The Sweet Tea Festival

A couple of weekends ago, Grace went to a friends' house on Saturday afternoon to play. We decided to take Lyla to do something fun. We took her little friend Margaret to the Sweet Tea Festival in Spring Hill. It was fun. They had live music, a sweet tea contest, some food, vendor booths, an antique car show and a great little kids area. The kids area is where we spent our time, of course. We paid $5 for each girl to have a bracelet and then they were able to do everything as many times as they wanted. I thought that was pretty good. They had a petting zoo, a train, blow up things and a maze made out of big cardboard boxes that the kids could draw on as they went through. We spent a few hours letting the girls play, drank some sweet tea, had a little ice cream and then headed home. It was a nice little festival!

Lyla started kindergarten!

So Lyla is in kindergarten!!! I can't believe it. I still don't feel like she's old enough on some days. She just doesn't seem as big as Grace did when she started. Anyway, she's done great with the transition. She is happy in the mornings and ready to get up and go, which says a lot if you know Lyla in the mornings. Here are some pictures from the first few days of school. For the first 2 days she just went from 9am to 1pm. So I would take Grace at 8:30 and then we would wait around in the parking lot until 9am. This first picture is on her first day. She didn't seem nervous at all.

This is a bad picture. It was way too bright but Lyla wouldn't stand still for me to take another one.

Lyla with her BFF, Margaret. She's a friend from preschool. Unfortunately they didn't get in the same class but still get to see each other on the playground.

In the classroom on the first morning checking things out.

This was the 2nd morning of school when we were waiting in the parking lot. She was outside of the van messing around and I was in the van.

Here is a picture of her scraped nose. She basically tried to do a headstand on a moving treadmill! Not smart. Maybe she learned a lesson?

Lyla always wants to take pictures herself.

She's lined up with her class. She's in the middle of the line with a tie-dyed shirt on.

Mrs. Heim...She was Grace's K teacher. She's great! I was excited to get her again.

This is the next morning when they rode the bus for the first time. Grace was more nervous about the bus then Lyla was. The kids on the street always come out early and play on their scooters in the mornings, which mean we have to be ready about 20 minutes earlier than we need to be. It hasn't been too hard though. Grace does her own hair, teethbrushing, shoes, etc.!

Lyla has the camera again and always tells me to do something silly.

This is the first afternoon getting off of the bus. I love this picture.

These are actually in the morning getting on the bus. This is Ailey, our next door neighbor.

Girls Lake Trip

My friend Shannon's parents own a house on Tims Ford Lake. I've been there with her a couple of times in the past, the distant past. We always say, "we need to go again...let's plan it!" It just never happens fast enough. Well, we finally planned it! Shannon, me, Joni, Steph H. and Darla all headed up there a week ago. We got there on Friday night and left Sunday. We had a great time! No kids, no husbands, no make-up! We stopped on the way there and ate yummy Mexican food. Once we got there we found the deck out back overlooking the lake. It was so peaceful and quiet and pretty. We sat and talked and listened to Darla's dance music. It was great. We even jumped in the lake around midnight! That was not my idea and I was the last one in, but I finally jumped and the water was great.

The next morning we made it out to the boat around 10:30 or so. Darla showed us how good she is at skiing right off the bat. She's amazing! She takes very good care of her body and it shows! She has muscle everywhere! Then Shannon took a turn. She skied on one ski and then on two skis. She's been skiing since she was a little girl, just like Darla. They both know what they're doing! Then Stephanie took a turn. She got a lesson from Darla on skiing with one ski. She did a great job too. Then Joni tried it. It took her a few times but she got up and stayed up for a few minutes! I was last. If Joni could do it, surely I could too. Or...maybe not! I tried and tried but just could not get it. I got about half way up but that was it. I did however get several nasal irrigation's that day! Skiing takes a lot of muscle!!!

We went back to the house for lunch and then it started raining. Bummer! We hung out and napped a little. Later in the afternoon it cleared up and we headed back out. After a few more skiing turns, we went back and got the tube. That was my favorite. I can sit on a tube and yell! I'm pretty good at that. ha ha Stephanie and I started out. We were quickly asking to speed up and make it more exciting. Well, we didn't know what we were asking for with Darla at the wheel. That girl is crazy. She was doing donuts in that lake like a crazy person and slinging us back and forth over the wake at about 30 miles an hour (at least it felt that fast). The tube was a little deflated too so it felt like you were sitting down in the water. The funny thing about the pictures (besides our faces) is that you can't tell at all that we're going fast. The pictures look so calm but our faces look like we're about to be thrown over a cliff. But I can assure you, when she whipped around and flung us out to the side and we flew over that wake, I just knew we were going to flip! When I look at the pictures though, we were never even close to flipping! It was so fun though. I haven't laughed and screamed that much in a very long time! We had a great time. I don't think any of us were ready for the day to end. Joni and I decided that me and Eric and her and Larry need to go in together to buy a lake house and boat. We think it would be a great way to have family fun together as our kids get bigger. Plus, the kids will be with us having fun and not who knows where! I'll be very surprised it that really happens, but I can dream anyway!

These pictures are out of order. I like to put the pictures in my posts in chronological order so they tell the story of the event. Usually I can move them around when I'm editing. For some reason, Blogger isn't letting me move them. So, these pictures start with the night we got there. Then you'll see the tubing pictures, which were really at the end of the day Saturday. Then you'll see the skiing pictures, and they're out of order. Oh well. I put a lot of tubing pictures up b/c our faces in them are so funny, at least to me.

Thank you Shannon for sharing your house and boat with us. We had a great time and can't wait to go again!!! Let's plan it soon!

I also need to say thank you to Mom and Julie for keeping the big girls at Julie's house for the weekend. They had a blast and didn't want the weekend to end either. Grace actually cried that evening b/c she said she only gets to spend the night at Julie's once a year and she wants to go back again. Julie has a nice house that the girls say is a "mansion". She has a nice big jacuzzi tub in her bathroom and Grace says that's the reason they love going there. I asked her before the weekend why she liked going there so much. (She had her bags packed and sitting at the front door on Tuesday afternoon!) Her answer was..."it's the tub, it's all about the tub". Julie also has a king size bed that they love all sleeping together in and watching movies at night. So, thanks to Julie and Mom for providing a memorable weekend for the girls.

Eric also had a big weekend. He went on a baseball trip with 3 of his guy friends. They went to 3 different baseball stadiums. I don't have pictures of their trip yet. When I get those I'll have him write a post on it.