Med School Reunion

We spent Labor Day weekend in Birmingham this year. It was our first trip back since Brent's graduation from UAB five years ago. Our sweet friends all came to town and we had a reunion. It was just great. We are so thankful for Bill and Shannon organizing us all, and for all the people who planned our activities. Until now, some or all of us were still in training. There are only two couples left who are not quite finished, and they will finish fellowships next summer. So very hopefully, this will become a much more frequent event.

I found myself with tons of emotions the entire weekend, yet I did not cry even once! It was so strange to be back in the city we called home for four years, but to be there as visitors. It's not often we go on a trip where we know all the roads and attractions so intimately. Brent and I agreed that it felt like we were in a time warp of sorts. It felt very normal driving around and going to places we used to frequent, but at the same time we knew we weren't really home anymore. Plus, we had these three yahoos we have picked up over the years. When we left Birmingham, Andrew was five months old! So you could say things have changed a bit.

When we arrived in town, we headed to Homewood Park for a picnic lunch with everyone. I think in the heat, I just totally forgot that I needed to make pictures, and so I have none from this event. But it was hot. So picture everyone red faced and "glistening." We drove by our old apartment and showed the boys. Then we headed to our hotel. We had some super excited boys in the backseats. This was the first time we had stayed in a hotel with them. All of our other vacations have been in condos or at the lakehouse, so they were beside themselves wondering what the experience in the hotel would be.

Here the bigger ones are "helping" Brent with the luggage cart.


And here they all are checking out the view. Everyone slept very well at night.


After some resting, we headed over to Briarwood Presbyterian for a dinner catered by CMMA. This ministry is responsible for the friendships we formed during med school. CMMA is probably responsible for most of the good memories we have of Birmingham if I really think about it. We met every Monday night in a physician's home for dinner, worship, fellowship, and encouragement. It was a key part of our medical school experience. We are so thankful for that church and it's vision for helping students and families through those very difficult years.

Our boys had tons of fun playing with new friends, and we had fun visiting with dear ones as well.



Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel (which Andrew and Coleman thought was the coolest thing ever) and then drove around a bit. It was very rainy thanks to tropical storm Lee, so we didn't get out. We drove Andrew by St. Vincent's Hospital, the precious place where we first met him. He clearly remembers where Coleman was born, and of course knows where Jonathan was born, and was so excited to see where he was born. Then we ran in Klingler's bakery, my very favorite spot. Coleman and I picked up lunch for everyone and then we headed back to the hotel. We swam for a bit, ate lunch, and headed out again. Everyone went to an indoor jumping place. It was super crowded and between keeping up with the boys and trying to visit with everyone, this was the only picture I got.

After jumping around for a while, we headed back to the hotel. For dinner, Brian's parents offered their home for us to have dinner and hang out. It was a great evening. It was so fun to watch our children all play and interact together. Most of them weren't even born when we were all in school. But boy do we have a bunch between us! I made a few pictures at the Brunson's, but again, keeping up with everyone and trying to visit makes it difficult to get good photos.

The boys loved being outside (in the drizzle) and running and playing. They invented some kind of game with a ball and played it for a long time.



Here's a shot of all us girls, with a few of the kids sprinkled in. They made a shot of the guys, but I was upstairs when it was taken. I wish we had tried to make one of all the kids together. We'll have to do that next time.

Sunday morning we loaded up and then ate breakfast at the hotel buffet again. Here are two yahoos helping with the luggage.

Andrew got reacquainted with some of his very first playmates that weekend. Micah and Dathan and their parents also did residency in Winston-Salem, so we kept up our friendship while we were there. I don't know if any of the boys remember those days, but I sure do. Here's a shot of the three of them Monday morning before we all left town.


And here they are in our little living room in Winston Salem almost exactly five years ago.

Even with the heat and then the rain, we had the best weekend. What a precious group of people God put together that summer of 2002. We are so blessed by those friendships and pray they continue for many more years.

Breakfast Picnic

This summer it was incredibly hot. This is particularly a challenge when you have three yahoos who desperately need and love to play outside. Even the shadiest of parks is too hot by mid-morning, and forget about playing outside after naptime. A good friend of mine mentioned a breakfast picnic idea, and we decided to give it a go. It was the perfect solution to our problem.

The boys got dressed and had a quick, small bowl of cereal before we left. Then we hit the McDonald's drive thru for some biscuits and waters. We were at the park by 7:40. Needless to say, we had the place to ourselves.



After they ate, the boys had a lot of fun playing on the equipment, running around, and just being outside.








Jonathan stopped for frequent water breaks.



Yes, he had a black eye. I can't remember now how it happened exactly.


