He Now Wants To Be A Policeman

As we drive around town, Ben is very concerned about our speed. 

 

He monitors my speed and often compares what he considers my car's "lack of speed" to Thomas's car's "super-fast speed." One day last week while driving on the interstate, we were talking about speeding tickets.  Ben wanted to know (1) how many speeding tickets I've gotten in my life (2 or 3 - I can't recall but only 1 since I went to college), (2) how many speeding tickets Dad has gotten (I think too many to count) and (3) if you go to jail when you get a speeding ticket.  We then saw a policeman pull out just in front of us on interstate, and were sure he was going to stop someone just ahead of us for going too fast.

Ben then asked me, "Mom, do policemen get speeding tickets?"  I told him that I didn't think they did while they were driving a police car.  Ben immediately replied,"Then I want to be a policeman!

Bedroom Switcheroo

Most of my summer blogging was spent keeping up with our comings and goings; I rarely had time to share much else.  Now I find myself trying to catch up on the rest of life!

Before Eleanor left for camp in June, she and Ben agreed to switch bedrooms.  As Eleanor enters her tween years, we felt that it was important for her to have her own bathroom and not have to share with Hayes any more.  She and Ben were very eager for the change, and we promised E we would have it complete by the time she got home from camp.  We kept our promise. 

What was once Eleanor's room, 

is now Ben's room though we need to work on a new paint color and window treatment.  I might even get bold and paint his bed and/or his dresser.   

 

 Ben's old room

 

suddenly became much more cluttered with all of Eleanor's "stuff".

Both rooms still need finishing touches, but those will have to wait until the fall before I have the time (and energy) to think about it. 

Ben's RV

This past week with all of our Dixie-monitoring here at home, Ben spent a lot of time coloring.  One afternoon, he came down with this drawing and started to explain it to me.  I was so enraptured that I decided to label it to show how everything had a purpose.  Here is Ben's RV . . .

Crabbing on Edisto

(Meanwhile, back to Edisto . . . )

Cousins Casey and Drew joined Thomas in taking some of the boys crabbing one morning on the island at high tide.  The locals had told them of a decent crabbing spot about six miles off the island, and the men decided to check it out.  Once the adults had the traps rigged with some chicken legs, it was a waiting game for the boys

 

until it was time for them to check the traps.  At first it was slow going as both Thomas and Casey needed heavier weights to keep their traps on the bottom of the water through the strong tide.  Once they made that adjustment, they began to reap the rewards.  Both boys "caught" crabs in their traps.

 

 

In the end, the group caught nine crabs,

just enough for Thomas to meet his goal, as all he wanted was some crab for dinner that night!  So he, Papa and Ben cleaned the crabs that afternoon on the porch,

 

and Thomas then made some delicious crab cakes for our big family pot luck dinner that night.   

E's First Day at Westminster

In the midst of trying to figure out the life of a new puppy, Eleanor began fifth grade at Westminster on Thursday.  Here E is the morning after I came in to sleep with her after Dixie barked from 1:30am - 2:30am!

 

 

She was very nervous about moving to a new school, but we tried our best to reassure her that she belonged there and would love it once she had time to get settled.  As we did with Hayes, Thomas and I both had "first day" pictures taken with her

 

 

before she and T had to head to carpool. 

I picked her up after school, and she reported that her day was great.  In the classroom, the kids were allowed to pick where they sat so she and the two other girls from Morris Brandon all sat together.  Then, her two good friends who already go to Westminster made a point of introducing Eleanor to some of their friends, which pleased her. 

I can't wait to see what this year has in store for Eleanor!

Miss Dixie

I have been remiss in not introducing a new member of our family . . . probably because I've been sleep-deprived due to a young one in the house! A week ago, Thomas, Ben and I drove up to Camp Greystone to meet and pick-up Dixie, our new golden retriever.  (Hayes was in school, and Eleanor was in California with Grandmommy and Granddaddy.)

