Coffee County Fair 2022

Sunday, September 4th was pageant day at the fair.  Maggie put Annalise in the baby show.  I showed her so that she could watch and take pictures in the stands.  She won 3rd place but she was 1st in our eyes!

The kids fair art ...

Kane

Reid

Liam

We decided to take the kids on Friday.  It started sprinkling on us for a little bit but we pushed through it lol.  How Ryan feels about the fair! 

Met up with the Patel's and rode some rides!

We ate dinner and spent the rest of the night riding rides with the Bell's & the Green's

Living their best life ...

 I think Easton was second guessing his decision to ride this ride. 

Can't leave the fair without a funnel cake!  I had to pick one up for mom and bring to her at home!

Labor Day weekend

Friday, September 2nd I took off of work and we all went up to the Post office and got our passports in preparation for our trip to Costa Rica in the summer.  Ryan's family had taken their camper to Barton Springs campground in Normandy for Labor Day weekend.  There wasn't any room for us in the camper so we decided that the boys and I would sleep in a tent outside and Ryan was going to sleep in his hammock.  Barton Springs is close enough to our house that we decided to drive the Can-am there via the back roads.  

Uncle Barry and Aunt Kathy have their camper there too.  They brought their grandson Ayrik to play with the boys this weekend. 

It was Uncle Barry's birthday so he cooked us all smash burgers.  They were amazing!  

After dinner we hung around by the fire and indulged a little.  Reminiscing about when they were younger got everyone in their feels.  When it was finally time to get in bed I crawled into the tent with the boys no problem.  As I lay there nice and cozy with the boys I hear Ryan outside, wrestling with his hammock.  Mind you, prior to his indulgence he tested out this hammock to make sure it would be ready to go for bedtime.  What he didn't account for was how hard it would be after a couple rounds of bourbon.  Next thing I know I hear a loud RIP, then a THUD, then his cry for help.  He had practically John Cena'd his way into the hammock and ripped through the other side onto a broken tree stump and patch of briars. After multiple calls for me and then his dad, I finally got up and helped find a safe landing to sleep. 

Saturday morning I was woken up to Brooks saying - “uhhh… Aunt Hope? can I go eat breakfast?” That boy loves him some food!   

All of us sitting around laughing about Ryan and his hammock escapade :)

Once we were all up and moving we made our way back to Barry's for Breakfast.  They boys love to watch and help him cook.

 After breakfast, Ryan, Liam and I came home and showered and let the dog out then went back out to campground.  All the kids ended up at the beach playing in the sand for a little bit.

After all the kids were washed up from the beach they played some more by the camper.  Lots of hide and go seek and tag went on this weekend!  My parents came out later that night and we all had a big dinner at Wayne and Cheryls.  

After dinner we went back home.  It had started to sprinkle so we wanted to get home before the bottom fell out!

Sunday morning we went back out to Barry's again for breakfast.  Not before Ryan burned all the hair on his face trying to help light the Blackstone.  It was definitely not his weekend!

After breakfast, I came back home and got ready for Annalise's baby show at fair.  Maggie wanted to watch her so I volunteered to be the one to show her.  She won 3rd place. But she was for sure the cutest thing out there in our eyes!  After that we went back out to campground for dinner at Barry's and then back home.

Ryan and I got to sleep in Monday morning while the boys stayed out at the campground.  I cleaned up the house a little then we made our way back out to the campground.  When we got there they were all fishing. Well, most were fishing....   

Liam was doing his own thing lol

After they were all fished out we ate dinner then packed up and came home to get ready for school and just relax.  Another jammed packed, fun weekend in the books!  Definitely one to remember!

August in a nutshell

First day of school for these 3!  

Liam - 5th grade- Mrs West

Kane - 3rd grade - Ms. Edwards

Reid - 3rd grade - Mrs Beachboard

I love that our kids are building friendships with kids whose parents we also grew up with.  One of the perks of growing up and staying in your hometown!

Impromptu water balloon fight at the Simmons' house.  Im not sure who had more fun - the kids or Marcus! 

Impromptu means no swim clothes so in order to get home in dry clothes ... just drop down to your undies!  They had as BLAST!  

The cats doing what they do best.  This was the sole reason we wanted them!

I loved having a cut flower garden.  This was my first year but I loved having a constant vase of fresh flowers sitting on my kitchen island.  I also loved sharing them, too!  The boys took these to their teachers.

August 14 - Nana's birthday.... and our 13th wedding anniversary!  Celebrating at her favorite place, Cracker Barrel

We worked hard to get the back patio ready for Ryan's 40 birthday party in September.  These patio lights were the perfect addition!

Summer = garden

Garden = cucumbers

Cucumbers = 14 day sweet pickles

14 day sweet pickles = YUM!

The biggest Dahlia I've ever seen!  

Afternoon walks became a little harder as the cats like to follow us everywhere we go.  Because they are kittens it made me nervous that if they followed us and then wandered like cats do, that they wouldn't find their way back home.  So our walk was cut short. 

A kid in Liam's class had a swim party at the Rec center and invited the whole 5th grade as like a back to school bash!  Kinda cool!

Playing around with the outdoor movie screen we bought to have for Ryan's party as well.  

Watching Jurassic Park because its Declan's birthday and he is obsessed with dinosaurs.

Liam decided he had finally had enough of the long hair and was ready to cut it all off!

So handsome! Mom cut for the win!!!

Its Fall sports season!!

Kane is playing soccer this fall...

.... Reid is playing Flag football in Tullahoma.

Annalise turns 1 year old!

Sweet girl!

I got her this cute little name puzzle and Uncle Ryan got her her first pair of pearl earrings. 

Reid is also playing fall ball in Tullahoma as well.  Manchester doesn't have a fall ball league :(. Ryan thought the Flag football and baseball would overlap a little bit but not interfere with each other.  He was wrong.  We missed a couple games/practices being at the other sport.  Totally learned our lesson! One sport at a time!

Pitching for the first time at I think the first game and he hasn't played since he was 4 .... :O

Sliding into home ... and out of August 2022!