Friday Night Football Returns

Well, it is that time of the year again! HOT, SWEATY August high school football season! Jeepers man, it was so hot last night in the stands. But the game was great - except for the end. Our team lost. It was very sad. We played the County School here in town so it is always a huge rivalry each year. THS played an awesome game and had every opportunity to win but didn't. TCCHS scored at the very end off an interception. So, yes, that was heartbreaking. Once I looked past all the dejected and griping adults in the stands down at the kids on the sideline, I really felt sad. They were riped up about it and it was painfully obvious.

So here are a few pictures. We saw our neighbor and one of Lane's favorite "big kids" Emily.

He adores her. I am so glad too. Emily is about to be the perfect babysitting age. And did I mention she lives right next door?? .....sweet.....

OK, getting ahead of myself.

Lane and Daddy right before we walked in the stadium.

The mascot dog. I know there is a joke I could insert here about "dawgs" and legs but.....I suppose I will keep that one under my lid.

The players entering the field. I guess we have a tradition of our own. We never go sit down until after the players have ran onto the field. Bug loves to stand here by the dog statue that all the players pet before walking on the field and he yells "Good Luck" to them as they run by. It is something we always do and I suppose will continue as long as he wants. He used to actually yell "Good Uck" in previous years! hee hee

And this is Bug with his friend Gracie. Ignoring the really dark and grainy picture you can see TWO HUGE SMILES. They have seats right next to us so he has seen Gracie since he was born. She just turned 4 and Bug will be 3 in November so there is a bit of an age difference. They never took a large interest in one another before last night. But I would say they most certainly made up for lost time! They played and had a wonderful time together. And that made the night a lot easier for us and Gracie's Mom and Dad too. Did I mention that Gracie's Mom and I are good friends too? Yep - we play Bunco together so we see each other at least once a month.

So that was our first of many nights for high school football games. Next week will be interesting! THS plays my old high school CCHS! We are planning to drive to Mo-town for that one. Guess I will have to bust out some of my old black and gold for this game.

I'm BAAAAACCCKKKK

Sorry to be MIA again. It seems be a trend this Summer. So anyway, not much to tell of late.

Bug has developed a really bad habit of getting out of the bed about 20-25 times each night before staying in it and falling asleep. No joke - it is about 45 minutes of constant warfare to get his booty in the bed for good. Of course, first thoughts are bungee cords or duck tape but you know, DFACS frowns upon such as that......so I think we found the solution. Tear up our season football tickets. That's right. I told him if he didn't stay in the bed; we wouldn't go to the football game Friday night. It seemed to sink in pretty good. He only got up one time and he was quick to announce to Monty that he wanted more milk in his cup and wanted to still go to the football game. I hope this works. It is really just a bad habit that he has developed over the last few weeks so maybe this will nip it.

Tropical Storm Fay thoughts....well, I had to eat some words on that one. I think my line was "Oh these weather folks are just dying to talk about something because we have had such a dry spell. They are blowing this WAY OUT of proportion." OK, so maybe they didn't. It seemed logical. I certainly didn't think we would get 18 inches of rain over the weekend. Yeah, the weekend I went to Panama City Beach with some girlfriends. Poor Monty and Lane....they braved it all their own. And they did a great job. I think it got pretty hairy when Bug locked Monty out of this car Saturday night and Monty had to stand in the driving rain for about 10-15 minutes to get him to unlock it. I think Monty gave him a good 'ole "Benadryl Cocktail" when they got home. Can't say I blame him. I would have done the same thing.

Hmmm....in re-reading my post I have mentioned duck taping/bungee tying my child down to his bed and administering sleep aid medication. I think that is enough for one post. Let me sign off before someone calls DFACS on me.

Monday is OVER!

