Run With Rotary 5K

Carter is doing running club at school this fall.  Our school offers the free club after school twice a week for 3rd through 5th graders.  Carter has been enjoying it and learning a lot about running and working out.  This semester the club decided to do a one mile fun run at a local race which was this past Saturday.

Rylan has been wanting to do a 5K so we decided to sign him up for that length.  And he did AMAZING!!!  I didn't sign up for the race but I met him a little before the one mile point and ran the rest with him. 

He finished in 25:56 (8:20/mile pace!!!).  He placed first in his age group of 14 and under.

Carter also did really well but his race wasn't timed.  Brian said he was the third boy to finish though so he also did amazing.

Love our little runners!

Mountain Biking

Carter got a new bike a couple years ago for Christmas.  It's a mountain bike with gears that he uses for triathlons.  He's never been a big bike rider around the neighborhood (partly because Rylan still doesn't want to learn to ride without training wheels and it's hard for me to go with him since I have Gray).  But now that he's getting older, we'll let him ride around the neighborhood on his own.  So he's been riding a little more.  He's also started bringing his bike to Rylan's soccer practice or riding on the greenways while I run with Gray in the stroller.  Carter's been starting to go off the trails some and ride on the grass and over some roots and really liked doing that.

Last weekend I decided to take Carter to Cane Ridge Park so he could try some real mountain biking.  It's the only trail I've done since we've moved to Franklin.  I had great intentions of mountain biking a lot once Gray started preschool but with the remnants of two hurricanes coming through here since school started, the trails have been to wet.

Carter and I did one loop on the first trail (about 2 miles).  He did GREAT!  He never fell and tried most obstacles.  He only got off his bike less than 10 times for a hill that was too big to get up when he didn't switch gears correctly or for a tough dip that scared  him.

Hopefully we get a break from the rain and can go again soon!

Game Ball

Carter had his second baseball game of the season tonight.  Carter's team is the Tincaps (a minor league team out of Fort Wayne).  In the fall, our league doesn't keep score and it's designed to be a developmental season.  Carter is now in the 9 and 10 year old division and they are starting to play "real" baseball!  The kids are pitching for the first time and they can steal.

Carter is one of his team's main pitchers after working with Coach Jeff a little this summer and looking really good.  He pitched in a practice game and in his first real game tonight.  He pitched the entire first inning.  He struck out two batters, only walked one (which is AWESOME for these kids right now), and had a few kids hit off of him (which is actually a good thing because there are so few hits right now with all the bad pitches).

Because he did so great, Carter got the game ball!  YAY! Here he is with Coach Jeff's kids (Christopher and Jack Henry) and Gray.

Head Injuries

The boys REALLY wanted to visit the emergency room this weekend but their heads are just too hard.

After warning the boys to calm down and stop jumping on to the couch, Rylan soared over the couch and into the wall.  There is a huge dent.  If there wasn't a stud right there, we're pretty sure he would have gone through the drywall.

And then the next day Gray fell down our hardwood steps from the very top to just a few steps from the bottom where I caught him as he rolled on his side down the steps.  He pointed to a few spots that hurt (including his head) but stopped crying after five minutes and acted normal the rest of the day.  We've been in our house almost six years and it's the first time one of the boys has fallen down the stairs so I guess we made it pretty long.

Hopefully no more head injuries for awhile for us!!!

Solar Eclipse

Nashville was in the path of the total solar eclipse a few weeks back.  While the partial eclipse most of the country saw was pretty cool, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND seeing a total eclipse.  It was AMAZING.

Williamson County Schools purchased thousands of glasses and were planning on having the kids outside during the eclipse.  However, our school was out of the path of totality by less than a mile.  I decided if there was ever a reason to take my kids out of school, this was it.  So we skipped school that day and drove over to a park in Smyrna where there was a minute and 45 seconds of totality.  We decided to go east because the traffic in and out and Nashville (which is north of us) was predicted to be horrible.

We went to Sharp Springs Park and it was a perfect location.  We set up under a line of trees with giant open fields on both sides of us.

It was a really hot day but the shade was nice enough to even play soccer while we waited for "first contact".  We had no idea how bad traffic was going to be so we got to the park pretty early.

Brian and I even fit in runs before it all began.  As I was coming in from my run, Carter was excited to tell me he saw the eclipse just starting.

This guy was excited to see the "banana in the sky", as he called it.  He kept having to check it out and make sure it looked the same in each person's glasses.

Jen, Burke, and Lofton ended up joining us.  They left there other kiddos in school because they were getting 45 seconds of totality there.  There was a rogue cloud in front of the sun for about 30 minutes before the total eclipse started.  It kept morphing and would not move until just a few minutes before totality.  It was stressing us out but it all worked out!

