Heading to Destin

The first day of vacation is usually a wash from traveling all day. It's made up of pizza and unpacking. This time we headed out to the beach to look for some crabs and just see the waves. The full moon made for some neat pictures by photographer Bobby!

S.W.A.T

 Rhett made the All-Star team for the second year in a row this year. He was the leadoff or second hole hitter, and the second baseman for South Williamson S.W.A.T. Isn't he tough looking? :)

Bobby was the assistant coach again this year and much to his surprise, the S.W.A.T really took off and had a great season! 

There's one word for Bobby's coaching style: intense. But the kids loooooove Coach Bobby! 

 Rhett was sitting the bench during a blow out game and since he doesn't "sit" well he was swinging the bat behind the dugout. I think he's cute:)

 Garrett is one of his team buddies. These two are way too much alike and most of the time they end up in a pretzel wrestling on the ground. It's always full tilt with both of them! 

Rhett was a very consistent hitter for his team this year. If my memory serves me correctly, at the last game, Coach Shannon bragged on Rhett for not having any strike outs in the All-Star season. Pretty impressive for a skinny little kid! 

 Faithful Fan Award goes to Elaina since she attended who knows how many games this year and never complained. In fact, every time her eyes opened from a nap or nighttime she'd say, "Whose game we goin' to?" :) Bless it.

S.W.A.T fought it out for a great season coming in second in the State Tournament. We got beat by Lawrenceburg in our third game of the day. It's hard to ask a bunch of little kids to play that many games in a day in the heat! 

We got a sorry little plaque for all our efforts. ( I mean, really, what kid wants a plaque? This was the STATE tournament! You should get a trophy the size of your body for winning first and one at least up to your knee for second place! Come on. A plaque?? gah.) 

We finished off a great season and we had so much fun with our team. Out of all my kids Rhett gets the award for competitiveness, will to win, drive, and hustle. Let's apply those and get some money for college, kid! 

VBS Debut

Elaina and Carris made their official debut as Vacation Bible School campers this year. I must admit, they were 2 of the cutest kids in the whole place. I may be biased but it's just the truth:)

Post Fourth Sparklers

We forgot about all of our sparklers at yesterday's Extravaganza so we brought them out tonight and had some fun. Elaina got to (almost) hold one all by herself:)

Bobby, as always, is enamored by any type of burning thing. 

Sparklers are always so fun to watch. The boys were spinning and twirling them around. It's just so mesmerizing. 

Well, we've officially shot every firework and used every sparkler. I guess it's going to be 364 more days until we get to blow colors up in the sky...

Annual Fourth of July Extravaganza Jubilee Celebration!

This year's Extravaganza, unlike last year's dry spell, was threatened by persistent rain. It just has not been in the cards for a great fireworks show in years of late! We kept the party on though because we're party people and rain or shine, the show must go on! 

Here is our yearly Sistas from another Mista shot:

And Elaina and I in our Fourth of July best. Mine is vintage dating all the way back to 2011:)

There was a break in the rain so Bobby set out for his usual street fireworks. 

The loud popping had most of the little people covering their ears....

or hiding.

I love looking back through my pictures and seeing the kids' faces!

Garrison was thoroughly impressed:)

But these jokers don't appear to be enjoying themselves at all. Grant looks like a sad kid and Callan looks.....I don't know....inquisitive. I think I caught them in a down moment. I don't think a kid has ever left the Extravaganza saying, "Well, I'd rather watch paint dry than do that again...". 

This year the pool added a new level of entertainment for the kids. It also adds a level of anxiety for me....not only do I need to make sure no one loses a limb from fireworks, or runs in the street, but now I have to be hypervigilant and make sure no one drowns!

I think these guys must be watching parachute guys or something since it's still a little light in the picture. Who knows. Maybe there was a flying saucer or something.

 We took a peek at the radar and it seemed that the Lord was shining His face upon Bobby's fireworks show. So, out came the table full of explosives he had been collecting for over 2 years! 

 It proved to be a great show this year despite the less than stellar weather! 

 Meanwhile, inside some of us gals were doing our darndest to get a good handstand picture. This turned out to be the best one. I am bound and determined to be able to hold a handstand for more than 1 second!! Practice makes perfect......or at least a little better:)

Annual gals pic. Please note that we'd been standing in drizzling rain the entire day. None of us were at our best. 

 The fireworks were grand and once again I'm so thankful for the freedom that we celebrate this time of year.

 I'm also thankful for a slew of great friends to celebrate with. God has blessed us abundantly!