I just love this one.It was the perfect morning. They played and played to their heart's desires. When we were leaving, good and tired and happy, I looked at the car clock. It was only 9:30. Breakfast picnics will definitely be happening next summer too!

August Recap

Here's a quick recap of a few of our school activities in August. I am really pleased with most of our curriculum. I have had to tweak our Language Arts quite a bit, but we both like what we're doing now. Math has been focusing on geometry, graphing, addition facts, and calendar skills. We also do journaling and handwriting each day. We do either History or Science each day, and he has a fun Weekly Reader on Friday. He learns a new Bible verse each week, and of course we have snack, storytime, and centers each day. It makes for quite a full morning!

Sonlight (our curriculum) is really strong in History, and Andrew is loving their approach. They spiral their teaching over three year periods. So this year, we're focusing on an introduction to World Cultures in History. Each week we focus on a different topic. So far, we've studied early man, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, the Vikings (a huge hit!), and the Middle Ages. For each civilization, we learn about what they wore, what they ate, how they traveled, and how they lived.

The week we studied Ancient Rome, we learned about togas and that they ate on the floor reclining on pillows. We also learned that they thought it was good manners to burp out loud after a meal. (Hilarious to the five year old.) When I told Andrew that Jesus lived during the time of the Ancient Romans, he said, "Well. I bet HE never burped out loud after a meal!" We ended that week by eating our Friday night pizza on the living room floor with pillows and wearing our fire truck sheet togas.




Science has also been introducing lots of topics. We've studied weather, landforms, the ocean, and some earth science. One day we studied fossils, so the boys went outside and picked some leaves and things to make imprints into some salt dough. Here they are putting pressure on their fossils.


The week we studied weather happened to be a big week in New Jersey. Aunt Mer Mer and Uncle Roger experienced a pretty big earthquake and a hurricane in just a few days. (We keep telling them they just need to move away from there. Some people can't take a hint!) So Andrew called Aunt Mer Mer and interviewed her about the earthquake. He was very interested in what Major thought of the whole thing.

And of course, we had to explode a volcano since we were studying about them!


We even had molten lava cakes for dessert that night!

Touch a Truck 2011

Back in August, the Parks and Rec department hosted the Touch a Truck event. We had a good time, but it was incredibly hot. We didn't stay very long, but we saw everything the boys wanted to see. They started out on the police motorcycle. Andrew accidentally discovered the very loud siren button. You can see Coleman with his hands over his ears.


Our next stop was the fire truck, where Jonathan got his hat.



Last year it was very loud with lots of enthusiastic horn blowing, so this year we took some ear protection. Andrew put them right on and did not take them off until we got to the car.

There was an old Cadillac, which the bigger boys recognized as "Boss Hogg's Car!"







Andrew got in the scoop of the bulldozer and got his shorts very dirty!



While they were driving the tractors, a lady came up to Brent and asked him Andrew's name and age. Brent said his first thought was, "Oh no. What happened?" Turns out she was a reporter from the Gainesville Times, and she said that Andrew would be in the paper the next day. So we bought a bunch of copies, and sure enough, they were both in the picture on the front page of the local section! And here they are posing with their copies.

Pirate Party

Saturday we celebrated one last time with Coleman's friends. He chose a pirate theme for his pool party this year. We had lots of fun with the planning, and I think he and his friends had a blast at the party. Friday night was cake night, so here are the bigger boys seeing the cake for the first time after I finished it. They were pretty excited!


If it weren't for the internet, we would have plain cakes around here. Our boys would have the same choices we used to on flavor and shape (round or square), but that's about it. Thankfully, other people share their creative ideas online for me to copy. The cake was chocolate with candles in the cannons and had Rolos for gold on deck guarded by two scurvy pirates.


We pulled out the pirate ship for one last hurrah this summer. And boy was it a hit!


Brent did a great job making sure everyone had a good time and everyone got a turn. It was no small feat keeping those rowdy pirates in line on board!

After they swam for a while, we ate a pizza lunch in the cabana.


Then Coleman opened his gifts.


He (and Andrew) blew out his candles, and then everyone enjoyed the slightly melty cake.


Finally it was time to hunt for treasure! We passed out bandanas, eye patches, and "Booty Bags" for everyone and set off.


They had to find the red Xes with clues to where the treasure was hidden.


At last they discovered a chest in the bushes!

They did a great job dividing up the booty.

There were spy glasses, hooks, jewels (mardi gras beads and rings), ring pops, and bags of gold (rolos and reese's cups) for everyone. They did a super job making sure everyone got their fair share of the fun.


And Jonathan was right there in the middle of it all. He even knows that a pirate says, "Aaaaarrrrgh!"
It was a great day, and we were so glad our friends could celebrate with Coleman.