Fall Sports

 We finally wrapped up the fall sports season this past weekend.  It's so fun to see the kids try so hard and work to get better.  Andrew and Grant played baseball and Bailey is still playing soccer.  Most weeks in October we were at the fields 4 nights a week and at least one day on the weekend.  Fun times when you have three kids on three different teams!  I love it.

Grant's team - BJ was the head coach.  Their team was full of 4 year olds in a 4-6 year old league.  Two years of age makes a difference.  eek.  They had fun!  Some slid in the dirt, some dug in the dirt and some even ate the dirt.  Grant LOVES it.  He is focused and ready to play.  And he is fast.  Who knew!?

 

Sorry buddy, I got sick and didn't take any photos with the big camera.  I had some weird virus that was like the flu but made my wrists and knees swollen and felt like they were all broken.  

Andrew - You had a great season.  People are impressed with how much you have improved.  You have worked at it and others are noticing.  Your baseball knowledge also made up for the weaker players on your team.  (When playing center field you would come cover 2nd base!)  Keep it up!

Andrew's team got together for a pizza party because the coach told them if they ever got a double play he would provide it!  Well, Andrew fielded it, stepped on second and threw it to first.  First baseman caught it. 

Bailey - She continued to play club soccer with United.  She still loves it and playing a lot of defense.  She played a little wing, but they needed her more at defense.  Her team doesn't have any real scorers, so they have a lot of 1-0, 1-1 games.  They can stop anyone, but don't usually score much.  Makes every game a nail biter! 

Looking tough before one match.

That's a wrap!  Basketball has already started.  

Grant asks at least once a week - "When is baseball going to start again?"

Happy Halloween!

This year all the kids wanted to be athletes.  Talk about an easy costume!  With the Braves in the World Series it was perfect.   Austin Riley and Freddy Freeman were busy getting candy before they had to head to their big game.  And Alex Morgan was looking good too!

 

They definitely go faster and cover more ground every year.

So. much. candy.

Happy Halloween 2021.

Halloween Party

 We hosted a Halloween party again!  I told each kid they could invite two friends and it turned into 15 kids (with siblings and connections).   I had planned some silly/scary stations, potion making and a flashlight candy hunt.  Everyone seemed to have fun, so I think it was a success!

Making potion!  Look out for that dragon spit and bone dust.

Getting ready to hunt candy!

Happy Halloween!

Mountain Weekend - Rough Ridge Overlook

It was probably 3:00 by this point and we were about 30 minutes from our campsite.  We just wanted to be back to make the fire and eat dinner in the light.  We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway and I knew of one other hike that was about 1.3 miles out and back.  I didn't know much about it.  We drove to the start and almost skipped it because of how crowded the parking area was.  However, when we turned back, there was a spot and we took it as a sign to hike it.  The kids were tired and we told them we would go 12 minutes.  If there wasn't anything good in those 12 minutes we would turn around, no matter what.

Boy was there something good.  It was amazing.

Tiger rock.

It was beautiful up there.  Amazingly beautiful.

This rock.

There were rocks to climb and picnic and enjoy the views.  It was scary and exciting at the same time.

We were so glad we checked it out.

That night it got COLD.  Like freezing.  We were prepared, we had a heater, so we played cards and told stories to pass the time.  The funniest part of the whole trip were BJ and Bailey's shadow stories.  Keep in mind we are all crazy tired, the light outside our tent allowed their shadows to go onto the tent walls as they walked by.  They started being Frankenstein and Vampire slayers walking past and we were all cracking up inside.

The next day was a little disappointing, but we handled it.  The whole reason we went to this location was to hike Grandfather Mountain.  Well, we pushed back the hike to Sunday because of the rain Saturday morning, and it ended up being closed.  We arrived to hike at 9:00 and were told the winds at the top were 60 mph.  We were disappointed, but we did want to be safe, so we understood.  Sadly, our cool hike would have to wait.

The kids were still thrilled from the surprise hike the day before that they wanted to go back to check it out again.  So we did.  Day 2, same hike.  BUT it was totally different.  The winds were so cold and hard that it just didn't feel safe.

This is at the top, we didn't actually go all the way the day before.  But it was SO cold and windy that it wasn't nearly as fun.  We basically raced to get back into the trees and be undercover.

After that we ended up driving home.  It was a little disappointing that we didn't get our second day, but Saturday was so good we got over it fast.  

Grandfather Mountain, we will be back for you.