Congratulations Tailur!

Since my sister doesn't blog I thought I would give a shout out to my nephew Tailur. Kim emailed me today stating the following:

"Tailur called me when he arrived home from school today to let me know that he was selected by the school staff as one of the two leaders for his class this year!

The middle school has two teams for each grade (a Blue & a Gold team) and each team had a leader rewarded. Some of you may remember Brett Beer from Tate's AAU basketball team, he was the winner for the Blue team.

I am so proud of him for all of his accomplishments, but this one is extra special."

We are all very proud of him and hope he continues to do excellent work.

LOVE YOU TATE!

Heath Family Vacation

This past week the Heath's took their first "family vacation." Shane hates to fly so we decided to drive just in time for gas prices to go up. The most we paid is when we got back home and that was $3.38. The trip was great. We have tons of photos and video that we will have to share with you all. I split it up into three parts so I could get more pictures in. Thanks to Jason, Jill, Pam, Ron, Clyde, and Trent for letting us invade on your space for some time. It was great and hope to do it again next year.

Shane, Kelli, Ian, and Anna

Part 1: Jason and Jill's

My brother and sister-in-law moved to Moody, Alabama about 8 months ago. So on our way to Florida we stopped in for the weekend. We left at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday thinking the kids would sleep the 9 hour drive being fresh and ready to go Friday morning. DIDN'T HAPPEN! Ian slept for two hours and had an accident in his seat and on Shane, yes two. Within minutes. Guess he really had to go. As Shane was getting very angry I said to him "You wanted to drive Clark. This is your Griswold family vacation." He responded by saying "Yeah but Rusty never pissed on Clark." We had to explain to Ian how you can't wait till the very last minute like at home. He did very good the rest of the trip. Anna just couldn't get comfy and slept in like 20 minute intervals. They did much better during the day. Jason and Jill's new house is awesome and we had so much fun just being with them. We went to the Birmingham Zoo on Saturday and it had some cool exhibits. The Tiger spent the whole time right up at the glass and it seemed as though you were touching it. They had a little fountain thing where the kids could splash and play and also a big rock type park Ian loved. He was all about making new friends going right up to other kids and introducing himself - "I'm Batman." Hey what can I say.....his father's son.

There were these two really scary lions there. The one has a ferocious roar and the other has Anna's "look."

After the zoo, Jas took us to the top of this mountain where you could see the whole city. It was breath taking.

Part 2: Aunt Pam's

After leaving my brother's house, we headed to my aunt Pam and uncle Ron's home. We ended up having to change travel plans that morning because of the wild fires and I-75 being shut down. We have now driven clear across Georgia (length and width). Once getting there we headed for the beach. First day was raining and cold. Second try at it started out cloudy and ended up being a beautiful day. We spent most of the day there even eating a picnic lunch....REAL sandwich. The kids loved the water and we had to watch them very closely cause they would run right for it if not. There were storms so the waves were rough also. We built sand castles, buried Ian in the sand, wrote our names and looked for shells.

We also went to the Brevard County Zoo. This was a smaller zoo but very nice. It was not real crowed and had some cool exhibits. The giraffe's were cool. There is a platform at eye level where you can feed them treats. Ian loved this, Anna slept. They had a train that went around the zoo as well.

If you have been to Florida before you will know they have little lizards everywhere. My cousin's son Trey (the great white hunter) came over one day to help Ian catch one. Anna helped with this to. They did catch one but it's tail fell off setting itself free. Clyde, the neighbor, caught one for him and Ian named him Frankie. We had to set him free after Anna shook his box violently. Ian cried "I'm gonna miss you so much Frankie." Hey, we already have a frog, fish, and dog. Plus they wanted to catch a snake to send home with me. Ha.

In Clyde's back yard he has a gazebo that Anna loved to climb up in. These are some adorable pictures of her.

Part 3: Magic Kingdom

At the end of our trip we went to Disney's Magic Kingdom. The kids really seemed to have a blast and Shane and I enjoyed ourselves to. We got there at about 9:30 a.m. and stayed until after the light parade at about 9:30 p.m. Even with all the sun, people, and no sleep the kids did good. When we first entered the park Ian got to meet Pluto and the family posed for a shot. We, of course, had to tour Mickey and Minnie's homes which were really cute. Ian then got to meet Mickey. Anna did not like him and didn't want a thing to do with him. She cried and when we were leaving Ian pointed out that she doesn't like mice just like Daddy doesn't. I think Ian's favorite part (which changes daily) was the pirates of the Caribbean. He went to Disney a Batman fan and came back a Pirate fan. He had to have the hat, sword, eye patch, and earring. The sword got broke on the ride home, I lost the patch and Anna tries to eat the earring every chance she gets. In addition to meeting Pluto and Mickey, Ian got his picture with Buzz and Winnie but they are on another camera. He went on most rides and even a roller coaster which he laughed on the whole way (have to see the tape). I think he amazed himself with some things like the Haunted Mansion. He was a little scared at first and left loving it. Anna would just hide her head when it was loud or dark on any ride.

Tae Kwan Do Experts...almost

For the past 6 months or so Ian has been polishing up on his Tae Kwan Do skills. He recently earned his orange belt and is well on his way to the coveted black belt. He is joined in this mission by his buddy Krue Nagel. This is the first I have had my camera and the two of them together in their dobok (uniform). Aren't they the cutest.

I just have to share this. He has practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Thursdays, Erin and I are in a bible study together so practice is up to the Dads. Sometimes Shane and Lee will get dinner afterwards and most times at the Munchie here in town. Ian told me yesterday that at Fiesta Day at school they got to have Lemonade. He said to me "Krue likes Lemonade." I asked how he knew this and he then told me "When we go to Munchies that is what he always gets." I asked if he usually got lemonade as well. To which he replied "My daddy doesn't get me lemonade cause he thinks it has sugar in it." I did ask what he did drink and he smiled and said "Chocolate milk." Go figure.

Outdoor fun.

Do any of you remember being outside all day long growing up. I do. We always had so much fun playing house or riding bikes, or making movies, or whatever but it was outside. Shane working thirds forces me to be creative at times (weekends) so that the house is quiet for him to get some beauty sleep. This weekend it was a blustery day and so we flew Ian's kite. Anna even got to help. She really just wanted to play in the dirt...YEAH that's my girl. After this we played ball on the "big kid" field. Ian was the second baseman. He loved it. He really just wanted to play in the dirt to. So we left and went to the big park in a town over from us. Had only planned on playing for an hour but ended up staying two. We played hide-n-seek, super heroes, and swings. Anna ended up falling asleep on the swings and then I sat holding her watching Ian play. I was nice to have a break for reality and see things on a kids level. Anyone want to join me next time?

Cookie Monster

Anna had her first chocolate cookie this weekend and it was too funny to pass. She looks like she has a mustache or beard. I love it!

If it looks like a DUCK, quacks like a DUCK, and waddles like a DUCK......

Lori Snover bought a few friends to our house last Friday: Fred and Howard. Yes Fred and Howard are baby ducks. The kids loved them. I know Ian Scott would love to have one but remember we have a frog and fish that I have to care for. If one of the grandparents would like to keep a duck at their house for him I am sure Lori could work that out.

Fred and Howard liked cartoons to. Ian had them all cuddled up with him on the couch.