 

Dixie and five other golden retriever puppies (three were her siblings) had spent the summer as part of the Dog Camp class the camp offers.  In this class, the campers learn how to care for a puppy.  They walk the dogs, bathe them, play with them and feed them.  At the end of the summer, though, the puppies need homes.  When I was looking through the camp pictures each night searching for Eleanor's smiling face, I also often came across photos of the sweet puppies, and I was enamored.  I emailed the camp to see if the dogs were adoptable and learned that they were, but that the formal "waitlist" opened up back in February!  Kelly Carew, one of the camp leaders, asked for details in an email, on how our family lifestyle would include that of a dog.  Then, we were told we would hear back from her in mid-July when Kelly would start assigning the puppies to families.

The weekend of both boys' birthday parties was also the same weekend we lost Baxter last summer.  Wouldn't you know that Kelly emailed me that same weekend to tell me that we were getting Dixie! That timing was a sign to me that Dixie was meant to be with us.  So, we found ourselves heading back up to Camp Greystone on the last day of summer camp, August 9th, to bring Dixie home with us.

I had forgotten how time consuming it was to take care of puppy.  This week, I've been watching her like a hawk to keep her from having accidents inside the house.  We've had to introduce her to every sound and noise you can imagine - from the sound of the dishwasher door opening to that of airplanes approaching the Atlanta airport (usually late at night as we are trying to get her to bed).   Over the first day or two last weekend, she was scared of EVERYTHING and always wanted to be close enough to touch one of us.  Her first day in our house she hung out in this corner.

At night, she's like a newborn.  We strive to tire her out before we put her in her crate for the night.  We even slept a night or two with the kids upstairs because her crying in the middle of the night was too loud.  We've determined we need white noise in our room to sleep through any commotion she makes in the middle of the night!

Overall, she's a precious puppy who loves being around the kids and follows me everywhere I go.  She's a wonderful addition to our family, and we look forward to having her around for the next decade or more!

Fun with Chalk at the Beach

Wise Aunt Brandi brought some chalk to the beach.  One morning after breakfast, the kids decided that they wanted to make a chalk city, like they had created earlier in the summer back at home in Atlanta (before the afternoon rain washed it all away).  The kids and Brandi started drawing and couldn't stop! 

 

We have Hayes Circle . . .

Ben's version of an aquarium . . .

Parrish Hill Farm on Roach Highway . . .

a "neighborhood" . . . 

 the city's very own Chick-Fil-A . . .

and an entire web of familiar street and landmarks. 

We had so little rain all week that by checkout time on Sunday, we were worried about what the next week's renters would think about all of the driveway "art"! 

Thanks Aunt Brandi for sharing your chalk and keeping the kids busy for an hour or two!

Seining on Edisto

(Back to our week on Edisto . . .)
We arrived on Edisto on Monday night after getting home from our Chicago trip late Sunday afternoon.  First thing Tuesday morning, Uncle Harry had a seining expedition he was leading just a few houses down from our rental at the southern tip of the island.  The kids spent some time exploring the area and were eager to get into the water

 

while they waited for the first net to come in.   

 

I've always been a fan of the seining experience because the kids can see much of the sea life living in the water after just one run with the nets.  For example, the seiners would catch shrimp, too-small-too-keep blue crabs, numerous horseshoe crabs, jelly fish and tons of little fish that the kids were all tasked with throwing back into the water.

 

 At first, Hayes appeared like he did not want to get near the net and its catch

but his curiosity eventually got the best of him!

 

Cousin Chet let each of the kids hold a cannonball jellyfish

 

whose toxins are too weak to harm humans. 

While the adults were busy catching up and seining, Eleanor spent much of her time walking around with her cousins.  She quickly developed the nickname "The Pied Piper" as the younger cousins followed her every step. 

Ben and Baylor spent a lot of time manning the cooler.  I can only imagine the conversation these two were having! 

 

Though we didn't come home with any of the catch (I think Uncle Harry kept about 40 shrimp), the adventure turned out to be a great chance to see much of the family while also learning a little about the animals and water of the island. 

Hayes's 1st Day of 2nd Grade

My end-of-July/early August blog timing does not correlate to the real-time order of things, and I apologize . . . I find myself still trying to catch up on summer even though school has started.  What, you ask?  You can't really mean that school has begun this early in August, can you?  Yes, Reader, yes I can.

