H Soccer Tournament

Another soccer tournament for me is in the books. Once again playing for Northside Soccer Academy, I had a successful and fun year. At our freezing cold tournament, we played as well as we could play. In our first game, Saturday morning, we played very well but lost in the last minute, 3-2. In our second game, Saturday afternoon, we won 2-0, in which one of the players from the other team got a red card and then reacted by running into the woods before his mom ran after him. Sunday morning we demolished the other team 11-0. I SCORED TWO GOALS!!! 😄😄 We were headed back to the championship! 

To celebrate and have lunch, a lot of the players and their families went to lunch together at Chili's, where we watched football and had fun. (I am on the right side and the 2nd from the beginning).

But then, it was on to the championship. We didn't play very well in the 1st half, but didn't allow any goals. The score: 0-0. In the 2nd half, they scored a quick goal and then with six minutes left, they scored again. We all thought it was over. What happened next was unreal. We scored 2 quick goals on two easy counter plays. It then was tied, 2-2, but we had other plans, to win. They turned the ball over and my teammate, Charlie, delivered a powerful shot from the right side into the net. 3-2, us. The ref's whistle blew after the ensuing kickoff. We WON!!! 

After receiving our 1st-place gold medals, we posed for some pictures.

Go Northside!!

H's Grandparents' Day

On Friday, Westminster's Lower School celebrated Grandparents' Day.  Hayes had Papa, Grandmommy and Granddaddy join him for a morning at school.  

Hayes walked them through all of his classes and introduces them to his teachers, including his homeroom teacher Mrs. Hurst.  

They even were able to capture a quick selfie before the day came to a close.

With Grandparents Day rotating back to the Middle School next year, they will all be able to make a return visit to check out Hayes's new surroundings in 6th grade.  

Kickball Rules

Ben came home from school the other day talking about how chaotic a game of kickball was during recess.  I suggested that he could try to come up with some basic rules to bring order to the game.  He ran with this idea and came up with the following list which he then took to school and implemented successfully:

E's Art in Westminster's Permanent Art Collection & Selected for Art Show

Last Friday, I attended a reception honoring the middle school students whose art was selected to become a part of the school's permanent art collection.  The invitation below arrived in the mail, with pictures of each of the pieces that were selected to be added.  

The school selected Eleanor's 3D piece that can be seen in the bottom row below.

Here it is displayed in an exhibit case at the front of the school.

This recognition comes after another one of her pieces was chosen last winter for a middle school art exhibit in the school's performing arts center.  She was not exactly thrilled be in the photo but her Matisse-like piece is to her right.  

H Birthday Celebration

With Hayes's birthday falling the week of July 4th, we always struggle with finding a date to celebrate his birthday with friends. This year, we finally put something on the calendar for early September!  He invited some of his "old" friends and some of his "new" friends from Westminster to his celebration at the Main Event.  The boys started with an hour of bowling and lunch, 

then an energy surge provided by a sugary cake (with a basketball theme in case you were curious)

before heading to play laser tag before it was all over.  It was a very sweet group of boys and Hayes had a ball with all of them!

Hayes and Eleanor's First Days of School

Though I'm nearly a month late, here are Eleanor's and Hayes' first day of school pics.  Eleanor started on Monday, August 15, 

and Hayes began his first year at Westminster on Tuesday, August 16.  His first day was a "spirit day" so they were allowed to wear Westminster t-shirts instead of the usual dress code of collared shirts and dress shorts or pants.

I know they will both have great years!

Beltline Annual Lantern Parade

On Saturday night, Thomas, Hayes, Ben and I (Eleanor stayed home to do some homework) met up with some of Hayes' fellow fifth graders to walk in the 6th Annual Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade. Last Tuesday after school, the kids met in the art classroom to construct their individual lanterns. Hayes elected to create a basketball lantern to no surprise of his family.

We gathered a block or two down from the official parade starting point to take pictures

before we headed over to join the parade.

With last year's parade attendance hitting 60,000 people, we knew this year's crowd would be just as big. Hayes kept getting ahead of us in the parade, but we were comforted once we would spot his raised basketball lantern!

