I have been obsessed with these cokes all summer and am honestly embarrassed at the number of hours I have spent digging around in coolers and containers trying to find the name of everyone that I know. I managed to find 3 of "Anderson" and at least 145 of "Brandon."* I found one for each of the teachers on the 9th grade hall (MY NEW GIG....still at my old gig,) but still NEVER could find the common name of MAX. Now, if I was looking for a dog tag with a name on it then Max would have been no problem to locate. Anyway, after touching thousands of bottles, I found MAX! And this goes without saying, but you know that Publix came through for me.
*Also-Melissa, Nicole, Jessica, Lindsay, Lindsey, Megan, Meagan, Amanda.....Their marketing strategy was clearly aimed toward adults born in the 80's.
When I say we spend time outside, I mean...we spend time outside.
I cannot actually fully explain this activity in our lives. It has been in the upper 90's and where have we been? Oh, that's right....outside for HOURS.
His happiest of happy places.
If we ever miss the Cow/Free Chicken Day, I will be so, so sad.
Note: we did have cow attire but after playground festivities in the 90 DEGREE WEATHER, that business was shed.
Anderson is playing tackle football (MUCH more on that later) and the day he got his helmet he refused to take it off. His practice is near Concord Park and I had promised Max that we would go feed the ducks, so that is how we ended up there at 9pm on a Tuesday with my oldest bobble head son who refused to take off his new helmet.
Half of my kids love swimming more than the other half, so we improvise.
Also, let's be real that this happens just as often (more??) than the fishing, swimming, playing scenarios. To be fair to him, he did have undiagnosed ear infections/swimmer's ear on this day so he probably wasn't feeling his best. But, the real battle was over the fact that I was trying to make him wear a shirt under the football jersey.
Brandon's unit planned a visit to a Smokies game & we had a blast. I love these hour long summer activities. I also love this guy posing with the mascot. (I am still not sure if it is a bear or a dog...I think dog.)
We had burgers, beer, peanuts, dippin dots and saw some baseball, inflatable fun and awesome fireworks. It was really a good time.
I am leaning toward dog in this picture.
Meet Anderson, the most competitive kid that I have ever seen.
He was playing on the obstacle course inflatable thing and started timing himself to see his best record. At first it was 12 second and then the monitor lady promised him a "Home Run Ball" if he could get his time down to 8 seconds. So, of course, he did.
Clare & I took the kids to these super fun water slides one afternoon and all 4 of the boys promptly found a tiny spot of sand, which consumed their interest for quite a bit of time. It was hilarious.
Because my parents are amazing, they took the boys fishing one day while I was at work! I think the more accurate description is probably that Bop fished while Mom entertained/documented.
Still so many hours of things like this....
On the hottest day of the year, Nicole was in town and we took the kids to Mead's Quarry @ Ijams. Max begs to swim there every time we go and I finally let him. He had so much fun jumping off the pier/floating dock thing and playing with Reese.
Brandon tagged along & we rented a canoe/kayak which was really, really fun. I am always impressed with his ability to do things like steer a canoe/kayak around without hitting anyone.
Always love these 2.
Also, I do love this pic of us.
Not captured: the sweat pouring down our faces, the classy Knoxvillians smoking at the swimming area, the whininess of the hot/hungry/thirsty children.
These 3 boys are mine and I love it.
We spent some time swimming and eating with the Brimers/Hughes/Noni one night in an attempt to beat the heat!
Clare even brought flowers/basil that she grew. I am so impressed with her abilities.
I love this pic of Reese & Max. Reese was patiently coloring in the lines, with the appropriate colors & Max was trying to shred crayons on a homemade robot.
Mom & Aunt Manda let Anderson skip basketball camp one day and took him to the Titanic Museum where he, of course, had an absolute blast.
Max is obsessed with Aunt Manda/his real Mama.
I mean, these nephews & Aunt Manda came in town for a short time and spent it standing in the heat at Anderson's practice, eating dinner at 10pm and putting up with their cousins stalking them. We love nothing more than hanging out with them and were so happy that we were able to see them!
During his 2nd week of basketball camp he won candy bars for random games AND he won "1 on 1 Tournament" for his entire age group! This was apparently a huge deal because he had to win 5 separate games, one of which was played in front of the entire camp!
Brandon was at work, but he was also proud.
He found a frog at Noni's, which was probably more exciting to him than all of the rest of these activities combined.
Brandon's work team had a "Family Day" in the mountains and it was definitely one of the highlights of summer. We spent the entire day eating, playing in dirt, "fishing" and swimming.
Side note: in my mind, this was the extent of how much we were going to "swim." I brought extra clothes because I always bring extra clothes, but I really planned to just wade around.
And then, of course, life led me down a different path.
Anderson wanted to jump off a giant rock, which meant that Max wanted to jump off of a giant rock, which meant that I had to tell Max it was illegal for him to do so.
Then, I decided to let him, which meant I had to swim in the FREEZING water.
I mean, it was so cold that I briefly thought I had developed hypothermia.
Some people have fancy pics of their families on the beach in matching clothes.
We have this, which I definitely classify as winning.
Always, always some kind of animal/insect hunting.
We finally made it to the new Jump Jam which we loved and will definitely be revisiting-especially since I had to purchase gripper socks.
A lot of videos:
