Bible School!!

We are having Bible School at Calvary Baptist Church this week. Brady has made it two days so far. (He dropped out after one night last year.) I bribed him to go back Tuesday with a day at home with me. I am going to try to bribe him tonight with a new monster truck toy (Samson). Tomorrow is the picnic, so a hotdog should be enough of a bribe for the last night!

I guess I should be thinking about what the Bible says about bribes???? I don't think that the Lord will mind since at Bible School there is a six foot squirrel, a six foot dinosaur and a mean six foot ape that make appearances. Brady is terrified of them. His friend Sam thinks they are funny, but not Brady!

There were 27 kids in our class on Monday and 24 on Tuesday. They have been great!

The kids have enjoyed snow cones, cookies, pop corn and kool aid this week. I think that is the only reason that some of them come! Whatever it takes to get them there! Maybe they will remember just a little of the message along with the fun and a seed will be planted in their hearts that will last forever! That is what we are praying for!

Monster Truck Show (another redneck story)

We took a family outing this weekend to Bristol Motor Speedway to see the monster truck show. We went early enough for Brady to go into the pits and see the trucks up close. There were eight trucks and four demolition derby cars. The kids were allowed to sign the demolition derby cars. I thought the monster truck show was pretty boring. They did not race, only went by time trials. The best part of it was the motocross bikes that performed between the qualifying. They took these huge jumps and the guys went off of the bikes in mid-air. It was awesome. It started lightning at about 8:30, so we had to leave the stands. I had enough so we left. I do not think that we got our $45 worth, though.

On another redneck note (see previous blog), I need to send out an apology to my friend Carolyn who called to tell me that her husband has crushed aluminum cans with his truck. She said that he did it while they were in the bag, so I think that would be considered a little classier.

Redneck Can Crusher

I was driving home from work on Friday when I got to a curvy part of the road below my house. I slowed wayyy down because a truck in the driveway of a "tralr" (I will have to post about that story sometime) or mobile home as we call it in the insurance business, was about to pull out in front of me. Then he stopped and backed up. Then he pulled forward again. When I got closer to the drive way, I noticed that there were aluminum soda cans all over the driveway. This guy was crushing a ton of aluminum cans with his truck! It was hilarious. I got home and told Charlie about it, but he did not think it was funny..... it seems that if you crush the cans you get more money per pound at the recycling center.....I guess that guy is a little smarter than me. I would have stomped them with my foot!

Boys of Summer

Most of our summer evenings (when it is not raining)are spent in the front yard playing "baseball". Brady plays with the tee and without it. He can actually hit it farther when it is pitched to him. We have a great time, but it is really hard get to sleep at a decent time when there is baseball in the air!

I really hope this is his passion (and not football!). Charlie takes him down to the ball field below our house a couple of nights a week to watch the men play softball. He watches for a while, then plays in the dirt for a while. We went to watch Tommy's t-ball game, but it rained out.

Don't we have a beautiful view from our front yard?

How does your garden grow?

This is our beautiful garden! We are super excited that our first legitimate try has turned out so well. We have already harvested some cucumbers and had enough to share with Nay. Charlie checked the potatoes to make sure they had not rotted (a few rows were flooded from rain), but they looked great. Brady was even showing off a baby one. In a few days we will have squash. The corn has grown a lot since this photo was taken a few days ago. Hopefully we will be blessed abundantly with tomatoes so that we can share!

Baby potato (and mismatched pajamas!).

One of the pretty cucumbers. Brady was really excited about growing something that we could eat.

Beach Pictures

A happy beach bum!

This is the sweetest picture of Brady and Courtney!

I love this picture of Brady. It was taken at 6am on our first morning at the beach. He was so Happy Go Lucky!

Beach Bums

Lucky us - my mom invited us to go to the beach with her! We left on a spur of the moment trip to Cherry Grove Beach. That is SO unlike me. Before Brady (BB), I would never have done something like that. I would have ironed and packed for a week, made sure everything in my house was spotless and in the correct space just in case I met an early demise and did not make it back home from the trip. Now I just fly by the seat of my pants (sometimes) and let the Lord take care of things!

We had a great time at the beach. Brady did not sleep a wink on the way down - and it was like the Shrek movie where they go to visit Fiona's parents in Far Far Away with Donkey constantly kept saying "are we there yet?". Brady asked every fifteen or twenty minutes. It about drove me crazy. We told him for a while that it was a long way. After we stopped in the Statesville area to plug the phone up at a McDonalds (yes, dead phone - no car charger, long story) and get something to eat (TEA), we started telling him that we were almost there.....Sad.

I think I just got bitten by a mosquito....back to the story.....

We threw our stuff out of the car at the condo and went straight to the beach when we got there. Brady loved it! He loved the sand and the water. His main concern before we arrived was that there would be a lot of crabs on the beach (like on Tom and Jerry) and that Bruce (the shark on Nemo) would try to eat him. We did see a few small crabs, but Bruce did not show up!

Morning #1, Brady wakes up before 5:30 am. So that he will not wake everyone else in the condo, I throw on some clothes and take him to the beach. We were there by 6. We had to drive a few miles, the condo was not beach front, and still made it by 6. I am trying to post a picture of the sunrise with Brady walking on the beach. If it does not show up - I will have to go to Mom's and add it later!

Morning #2, Brady wakes up before 6:30 am. Charlie, Courtney, Brady and I were at the beach before 7.

Morning #3, Brady, Courtney and I were at the beach by 8. We took our stuff and stayed a few hours that time. It was miserable hot that day and Courtney kept asking when we were going back to the room!

It was a great time seeing the beach through the eyes of a child. Courtney was a great help - she entertained Brady a lot. Pop and Charlie played with him in the water. Mom entertained him at the condo. He even took up with my aunt and uncle who stayed in the condo too. If you are fortunate enough to have family that will travel with you, or invite you on their vacation, take advantage of it! It is wonderful to have help entertaining a 3 1/2 year old!