Y'all, I know I am a complete Drama Queen. In fact, one of my best friends ever has referred to me as such since she has known me. But let me tell you, yesterday was one of those days where you just want to find a fast moving bus.....and step in front of it. You know what I mean. We have all been there right?? Come on - don't be one of those folks who are always so stinking happy and perky! Man, no one believes all that anyway. Just shake your head agree, ok.
So the day started out running behind with taking LaneBug to daycare. Somehow I managed to walk into work before the 01 hit behind the 8 AM. Then I dove head first into the work I left at about noon on Saturday when I worked. My head was hurting but I didn't stop to take any medicine. Then it is almost 1:30 and I realize I haven't eaten. Of course, I had drank 2 Diet Cokes (can you say a-d-d-i-c-t-i-o-n) and put nothing on my stomach to soak up all of that caffeine. And by the way, my head was hurting much worse at this point. But still didn't take the time to grab some Advil or Motrin. So I nabbed a bag of peanut M&Ms out of the machine at work and munched those down while sipping on my 3rd Diet Coke. Yeah, great idea DK, throw another caffeinated drink and some sugar on a raging headache - GOOD ONE! So fast forward through all the work stuff (yucky) and I wind up logging off to leave at 6:00. Poor Monty, I had to call him in the field and ask him to not work late because I needed to. So, I get in the truck to leave and I have that cold sweaty thing working for me. Yeah, not looking good whereas my head is thumping like crazy. I had to just sit in the truck with the ice cold air blowing on me with my eyes closed for about 10 minutes before I could drive. I ran to CVS and grabbed some medicine and came home. Luckily my boys were outside playing. I warmed up leftovers for Lane (Monty had to grab his own) and sat with my eyes shut for almost an hour and asked everyone to talk really soft. It eased off good enough to tolerate my eyes being open again and I made it through to bedtime. Of course, Bug didn't want to get in his bed and stay in bed...ugh! But finally we all went to bed.
This morning, my head is still hurting and it is sore from last night too. But I have already taken some Advil and will follow up with more later. And I plan to EAT today too. Hopefully, I will grab some water instead of all the Diet Coke and avoid all that mess again tonight. I haven't had a full blown migraine since July 2003. Man, that was nasty!! I still remember Monty driving home from Bainbridge with me hanging out the window crying and puking. Obviously last night was not that bad but it was the closest I have been to it in a long time. I am not a migraine expert so if I ain't puking and can have my eyes open, then it is a really bad headache and not a migraine to me.
Well, enough whining huh? Today is going to be great!!!
Tah-tah!!

Random Thoughts

Yeah, I know. It is a scary title coming from me. I am aware! Monty left town yesterday for a "big boy's weekend" so Lane and I have stirred up trouble since then. LaneBug immediately noticed the boat was gone last night when we got home - LOL. He demanded to know where it was when I tried skirting the question. He wasn't too happy to know it was in the water at the "big boy's weekend" but loosened up a bit when I explained we would be boating on Sunday afternoon. He has whimpered and cried for Monty a few times. Keep in mind it was either nighttime or I was spanking him.....go figure! He always wants his Daddy at night. He will literally tell me to "get out" of his bed. Jeez...that's a great feeling - NOT!
So we went to eat at Mr. Chick tonight with our good friend Ms. Jessica before heading down to Tally town to do a little shopping. I almost choked on my food from laughing though. We were sitting there eating and Jess was chatting away. I picked up the squeeze ketchup to give Bug some more "dip dip" and it made...well, you know....it was squeeze ketchup so it made a funny sound. Without skipping a beat, LaneBug said "Excuse me" and kept right on eating. Jess & I just howled. I guess all the good manners we are teaching are starting to kick in. Oh well, if you aren't laughing, then I guess you had to be there because I still get tickled when I think about it.
Speaking of eating, Lane is FINALLY up to almost the 40th percentile in weight. For those of you spend ample time with me, you know I stress on this daily. The fact that he will be 3 in November and a size 18 month swim suit fits his waist perfectly does tend to make me obsess. His height is still good - bumping around 75-80 percentile. He ate a huge dinner on Friday night (for his standards) 4 Chick-fil-a nuggets, the fries that came with the kids meal AND a small fruit cup. I was amazed. He never eats that much at a sitting. Of course, I once worried about all the fried chicken he eats but then thought about all the Cheerios he scarfs down and decided his cholesterol was most likely even-steven between the two factors.
So anyway, I guess I will go to bed. I have been sleeping like crap-o-la all week. Hope it is just because of this stinking full moon and will pass in the next day or so.

