1st Annual East Milton, FL Rodeo...

Every Wednesday we get a local paper with happenings in the area. I looked through it and found a couple of things for this weekend to do and would keep us busy. One was the rodeo in Milton, Fl, about 25 minutes away. It started at 730pm and we got there a little early, so we walked around and found a spot to sit and watch the show. Then found this...This is Spike!! Now brace yourself for the picture to follow this one...

Yep, that is Seth sitting on a bull...The man that owns him has a 5 year old that saddles him up and walks him around...WHAT!?!??!!?

Next we found the ice cream trolley...What is a rodeo with out some creamy deliciousness!!!

We took our seats and listened to the announcer and were entertained by this gentleman. Holy cow, was that worth the $$ for addmission!!

We started off with some bull riding...the kids were amazed...

Others were standing around waiting for their event...

Others admired the babies...

Seth and Grace glued to the action. They were waiting for the annoucement of the calf scramble...Now, if you had asked them what this was a week ago you would have gotten a look of, "how the heck am I supposed to know?"...ask them know and they will glady explain it to you...

All kids 12 and under were invited into the arena for the calf scramble, first they had to do some excersizes...jumping jacks, push ups, roll over 3 times (in the red dirt...hahaha)...then they were ready. Grace didn't like the idea of the excersizes so she left the arena early. Seth stuck around to figure out what he was supposed to do...

Off they go, calf scramble...all the kids chasing about 6 calves to get the flags off their tails. First one to the clown with a flag wins a bike. Seth did really good, he said he almost had a flag but some older kid pushed him out of the way and got...all is good, he had a great time trying!!!

The events included bull riding, calf roping, team roping, and barrel racing...

We had a great time and look forward to going back next year!!!

Soccer Games...

It is mid-season of soccer and the kids are kicking butt. Grace is really enjoying playing and meeting new friends. She has scored a total of 7 goals so far this season, but I don't think she has quite figured out that this isn't football. She will take them down to get the ball...she is working on it though. The parents of her teammates are amazing and very nice. One of the parents is even having practice at their house with a BBQ!!! I am super excited.

Seth is kicking butt too. He is a forward and a goalie for his team. Most of the kids on his team go to his school so he sees them everyday. He is enjoying it greatly and getting better and better everyday. I am not sure what he is going to do after soccer, since there isn't a basketball at the Y, but we will figure something out. He loves to play sports and is excelling in all that he does.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA!!! Part 2

After Grace's nap we got ready to watch the St. Louis Cardinals play the Atlanta Braves. The hotel was two blocks from the stadium so of course the walk was essential. Right outside the hotel was the Olympic Torch and rings from the 1996 Olympic games. When we got Turner Field we were all surprised. It was GREAT!!! Lots of entertainment, we watched the Heavy Hitters perform the drums and ate all the stadium food our hearts and stomachs could handle. Our seats were on the left field line in foul ball territory eight rows up from the field. We saw Matt Holliday(who hit a home run during the game), Albert Pujols, and Yadier Molina walking to warm up our starting pitcher Chris Carpenter. We had an unbelievable time and we will definitely do it again. Mom is already looking up flights for Pensacola (to visit us in FL) or New Orleans (to meet her there and visit). The kids had a GREAT time and have been talking about it since we got back.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA!!!!

This past weekend we met Nina in Atlanta, GA...We got in on Thursday night. Mom flew in and we drove up and picked her up at the airport on the way to the hotel. Once we checked in we went to the bar and had a drink and potato skins and waited for the crowd to come back from Thursday nights game. We were two blocks from the stadium. It was awesome. Friday we went to the Georgia Aquarium. I think we all could have stayed there all day and watched the animals. It was SO big!! The kids were amazed at the all the fish, whales and sharks. There quite a few touch pools too. Richie, Seth and Mom enjoyed the sea anenomes, sea urchins and star fish pool. The Children's Museum was across the street so we ate lunch and when we found out that the Centennial Olympic Park was closed for a private party and headed over. We passed the Coca-Cola museum too. Everything was all together. After the Children's Museum we headed to the car and as we were driving away we noticed that the part of the park I really wanted to see was open, but it was getting late in the afternoon and SOMEONE (Grace) needed a nap!!! All was good, I am sure we will be back in the future.

Happy Birthday Richie...

This weekend was way too long for me...Richie was off work Friday and Monday and I am so not used to him being off for base family days and holidays. With Monday being his birthday he wanted seafood for his birthday dinner. He decided to do dinner on Sunday night instead of Monday. We went to the Crap Trap for dinner after enjoying a couple of hours at the beach with some friends. Monday we decided to go back to the beach for a couple of hours but before we did, we stopped at the store to pick up some things for riding the waves and searching for shells. This is also the first time I have taken the camera with us to get some pictures...We noticed a few more jelly fish in the water so Grace didn't go back in after she got stung. So she sat with me and made sand pies. Richie and Seth looked for shells and played with the boards. We were there for about 2 hours and Grace fell asleep about 1/2 before we headed home. Poor thing :(

After the beach, we came home and cleaned up...took a cat nap and then made dinner. Grilled pork chops with augratin potatoes and brocolli. After dinner was ICE CREAM CAKE!!!!!

Family Pictures...

For the past four years we have had our pictures taken by the fabulous McPeek-Smith Photography and we usually do it in Sept/Oct because that is between the kids birthdays. This year, we are in Florida and she is in Illinois...What to do???? We borrowed a tripod from Richie's work and headed to the beach...We will have to wait til next year to get the REAL ones done...LOL. I will say we had fun trying to figure it out!!!