Earring Change Day!

Olivia was so excited to finally be able to change her earrings this morning.  After having a hard time getting the backs off of the original earrings, she let me do it.  Then, she dropped the back of the new pair and had to go to Pair #2.  Finally ... she got them in and was so exctied!

Visit with Camp Counselors

Olivia and Kit's sweet counselor from camp called last week and invited them to get frozen yogurt on Friday afternoon.  Another counselor was in town visiting before heading off to college.  The counselors picked them up after school and they headed to 32 Degrees for about an hour and a half.

Greer, Kit, Olivia and Elizabeth

Mac - First Day of 3rd Grade

McIver popped right out of bed on Thursday morning.  He was excited to get to school and ended up starting his day with a puzzle so he was perfectly happy!

He barely tolerated the photo session.  I love this shot, but wish we had moved the dry erase board out of the way first.

New dress code requires a belt every.single.day.  He loves his new shoes!

What more could this puzzle-loving boy ask for?

Olivia - First Day of 5th Grade

It's hard to believe Olivia started 5th Grade last week.  We went to orientation on Tuesday so she could set up her locker and meet all of the teachers.  She might have been a tad nervous, but she was more excited than anything.

Obligatory first day of school pictures.  Now that she's in the IMS (Intermediate/Middle School) she is not required to wear tennis shoes to school every day.  They change clothes for PE so she keeps them in her locker.  Decided what shoes to wear on the first day was a big decision.

Tex is glad school's back in session ... it means regular playtime in the mornings waiting for carpool.

Pool Fun

We met some friends at the pool last week for an end-of-summer hurrah. 

St. Simons 2012

Last day on the beach...

More practice with the casting net.

His arms were so tired, but he had fun figuring it out.

He even caught a few teeny, tiny fish.

Olivia gave it a try, too.

Ahhhhh, sheer relaxation!

Myrtle Waves

McIver was invited to join his buddy Hugh to celebrate Hugh's 9th birthday at Myrtle Waves.  They left at 10am on Sunday and didn't get home until 11pm because they stayed until the park closed.  Hugh's dad sent this picture about half-way through the day.  I'd say they were having a pretty good day!

5th Grade Orientation

I took Olivia to the Intermediate/Middle School Orientation yesterday at school.  We loaded up all of her school supplies and locker paraphernalia so she could set up her locker.  She brought her school supplies downstairs in her laundry basket so we just carried them like that into school.  I felt like I was moving her into a dorm room.

After a quick introduction of all of the 5th grade teaching team, the students and faculty went upstairs to the 5th grade hall while the IMS head talked to the parents.  He assured us that he can tell how a child's day will go just by the way they get out of the car in carline each morning.  They promised that they will not treat our children like mini-8th graders, that they appreciate the different physical, emotional and social changes children this age are going through.  It made this anxious mama's heart calm a bit.

Olivia and her buddies were busy unloading supplies and getting their lockers decorated once the parents got upstairs.  Per the IMS head's suggestion (as if I wouldn't have done it anyway!), I took this 'before' photo of Olivia's locker all neat and organized.

St. Simons 2012 - Shark Fishing

We woke up to gray skies on Wednesday morning, our shark fishing day.  Thankfully, the air was a bit cooler as we set off with Jaybird for our trip.  We never did find any bait fish, but Jaybird was prepared with some frozen bait.  Once we found a shrimp boat to follow, it didn't take long to get our first bite.

Cacoo was excited to be able to join us this time.  Olivia and McIver were kind enough to let her take the first bite.

Cacoo's fish was giving her a work-out so Pop took over for a little while.

Not long after Catherine's line started to run, the second line started spinning, too.  Mac and Will took over that one.

McIver brought in the only spinner shark of the day.

Even Jaybird had to get in on the action with Cacoo's black tip shark.  Turns out, he was hooked on his fin, so that's what was giving everyone such a hard time.  He was a FIGHTER!  Any time we got him close enough to the boat, he started to flail around and even bit at the side of the boat.  Scary!

After we released the first two sharks, we found the same shrimp boat and threw the lines in the water again.  (And, by 'we' I mean Jaybird!)  I was glad to have the boat moving again, even if we did get pretty wet from rain and choppy seas.  

Olivia had the honor of reeling in the third shark of the day, with a little help from Dad.

He was another big black tip.

Cacoo started out with the last shark, but Pop took over again for a little bit.  This one took them all over the boat from back to front and back again.

We all agreed that this was the biggest one of the day.

Check him out!

If it weren't for all those teeth, he would have been nice to look at.

Jaybird was kind enough to take a picture of us in front of the St. Simons Lighthouse as we made our way back to the dock.

Jaybird was great with the kids.  He (patiently) answered all of McIver's questions and listened to all of his stories.  And, even let Mac drive the boat!

I didn't get to reel in a shark this year but did manage to make it into a picture with Mac driving the boat back to the dock.

We got back to the Village and had a great lunch at Brogen's before the rain started.  Perfect afternoon for napping!

St. Simons 2012

Olivia was so happy to have Will at the beach with us to boogie board with her.

Mac got a casting net for Christmas and was finally able to try it out.  After Will gave him some pointers, he spent a looooooong time trying to perfect his cast in the tidal pool.

Not a bad toss.

Burying Mac in the sand.

Olivia's turn in the sand.

Olivia's favorite snack:  boiled peanuts!

Mac wandered down the beach to see what these guys were catching.

All of a sudden, we saw watched him take over the rod and start reeling something in.

It was a SHARK!!

St. Simons 2012

Some family beach pics...

Sunset is absolutely the best time to be on the beach!

St. Simons 2012

After a late morning at the beach, we hit the pool.  Olivia and McIver set up the 'empties' and had target practice.  Kept them occupied for a good long tie!

McIver took his turn with a little bit of a different set-up.

New beach rules say we can't take the dogs to the beach between 9am and 6pm.  That's the best time of day to be down there.  Except, poor Tex wandered off the path and ended up with giant sand spurs all over his paws.  Thankfully, Olivia let Will borrow her flip flops so he could bring Tex back to safety.

My peeps!

Mac loves playing with the crabs all over the beach at low tide.

He could spend hours just digging.