Silver Springs

Final post for our weekend trip - we stopped at Silver Springs for a few hours. Monty and I went here for our Honeymoon also. We knew we were all tired but we wanted to stop and share it with Lane anyway. Recipe for meltdown.......

Here are some pictures. We did have a major meltdown before we left but that's okay I suppose. It was very hot and we were all tired.

So here are the pix.

The entrance. The glass bottom boat ride (Bug called it a "water bus") Bug taking a picture holding his giraffe in front of the real giraffes. (Look familiar Shirley?)

Not sure why, but Bug waved at the lady operating the Carousel every time instead of Daddy.

Bernard the talking tree.Emu....if I had a dime for every time I was asked about these flightless birds at work....MAN!!!

Can't remember much about this cow. Poor thing! BTW JJ, this is how I felt after lunch the other day!!! hee hee

Me feeding a giraffe a cracker.

Another spin on the Carousel.This is cute - Lane's Aunt Regina gave him a Cheeky Charlie stuffed monkey JUST LIKE this one the day he was born. Cheeky has logged some miles over the last 2 1/2 years. Lane was amazed to see one in the gift shop there. Cheeky was not with us (Giraffe came this time) so he wanted me to take a picture so he could show Cheeky. Isn't that cute???

So that's wrap guys. Have a great evening. C-ya!

Mid-week

Ahhh....and tomorrow is Thursday and the next day is FRIDAY. Good grief! I can hardly wait. Why is it that some days you have 0% productivity level? I can't understand the phenomenon but I do know it exists. I admit....part of the day, I didn't want/care if I got anything accomplished. Then when I did become concerned (just a smidgen), all I did was run in circles. But alas, tomorrow is a new day and I am certain I will hit the ground running and pump on all cylinders. I think part of the problem are the Olympics. I am staying up later these evenings than I normally do.
Anyway, off to Wednesday night activities at church. I have a fingerpaint activity for the class tonight. Need I remind you I teach 2 year olds......and it is raining.......pray for me.

Florida Jam details

So, leaving off from G'ville post, we hopped back in the Yukon and zipped on down to Land O' Lakes to see all our Moomba friends. After one gi-normous melt down at a restaurant (good grief, I thought someone would have called the cops), we went to Laurie's house to see everyone. They have a pool so the kids were having a great time. My nerves were shot out pretty good because Bug only knows one speed - wide open - even though he is sprinting on slippery pool decking. LaneBug and Tanner loved petting the dogs too. God bless those doggies,they were so patient with 2 two year olds.

We got to bed around 11:00 and then up at 7:45 - ready to hit the water. The weather was a bit tempermental during the AM hours. You can see the clouds here. But we didn't let it dampen our spirits too much. At lunch, the clouds disappeared and gave way to a gorgeous Florida afternoon.

And right after lunch was RAFFLE time! See all the boards they had to give away??? Man, everyone was itching to get through the raffle to see who would take home those beauties.

We didn't come home with one of those (and that is okay, Monty just bought a new one) but we did come home with this little jewel - a new pad for our swim platform!! This saved us about $300 because we needed a new one! And here is LaneBug, patiently waiting for his raffle ticket number 3100003 to be called.

Well, it didn't get called. So when Dave finished the raffle and I went up immediately and whispered to him that I didn't care what he gave Lane - a boat brochure would be just fine - he just needed to call out his raffle ticket number so he could come up and get a "prize". Well Dave obliged. Lane got a beach ball (he loved it) and he also got this poster to hang up in his room. I looked at Dave like he was crazy. All he did was laugh and say that Lane would keep it A LOT longer than he would the beach ball......I would tend to agree.....

Next was the Big Air contest. I guess I was too busy watching these teenager kids do those amazing tricks that I completely forgot to snap pictures. Man, they were really good. Our great friends Ed & Tammy (see pic below) let us pile up on their boat and they did some surfing.

