of the adults.  Another fun pool activity that everyone seemed to enjoy was watching the rather large iguanas that hung out poolside.  They were everywhere we went and you just had to get used to their presence.

A short walk from our part of the resort was a beautiful beach where the resort had rafts, snorkels, and other water toys to enhance your time in the wonderfully warm water.  Of course, who needs those toys when you can just hold hands and jump around.

Saturday night we all got into a couple of taxis and headed into the town of Red Hook for the rehearsal dinner.  The food was tasty, but the company was even better.  As usual, Reese and Callie could not get enough of their cousin Keith.  And as usual, Keith was incredibly sweet with the girls.  All in all it was a great night.

And then came the day that brought us all to the wonderful island of St. Thomas.  As we got out of our taxis and walked onto a small beach we saw the catamaran that would be our home for the day.  The photographer took some shots of the happy couple and then we boarded a small zodiac in groups of five to make our way to the Daydreamer.

The wedding was going to be the first order of business, so everyone was dressed properly for the occasion.  Keith had his island finest on, and Mary Margaret knew how to stand out among all of the tropical flowers.  It was a pretty amazing experience just to spend the day cruising around the islands and taking in all of the sights.  At two different points we even saw sea turtles swimming along side the boat.

For better or worse, Callie and Reese appeared to slide quite comfortably into the catamaran lifestyle.  Especially one that served cocktails and appetizers from the moment we stepped on board.  And of course when Keith's wife Catelyn and Grammy Gayle are a part of the package the day can't get much better.

Rather than getting married on the boat, Zac and Brandi spotted a private island that we were able to access because the currents were in our favor.  An interesting fact about St. Thomas - all beaches are public property.  So into the zodiac we went, and before we knew it, we had Mr. and Mrs. Lucas!  Keith and Brandi's son EJ stood up for their parents in a very touching ceremony.

Callie and Reese, as well as Brandi's niece, Caroline, were flower girls for the wedding and got their own special photograph.  The girls enjoyed having Caroline as a playmate for the weekend, and Caroline was very excited to have two other girls to play with.  All three of them got along extremely well.  We anticipate this being a threesome that will get together for many holidays in the future.

One of the great aspects of Zac and Brandi's relationship is how quickly their sons have become friends.  It is also clear to us how much EJ appreciates having Zac in his life.  This picture captures it all and certainly could not have been left out.

As soon as the official business was completed, it was time to ditch the formal wear for the bathing suits so we could hit the water.  This was the first snorkeling experience for the girls and although they were a little reluctant at first they quickly got the hang of it.  John is not pictured here, not because he didn't snorkel, but because the experience was lost on the guy who couldn't wear his glasses under the mask and therefore could not see a damn thing other than little flashes of color every now and then.  So sad.

After a little snorkeling it was time to have lunch and then cut the wedding cake.  The whole experience went smoothly and the three-person crew of the Daydreamer took care of our every need.  They even were quick to show Brandi and Zac the hose on deck when the cutting of the cake ended with smeared icing and cake all over the bride and groom.

This picture here demonstrates the day in a nutshell.  The sky was blue, the water was gorgeous, the drinks were tasty, and we were soaking it all in wondering if we should ever leave.  So we have to thank Zac and Brandi for coordinating such a fun adventure.  And if we are lucky they'll invite us back when they rent the Daydreamer for their 10th anniversary.

Just in case you were wondering what the view was like from the other side of the hotel, we offer this picture.  We captured this right before we headed back to Red Hook for some pizza and beer to cap off the day at sea.  Hopefully pictures like these will remind the girls in the future how lucky they have been to see places like this.

On our last full day in St. Thomas we went in opposite directions.  John joined Zac, Brian, Keith, EJ,  and Mike on a chartered deep sea fishing adventure.  The trip was successful in that everyone caught at least one fish.  We had particular success catching barracudas like the one Zac is holding up after reeling it in.  Pretty impressive to say the least.

Sarah and the girls visited the town of Charlotte Amalie, which was a short ferry ride from the resort.  The ferry ride was made more exciting when both Reese and Callie got an opportunity to drive the boat.  They spent several hours walking around the downtown area, eating island treats and checking out some of the town's history.  Eventually they were able to meet up with the rest of the girls for lunch as well.

But of course, every day always ended up back at the pool.  Keith and Reese worked for a while to perfect their form as the sun set in the distance.  We absolutely love this picture for so many reasons, not the least of which is that it shows Reese's fearlessness and joy while also demonstrating how good Keith is with his much younger cousins.  The view behind them isn't that bad either.

And just in case we got left out we managed to take a selfie or two in the pool as well.  On a side note, one of the biggest successes of the whole trip was that all four of us avoided getting sunburned during out entire time there, and as you can see we spent a lot of time in the sun.  It's one small sign that we are getting a handle on this parenting thing.

