BIKE!!

Nice weekend visit from Aunt Jenny and Chloe. The swing set is a hit and everyone loves to play on it!
Chloe likes to pose.
Here is our little Lance. He rode about 1 mile on the Creeper Trial. It was so much fun and he loved every minute of it. He rode across the bridge about 5 times. I really think he wore a path in the wood that afternoon.
First trail ride on his new mountain bike!

Headed for the bridge.
On our way to visit the neighbors.
I really don't know who was more excited about this moment, David or Hunter.
Played some golf last week and Hunter learned how to 'tee it up.'
Getting ready to putt....and he made it of course!

You all know by now how much Hunter loves to ride on things including but certainly not limited to mowers, tractors, trucks...and on and on and on. Well, he finally is able to ride a big boy bike, or 'big bike' as he calls it. David and I were in shock. I just didn't think they made bikes that small and then I didn't think he could really do it. We stopped by outdoor store in Bristol where they also sold bicycles. David was looking at the fly fishing gear and I was looking at the shoes (yes, we were watching Hunter, it is a small store and the bikes were nestled in between the shoes and fishing gear) when Hunter just got on this little bike and started riding it around. It was a little too big, but once we asked to lower the seat he just took off like he had been riding for months! It was so much fun to watch his excitement. He could do it and he was so very proud of himself. Of course we took it home and it is the very first thing he asks to do every morning. The pictures are great and I hope he enjoys bike riding for a long time.

Reunion weekend!

Just a really pretty picture of the Creeper Trail from my friend April.
Last night together! So sad to see everyone go.
Amanda, Hunter and I relaxing while we wait for the boat to get going!
Gianna and her daughter, Anna Rose, or Rose. She is 2.5 and Hunter thought she was the greatest! She was the sweetest little girl with a rock star personality!
Kathy and her son Tyler. He was 15 months old and had fun chasing around the 2 year olds.
Picnic in Damascus.
Adult section of the picnic!
Hunter and his new BFF, Rose.
They played and played...
April took a picture of the tree house about 1/2 mile from our access to the Creeper. I think I posted a pic of this before, but here's another if I did!
Creeper Trial bike ride. We all rode from the trial head in Abingdon to our access point in our neighborhood. It was about 7 miles. Tyler and Hunter even enjoyed the trailer ride...well up until the last 10 minutes!
First day together, we had lunch at the Martha Washington Inn.


What a wonderful weekend we had with all my college buddies! When we graduated from UNCW we all vowed that we would stay in touch and try to have a reunion weekend every year. Well, we have done a pretty good job of staying in touch but....we let too much time pass before we all got together again. We did really good having get togethers up until we started getting married, having children, moving all over the country and officially starting adult careers. We all haven't been together since my wedding, which was over 4 years ago. This is way too long to go without seeing some of your closest friends! We had lots of fun and thankfully the weather was beautiful. It was nice and warm during the day with cool, chilly nights.

FAIR!!!

These went a little faster than I thought they would, but Hunter really liked riding them!
I don't know why they chose the chicken!
The first ride of the evening. "Jeep, jeep!"
Yes, I know you all hear it. David: "I sure would like to have one of these." Me: "Are you kidding me, you need to sell the vette."
David did let Hunter sit on it first.
Loved it.
This one too.
This was his favorite. He kept going back to it and saying, "big, big!"