As it started to get darker, all the cicadas started making noise and the birds started to roost.  It was pretty dramatic.  As totality was getting close, you could hear people off in the distance shouting and the noise traveled to us.  And then the total eclipse started.  It was really, really cool.  I didn't take pictures (just these two) because (1) it's supposed to be difficult to get good pictures and (2) I wanted to experience the eclipse with the kids!

The 360 degree sunset was pretty cool.  My phone camera was trying to adjust for the darkness and these pictures turned out much lighter than it actually was.

And then it was over and time to put our glasses back on if we wanted to look up.  We stuck around for a little bit (the rouge cloud totally disappeared during totality!!!) and looked at the partial eclipse as we packed up all our stuff.  But after the main event, it wasn't so exciting :)

I'm so glad we took our kids out of school to experience the total eclipse.  It was absolutely amazing.  I highly recommend traveling in 2024 to get into the path totality!!!

Art Camps

This summer the boys played a lot of sports but also each did one art camp.

Rylan did a three day camp with Julie Alley.  Both boys did her camp last summer and over winter break.  Along with painting some awesome canvases, the kids get to play outside.  She has an awesome backyard and she organizes games of kick the can and capture the flag.  Rylan did the camp with Mae and Reed this year.  Here are a few of my favorite art pieces that Rylan came home with ...

During the same week, Carter did a five day camp at O'More College of Design.  He did one there last year as well.  This year he did a photography class and Evie did it with him.  Carter is now convinced he wants a good camera for his birthday.  The class involves classroom instruction as well as walking around campus and downtown Franklin to take photos.  Here are the pictures that Carter submitted at the end of the class for the art show at the end of the summer ...

Fall Sports

Let the crazy begin!  Carter and Rylan have their first baseball and soccer games of the season tomorrow (4 games total), plus a birthday party to go to afterwards.

Gray - First Day of Preschool

Gray started preschool today!  He is going to a different school than the older boys and so far we are happy with it!

Gray visited his classroom and met his teachers last week.  When I took him into school today, he went right to playing in the area he'd played in last week and barely noticed me leave.  When I picked him up, he was sitting quietly on the rug listening to one of his teachers.  He was happy to see me but also good with staying at school for a picnic with the rest of the kids.

Gray will be going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays this year for five hours each day.  He was very proud of the placemat he got to take home today with all the kids' names in his class on it.  I think he likes being like his big bros and also going to school.  Next week we start drop-off line - hopefully that will go just as well!

Nashville Sounds

Brian's company had their annual family outing last night at the Nashville Sounds game.  As always, they took over the deck in the outfield and had a catered buffet dinner.  We got there right as gates opened (an hour before the game) and got a perfect table to watch the game from and enjoy free food and beer.  The Yazoo Pale Ale tap was hidden behind a coke machine (the lady manning it said the keg was too heavy for her to move it) and we were some of the few who found it and it lasted most of the game - yay!

The big boys sat below us in front row seats most of the game.

Rylan even got a foul ball that the left fielder threw to him!

This guy was happy the entire game so we stayed until the end.

The Coke tent was set up where you can make a can with your name on it and one for a friend.  We visited it a few times so the boys could get cans for their best buddies.

Since it was Friday, there were fireworks after the game.  They lasted about 5 minutes and were surprisingly impressive!

Rylan got pretty excited :)

We didn't leave until about 10:30 pm and all the boys passed out on the drive home.  Rylan said it was his favorite game ever (even better than the game he went to for his birthday a few weeks ago!).

First Day of School

Carter started 3rd grade and Rylan started 1st grade today.  They both had great first days!

Carter is in Ms. Miller's class (and switches to Ms. Smith's class two times a day).  This is his first year with two teachers.  Ms. Miller seems awesome!  She has been teaching third grade at the school since it opened six years ago.  Her kids are in high school and college so she is the most experienced teacher we've had so far.  She has lots of energy and is super sweet.  Ms. Smith is new to our school but has taught for a couple of years already.  I haven't spoken much to her but she seems nice and I'm sure Carter will like her.

Rylan is in Ms. Tullis's class.  She is also new to our school but has taught for six years.  She seems super organized (yay!) and serious about teaching (unlike Rylan's teacher last year).  When I met her I got the impression that she is very nice but not lovey on the kids.  Rylan said this afternoon that she is strict.  But I'm sure she is setting rules and expectations early and the kids will warm up to her.  I'm excited for Rylan to have a better teacher this year!

Carter is so excited because two of his best buddies (Whit and Eduardo) are in his class (their desks are even in the same grouping).  He also has a couple of other good friends from previous years in the class as well as our neighbor.

Rylan didn't get any of his friends in his class but there are two girls and a boy that he knows from his class last year (the girls are at his table).  But he said he made a new friend who played with him at recess (as well as with most of the boys that were together in Rylan's class last year).

We are all looking forward to a great year!