Charlotte Football Weekend with Cousins

 

This family get-together was a long time coming! Both our families were so busy during the summer the weekend we finally planned to get together, I came down with the flu and had to cancel. Rescheduled to the weekend of September 13-15 and we were honored to celebrate with Maddox's first lost tooth!!

Nancy and Brian had a cool door hanger where to leave the tooth for the tooth fairy so as not to disturb a sleeping child! The fairy then could leave a present in a built-in pocket on the hanger! 

Maddox showing off his gap on the bottom row! 

What an opportunity for a special tooth fairy book - Brock got to listen too! (Past Kade's bedtime)

After breakfast done the only way we know how - EPIC - it was time for Maddox's machine-pitch baseball game!

Maddox had a pretty good hit on his first at-bat, but his second at-bat was a PERFECT bunt - found its way nested right on the foul line between home plate and third base!

It was lovely to spend some time with Suzanne and Mike while watching Maddox play too! 

Silly sun - it always gets in the way!

How cool - their team even has names on the back of their jerseys!! I love it!

Right after Maddox's game, we swung by the house to change into Green & White University of North Carolina at Charlotte wear! I loved that Brian and Nancy had a full wardrobe of different size shirts for us to try on! 

Brian found us a parking pass too so we could join them in their parking lot for a fun tailgate - Brock and Kade's FIRST football tailgate and football game! They loved all the food and games - pizza, chips, tater tots, & hot dogs while playing soccer or catch in the parking lot. 

Almost time for game time! We opted to try to walk to the bookstore because Kade wanted a UNC-Charlotte hat. We got to walk right past Nancy's dorm when she was a freshman on campus!

Kade 9, Maddox 7, Brock 11.5, Asher 2.5

Alas, bookstore was closed..... so we hopped on the bus to get to the football game! 

Asher was a bit unsure of this bus ride! 

Yay - we arrived! These were great seats! So glad the boys had their glasses so they could actually see the expansive stadium, the football players and the scoreboard!

We worked REALLY hard to get on the jumbotron! Asher was the star sitting on Brian's shoulders!

(Look at the blue fish in the Harris Teeter logo - we are directly on that line! Brent's blue hat and my head is right behind Asher! Nancy is holding up the phone to take a picture right beside Brock!)

Awww!

Ice cream break!! And we found Kade his hat! 

I like this candid photo of Nancy and Asher - his little hand on her lap is so endearing! 

Kade really was mesmerized with the football game and everything going on! I loved that he loved his Charlotte hat! 

I wish Maddox made it in these cousin pictures too! (he was getting a dessert with his dad)

A late night for all the kiddos - and adults - we all slept good that night! The boys were treated to French Toast and bacon early on Sunday morning at Sassy's house! No wonder we got to sleep in a little bit - it was quiet!  As always, thank you to Nancy and Brian for a wonderful jam-packed, non-stop, but immensely fun weekend!! 

Kade and I capped off our time in Charlotte with a trip to Ikea. 

Black Belt Spectacular - Second Midterm

Friday, August 30th, Kade attended his first Black Belt Spectacular as a Red/Black belt, testing for his second Midterm. This was a big deal - usually all his belt advancements has happened in the comfort of his dojang (training studio). 

For Kade to obtain his Black Belt, he has to score at least a 6 (out of 10) on two midterms before he can even test for his Black Belt. This was Kade's second Midterm. All of the instructors are grading the group behind the tables - could be a little intimidating for some!

First evaluation was on Kade's form (Kade and a whole group of other kids). I was very impressed - he took his time and really focused on his kicks and punches. 

Then Kade dressed in his sparring gear and showed off what he knew on his sparring techniques! 

I think he did pretty well - he was a little more hesitant on the first matchup, but seemed to build a little confidence on the second. 

Last event was his board breaking. Alas, no pictures as I was seated a bit far from his line. He had to punch - breaking the board in at least three and then kick - again breaking the board in at least three. If he breaks on the first attempt, he gets 3 points, second attempt = 2 points, third attempt = 1 point. Unfortunately he was not able to break the board with his punch in three attempts and only broke the board on his third attempted kick. We knew that wasn't great - only gave Kade 1 point. 

