Music Camp 2011

This week was music camp for the two bigger boys. We look forward to this every summer, and Mrs. Pam did not disappoint! This year's camp was "The Great Bear Adventure" and the boys were to bring their teddy bears with them each night. Andrew remembered a lot of the music and keyboarding from last summer, which is a testimony to Mrs. Pam's great teaching and effective style. Coleman was just so excited to get to play the keyboard he could hardly stand it! He worked very hard to play the songs just like Andrew.

There are always lots of different movement and rhythm activities. Here they are with their bears flying some kites.


The camp is based on a story of a bear named Bartok who is on an adventure to discover what the yellow glow at the top of the mountain in his forest is.

They played lots of instruments again this year, including those naughty tambourines. Mrs. Pam had the boys and girls "glue" their hands to their knees and promise that no matter what the tambourines told them to do, they would not let their hands come off their knees until the music started. Check out Coleman's huge grin.

The music started off like little bitty raindrops.

And by the end of the song there was thunder and lightning! Check out those yahoos banging away!
They also practiced walking on these drums. The first night everyone was falling all over the place, but having a great time. The second time they used them, the kids did tons better. Coleman kept saying, "You really have to balance on these drums!" in his very best serious tone. Andrew was trying to lap the other kids in the class.

It was a great week! We are thrilled that Andrew will be starting classes with Mrs. Pam this fall. He is beyond excited. We are so glad that music camp is part of our summer calendar.

Father's Day 2011

Father's Day morning got off to an early, sneaky start around here. Here are the yahoos making monkey bread for a surprise for Brent. I love how Jonathan is right there with his big brothers, how Andrew looks so old, and how Coleman is smiling like he's been given a thousand dollars.

Once the monkey bread was in the oven, they took their gifts and went to wake Brent up. For some reason, he didn't want a picture made before he got out of bed, but here are the boys anyway.
We let him get dressed and then went into the living room to open some gifts.

This is a tie that Coleman made for him in preschool this year. We saved it until that morning. It has a sweet poem about daddies on it.

Coleman and Jon Jon each gave Brent a new shirt and tie. Coleman, in his typical style, loved and loved on Brent and kept telling him, "Happy Father's Day Daddy!"

Andrew gave Brent a statue of himself in his tee ball uniform. It looks great in Brent's office.

Here are all the monkeys and their bread.

We went to church, ate lunch and took naps. Then Gigi and Papack and Nana and Pop-O came for a cookout. Brent grilled the best hamburgers and hotdogs. We had wilted slaw, potato salad and chips. For dessert Brent asked for brownies, and we also had some Blue Bell. It was delicious! Here are Pop-O and Papack opening their gifts.

And, we had a very cold, very sweet watermelon from Baxley, GA. On our trip earlier in the week, we stopped at a produce stand in Baxley on the way home. We got some tomatoes and cantaloupe and a watermelon. It was so good!

And here are the yahoos with their grandfathers and their daddy. You can see Jonathan was done celebrating by this point.



I think everyone enjoyed the day. We had a fun time celebrating all our fathers, and we are so thankful for each of you.

Meanwhile. . .

While Brent and I were away, the yahoos went to Gigi and Papack's. Much fun was had as evidenced by the pictures below.

Popsicles outside were a huge hit with all three boys!

Gigi and Papack have a great backyard for playing in. It's pretty shady and completely fenced in. I know the boys loved all the outside playtime they had. Papack found a neat little pool for them to cool off in. Jonathan felt he should finish mowing the grass first.

Andrew loved getting to water the plants all by himself. Here he is filling up his watering can with the pool water. Much to Coleman's dismay.






One day they wanted to make their sandwiches all by themselves. So Gigi let them. I think this was the day that Coleman had a mustard and ketchup sandwich.

The favorite thing for the bigger boys this time was this cool fort Papack helped them build. Andrew could not stop talking about it, even after we got home.



These two logs were suitable for pretending to be horses.


I don't know what they were doing here, except coloring on some paper in the floor.

Even Jon Jon got to play in the fort.


The last day they had lunch in their fort. I know they loved this as much as Meredith and I used to. It's so fun to see our boys doing some of the same things we did as kids, and loving it just as much.
Thank you Gigi and Papack for letting them come play. We love you very much!

Anniversary Getaway

Back in February, Brent asked me if I'd like to go with him to St. Simons Island to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. He really had to twist my arm, but I finally agreed. We both looked forward to our trip all spring. We left Gainesville on the morning of the 14th and stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We drove and enjoyed the quiet, read one of our favorite authors, and finished conversations uninterrupted. As we came into Brunswick that afternoon this is what the car thermometer read.

Our family vacationed on Jekyll Island for several years when I was little, and we had frequent trips to the Georgia coast until college. Brent had been to St. Simons once at the end of a bicycle trip we used to go on. But neither of us had been to coastal Georgia in about eighteen years. The marsh was such a welcome sight.

We stayed at The King and Prince resort. It is one of the oldest hotels in Georgia, and was just perfect. We are already planning our next trip.


This was the view off our balcony. When they say oceanfront, that's what they mean! We sat on the swings each night after supper and could feel the spray from the waves.

Here's a shot of the lobby. You can see at the bottom where the breakfast buffet was set up each morning. Yummy!

The pools were great! I know three little boys who are going to LOVE this place!


We arrived on Tuesday afternoon around four, and quickly changed to go walk on the beach. We were meeting Uncle Steve, Aunt Lola and Susan for dinner at seven, so we had plenty of time. I took my camera to dinner, but forgot to get a picture of us. We ate at the Frederica House, and had so much fun. It was also great to get recommendations for dinner our second night.

The next morning we ate breakfast and headed out to the sand. And we made our best decision of the entire trip. We paid twenty-eight dollars and rented two chairs and an umbrella for the day. It was fantastic! We didn't have to haul anything but our bag down there and back that afternoon. No fooling with the umbrella or dragging things all around the beach. We just signed our room number and sat down. The first picture is hazy because the camera fogged up when I took it out.

After spending the day on the sand, we got dressed and ate dinner at Barbara Jean's that night. Had the best she-crab soup and crab cakes ever. We walked around the village, picked up a few souvenirs, and got some yummy ice cream.

We also walked out to the pier. It was getting ready to storm that night, so the waves were humongous!

The next morning we drove out to Christ Church and made a couple of quick pics from the car. We didn't have time to go in, but we'll be back.

We had an amazing time. We are so thankful for our marriage, even on the days when it is really hard work. It was so nice to celebrate our first 15 years in such a beautiful place. We can't wait to go back.