Watauga Lake Triathlon

 This triathlon was an odd distance Triathlon at Watauga Lake located right outside of Boone, NC.  Mom and Chloe came up to watch the boys so David and I could take off and race.  It was an 1000m swim, 25 mile bike and a 5 mile run.  It was a super hilly bike and run course but it was a great training day and a lot of fun to do.  I finished 2nd for the females.  So irritating to lose based on my poor swimming abilities!!  The girl that beat me was something like 10 minutes faster than me in the water and I couldn't make the time up on the bike or the run.  I made some ground and she only ended up beating me by about 30 seconds.  Bummer.  I have got to get faster in the water!!  David did great too and placed 4th overall for the men and first in his age group.  The prizes for this race were handmade pieces of pottery.  Beautiful, beautiful pieces of pottery.  Now we need to compete in this race every year until we have a full set of coffee cups!

 The men representing!  Brian Dawson joined us from Abingdon and Matt from Maryland and Joe from Raleigh.  All three of these fabulous guys competed with us in the Raleigh Half Ironman this past June.

Picture of the lake where we completed our swim.

First day of Preschool!

Yes, this was all I got for the first day of preschool for Lucas.  He wore his backpack long enough for the picture to be taken and then it was pulled off and pushed to the side, "too heavy" he proclaimed.  Note the dinosaur egg from the Cracker Barrel made the photo.  I feel like we can't leave home without one of those eggs.  Despite his lack of enthusiasm, Lucas had a wonderful first day of preschool.  This year he has Ms. Kayla and Ms. Mary in the 3-4 year old classroom.

FIrst day of 2nd Grade!

Big Chloe dressed to impress on her first day of the second grade!  Hunter, Lucas and I traveled home for the big event!  Cute as button and growing by leaps and bounds.  Can you believe this sweet little girl is going to be eight in just a few short months?

First trip to the Dentist!

This little guy did GREAT!!  I had been putting off the trip to the dentist with him as long as I could.  He is AWFUL to get his haircut so I just knew going to the dentist was going to be a nightmare.  All I can say is that Lucas was terrific.  He did exactly what he was told to do.  He used his big boy manners, climbed right on up in the chair, opened his mouth as wide as he could and made me one proud mommy!  All smiles and dimples with NO cavities today!!

Planes

Ready, set, go!  This was Lucas' first trip to the movies and we saw Planes.  They all loved it and were great, well behaved movie watchers.

Atlanta exhaustion!

 This usually never happens.  He never, ever sleeps in the car but this little man was tuckered out!

Not so surprising.  Hunter has always slept in the car.  You can see his birthday present in his hand.  His new Nintendo DS which he played in the car until his battery died.  I guess after that he decided to nap!

Hunter's 6th birthday celebration weekend!

This year in lieu of a birthday bash at home, Hunter opted for an adventure!  He wanted to see a baseball game.  With wonderful family in Atlanta off we went to watch the Braves play. Hunter had 3 fabulous days of city fun.  It seems like I have more pictures of Lucas than Hunter, but I had the camera and I spent most the of birthday weekend with Lucas on a short leash.  Hunter had a great birthday weekend thanks to Aunt Noelle and Uncle Kevin!!   These pictures aren't in order but the festivities started on Friday afternoon.  First we went to Lego Land and then on to fine dining at a yummy Japanese restaurant.  What little kid isn't entertained by a hat, chopsticks and a funny guy who cooks up your food right in front of you!

Saturday evening we went to the game.  Atlanta was playing Miami and was on a crazy winning streak.  Unfortunately, they lost this game but Hunter and Eli LOVED it!  They managed to watch the entire game which included a little rain delay.  In the above picture we were lined up to walk around the infield.  AMAZING!  I loved this part, I think it was my favorite.  The kids got to look into the dugouts, see people working on the infield, hear the music and band, and gaze way up into the stands.  We were all gifted from the Yo-Simms an official Braves t-shirt with the name Simmons across the back.  Yes, it is our last name but the cool thing is the short stop for the Braves is also a Simmons!  Pretty cool, don't you think?

Lucas and I didn't exactly enjoy the game as much as the others.  Lucas was in a pretty cranky mood for most of the weekend and I was on duty to manage.  It was Okay and I had some smiles every now and again.  We spent some of the rain delay playing tag around these big balls.  He was a little young to sit through the game...maybe in a few years I will dare to go back with him. Maybe.

Lego Land enterance.

One room in Lego Land was designed after Atlanta.  They had the stadiums, football and baseball, downtown skyscrapers, Grant Park (where the Yo-Sims live and the zoo) and a replica of Stone Mountain.  I can only imagine how long it took to put this room together.

Here they are designing their own Lego cars to race.

Hunter at his birthday dinner!

Saturday morning trip to the zoo.

Buddies getting ready for the big game!

I love these kiddos!  Not sure why Linden looks so gloomy...I think she wanted Hunter's corn dog!!!

What a fun and exhausting birthday for our big 6 year old!!!!!

 Pausing for a photo as we make our way around the ball park.

 Someone needed to be carried so he could see up in the stadium.

 Sweet guys and best buddies.

 Another picture of our yummy birthday dinner.

 Can't  believe this man in 6 years old!

Day on the lake

 The Turners had a great idea, RENT a boat!!  The weather was nice, the water warm and the company couldn't have been any better (well, we were missing David, with his presence this outing would have been perfect!).  It was so much fun!!!  As you can see the little ones were snuggled up and ready to go.

 One of my cutie pie sailors.

 Here is the gang, well most of the gang.  I just noticed that Larkin is absent in this picture, or is that her little hand behind Emerson?  She is so tiny,  I think that is her behind Emerson.

 All little ones tried tubing with the exception of Lucas.  We couldn't convince him to do it.

 He did enjoy swimming though.

It's always more fun with friends.  This picture is funny.  Hunter is giving the thumbs up to go faster and Emerson is giving the thumbs down sign to go slower.

First Tooth is GONE!!!

Hunter finally lost that little, wiggly, dangling tooth!!!  This tooth first started to wiggle in May.  It did not come out until August.  His adult tooth was already up through the gums and trying to find a place to call home.  I couldn't stand that little tooth just hanging on but he wouldn't let me pull it.  I made him wiggle it 2-3 times a day hoping it would fall out but it never did.  One afternoon I convinced him to let me try to get it out.  He agreed and after a few failed attempts it popped out!!  He was laughing and didn't realize I actually got the thing to come out until he felt the empty hole with his tongue.  He lost it right before his 6th birthday and the tooth fairy brought him five dollars for tooth number one!!!