Hunter really, really likes to ride on things. The tractor, the car, his ride on toys, his tricycles...anything that moves Hunter wants on it. He will even ask, "mommy, ride it..peas?" So when I saw the Washington county fair was coming to town I just knew we had to go. I figured it would be really small, but when your 2 and you never get to ride on rides I knew Hunter would have a ball. So off we went to the big fair in the country. I just have to mention that the parking was in a huge cow pasture and they even had extra spaces set aside for 'all terrain vehicles'...yes I guess folks just rode their four wheelers to the fair! Anyway, I knew there would be some smaller rides for him to ride but I had no idea there would be a HUGE tractor display. They had every kind of farm equipment piece of machinery you could ever want and better yet you could sit on them. You guessed it, for about one hour all we did was let Hunter climb on one tractor to the next. Just when I thought I couldn't take anymore tractor stimulation the new Spider motorcycle vendors showed up so David and Hunter moved on from the tractors to the motorcycles.
Hunter also enjoyed the rides. There were only a few that he could ride but he had fun. We went on a Wednesday night so there were not many people there and so he was the only one on a couple of them. It was nice because we didn't have to wait in any lines, but I think Hunter would have preferred to have some company.
In other big news at the fair, Hunter actually petted a baby cow! David and I were in a state of shock. While waiting for the rides to open we visited the stockyard expedition. We weren't real sure if Hunter would be in to this (we were having flashbacks of the zoo) but he really liked looking at the animals. Not touching them or even trying to touch the cages, but he did look at them and he wasn't clinging to my neck. He was walking around like a big boy. We all had a fun time at the fair. There isn't much to say about this fair but the best part is that Hunter loved it!

Back to shcool!

Hunter on his first day of school--2009.

Hunter's fist day of school last year. Where did the year go? He still looks like a baby.

Hunter has started back to school for the fall and it has been great. I love the extra time in the mornings and he loves playing and seeing all his ole buddies again. He has 2 new teachers, Ms. Deb and Ms. Tiffany and lots of new little friends. I am especially happy to see more boys this year in his class. Last year he was the only boy out of 5! I took his diaper bag the first day and very quickly realized that he was too big for a baby bag, he needed a back pack. Ms. Deb politely said on day one, "Mrs. Simmons please leave that big thing at home and bring that boy something he can hang on the hook outside the door". So now he has his own little back pack where he stows some cars in case he gets homesick...I guess and off we go. It is really cute and I will have to get a picture of him carrying it. They do all kinds of fun things and last week the theme was 'all about me' so they had to have a picture of their family and they made hand and foot prints. This week must be about trucks because he colored a picture of a garbage truck and very proudly showed it to David and I this evening. Of course, for those of you that really know Hunter, the one color he used the most to color the truck---ORANGE. He is crazy over the color orange. We went shopping the other day for some desperately needed big boy clothes and I bought everything orange I could find. We are working on our colors and he is getting really good at it. He knows orange, blue, and pink (thanks to Chloe). It is hit or miss with red and green. He is also trying to count. So far we have made it to 2..I know baby steps right! Sometimes I can get 1,2,3 out of him but that is hit or miss too!

Fishing days

Hunter taking some whacks at this poor fish!
David trying to fish...in a little bit of peace.
He needs to learn to throw it out just a little bit farther.
David untangling the line for like the 1004748493938475750 time!

Whew! It has been a whirlwind past couple of weeks for the Simmons fam! We have had lots of beautiful weather and lots of company with family and friends. We have also enjoyed some nice days together just the 3 of us. We were really lucky with David's schedule and he had the first two weeks of September off. We always have fun when David is home but sometimes I think we are even busier than when he is working! He is so much fun and full of energy, Hunter and I just hang on for the adventures.

Hunter is really starting to enjoy the boat more and more which means we get to enjoy the boat more. The water level of South Holston lake is controlled by a dam and the TVA. Every summer they raise the level of the water for recreational reasons I suppose and then they drop the levels in the fall. We really enjoyed the lake when it was full, but now that the water levels are lower there are several places around the lake to dock the boat and let Hunter out to explore, fish and swim. Yes, I said SWIM! He loves it and will go just about anywhere that David goes as long as he has on his Micheal Phelps suit. We were out one afternoon and he was just floating in the water and David yells to me, "Is it close to naptime?, Oh yes you should probably come on back to the boat. David--I think he has fallen asleep in the water." He also likes to fish. David gives him a rod without a hook and Hunter just casts and casts and casts until he gets bored watching the bobber....or if David catches a fish. David has actually caught a couple of fish despite Hunter's brutal attacks on the water with his rod, but as soon as David yells, "Hunter, I got one!" Hunter frantically beats at the fish with his rod and wants to step on it as soon as David gets it off the hook. It is quite the show and the poor fish is scared to death, I'm sure.