The scene was Mardi-Gras-like which I loved, but Ben found it a bit overwhelming and crowded, especially since we were walking a few miles after 8:30pm on an action-packed Saturday.  We jumped out of the parade around 9:30pm, once we hit the skate park, as both Ben and Hayes were exhausted.  Most of us agreed that it was a fun experience but next year we might just want to go down to the parade as viewers, not participants.  :-)

Ben's Lego Birthday Party

The first weekend after school started, we finally got organized enough to celebrate Ben's birthday. He had been begging for a Lego-themed birthday party for years so we felt like this was the best year to try it!  We got up our nerve and decided to have the party here at our house in the basement, with a Bricks for Kids person coming as the entertainment. (Bricks for Kids is the Legos after-school program Ben did all last year and then he participated in a week-long summer camp of theirs this summer too.)  I couldn't ever corral all of the kids into one picture as it was hard to manage 13 seven-year-olds, but I did capture the kids in groups as they worked through some of the Lego assignments. 

Ben requested Cookies & Cream ice cream cake for his party . . . 

and I hope he made a wish before he let out all of his hot air!

We barely survived his two-hour party (it rained outside so the kids couldn't let out any extra energy on the trampoline), but Ben was thrilled with the day and that's what counts, right?  

Happy belated Birthday Ben!

Visit to High Hampton Inn in Cashiers

With Edisto as part of our usual summer plan, this year we tried something new.  Steven and his family had to cancel the week prior to Edisto so we decided to see if another renter wanted our house for week at Edisto - and it turns out they did!  That left us with a wide open calendar the last two weeks of July and I began to lose my mind . . . so I convinced Thomas that we needed to try out the High Hampton Inn up in Cashiers, NC for our last weekend of the summer.  Thank heavens, he agreed!  

HHI had been on our radar for years but by the time we tried to make reservations, the hotel was completely booked.  We lucked out for this last weekend, as they had two rooms in the main hotel so our trip was a go!

The HHI is an old-school southern resort where there is a dress code at dinner (all boys in collared shirts and if they are 12 or older, with blazers, men in ties on Friday and Saturday nights, etc), each meal is a buffet full of tasty options and then after dinner there is always planned family entertainment (usually Bingo and horse racing)

in addition to the availability of any board game you can think of!

Here are the kids dressed for dinner one night . . .

and Ben overlooking the swimming lake and kids play area.

Guests also sign up for activities each day if they desire, so Ben and Thomas tried fly fishing, Ben and I hiked with a pack of llamas

and Thomas and I took a spin class together.

On both Friday and Saturday from the HHI, we ventured out for nearby hikes and visits to streams and waterfalls as we explored the area.  Here we are nearing the completion of a hike on the resort property with the resort and its lake down below to the right.

We got a picture with Ben because both Eleanor and Hayes were nervous about standing too close to the edge.

As you can see below, E and H were ready to start heading back down the mountain!

When Thomas and Ben learned about fly fishing, Eleanor, Hayes and I ventured on another hike that lacked elevation - right up their alley!

One afternoon, we drove a few miles down the road to Silver Run Falls.  There, Thomas and Ben explored the waterfall and the area around it.

Eleanor wasn't interested in swimming and I think Hayes wanted to not get wet before the "Sliding Rock".

Here is Thomas making his way to the falls . . .

and Ben easing his way in before swimming across the "pool" to Thomas.

Together at last!

Once we left Silver Run Falls, we drove over to a nearby small sliding rock.  Thomas and the kids had discovered it the afternoon before, and the boys wanted to slide again.

I was amazed at how much Hayes loved it since he hadn't even gotten in the water at the earlier waterfall.

Thomas and Ben raced a good bit

and smiles were all around as Eleanor and I watched the boys play in the water.  

On our final morning in North Carolina, we visited Whitewater Falls.  This was our second visit to this site as we were in the Lake Toxaway area in 2010 (you can read about that here) and saw the falls on a very foggy day.  This visit, the weather was perfect, and we were the only ones there!  So this is what the highest waterfall east of the Rockies looks like!

It was our 17th anniversary so the kids requested a picture with just the two of us.  

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the shuffleboard courts on the HHI property.  It seemed like any free time the kids had, they roped Thomas into a game (or games) of shuffleboard.  Each contest usually ended with one team despising the other, but at this moment in time below, everyone was happy.

In the photo below, it doesn't appear that much fun was being had which was more par for the course!

All in all, we had a great time exploring the High Hampton Inn and all agreed that we would love to return in the near future.