Our last night on the island we took advantage of one more adventure, which was night kayaking in the small bay near the resort.  The kayaks had LED lights on their see through bottoms that allowed us to see the fish and other sea life that we passed over.  This included Shelly, the sea turtle who has made her home in the bay.  We also saw several sting rays and barracudas.  It was a very fun family outing.

Fortunately we were smart enough to book a departing flight that did not leave until the early afternoon, which meant we could spend the morning at the beach.  So we packed in another ocean experience with Zac, Keith, and Catelyn before we had to head back to reality.

Reality hit us pretty quickly in Atlanta when we realized we had not been very diligent about making the girls (especially Callie) finish the homework she had been assigned to make up for work missed while we were gone.  So this is how our trip to paradise came to and end, with math equations and sight words in the airport.  Maybe we still have some work to do on this parenting thing.

Labor Day on the Lake

For all that we have been good about living the Kentucky life in our over ten years in this fine state, we still have a few items left to check off.  On Labor Day weekend we took care of a big item by hanging out on Lake Cumberland as part of a three day weekend with the Johnsons.  They are veterans of the lake life, so they were happy to guide us through the experience, from renting the pontoon boat to bringing all of the necessary supplies.

It didn't take long for the kids to jump right in to the experience.  They had their life jackets on and Vivie Ann and Mason led the way for our girls.  Callie and Reese did not hesitate, and quickly took the plunge by leaping off the boat into the water.

One of the fun parts of the whole experience was riding the raft pulled behind the boat.  We must tell you that this is not a speed boat, but still the pontoon boat went fast enough to make the ride an adventure.  There was only one major mishap when both Callie and Reese fell off and Reese went under the raft for a few seconds.  She was a little shaken up, but eventually got back up and took a few more rides.

We got out on the boat around 9:30am and were out on the lake until probably 4:00pm.  It was just fun to cruise around, check out the various nooks and crannies of the lake, jump in when we were hot, and enjoy the great company.  It did not take us long to understand whey so many people spend time on the lake, that's for sure.

And of course the whole trip was made better by the fact that we were with the Johnsons.  At this point Vivie and Callie have known each other for seven years and they are both getting so big.  And their friendship is so sweet and comfortable.  Vivie is the exact kind of friend we want Callie to have during her teenage years - that is also because we are on the same page as her parents.

As you can imagine, all of the parents were required to take a spin on the raft.  John was quickly dubbed the funny one and Sarah, not surprisingly, was dubbed the crazy one.  She insisted on pushing the envelope and doing acrobatics while rafting.  She is the one standing up here, but we have numerous pictures of all the kids standing up under her watch as well.

Even Jessica got in on the fun.  This was a big task because she was the only one on the boat that little Emerson would truly listen to and  Seth was the primary driver.  This meant that we had to keep Emerson occupied, though at times Seth was willing to hand the wheel over to John so that he could help out with Emerson.

These five kids get along so well, and continue to add memories like this to their scrapbooks.  Callie and Reese had an absolute blast, though they often wondered why they had to keep their life vests on the whole time.  That's lake life, kids, that's lake life.

Picnic with the Pops - Wizard of Oz Style

After nine years of enjoying Picnic with the Pops we have certainly figured out the recipe for a fun evening.  The first step is making sure you have the right people.  And once again we hit it out of the park with a couple of new additions to the crowd - Susan Buhrow and Caitlin Foehse.  The weather was wonderful and we were prepared for a great night.

Tommy always knows how to strike the right tone for the evening, and this time around he had a last minute idea that was a big hit at our table and pretty much every where he walked.  He has never shied away from attention, so he reveled in posing for pictures like this every chance he got.

We always try and capture at least one moment where it just the two of us.  This time we were enjoying the signature drink that Sarah came up with this year.  It included homemade ginger simple syrup, a splash of soda water, vodka, and fresh berries.  We called it, "You're Not in Kansas Any More."  One word - tasty!

We also know that this wouldn't be the great tradition it is if it wasn't for our wonderful neighbors, Sharon and Chris.  They are the perfect companions for a night like this, especially after a couple of the signature drinks mentioned above.

Kirk has always been a great sport since this night often falls right around or even on his birthday.  Sarah always finds great things at Party City to dress him up.  But this picture also shows the really cool table decorations put together by Caitlin for the evening.  They were the perfect shade of green.

And this was the view of the stage from our table.  We managed to secure a table in the front row this year, and we may not be able to leave.  The only problem is that because of a different schedule we actually went on Friday night instead of our usual Saturday night.  We'll have to see if we will do Friday night again next year just to get the front row.