The Hunters

Grady has been asking to go hunting for a long time now.  Josh finally talked to his friend Robert, an avid hunter and outdoorsman, who took them out in the field.  Robert was going dove hunting and asked the boys and Josh to join him.  He has two sons as well that tagged along.  

On the way, the boys spotted this car and fell in love.  The owner let them take photos with it and then squeeled the tires when he pulled out.  The day was already great.

It seemed like most of the day consisted of sitting around and eating

Grady was on the lookout for doves

I think Myles enjoyed the sitting around and eating

One of the poor doves 

Meanwhile, back at home, Emma and I hung out

She dressed herself

Then she picked out what we were having for dinner.  Cantaloupe, bananas, zucchini, onion, red onion, peanut butter and sugar.  Interesting.....

The hunters cooked their kill.  They managed to shoot 3 doves.  Robert showed them how to pluck and clean them.  The boys did it all by themselves.

Josh make homemade bread to go with the meat course

They were so proud.  Haha, just look at the tiny little dinner.

They can't wait to go hunting again.

Just to add some cuteness to the day of bird death, here are our two adorable pups.

Seriously, they are the cutest

Trying to fit in Sachi's bed.  

Last Lake Day

Labor Day marked our last day of boat season.  The nights are getting chillier and the water temp is dropping.  For our last hurrah, we decided that the pups could come along for the ride.  

Look at Sachi the water dog.  She wasn't too keen on swimming but she liked floating on the tube.

Who said a three legged Chihuahua couldn't enjoy the lake? This one sure does

Of course, Pip the water dog, had a blast

True to form, Emma monopolized all of Sachi's time

Favorite pic of the day.  They are both a little askew 

Pip doesn't like when her boys are in the water and she's not with them

She was concern

The many faces of Em and Sachi

Isn't she beautiful?

Adios, Lake James.  Until springtime.

5th, 3rd and Pre-K

Summer time came to a close and school started up.  The boys were excited to see their friends but not ready for school work to begin.  We now have a 5th grader, a 3rd grader and one in Pre-K.  I'm looking forward to next year when they are all in the same school.

Ok, so the thumbs down was their initial reaction to school starting.

I asked them to do a normal pic.  Don't they look thrilled?

Emma, on the other hand, was ecstatic that school was starting.

She is our child that thrives with structure.  I think all the free time and no routine over the summer just about put her over the edge (and her behavior put me over the edge). 

She looks like a little old lady in this pic

Ready for school!!!

Solar Eclipse

A day before school started was the big solar eclipse. We were all ready with solar glasses in hand.  I got ours just before everything sold out.  They were going like crazy around here.  I ended up paying $5 a pair but it was totally worth it.  

We were not in the path of totality in Black Mountain but we didn't want to fight the crowds to get there.  At home we were 99.6 % so we figured that was close enough.  

The big event was amazing.  Hard to put in words but made me feel so small.  As the moon covered the sun, it looked like dusk and the crickets came out.  It was eerily quiet.  All of our neighbors were out to watch.  Grady was jumping around with excitement, Myles exclaimed, "it's not that cool", and Emma didn't know what was going on.  Pretty much all par for the course with those 3.  I enjoyed every moment.  What a an awesome experience. 

Checking out the start of the eclipse 

I tried to get a photo on my phone with the glasses over the camera.  It didn't work.

Our tiny house neighbor, Terry, came to watch with us

Pip was not impressed

Terry was trying to get a photo through glasses

We were afraid these big puffy clouds would block our view

Waiting for the full coverage

The clouds cleared up just as we went into the 99% coverage

Eclipse Time!!!!  99.6%!

I hope this is an event that the boys will remember