Monty enjoyed surfing behind Ed's Moomba whereas he was 1400 pounds of water in "fat sacks" to produce a really awesome wake! I wish I had taken a picture of the wake itself. Good grief - it was massive.Then we went and participated in the "float-zilla" where all the boats anchored down and tied upt together for one big floating party. We came in kind of late some many boats had disbanded at this point.

Here is LaneBug "swimming". And that about wraps up our day. I will certainly miss all our Moomba friends and look forward to seeing them next year!

Ah, Football is ALMOST here

Hey Y'all,

We are back safe and sound! Whew, traveling is fun - fun to leave and fun to get back home too. Gee, we have so much to tell about our trip. I guess it is fair to start at the beginning and what I personally enjoyed SO MUCH - our stop in GAINESVILLE! Wow - this was my first time going to the stadium with it empty. Needless to say it is much different than when 90,000+ fans (no exaggeration, that is capacity and most games are sold out and there are plenty without tickets in the parking lot tailgating). Monty and I had differing opinions. I thought the stadium looked smaller without it filled with people and he said it looked bigger. Either way, it was good to be there and although the smell of bleach was strong - they were cleaning the concrete and the seats (you can tell it in the pictures whereas parts are clean and others are not) we sure did enjoy our visit. Also, it was odd to see the field "naked". The goal posts were not in and the lines were not drawn in either. Bug just chattered on and on about football players, helmets and tackles. Unfortunately, he is very much into tackling right now. And running the risk of sounding like a complete wimp I will state that it usually hurts. Bug has watched enough football games and DVD highlights to know the correct way of tackling and the incorrect way to tackle. So therefore, he latches onto your shoulders like grim death and doesn't budge until you are fully laid out on the floor. Of course, with the our height differences I am "standing" on my knees and not able to break my fall backwards too well. So, yeah, it hurts. I am kind of dreading flag football now. I think he will be ejected for tackling. So anyway, we walked all through the stadium and then went into the office where the coaches are located. The foyer has all the trophies and flat screens showing highlights. You can navigate which years and games you want to watch. It was funny to stand there with complete strangers and watch the footage and celebrate all over again on the outstanding plays and wins. Of course Lane would remark in his timid voice (note sarcasm here) "OOHH that hurt", "Oh man, fumble", "TOUCHDOWN". My Dad was so impressed - a few months ago we were out at the farm and Lane would "stop play" when he dropped the ball. He told my Dad it was a fumble. The look on my Daddy's face was priceless. He was amazed he knew so many of the rules on the game.

So, here are some pictures. Enjoy!

The boys were excited....they were traveling at a good pace!

Here is the view when we stepped in! (Florida Field originally was built below ground level so when you enter there is seating halfway below you and above you)

My handsome boys - please bear with the crack smoking camera woman - the picture is whoop sided.

Bug standing at the field looking over the wall. He wouldn't let me hold him so he could see over it better.

Still don't know why Bug didn't sprint across the grass and cause us to be detained. But whatever the reason, I am thankful. He posed by the gate and we moved along without any problems.

My baby boy standing in the tunnel where the players run out at the home games. This gave me chill bumps (corny, yes I realize) but it was unreal to think about all the players and coaches who had stood right where we were. Of course, Monty says this is the picture ESPN will show as they run stories on LaneBug before one of his games at UF.....time will tell.

The view as you are standing at the tunnel. Pretty cool, huh? I thought so.

I tell ya, Bug was nervous at first. He wouldn't completely turn his back to the gator for the picture. It was really cute.

I guess maybe because this gator was smaller he wasn't as concerned? Not sure but he wasn't nervous at all to pose with this one.

BTW, the Florida Jam was completely awesome. I won one of the big prizes. And it was something we were going to buy this winter - so it was perfect! Also, Bug and Daddy made out with some cool stuff. What until you see Lane's......trust me, he will keep this one for years!!

I'll post that tomorrow!

Night-night!