Nashville Sounds Game

Purity Dairy Tour

Georgia Trip

Happy Birthday Ellie

Fishing With Dad

Heath had been wanting to go fishing for quite a while, so this weekend he got his fishing licence and gear. He set a trot line on Stones River, which didn't produce any fish as a result of the high water level.

While Heath was running his trot line the kids just rolled around in the grass.

Ever since Heath mentioned fishing, Ellie and Thomas had been quite persistent about going with Dad. After Heath gathered up his trot line we headed to the lake for "fishing with our poles" as the kids called it.

Ellie and Thomas each caught three little fish and loved every minute! Thomas was hilarious; Heath would cast for him, tell him to watch his float and wait for it to go under. Meanwhile, Heath was helping Ellie, and Thomas would look around and say, "Me caught one!" and start reeling it in. By the time Heath cast the line out for Ellie and turned around to help Thomas again, he had his empty line in, look at Heath, shrug his shoulders and say, "No fish." So Heath would have to do it all over again.

Ellie thought it was great until she reeled one in and was terrified of it. She did warm up to the idea after a while and was cautiously touching each fish and even grabbing the worms for dad to bait the hook.

Daniel probably had more fun than any of us! He mainly just sat in the water throwing rocks, scaring away any chance for the kids. And when he wasn't doing that he was playing in the dirt and trying to get into the worms.

Thomas was very adamant about taking this little guy home. It was a very pretty copper nose blue gill. Needless to say it's still in the lake.

The proud father.

Summer...Here We Come!

Summer has come to Nashville and is here in all its splendor. HOT Days, chirping cicadas, humidity, beautiful sunshine, blossoms and green everywhere! Our pool opened a couple weeks ago and we have already made numerous trips. Every morning I'm asked if we can go swimming today. Those kids LOVE the water, but who can blame them. There are some activities I tolerate because I know the kids love them, but I'm always up for swimming!

We even got in some berry picking a few weeks ago when strawberries were on. We found a U-pick place not too far from our house, so we loaded up our buckets and belts and off we went. Ellie loved it and was an excellent berry picker. Thomas loved it for about 10 min then he was off playing in the dirt, chasing the chickens, and climbing on the tractor. Daniel dumped out every one's berries and kept getting stuck in the middle of the strawberry rows. If my "happy kid scale" can get a 2 out of 3 we are doing pretty good. But he did look cute in his overalls!

The strawberries were absolutely delicious - way better than anything you could find in the store. We picked over 2 gallons and ate fresh strawberries for weeks. I love the summer months, being outdoors and staying active. Can't wait for all the other summer fun ahead!

Daytona Beach

This year our vacation to visit the Smiths landed us in Daytona Beach, Florida. We have been looking forward to this trip with major excitement for months and it was honestly the best vacation!

We played in the sand nearly everyday. I think that was one of the kid's favorite things. Especially the boys, they dug and dug, buried each other, poured sand all over everyone and of course Daniel tried to eat as much as he could. Ellie and Thomas even got to fly their kites.

The weather was perfect. I don't think we could have asked for a better week.

One day we drove to Saint Augustine to check out the old fort that was there. It was pretty cool. It was amazing the things that they had, and how they existed at the time.

Thomas was fascinated with the cannons, and to everyone's surprise they actually shot a large cannon off the top of the fort. Thomas's response after all the smoke and the loud boom was, "Do it again!"

One morning all the boys went fishing. They charted out on the open seas with high hopes and they were not let down. I have to say I was surprised at their success. They caught sea bass, grouper, bonita, a sea turtle and other types of fish. I guess for them to catch four grouper was a big deal! That just doesn't happen. There was a lady there that also took pictures to send into the newspaper.

Don't they look happy. They all had a great time!

"before"...

"after"

The place they went fishing at was right next to this restaurant and the fishing guide cut up the fish on the dock and took it right into the kitchen to be prepared for our lunch. Now that's FRESH! It was delicious and certainly the best grouper I've ever eaten.

While the boys were fishing, the women and children went to a local chocolate factory. We took the tour at Angell & Phelps Chocolate Factory and enjoyed some yummy chocolate treats, including chocolate covered chips. They take Ruffles potato chips and cover them in milk chocolate. Yeah, I know it sound weird, but actually tasted pretty good.

We also spent one day at the 'happiest place on earth'...Disney World! We had a fantastic time and the kids were ecstatic. They were so excited to see Mickey and all the princesses. There were a few rides however that Ellie was not to happy to be on, namely Pirates of the Caribbean. All the time, of course, Thomas was loving it!

Ellie was elated that she was able to see Rapunzel, her FAVORITE princess. When we first arrived we watched a little show at the Castle with Mickey and Minnie and the princesses and their prince charming's all dancing around and singing about the 'Magic in your Heart' or something like that. The kids were transfixed - it was hillarious. They didn't move, talk or nearly blink for the entire length of the show...they were truly amazed!

We indulged in yummy Mickey-ears ice cream!

And rode rides to our hearts content. This was Ellie's favorite, Aladdin's Magic Carpet.

This was probably Thomas's favorite. He had been asking Heath about it for a while, so Heath bravely jumped in with Thomas in the driver's seat. He said it was quite the ride!

Mom and Dad graciously watched the kids for a while so Heath and I could ride some of the things we wanted to. We all had a blast and we were all amazed that we had no major melt downs or tantrums from the children. The vacation was wonderful and definitely what we all needed.