basketball.done.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't happy about TJ's basketball season being over. This year he played for the Carolina Tide out of Winston Salem. They practiced at least twice a week and had a tournament almost every single weekend from March through July. This meant that Ed was gone late driving to and from Winston on practice nights, and he was usually gone or busy from Friday to Sunday. As much as I cherish that time alone with Deuce, it's exhausting to constantly be the only entertainer. I was missing Ed's help. A lot. I went to a few games but with AAU they play multiple games in a day and the tournament often lasts for two days. Do you know how hard it is to contain occupy a toddler all.day.long. in a gym? Almost impossible. He either thinks he should be on the court with TJ, on the bench with the team or doing his football runs up and down the sides of the court.

Luckily there were some younger brothers on this team and Deuce could play with them some, but you know for a toddler, that only lasts for a few minutes. And these boys were old enough to roam the different courts of the tournament on their own. Deuce is obviously not. So there was a tantrum every time the younger brothers were going to watch other games and Deuce had to stay with mommy.

Not pretty. Or fun.

But during TJ's nationals in Charlotte this year there was one day when they only had 1 game scheduled so I decided to go and be supportive and handle Deuce for this one game. It wasn't bad. TJ's team lost so their season was over but TJ played really well.

And after all that running and playing, Deuce went from this....

to this.......

Yes, on the gym floor, beneath my legs right beside the court. He was tired.

So basketball is over for now, until November when the winter YMCA season picks up.

(TJ played in the summer YMCA league too and that just ended last week so now it's officially done!)
I have my husband back, for right now, and I even went to work out the other night and when I came home, Deuce had been bathed and put to bed already. It was so nice to come in the house, sit down with Ed for a few minutes and then get ready for bed myself. In peace and quiet.

West Jefferson

Dad told me and Laura back in the spring that he wanted to take a trip to the mountains over the summer. We thought it sounded like a great idea. Laura used to be a Scottish Highland dancer for like a gagillion years and she competed at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games every year. This is one of the biggest games there are and competitors even come from Scotland. Dad said he wanted to go to the games since we hadn't been since Laura stopped dancing, before going to college. Dad booked a cabin and we made plans. Ed & TJ couldn't come because TJ started his AAU basketball nationals that weekend so they were out of town too. One of the nice things about moving west to Greensboro from Chapel Hill is that it knocks off an hour when going to the mountains.  It only took us about an hour and forty five minutes to get to the cabin. Once we arrived, we immediately had to play baseball. Ever since the College World Series, Deuce has been obsessed. He has 3 bats in the house and he wants to play all the time. This thrills my dad to no end because baseball was his life growing up.

I don't know what kind of ball player he's going to be as he gets older but I can tell you he's going to play ball. Some form of it.

After playing baseball we decided to go down to the river. The Neuse river ran right in front of the house and Deuce was so excited! Can't you tell??

The house was beautiful and had a recliner in the corner. This was the boys' spot all weekend. They sat together, ate there together and played in that chair together.

When we got up on Saturday morning it was raining so we didn't want to go to the games and sit in the rain. I did not want to do that with Deuce. No way. So we hung around the house until the weather passed. Then we decided that we would go fish and play in the creek. We had a blast!

Well we had so much fun playing in the water that we totally lost track of time. We knew we had basically missed all of the highland dancing for Saturday but there was still a Celtic rock band playing that night so we headed back to the house to shower and get ready.

He loves his Pop.

He loves to dance too.

I know I've said it time and time again. And I've posted several videos as well but it's such a part of who he is. Music is on and Deuce is dancing. No matter what kind of music it is.

He had the attention of everyone in the bleachers behind us. It was hilarious.

We decided that next year we will get to the mountains early enough on Friday to play in the river and go see the highland dancing Saturday morning, as long as the weather is nice. It was still a nice trip though and I really enjoyed hanging out with my dad and my sister.

Here are some Instagram shots from the weekend.

The scenery is amazing.

And Happy Birthday to my dad. He's 58 today.

We love you Pop!

Beast.

With college football right around the corner I thought I would share some photos of my nephew Jalen.

Yeah, he's a beast.

Yeah, he just turned 11.

