HANDS ON LEARNING - LOWE'S STYLE

Usually, Home Depot and Lowe's are the "Dad and Kid" type trips. Mom is usually spared from these trips unless something is needed for our house in which I am needed to help make a decision about. This Lowe's trip was an exception. I have never brought the boys to a "Build It" workshop (ALONE) before. In all honesty, I was terrified!!! Two boys, hammers, nails, instructions, goggles . . . what was I thinking? As you can see, Cooper is ready for the task!!
The "make it take it" as the crafter in me likes to refer to it, was a fire truck. I must admit that I decided to take the boys to the workshop because it is educational, in a manly sort of way - and they had to read the instructions, so we can count that as reading aloud to mom, right? Ha! Just kidding! Carter is hard at work here, with his hammer and nails. I did my best to keep my OCD under control and let him hammer all the nails and place all the stickers. All I did was set the nails in place and he went with it. He did great!!
Alas, two completed projects. They received their aprons, patches and got to chat with real firemen and sit on a real fire truck. Lowe's is AWESOME! I know that you cannot tell it by the picture here, but the "cab" of Carter's fire truck is upside down. I insisted that the cab went one way and Carter (who read his directions) said to put it the other way . . . mom won the argument and was wrong. Go figure:) But, all in all, I got over my fear of doing "manly" work and I think both boys had a great day!

Do you want to go to a Lowe's "make it take it" or A Lowe's Build and Grow as they call it? Click here!

ART SCHMART!!

Carter and Cooper are studying Art and Art History at our homeschool co-op this year. One of the suggested activities for extra credit was to visit an art gallery. The suggested gallery was the S.P.A.C.E. gallery, here in Savannah. An artist named Erica Rollings was having a exhibition called, "Stained Glass: Beyond The Traditional". As you can tell, it was beautiful. There were a variety of works, ranging from game boards (a favorite of the boys) and parts of
the human body to Celtic designs and zodiac symbols.
This stained glass divider showcases the zodiac symbols. During this field trip, we found out about many of the programs that the City of Savannah offered here at the S.P.A.C.E. gallery. We were so impressed that we decided to take an art class through the city called Hands On Clay for Kids.

A work of art and a work of heart!

This is the group of children (all boys in such a breakable environment . . . whew) who went to visit the gallery. All of the boys are on the GCAT Swim Team together and attend co-op together. The lady in the picture is Ms. Tiffany, an artist herself, who has planned a great deal of the co-op art study. If you look behind the boys and Ms. Tiff, you will see the beautiful stained glass gameboards that all of the boys loved!!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2009

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2007

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2008

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2009

NEW ORLEANS 2

Tony and Cooper covered in powdered sugar after eating the world famous beignets at Cafe Du Monde. This was definitely a highlight of our trip. The beignets were INCREDIBLE!! However, if you tried to eat them wearing anything black, "May Gawd ha mercy on ya!".

Another famous landmark, The St. Charles Street Car. I have to admit, I really wanted the boys to ride this street car. First of all, it is famous. Second of all, they have never ridden in a street car. However, we all found this ride to be a pain in the butt!! It was fun and I am really glad we got the experience (especially for the boys), but I think we may choose to walk or pay for the ridiculously expensive parking on our next visit!!

Here we are at the Famous Door on Bourbon Street - yes, we took the boys to Bourbon Street. It was during the day and it was not at all as bad as I had envisioned. We were in New Orleans during Gay Mardi Gras and I had a whole speach prepared on how we have to overlook some of the bad things that we see, how we should just ignore anything that we know is not appropriate, etc. Though there were some racy pictures on one of the walls, we came out unscathed by the debauchery!! As a matter of fact, the worst thing we saw was on Canal Street, when we saw a man in nothing but a pair of high top reebok's and a speedo. I thought Carter was going to fall down on the street laughing . . . luckily, he waited until the man passed to cackle!!

Cooper . . . getting his New Orleans on!!

NEW ORLEANS 1

The New Orleans Superdome - it really is a site to behold. The boys were wondering why Tony and I were so amazed at the sight of it, so after our visit, we showed the boys pictures of the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that surrounded the Superdome. Then, we all began to be amazed that the places we had been in New Orleans were under water four years ago (almost to the day), from the day that we visited.
You can't come to Louisiana without having your picture made with a giant crawfish, right?
Ahhh, giant multi - colored jesters . . . truly New Orleans!!
I could not resist . . . I have been dreaming of going to Mardi Gras since before we even thought about children. We were so close (only 5 months away:)). As you all know, I love a good party and great revelry and I would LOVE Mardi Gras!! This is why you are looking at the sign . . . just a piece of what I covet!!

AUDUBON ZOO - NEW ORLEANS

Our day in New Orleans, at the Audubon Zoo started out pretty soggy, but we did not let it dampen our spirits! Spirits, you say . . .this zoo, in addition to being totally awesome, is the only zoo that I have ever been to that serves daiquiri's at several locations throughout the zoo and at all the eateries in the zoo!! Amazing!!
I digress, here is 3/4 of our family beginning our day at the zoo!!
Cooper was feeling VERY photogenic at the zoo. I, of course, indulged him at every turn. Here he is with the albino alligator. Too cool!!
Once again, our budding model wanted to have his picture taken. The Audubon Zoo has a Komodo Dragon on site (which eats small children like Cooper) and Cooper could not resist having his picture made with the Komodo statue. The boys both thought that seeing a Komodo Dragon was totally awesome, especially since we had watched an Animal Planet special about them a few months prior to our visit here.
Audubon Zoo . . . one of the best zoo's I have been to. It is beautifully shaded, has a variety of animals, is very clean and is just great all around!! The Audubon Institute in New Orleans also has an aquarium and an insectarium. I really hope to visit both of these on our next trip.

