Some Recent Boating Pictures

These are some of my favorite boating pictures from the last 2 months....

4th of July, 2008

My Coppertone Baby, Toddles....

Keys Vacation, August 2008

"Hmmmm...wonder when we are done?"

"Returning to Quiet Water"

Labor Day, September, 2008

"3 Muskateers"

I love you all the way to the...

Since Kyle has started PreK-4 he has become fascinated with the moon, stars and planets. I am not sure why as I have not received anything from school that they are studying them. I think they must be though because Kyle knows the difference and knows the names of the different planets. He also understands that these other planets, the moon and the stars are a very long distance from us.

So, Kyle looks at me one day after picking him up from school and says..."mama, I love you all the way to the moon." I thought this was so sweet but as usual figured it was a one time thing since Kyle does manage to come up with new things everyday. However, the next night at bedtime when I go to give him a kiss goodnight he says the same thing. At this point Todd gets in the action and he says..."mama, I love you all the way to the sun." Very sweet.

Now, every night when I tuck the boys in I get..."mama, I love you all the way to the..." and then fill in the blank...either sun, moon, stars, the planets and/or an individual planet. The boys think this is just the best and funniest thing.

Swim-platform-gating

I got to do the coolest thing this past weekend. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Kevin and I got to participate (loosely) in the Vol Navy. This is such a cool thing (cannot even believe I am saying that about UT) that the Vols fans do. UT has a tradition where fans come down the Tennessee River by boat, tailgate (swim-platform-gate) and then walk to the stadium for the game. How totally awesome! Most of the UT boats even have flags...we did not go that far.

We started our adventure last Thursday when we flew into Nashville. Much cheaper and Kevin had customers to see in/around the Nashville area. He went for work (of course!) mostly and I tagged along so I could go to the UF/UT game. Kevin acutally has quite a few customers in Tennessee. You would not think so but there are a lot of boats made up there. Anyway, I was asking him if there was any way we could get a boat, possibly from a customer, and go down the Tennessee River to the stadium and tailgate on the boat. Of course my honey was able to make it happen. We went with some really great customers of his who took care of the whole boat thing. Kevin and I met up with the main person Friday and did the trip down the river or up the river, not sure which...direction is really not my thing...to a marina just down from the stadium. Saturday we met back up, took the boat closer to the stadium and tied off another boat. The boat we tied up next to was full of Gator fans. And, the mom on the boat totally saved us as she had cooked for like 20 guys (her son and his friends) and had tons of food which she was kind enough to share with us. Ribs...yummy!

Being a boater all my life I have never experienced anything like this. Boats would raft up (tie up to) each other in lines as long as 15/20 boats. Most impressive. I thought for sure people would be all snotty about their boats (they are here) but not so much. You end up walking across all the boats to get to shore and 99% of the people were really nice. We did have a couple that were a little snotty but whatever. I just love boaters.

Kyle Turns 5

September 3 was Kyle's birthday. He turned 5 years old and officially became a boy. No longer does he resemble a baby, toddler or even little boy. He is a boy. Tall, handsome, intelligent and mostly sweet. Kyle has an enormous capacity for love. He amazes me with how deeply and truly he loves the people in his life, from the most important to his mere acquaintances. The title of most favorite person is still Todd. Kyle will let Todd do, say or have anything with little to no complaint. In return, Todd adores and idolizes Kyle. I can only hope they remain so close as they get older. Even now Kyle still sleeps in the bottom bunk of their bunk beds because Todd is not allowed on top and Todd insists on having "my Kyle" each night.



I believe God gave me Kyle as a way to teach me the most important things in life. Kyle and I have not always had an easy road. He and Kevin get along much better, pals really. But I have learned and I still learn from Kyle each day. He is my biggest and most precious challenge in my life. I think in some way we get each other...it just takes us awhile of arguing to get there. When I say argue...I mean that literally. Kyle and I can argue about anything. For example, he was looking in the sky at night and said, "look mama, I see a star." I responded, "great, but that is not a star it is a planet." (Which in fact it was, he was looking at Venus) Of course Kyle responded with "no, star." I then responded "no, planet." And we go down from there.

I think really Kyle is here is teach me humility, when to back down, how to have a great capacity for love, do not worry about the small things and go for whatever you want no matter what. No matter what people think of you or might say about you. Kyle does not care one whit what people think of him...he is totally comfortable and confident with himself. This does tend to make him a teeney bit bossy (and overbearing)...but really, in my family would you expect any less from a first born?

I love that Kyle is confident, that he loves and cares so deeply, that he thinks of other people, that he understands and appreciates fairness, that he loves his family, that he adores his younger brother, that he has no fear when doing something, that he is so intelligent, that he is so silly and goofy, but most of all I love the person he is now and will hopefully be as he gets older.

I ask that God let me have the strength, patience and understanding to let Kyle continue to blossom without crushing his spirit under the weight of what society thinks he should do or how they think he should act.

We had two great parties for Kyle on his birthday. One was with his friends at Mike Greenwells. Yes, the same place we had Todd's. Kyle insisted on the go carts. I am telling you, I think this child just might be the next great NASCAR driver. He got to hang/play with his best bud from school Finn and Finn's sister Addie, along with the rest of the usual crowd. He had a total blast and loved every single minute. He thanked us as we left and told us many times he had a great day. Party number 2 was at Paige's house with just family. Pappi drove down and we all had dinner. Paige was kind enough to get him another cake. One thing about Kyle he LOVES chocolate. I mean really LOVES chocolate. I had to make his first birthday cake...chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (some strawberries in there too). Paige also got him a chocolate cake. Seriously...the child is a chocoholic and I have no idea where he gets it from. Kevin is straight vanilla all the way (just like Todd) and I like chocolate but not like that. So, lucky duck Kyle is he got two cakes and two parties. The only reason for this is because his birthday is always around or on Labor Day. We have to have his party early and we just cannot let his actual day go by without doing something. We actually did the same for Todd too. I just love birthdays and parties and celebrating. I am very thankful we are able to celebrate with our kids this way.

* One little side note...Kyle also got cupcakes to take to school for his birthday compliments of Auntie Paige. And, you guessed it, the cupcakes were all chocolate. I brought the cupcakes to school and got to watch him pass them out at lunchtime since I was there to eat with him. Very cute!

Kyle's 1st Day of K4

Kyle's first official day of K4 was August 13...he got to wear his uniform and carry his new portfolio. Poor Toddles wanted a uniform too, just like his big brother.

Kyle has been having a hard time adjusting to life in a real school setting. He is finally getting the hang of things and really liking school now. He seemed okay at first, doing well, getting greens at school. Then two weeks ago...oh man...he got sent to the principals office twice. Kevin and I finally had to get really tough on him and we took everything away from him. When I say everything, I mean everything. His books, movies, tv, toys, piggy bank, all his privileges and he has to do all his chores (even the extra ones) without earning any money. I think he is finally understanding. He got green at school all last week and we have not had one problem with him at home either. I think we have finally hit on some good parenting. He was getting such an attitude, being rude and disrespectful and generally an all around spoiled brat. He is slowly earning back his stuff and seems to be grateful for the things he has. Thank goodness. Each age seems to be more challenging than the next. I am sure glad I already dye my hair so I cannot see all the gray I am likely to get as Kyle gets older!