We have been quiet busy learning and playing the last couple of weeks, and I realized the other day I've not posted on here. Piano is going really well for both kids. Alex has really latched on to it and can find and hold his rhythm very well. Boy Scouts is going very well and he getting ready for yet another camping trip. Both kids are doing very well in karate. Last night Alex got to spar with some of the other students who are higher ranked and he won a couple of matches. Sensai (the name for the karate teacher) was so pleased he told him he was ready to spar, so we ordered his sparring gear. He is on cloud nine about that one!

See this tired looking little girl? We spent the day in Tuscaloosa at CHOM and the park. In this picture she is playing the part of the doctor and I'm playing the part of the very difficult patient. She is really losing patience with me and a couple of other moms who are demanding they wait on us NOW! We had a lot of fun. CHOM is one of Bri's favorite places to go. They have Grandmother's Attic which is full of dress-up clothes, a Japanese house complete with kimonos and shoes, a bank, a soda fountain, a hospital, a school room, a barber shop and shoe shine area and a few other areas, but these are Bri's favorite hangouts. She can spend hours playing and pretending in here. We had our American Girl meeting for September here and had lunch by the river. It was a really fun day. In the soda shop they had prices of coffee, sandwiches, etc., back in the 50's I think. They were really surprised at how cheap things were. They could actually afford to buy our meal there, if only the food were real.
We went on our first Outdoor Adventure Group meeting on September 11 at Turkey Creek. The picture below is an encampment of the Union soldier. This man is a re-enacter and historian. He was so interesting. We learned so much about the state of Alabama during the Civil War. We also learned quite a bit about Turkey Creek, Blount County, Trussville, Winston, and Walker County. One thing we learned was that the state of Alabama actually did not want to succeed from the Union, but the rich people did and so the state did. The war was a rich man's war and a poor man's fight. Most rich people never fought in the war, but the poor did. Those who had slaves stayed home and were in the home guard. Trussville is actually named after John Truss who was over the home guard. I could go on and on, it was so interesting. The best part of the whole thing, at least for me, was when he fired his Union rifle and Alex, who was not paying attention, very nearly jumped out of his skin. In all honesty he had been listening, but I handed him a bullet that was being passed around that was used in the Civil War and he was busy studying it.

After the history lesson we had a picnic and then went swimming. This is all of the kids getting ready to slide down the natural rock slide. It looked like it was a lot of fun, and I hear it was. I wanted to go down it, but after watching them hit the same rock every time I was too afraid it would cause my back to hurt. Little did I know it would start hurting the next day and get progressively worse so that by Sunday I could hardly get out of the bed.

Check out Bri, she got brave and went down the slide by herself since her wimpy mom wouldn't. She and Alex had a great time. If you go, wear socks though. These rocks are slick as snot and not even beach shoes give you traction, but the socks help. Both kids fell down at least once, so I just sat on the side with my feet in the water. Like I said I did not want to set my back off, yet it flared up any way.

On Friday the 12th we went to an Ice Cream Social. It was a lot of fun. We saw a lot of people we had not seen in awhile, and met a lot of new people too. This was organized for the teens to get together and just hangout, since that is the most favorite thing for teens. Of course ice cream is always cool too. They played tennis on the tennis courts. After they finished the grown-up game of tennis they reverted to childhood games, it was truly funny. They played duck, duck, goose, red rover, red rover, kickball, and played at frisbee. This picture below is some sort of new game, not sure what it is, but you are not allowed to put your leg down beyond that I don't know the rules. I'm just the taxi driver and photographer after all, unless I'm being the bank.

Okay in case you forgot, we also had a very important birthday come up this week! Alex turned 16! He had lunch with Granny the day before his birthday and she gave him a couple of really cool Alabama pictures. One she and Poppy got at Gulf Shores of Bryant Denny Stadium, and one of Coach Saban. I tried to get a picture, but I could not get Alex to cooperate. He really hates having his picture taken so most pictures are taken while he is not paying attention. I'll work on it though. I will tell you this, the Saban picture was hung up immediately and the other picture was put in just the right spot too. He is not planning on getting his license just yet though. Not because he doesn't want too, but because he has not completed some much needed requirements yet. He has to finish driver's ed first, and we have a defensive driving course in the works for him, as well as a DUI driving course. Eddie talked to him about how things have changed since we were young and how people drive more distracted today than ever. So we want to try and help him face the situations he may face as much as possible, plus let him get a little more maturity under his belt. Anyway, for his birthday he wanted to go for pizza after his lab class and then go to a movie with his friends, and his girlfriend met us at the movies. He also got a surprise last Friday night with tickets to the Alabama/West Ky game, that was his big gift. Eddie and Alex went to the game and had great seats on the 30 yard line or so and about 15 rows back. They had a lot of fun. Alex and Eddie were standing in the right place at the right time when the team ran by them with Coach Saban, he was almost close enough to touch, of course I'm sure the security around him would have stopped that. His hat in this picture was a souvenir from the game.

Checkout this really cool water pad! This is at the new Celebrations Park in Gardendale. We went there today for lunch and to play in the recently opened water pad. It is really nice! I could not get any closer without getting me and the camera wet, but Bri is in the pigtails behind the water gun. We saw a lot of friends there we were really not expecting to see. So it turned into a really fun play time for Bri. We stopped by this park on our way back home from a field trip to the Aldridge Gardens. It was a beautiful day to spend outside in the gardens and the park today and I think both kids really enjoyed the slowed down pace of the day.

Well that is a synopsis of what has been going on in our lives lately. Of course the garden is still putting out so I'm pretty busy still with that. The muscadines have started ripening so I looked up making some jelly and will most likely work on that this weekend. Eddie wants to do some shopping for some camping supplies that the kids and I will need in a few weeks. Oh, I did forget about the art classes Bri started this week with the wonderfully talented Ms. Melissa. She had so much fun and can hardly wait to go back next week. Ms. Melissa and her husband have been very blessed, that and her husband owns a real estate company and is in construction. They built a subdivision years ago around the house they built for themselves. The house, no joke, takes up the entire end of the street. When we drove up Bri looked stunned and called it a "ginormous house". Anyway, Bri learned about drawing straight lines and ovals, it sounded a lot like her Art Appreciation class she took the week before.

If I can get my pictures together I may go scrapbooking with friends tomorrow night. It is technically my night out, but I'm really not prepared to scrap this week so I'll see. A friend of mine has started a scrapbook night at her church once a month and I really want to get into the habit of going so I can get my pictures caught up.

I have so many more things to share, but I think I've already written a book. I'll share more later with you all. One thing you may be asking, I know mom did, is how do the kids have school with all the activity. I would like to share how school work goes around here and we manage to do all we do, but I'll save it for another post. Maybe this weekend I can share that with all of you.

I hope all is well for each of you and look forward to hearing from you soon!