Instagrammin' in October

October brought us middle and high school sports, homecoming for Ella, Jack's Jr. EYC retreat, a continued interest in fishing for Jack, a super fun visit from the Horn family, and October 100 for me.

jack was #7 this year on his middle school team as a wide receiver and safety.  | i didn't get to tag along to take pictures before ella and her friends headed to the homecoming dance, but i grabbed what i could. | isn't she lovely? | jr. eyc retreat for jack definitely means mud pit. | running some miles at beatty park for october 100 | tough football season for jack--unfortunately he was sick for the one game his team won. #somewerereallyclose #othersnotsomuch | ella and her doubles partner, olivia, played in the conference championship and placed well enough for regionals. | ella and friends supported friend julianna at a few field hockey games. | jack goes fishing more and more often these days. | we had a great weekend with aunt jacqui, uncle randy, harper, and hudson that included fun at the play 60! football playground at freedom park (we'll make panthers fans out of these guys yet!), duck donuts, and beers at omb (they really do have the best grounds and play area of all of the breweries in town, perfect for high energy 5-year olds). | and, when i wasn't running my miles for october 100, olive helped me get in several more walking our nearby flat branch trail.

Instagrammin' in September

For a second straight year, my September was so busy I counted on other people to capture the photos of what my kids were up to.  I literally only took the picture of Jonathan and Olive walking on our favorite trail connected to the neighborhood.

walking flat branch trail | brooke brown and her son noah caught some of jack's first football game of the middle school season away at noah's middle school. | and, ella had an amazing time on the sr. eyc retreat.  she missed it last year, but it looks like she made up for lost time this year!

Instagrammin' in August

Happy birthday to Jack!  August brought us Jack's 14th birthday, the end of summer, the start of soccer and tennis seasons, and the start of school, 8th grade for Jack and 10th grade for Ella.

jack spent his birthday with a day at sports connection and sleepover with noah brown. | complete with publix football cake | we brought friends up to the quarry for a fun day. | ella and kylie (not pictured: jack and his two friends, will and austin) | love how olive's sweet brindle comes out when she's groomed. | jack played off-season league this fall (his club team will now play only in the spring due to high school team's fall schedules, even though jack's not in high school yet) and his hodge podge team were finalists in their first tournament, up against some teams who play year round together. #gojack | ice cream at bruster's, a last day of summer tradition | ella's first day of her sophomore year of high school which starts so early her pic is in the dark (and notice the huge tennis bag she has to lug to school each day) | jack's first day of 8th grade--last year of middle school! | high school football game (we were working concessions with the tennis team parents) | girls' night out to see orchestral maneuvers in the dark (omd)!

Casa de Slaton

It's always a fun and relaxing time, including pool, Mexican Train Wreck, movies, delicious food, daiquiris, and darts (for Jack), at Casa de Slaton resort, as we like to call my parents' house.  Thanks for having us, Nonni and Papa!  And thanks for hosting Olive!  It was so nice to not spend another full week away from our sweet pup after boarding her for 9 days for our trip to Beaufort and HHI.

Instagrammin' in July

We were living the high life in July!

more highlights from hhi week, including, of course, the beach, pool, and bike rides, but also seeing legally blonde with nonni and papa at the hhi community theatre, and ella and i played tennis at the harbour town courts. | jack had fun with friends at dave & buster's, coming away with some good loot. | more highlights from our time on tybee island, including some beautiful pictures by aunt jacqui of jack and noah cast netting during sunset. | olive enjoyed some pool time at nonni and papa's house. | thanks for having us, nonni and papa! | we explored the university of florida (my alma mater) campus with ella and jack and my how the reitz union has changed. | we ate lunch at my beloved el indio and their patio has been spiffed up since my day, too. | aunt jacqui, uncle randy, harper, and hudson met us at ginnie springs, my beloved watering hole from my college days.  i remember it a lot more quiet (even on summer weekends) and a lot less dirty.  (they've kind of spoiled it a bit--the beautiful blue and refreshing water is now over crowded, filled with floating huge speakers playing techno music, and with cigarette butts floating by because they allow people to smoke there...i was pretty disappointed with the changes, but we still had a very fun day with the horns.) | after several hours at ginnie springs, a huge storm chased us back to gainesville and, after drying off at our hotel, we met jacqui and fam at swamphead brewery, our first look at their new, bigger location. | on sunday, we rose early and made a stop to check out lake alice and the bat houses (more scenic uf campus) before picking olive up at her boarder and then heading back home to charlotte.  | and finally, at the end of july, my doubles partner, sally davidson, and i won the 3.5 terri's ladder doubles league championship for the summer season!  | and look how petite we look compared to the mother-daughter duo we beat in the finals.  

So Long, Tybee!

Thanks, Nana and PopPop, for bringing us all together on Tybee Island! Some stayed for a little more pool time on our last day on Tybee Island, but we headed out early on Wednesday to pick up Olive from a pet boarder just off the island and continue on south to my parent's house.  It had been a while since we'd visited my parents at their house and we figured we were half way there already, so we extended our vacation week for the rest of the week.  We also planned, after a few days at Casa de Slaton, to meet Jacqui and her fam in Gainesville the following Saturday before heading back home on Sunday.  So, goodbyes were sad, but at least it would just be a few more days before we saw some of these sweet faces again. 

Savannah: July 16

On Tuesday, our whole crew headed down to Savannah and signed up for a hop-on, hop-off historic trolley tour.  This was a great way to cover a lot of ground in Savannah.  We ended up riding the complete tour twice, getting off and on at several different stops.  We explored the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, walked through a few of the many squares in Savannah, checked out The Pirate's House (not worth the stop), snagged a couple of tables for our large group at Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons restaurant for lunch, and ooohed and aaahed at a lot of beautiful architecture along the way.  Jonathan and I had both just finished reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and my mother-in-law had read it many years earlier, so we wanted to explore the Mercer-Williams House while in Savannah.  Aunt Jacqui, Uncle Randy, and Uncle Chris took Ella and the younger kids to explore Forsyth Park while Jacob joined Jonathan, his parents, and I on our tour of the Mercer-Williams House (no pictures allowed).  It was interesting, but you don't get to see some of the more interesting spaces in the house, like the upstairs ballroom or basement where antiques were worked on to be restored, so it's a definitely one-and-done kind of tour. 

Savannah is a photographer's delight.  I hope to return one day and slowly walk the streets, toting my camera and taking in all of the details--and preferably in the spring or fall when it's not so dang hot and humid!