Craiger/Mommy Date Night

I had a wonderful date night with Craiger last weekend.  He was SO excited it was finally his turn with mommy.

He chose Chick-Fil-A (same as Canyon) so we had a bunch of chicken nuggets, fries, & ice cream cones!  Yum.

For his activity, he asked if we could find some "games" to play.  They have a small arcade over at the bowling alley downtown so I took him there & he had an absolute blast.  I only spent about $6 & he played several games for over 30 minutes.  He said it was the best night of his life.

What a sweetie.  I love these kiddo dates.  They mean so much to me.

Dragon Boat Race

Trek & some friends from his school decided to enter the annual Alabama River Dragon Boat Race this year.  They practiced as a team (of 21) for a few weeks & then raced on August 25th.  It was hilarious seeing his team of buddies rowing together as fast as they could.

I took the kids down to watch.  It was on the riverwalk in Montgomery so it was fun to explore the city with the kids a little bit.

Trek's team, the "'Stangs" won the award for most spirited team.  They were a hoot to watch.  They sang together, they danced together, they were very unified which made them do really well in the races.

Their drummer/leader dressed up like a viking & he banged the drum that the rest of the team rowed to.

It was a really fun race to watch.  Here's a link to the actual race:

Trek's Race

We watched from the shoreline of the river.  It was the hottest, most humid day of the year, so we were pretty much DYING, but it was fun to watch.

What a neat experience.  I'm loving the unique things we have to do here in Alabama.  I love that my kids have the opportunity to experience so many things in their lives thanks to our many moves.  I know it can be hard, but it's SO worth it.

Band, Band, & More Band

Cadence is LOVING Marching Band.  She rocks at the piano & is totally loving playing keyboard for her field show.  The Prattville Marching Band field show this year is:

"We're Not in Kansas Anymore!"

featuring songs from The Wizard of Oz, Toto, & Kansas.

It's a really great show.

She's also playing cymbals for the pre-game show (she really wanted to learn how to march), & also for pep band.  She is loving playing for the high school football games.

Here is a video of her 1st two songs of her field show:

Football Half Time Show

And here is a link to the pre-game show where she marches with cymbals:

Pre-Game Show

Below are the pre-game pics where she is marching with cymbals.  Go Cadence Go!!!

Memories

We live about an hour & a half from where Trek spent his high school years in Birmingham, AL.  There was a multi-stake youth dance for our church up in Birmingham this month, so Trek & I took Cadence & explored where Trek spent his years as a teenager.

It turns out that the church the dance was at was the exact same church building that Trek attended when he lived there.  It was only 2 minutes from his old house.  We dropped Cadence off at the dance, & he took me on a tour of his old stomping ground.

This house is the house they lived in for 7 years.  His mom designed it, had someone build it, & they lived in it.  She loved that house.  Each of the 6 kids had their own bedrooms & their own bathrooms.  It was a really nice house.

His mom also planted 300 trees surrounding the house so it couldn't be seen from the busy road.  They are all tall & beautiful now.

After visiting his house, we stopped at Trek's old high school.  He graduated from Vestavia Hills High School in 1997.  He said it looks a lot better now than it did then.

The highlight of our trip was visiting Shipley Do Nuts.  Trek has SO MANY STORIES about this place.  He worked there after school as a teenager & his stories are hilarious.  He said it hasn't changed a bit.  We got a dozen donuts to take home to the kids.

We also passed the spot where Trek kicked his sister Tylee out of the car when it was raining on the way to school because she was "annoying."  Typical brother/sister story.  

Cadence had a blast at the dance with her friends.  She absolutely loves her church friends here in Alabama.  I've never seen her happier.

She had a great time at the dance.

It was a fun night of exploring.