First Hunting Trip

Yesterday was a very dangerous day of firsts. Bret went on his first hunting trip - that's a real gun, not an AirSoft. I've come a long way from the Mom who wouldn't let them buy fake guns at Disney World. Bret's godfather, Steve, is a big outdoorsman and he is giving Bret chances to do all these things that he has wanted to do. They had a good time and no lives were lost among them or the animals they saw (but not at the hunting camp). The other dangerous first was teaching Brantley to drive. He got his learner's permit last Monday but has virtually had no driving experience - once again, if we were big "hunters," he would have been driving four wheelers and other vehicles since he could reach the pedals. So, while Vincent and Bret were in the woods with Steve, Virginia was at a birthday party, and Brantley and I practiced driving around a college campus - that was a great suggestion from a friend - good opportunity to practice with minimal traffic. We'll need a few more trips out there, but the good thing is that he is appropriately cautious and nervous.

All of this was part of the ending of the birthday week - we have had a busy one. Brantley began celebrating his birthday a week early when we took him and some of his friends to the O.A.R. concert - we ended up having 7 children spending the night at our house that night, between the 3 of ours and their friends. On his actual birthday, he saw the new James Bond movie and had friends again. My birthday actually got some time this week with a girls weekend at the Grand Hotel (not planned for my birthday, but it sure felt like it was a present!), dinner at Ruth Chris' on my birthday with the family, and then another girl's night out on Friday (had some husbands who couldn't make it, so we decided to leave them all out). Bret is just beginning his week - he had a friend over on Friday and I took them to the International Festival on Saturday, followed by dinner with Granddaddy and Grandma Nora at the bay. His birthday party is not until next week so we are dragging things out.

Now we are ready for the holidays!

Pet Insurance

Today has been a busy, expensive day. Virginia did not pass her vision screening at school (20/40 - not that bad!), but we needed to follow up with the eye doctor so that was scheduled for today. Meanwhile, Max has had a spot on his foot that he has licked raw and he has had some fleas lately, so I decided that he deserved a doctor's visit too - it is sometimes hard for me to find time to take care of the non-humans - I leave plants and animals to Vincent. Well, since Virginia failed her screening, I expected we'd end up with glasses - which I also knew would come with a nice price tag. After over an hour at the eye doctor, including him dilating her eyes and re-doing some tests, I was expecting him to tell me she was half blind - instead he told me that she was a little nearsighted and has a slight astigmatism, but that neither needed correction. Yeah! A copay, but no glasses yet - just had to buy her a Krispy Kreme doughnut to compensate for the eye drops (there's one on the way home from the eye doctor - we also pass it going to the Orthodontist, so its became a post-doctor treat. After spending my afternoon at the eye doctor, I drove across town to get Max, where I received the bill for nearly $300! A shot, two prescriptions, an ointment, and a supply of flea medicine (knew we needed that). Somehow it feels like getting glasses would have been a better deal for $300.

To update on the rest of the family, Brantley had his first date this weekend - I won't say much because I don't think he'd want me to on the BLOG (I'm having trouble figuring out BLOG etiquette). But, they had their homecoming dance. He and his date and 7 other couples all met for dinner at one of the houses - with parents there meeting each other as well, and then we divided up taking and picking up. Vincent and I lost the coin toss (literally how we determined it), so we had to pick up at midnight. For those of you not in the high school scene yet, it is very impressive how they supervise dances now. No one is allowed to arrive or leave other than during a 30 minute window at the beginning and end of the dance (unless with a parent), and everyone is breathalyzed when they arrive. I guess you could think its bad that they have to do it, but I think its great that they make sure its a clean, safe event.

Don't want to leave out Bret - he is still busy, busy, busy. He is loving football, I don't think I've seen him enjoy any sport this much and the schedule is making him learn great time management and self-discipline to get his work done around football practice. He is also on the Robotics team, which will compete this fall - last year's team went to the State competition at Auburn. The team has to assemble a robot, following certain criteria, and then they have to do a BUNCH of other things (marketing, website, etc.). He is also really enjoying being a class representative.

Football Season

If you live in the Southeast, you know its football season. We've always enjoyed watching football, but with our cheerleader and football player this year, its a new experience. Virginia LOVES cheering and since there is no trying out until high school, we may have found her "sport," (besides tennis, she still loves that, but that is outside of school). The problem with sports is it is hard to get a good action shot (unless you have a much better camera than my Kodak), but at least they are in their uniforms. Bret enjoyed his first game and there were no life threatening hits. I discovered its a lot harder to find your child on the football field than on a soccer field. Those helmets and pads cover them up. Plus, in soccer, they are spread out across the whole field instead of clustered on top of each other. Bret told me he played well, that he successfully blocked his guy everytime. Brantley, like me, has just been a spectator this weekend, but he wented to the high school away game - a big deal for someone whose X-box name is footballsuks. To follow up to the last post, he did not get elected VP - job went to a woman, but he says that he is trying again next year. Pictures will have to be posted tomorrow - it won't let me tonight.

Vote Arata

It has always been my intent to use this as a brag board - that is why I have only given out the address to family so far. We are having a very political week at our house. Last week, both Brantley and Bret informed us of their plans to run for offices in their class. Bret planned to run for Class Representative (there are two 6th grade classes, so I guess there are 2 reps) and Brantley said he was going to run for Class V.P. Well, today Bret gave his speech, which we hear had the class "rolling" and was elected Class Rep - beating out some very popular girls. We had Open House tonight and met his teachers, who told us that one of the girls running thought he should have been disqualified because everyone laughed so much (the teacher had told them they had to give a real speech) - well, Bret had given a real speech, but ad libbed enough to win the audience. Yesterday, Brantley ran for Class V.P. - this meant giving a speech in front of the entire Freshman class (over 300 people) - elections were today and he gets results tomorrow. I'm just so impressed that he gave a speech in front of 300 students, of whom he only knew 50! I'll have results tomorrow.

Hurricane Gustav

As you can see, we were fortunately spared from Hurricane Gustav - this is what we woke up to and other than wind and occasional bands or rain it has not been bad. Don't know yet about the pier at the Bayhouse - we've built two in four years, really don't want to build another one - especially since we decided last week to try to go to Disney World and Universl Studios after Christmas (Dec 30 - Jan 3 if anyone wants to join us). We have had a nice day getting things done around that house that have been on the to-do list since we moved in. I planned a family Scrabble tournament but could only get Brantley and Vincent to play - Virginia's at a friends and Bret hates Scrabble. More pictures soon of Cheerleading and football!