Atlanta, Georgia weekend

 We have been itching to travel.  

Atlanta is two and a half hours away, so we headed to GA for our long weekend!

 The boys were ecstatic when we told them we were going to Six Flags on our first day!

 We spent half of our time at the water park and the other half riding the roller coasters.

 It was HOT and humid!  We were worn out by the end of the day.  We were all fast asleep by 9:00!

 Ethan has a big science project due in a few weeks.  After a bit of research, we learned that Stone Mountain was super close to Atlanta and he could use the brochure information in his project. 

We headed out Sunday morning!   

 The temperature had dropped a bit and we enjoyed walking around the park.

 After Stone Mountain, we had a super fun lunch at Dave and Busters.  

We spent 2 1/2 hours eating and playing!  

The time flew by!

 The boys had a blast!

 It was about 3:00 and I told the family that Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.  I asked if they wanted to go see his house.  I received a big fat YES....of course!!!  

We stopped at the church he and his father preached in first.  

 We walked by his grave site.  

 We ended at his house!  The whole historic area was within walking distance.  

We had a gorgeous weather day for seeing all the history. 

 We ended our night at Richard Blais' Flip Burger.  

Our weekend was so quick, but we packed in a ton of stuff!!!  Nate goes back to work tomorrow, but the boys and I get one more day together!  Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Lincoln's Soccer 2015

 Both of they boys have started fall soccer.  

Lincoln has practices on Friday night and games on Saturday morning. 

  He had a great time at his first game this past Saturday.  

He hustled the entire game!

 I think he enjoyed the game even more because his buddy from his class was on the opposing team.  Nate and I laughed and laughed over the third grade trash talk between the two.

 Once again, he is the smallest on the team.  The first night of practice he came over and asked why he was so much slower than all of the other players.  

I had to explain that his legs are smaller and he has to work harder.  He looks at me with a very serious face and asks, "So, what are we going to do about it?"

 His coaches are fantastic.  You can tell they have lots of soccer experience.  

Link will learn a lot this year.

We are doing soccer at our church, so during half time all of the teams 

take a break to sing, pray, and rest!  

Ethan is participating in soccer at the YMCA.  His game photos are to follow in a few weeks!

Geneva and Jay's Wedding

The Leaps made a super fast weekend trip to San Antonio for Geneva and Jay's wedding.   We got in about 1:30 Friday night and left at 10:00 am Sunday morning.

The wedding was a costume wedding.  Love is Timeless.  

 They had a dessert competition for the reception.  This was a great idea!!!

We didn't plan it, but we were both from the 20s!

 We had a mini Our Lady of the Lake reunion!

 For the reception, they had a talent show.  The boys loved watching all the talent.  Their favorite was a Star Wars Song sung to the tune of Bye Bye Miss American Pie.  

 Sally and I talked throughout the talent show.....just like old time!  Talking in class!

 The gorgeous couple!  

 Jaycee telling jokes for her talent!

 Too cool for school!

 Geneva and Jay ended the night with the cutest dance!  I loved it!

Congratulations to you both!  Love you!

Middle School

I am not sure if you have heard that military kids are extremely resilient, but boy is it true!  Ethan started his fourth school in six years.  I get anxious just thinking about it.  In fact, on Thursday I worried about him all day.  Was he making friends?  Did he eat lunch with anyone?  Did he have a classmate on the bus?  

When he got home, I asked how his day was and he replied that it was great.  He talked to one boy in his class, but they didn't have the same lunch period and he didn't know anyone on the bus.  I was ok with that.  I gave him some pointers on finding someone at lunch and on the bus, but he blew me off.  It's day three and he met a kid at lunch and a kid on the bus.  He tells me school is great and he is fine!  

He also started youth group at church.  He doesn't know anyone at church.  They had a youth function Sunday night.  About half way through, Nate went to check on him.  He was sitting on the couch by himself.  When it was over, I went to get him and he didn't want to leave.  I asked if he met anyone and he said, "Not really."  I love that he is so independent.  I love that he is confident enough to not need someone with him all the time!  I don't know how he does it!  I would be a wreck!

He has grown so much this summer, and I couldn't be more proud of him!

First Day of School

 The boys started Sixth Grade and Third Grade on Thursday.

 Nate took off and we took Ethan to school first.  He didn't want us to go with him, but I am so glad we did.  We got lost trying to find his class.  We were able to glance at his schedule and see what his typical day would look like.  I was able to leave with and not worry about him all day!  When he came home, he was all smiles!  He had a great day.

 Lincoln has two brand new teachers!  They were so friendly and sweet!  He wanted us to take him!  Ethan rides the bus to and from school.  His bus comes at 6:50!  CRAZY early!  Link has requested that I take him to school.  I get about an hour of Link time each morning and Ethan comes home about 45 minutes before Link, so I get some Ethan time in the afternoon.

This is Lincoln's second school and Ethan's fourth school.  I think it gets harder for me each move.  These two are so resilient though!  They are doing great!

Bass Pro Shop

What do you do when you are stir crazy from the heat and your body can't take another pool day?  You go to Bass Pro Shop!

 The guys were not too sure about this place when I was telling them about it.

 Their attitude changed as soon as they saw that they could shoot guns!

 We need to talk Daddy into taking us camping!  I think we found a  tent big enough?

 We definitely NEEDED this in Germany!

 The guys found a million things that they asked me to buy for them.  

These silly pillows were one of the things!

 They were zooming around the store so fast, so I told suggested a lunch break in the store.

 Ethan saw alligator and we all had to try it!

 We shared catfish, shrimp, and alligator!  Everything was so good!

 Lincoln saw this hat and told me to take a picture for Papa!  

We ended the trip with a few minutes of relaxing in the boats!

Overall, they were pleasantly surprised with Bass Pro Shop.