WORLD TRAVELERS??

Well, maybe not world travelers, but we sure did some traveling in September. We began in Pensacola Beach and you can see those pictures here. We traveled over 3,000 miles and spent around 30 hours in the car. Tony, Nikki, Carter, Cooper and Joyce (mother in law). Yes, the corny blog mom made everyone take their picture in front of the state signs. Hey, it was Carter and Cooper's first trip to these states, what can I say?
Finally, Louisiana!! Family, great food, good music, fantastic zoo, New Orleans, drive thru daiquiri places, what more could we have asked for? You can see all of our Louisiana pictures here.
This shot was actually on our way back through Alabama, on our way home. We had so much fun on our car trip. The boys were really well behaved; we played a lot of car bingo, watched a few movies, played a license plate game (we got about 1/2 or more of all of the states), played a little nintendo and did a little sightseeing. It was a truly memorable trip!!

HILTON HEAD FUN!!

One lazy summer afternoon, Tony had a great idea to take the boys to play Putt Putt on Hilton Head Island. He had heard that Legendary Golf had a great putt putt course, complete with sand traps, water hazards and the like and thought the boys would enjoy it. Boy, did they ever!!! Here, Tony is standing in "the rough" putting his shot!! How cool is that?

Carter, our resident Tiger Woods for the day, ended up having two HOLE IN ONE shots. Can you believe it? Here he is after his first hole in one on hole 6. Can you see the excitement?
HOLE IN ONE shot number two on hole 15. Again, can you see the excitement? Legendary Golf has "secret" holes where you can win a free game if you get a hole in one. After our game ended, we went in to ask what the "secret holes" were. They were on holes number 5 and 14 - yes, the holes before Carter's HOLE IN ONE SHOTS!! Too funny:)
Also, this course has a bible verse at each hole (added bonus). If you look to the right of Carter, you will see a passage from Romans!
Cooper totally enjoyed his day as well. No HOLE IN ONE shots, but several good shots. He was thrilled with that and so were we!!! After Legendary Golf, Tony took us to Cold Stone Creamery and, as you all know, that was Cooper's favorite part of the day!! What can I say, the boy loves food!!

SWIM TEAM AWARDS

Carter was really excited about his participation in the YMCA Swim Team this summer. He was also really excited about his cool coach, Coach Cooper - yeah, I know, what a name:) Anyway, Carter received his medal and was so excited about it!!
Do you see the way he is holding this medal? Priceless:)

SWIM TEAM 2009

This summer was Carter's first time competing with the swim team at our local YMCA. It has been a blast for him. This picture is Carter swimming in the backstroke in the 8 and under age bracket at a recent swim meet.
This is Carter swimming the backstroke at the Coastal YMCA Championship Swim Meet. He has really worked hard on his swimming this summer. The swim team practiced every day (Monday through Thursday) and had a swim meet every Saturday during June and July. It was a hard schedule, but really paid off for Carter and his team. Our branch of the Coastal YMCA won the first place trophy for the summer swim meets. It was a really great feeling for the kids as well as the parents:)
Here Carter is swimming the breaststroke in the Coastal YMCA Championship Swim Meet. Not only did the hard practice schedule pay off in winning first place, it paid off in all of the children really learning to swim better. Carter has improved in his butterfly, breast, back and freestyle strokes. He has gained a great confidence in swimming and it is something that he really excels in. He has earned many ribbons, including several first and second place ribbons.
Carter's swim coach, Coach Cooper, promised the swim team that if they won first place at the Championship Swim Meet, the entire team could push him into the pool. As you can tell, they won. Carter is on the right of Coach Cooper - the look on his face is priceless. Carter talked about the possibility of pushing his coach into the pool during the entire week before the last meet. It was a great moment for him when he finally got to push the coach into the pool!!!

HILTON HEAD ISLAND:)

O.k., so I have been out of the blogging loop for many months now. Summer has just been too much fun. I am now back into school mode (even though we don't begin school for a few more weeks), so I am going to try and begin updating the blog weekly again:) We have been many places over the summer and I was so excited about blogging about them, but alas, Carter deleted ALL of the pics on my camera. In a way, it is a blessing and a curse. A blessing as I am not behind in posting pictures, because I have no recent pics. A curse because I have no recent pics:( Anyway, I have been snapping away and here are some recents:) This pic is Tony and the boys at Hilton Head Island!!!

We have spent many weekends at Hilton Head this summer and it has been great!!! The boys are really doing great on their boogie boards. This picture is of Cooper "catching a ride"!!!
Carter has also really gotten good at his boogie boarding. He has spent countless hours at Hilton Head and at Tybee Island riding in and out on some "choice waves":)
Cooper and Tony are true sand builders at the beach. They really love building and creating. They have built everything from castles to turtles to our new dog, Otis, in the sand. And yes, for those of you asking, I build a little, but mostly spend time working on my tan:) What . . . can't mom get a break, too?