Hayes was the first child in our house to start school as he started back last Wednesday, August 7.  It was very strange taking pictures of just him on the first day since he's always had Eleanor by his side for each first day.  Since Hayes has moved to the main campus this year for second grade, we can walk to school and he asked to do just that on the first day. 

We took the obligatory first-day pictures

 

(and one of his backside at his request),

 

and hugged one last time

 

 

before we joined most of the kids on the street in walking to school. 

After the school day, the bus brought Hayes home (see him stepping off the bus)

 and we all congregated in the Djuric's front yard for some yummy first-day-of-school treats (Despicable Me minion cookies).  

 

Thank you, Djurics!

Hayes loved his first day as some of his favorite friends are in his class and his teacher is "super" nice.  Should be a great year!

Hayes's Sensitive Heart

Over the last few years, Hayes

 

has begun to exhibit compassion for those who are less fortunate.  It started a few years ago when he won the bowl pool and donated 1/3 of his winnings to City of Refuge.  His sensitive and caring heart reached new levels in Chicago.  During our trip, Hayes noticed, inquired about and then ultimately began supporting many of the cities homeless people who we walked by on the streets.  Each time we walked by a homeless person Hayes gave them $1 and was rewarded with a "God Bless You" nearly every time.  On our last night in the city, his compassion reached new heights as we were walking to a steakhouse for dinner.  On this walk, we walked by a homeless dad and his 7 year old kid and I could tell Hayes was confused how a kid could be homeless.  He was clearly shaken.  All day, Hayes was excited about his first Chicago steakhouse meal.  This restaurant had a kid's filet on the menu for $15, but as we went around the table to order Hayes quietly ordered a fruit cup for $5.  A few moments later he got up to go to the bathroom.  Noticing he was off, I followed him and found him in the bathroom crying.  He could not justify ordering a $15 steak when there was a homeless kid on the street.  This compassion blew me away and we walked out of the bathroom and sat at a table at the bar talking about homelessness and the role we can play to help.  Knowing he really wanted a steak I gave him $10 (the difference between the steak and fruit cup) and told him we would find the homeless dad and son when we left and give it to them.  Hayes agreed, enjoyed his steak but the rest of the dinner he was eager to leave.  In fact, when the rest of the family ordered dessert, Hayes called me to a "conference" at the bar table and informed me dinner was taking too long!  After dessert we left the restaurant and walked back to find the homeless dad and son.  Unfortunately they had moved on and we walked around a few blocks looking for them.  Since we could not find them we found another homeless person and gave him the money.  All in all, this experienced showed us a lot about the boy Hayes is today and gives us a glimpse into hopefully the man he will grow into.  Written by Thomas Carroll (aka Hayes Carroll's proud and loving dad)

Slack Family's Move to Edisto Island

After spending the last 59 years congregating on Jekyll Island for a week each summer, the Slack Family agreed to move our gathering location to Edisto Island, SC. this year for our 60th anniversary. 

 

This move impacted four generations of the family and needed to be agreed to by all.  Thankfully, with Jekyll's beaches nearly unusable and the commercial district "under construction" with an uncertain future, the time was right for a move. The family showed up in force as we had a record 82 family members attend at some point during the week.

 

(We had just pulled on to the island when this picture was taken so the Carrolls and Mimi are missing from this picture.)

Even with the move, we kept many of our Slack Family traditions.  We still met for social hour watermelon nearly every day at 4:00 in the afternoon,

 

we had Roach Family dinners,

 

we enjoyed time with first and second and third cousins,

 

we went seining (more on that in another post),

 

and enjoyed family pot luck dinner on the last night.  We revived some Jekyll traditions that had died over the most recent years such as the family gathering at high tide for an ocean swim (here are some Roaches and Morses),

 

and a shirts v. skins game of soccer led by our family experts from Denmark!)

Jekyll's natural beauty is tough to beat but our view of the sound each day was a splendor to behold. 

(Thanks for the pic, Hallie!)

We all look forward to our return trip next year and the chance to catch up with the extended family!