Yeah, he's as tall as me.
And look at those monster feet.

The next 7 years are going to be fun to watch.

My brother in law sent me these from Knoxville.

He says this is a preview of Deuce.

This is what Deuce thinks of Jalen:

 He points to every player in uniform and says "dats Jalen."

He's got some big footsteps to follow.

Summer Catch Up

Man, I am so behind. I haven't posted hardly anything about our summer at all! We have been so busy that now I feel like I'll never get caught up posting everything I want to. I'll start with our trip to Virginia for July 4th.

My uncle my dad and 2 uncles live in the Tidewater area of Virginia. This is where I was born. We decided as a family when we were in Knoxville back in April that we wanted to do a week at the beach together and start a tradition that we can carry on for many years to come. It was kind of a late start for planning for this many people so my Uncle Ricky offered up his house to all of us. There were so many people staying in the house but that made it so much fun! This right here is what we did all week.

We had perfect weather. Every day. If you don't have one of these floaty things for your toddler, purchase one immediately. Well summer's almost over, but for next year. This one came from Wal-Mart and was like $13. They are the best things ever! Deuce could totally swim on his own and I didn't have to hold him the whole time. Once he learned that he could jump off the side, go all the way under and come right back up...we couldn't keep him out of the pool. He loved having his puddle jumper on.

I only left the house one time all week. Friday night we decided to go out to dinner in Yorktown to hear a band on the waterfront. If there is a drum set visible, Deuce wants to be near it.

There was a fountain/pond in the middle of this place and there were the biggest fish ever in it so Ed took Deuce to see them. He was so used to jumping in the pool that I kept thinking that he was just going to jump right on in the pond.

We had reservations at a Mexican restaurant nearby so we walked. Deuce didn't want to hold anybody's hand. He looked like he should be getting ready for kindergarten the way he was walking with all of the adults. There were about 25 of us at one long table and if you know our family, we are not quiet. Especially not after some Patron and Tequila Sunrise's.

(Dad's new girlfriend Kathy. *Totally love her!* She was thrown to the wolves and introduced to the whole family, including me and Laura, all at once. I think we passed her test and she definitely passed ours!)

Somebody decided to tell the waiter that it was Jenny's birthday, even though it wasn't, and they brought out the big sombreros for her to wear. Guess who decided they though they should wear them...

Yeah, Ed too. Saturday was a big day at the house. It was our last full day there so Uncle Ricky fired up the boat and out into the ocean we went. Deuce went on his first boat ride into the ocean and he loved it! He loved to "go fast" and then said he wanted to swim with Nemo and Dory. For realz...

So I jumped in off the side of the boat and guess what... he followed! He kept saying "Nemo & Dory in water" while pointing his finger down. We swam for a little while and when we were getting back into the boat we noticed a dolphin nearby. We were trying to point it out to Deuce and as we were looking for it, we kept seeing more and more dolphins. There had to be at least 30-40 of them and they were swimming all around us (pretty far away so it wasn't weird or anything) but it seemed like no matter which way you looked, if you stared into the horizon, there were dolphins swimming, jumping, and playing. I have seen plenty of dolphins before, they come by mom's beach house every day. But I had never seen this many at one time. It was really neat.

On the way back to the house, Ali Baba (aka my Uncle Ricky) let Deuce "drive" the boat. He was so excited. As the house came into view he kept saying, "home! home!"

Back at the house we spent the rest of the day by the pool. We ordered pizza and stayed at the pool until well after dark. Then we had a dance party upstairs, which is customary for my family.

When you have this much of my family together, there is sure to be plenty of alcohol flowing. Me and TJ dove for Corona bottle caps in the pool while Deuce gave Laura a bath...

floating pool cooler is a must!

I know this is super dark but if you look closely you can see his bright orange shorts and how he dances non-stop!

Everyone formed a circle around him...

To top the night off, we had homemade peach ice cream (another first for Deuce) and he loved it. Ate every last bit. I can't even begin to describe to you how much I love being with my family. This was the best July 4th I think I've ever had. I swam, got sun, went on the boat, took a nap everyday and laughed so hard my face hurt. It doesn't get much better than this...