For Kade to pass, he had to score at least a 3+2 in forms/sparring! We did not find out until a week and a half later!! Kade received his score at one of his classes - officially 3 in forms, 2 in sparring, 1 in board breaking to pass his final midterm!! Yay! The test will be slightly harder - he will have to score a 7 to pass. If all goes well, he could have his Black Belt by Christmas!!

New School Year - 6th & 4th!

 

Big changes this year - Brock enters Middle School at one of the Magnet Middle Schools downtown Raleigh. We signed up for bus transportation hoping it would pick him up at a decent time - nope - bus schedule had him slated for a 5:20AM pickup! That was NOT happening for a school that starts at 7:35!

We are now carpooling with another neighbor, but that is still an early start leaving the house at 6:45am! Hence why our "first day of school" pictures include the porch light! 

The Middle School offered an opportunity to "Walk Your Schedule" before school starts so the kids could see where and how to get from class to class (there's only a 3 minute break between classes) - I think that was very helpful as he found several buddies who are in some classes with him! 

Kade has some changes too! He has fully committed to wearing his glasses in his Fourth Grade class! He looks like a little professor! On the third day of school was the first day of his SSA Math - where he travels up to the 5th grade hall and takes his math with the grade above. Lucky kid has the same teacher Brock had last year - and its her last year of teaching (after 30 years)! So glad that worked out because she's an amazing teacher! ;) 

Excited to see what this year brings for both our boys! 

Kade 9, Moose 6.5, Brock 11

Silly boys!

Glade Valley Cabin & Camp Cheerio

After spending our last holiday without Moose, we felt it only right to have a vacation where our favorite canine could join! 

And what a house we selected!! (The bath mat says "Moose on the Lake"!!)

 

We arrived Friday evening and it was a wonderfully clear night - Brent and I loved being able to stand outside and see so many more stars than back home! The second night we brought some pillows and blankets out to the truck bed and really got to watch the stars in comfort! 

A really cool cabin - part of the house was built in the 1830's with a more modern addition in the back. The master bedroom was upstairs - and it wouldn't be a vacation without an early morning wakeup call from Moose! 

After a lazy morning, we arrived at Stone Mountain for our hike. This year we decided we could complete the 2.8 mile hike (one way) to the summit. 

A pretty view at about the halfway point. 

The problem was those pesky rocks on the trail. 

I don't think we really understood how difficult walking on those rocks was for Moose. He is definitely not used to walking on gravel like that. We made sure we stopped several times to rest. The last 0.5 mile of the trail was pretty steep.

We triumphed! 

Moose hung out in the shade while we took turns admiring the view. 

It was a lot quicker on the way down! And when we arrived at the bottom, we treated Moose to some time in the river. 

Back at the cabin was more time spent relaxing and playing games. The cabin also had an electronic pinball machine - not quite the same "feel" as a real one. 

After a yummy hot dog & tater tot dinner, we found some dry wood and started a fire. I think Brent was happy relaxing. 

We made a fire!

And then after we made the fire, we sat and talked about how nice it was for us to have a gas fire pit at home that we can just flip a switch to turn it off. This fire, we have to wait until it burns out, then douse it with water..... then we all have to take showers because we smell like smoke.... Ha! We're such suburbanites! 

Cute picture of the cabin in the background!

The cabin was definitely decorated to fit the theme! 

Modern kitchen! 

Brock and Moose hanging out on the front porch as we were packing the vehicles. 

We drove to Elkin/Jonesville for a Cracker Barrel brunch, then made our way back to Glade Valley to drop Brock off for this third year at Camp Cheerio. 

Thankfully this year we had full sunny skies on drop-off day! 

Bottom bunk secured in the Apache cabin! 

After we left, his cabin took some pictures in front of this amazing view before the swim test. Brock is the third boy from the right. 

The camp director posts nightly recaps of their day along with some pictures. The Apache cabin scored Honor Cabin (the most clean cabin after cabin clean-up) every single day that he was there! Wow! 

Brock signed up for pickleball - he's in between some kids - but the sixth-ish kid from the right. 

We also spotted him doing some creating with Legos in the Sloane Center! 

Looks like he was having a good time with friends on the lawn one evening. 

And lastly, a cabin skit where they were dancing to a few song mixes. I was glad to see him smiling. 

A great way to wrap up a very eventful summer!