Boys in Boston

Eric has taken all the older kids with him on a business trip and it was now Peter's turn. Last week Eric went to Boston for one of his associations annual meetings, and he thought it would be a good trip to take Peter. It was Peter's first time to fly and he enjoyed his time with his dad. They were able to see a lot and it was a good trip for both of them.








Someone at the meeting gave Eric baseball tickets so he was able to take Peter to a game.

Baptism

Grace was finally baptized today!!

Our pastor's daughter, Ava, was also baptized so we had a double baptism.

My parents and sister were able to come and we were grateful for their presence with us on this special day. (Thanks for the outfit mom!)

Proud big sisters (and friends)!

Weekend Sports Update

Our sports are now in full swing. For various reasons Peter is not playing soccer this fall. He joined Amy, Katie and Molly on the home school cross country team. They compete in a region against small Christian and private schools. The first meet was this Saturday and included about 12 teams. Amy and Katie both run on the varsity girls team and their race distance is a 5K (3.1 miles). Amy ran well - she had trained hard over the summer and was able to take a minute off her best time from last year. She was second all around for varsity girls. Katie, who would rather do almost anything than run, ran well also. Peter did very well for his first time competing - he ran on the JV team which run a 2 mile race - and Molly did very well running on the juniors team - they run 1.5 miles. Amy and Katie refused to allow me to post pictures of them running, but I'll try to sneak some in at a later meet.



The home school league began a girl's volleyball team this year which Amy and Katie are both playing on. Let's just say they need a little more practice (unfortunately they are playing against well established teams). But at least they had fun - well I should say Katie did. Amy being the MUCH more competitive one says fun is NOT the word she would use.

Georgia Tech had its first loss of this season against Virginia Tech. As there are people in Kim's extended family whom are prone to gloat about this we just repeat what the announcer said "Georgia Tech won in every category except the scoreboard". Yes that is where it counts but just remember "Pride goes before destruction Prov. 16:18" At least we have academics to fall back on.

Vacation Part II

Thanks to my dad, we were able to go back down to the beach over Labor Day and the following Week. This time we were accompanied by friends as well as family. We had a great time.

It was amazing how much the ocean can change in a short time. When we were there early in the month it was smooth as glass. We were able to take the kayaks out on the ocean several times. This time it was so rough we didn't even get to go in a few days and there was no taking the kayaks on the ocean.

When we did go in the waves were great for riding. Elizabeth got a little help getting started:



A group did go kayaking in the marsh - they kayaked 7 miles. It was a little harder than some of them imagined. One said she was expecting to "meander" through the marsh looking at wildlife. It wasn't much of a meander with the high current and wind - it was hard paddling for the whole 4 hours! But some of them had fun!

It didn't work so well for Mr. A to have Peter in the front. Apparently what the group heard was "Peter paddle left, now right, now left, left, LEFT" Then he would splash Peter everytime Peter quit paddling (he told Peter it was a fish jumping between them). Anyway Peter switched out and took his own kayak for the last part of the trip.



The navigator (only because she and Katie were the only ones who had kayaked before): There were several complaints that Amy took off and left the others in the dust (or water so to speak). So by the time they caught up she took off again. So Amy got several breaks, but not so for the others.


My sister and I went kayaking on our own for a shorter time (as we both had babies to get back to). It was a nice time for both of us.








The kids enjoyed kite flying:


There was so much foam on the beach (very unusual) that it looked like snow. I guess it will be a homeschool assignment to learn what causes this.



We enjoyed several bike rides as a group (this one to the marsh):



Thanks dad!

Olivia

Olivia died Monday morning. Please keep her family - parents Norman and Nikki, older brother Norman and younger sister Kelsey - in your prayers as they go through this very difficult time.