McKenna's "accident"

Last weekend David took on the somewhat daunting task of teaching Alyssa & McKenna to ride their bikes without training wheels while I was golfing. McKenna is a very determined little girl who told her daddy she wanted to learn how to ride it like that before her sister!! A little sibling competition is good for the soul right?! ha ha They spent several hours outside in the grass mastering their skills and when I came home progressed to the driveway. Alyssa isn't nearly as determined as McKenna - she gives up much easier and has little to no patience (hmmm...wonder who she gets that from! he he) - but I'm happy to say they both had it under control for the most part by that evening.

McKenna

Of course they wanted to show off their new skill for their friends and family so we headed down the street to Wendy & Scooty's house (David's cousin) where they had tons of people to show...5 other kids including their cousin's Megan & Trevor, my bro and sis-in-law (Melissa & Jimmy) and Scooty's parents.


Alyssa

It's a gorgeous night - I grab a beer and a seat in the comfy adirondack chair and begin to chat. Not 10 minutes later we hear a LOUD THUMP and about 10 seconds later someone screams "OH MY GOD, SHE'S BLEEDING!"....she being McKenna. The determined little girl had drove her bike right into the back of my parked SUV...nose first :-( Naturally there was lots (and lots) of bleeding, but lucky for me, Scooty is an EMT so he took control. I wasn't freaking out at all - I was talking to her the entire time and holding her hair back as he worked to control the bleeding. Good news - all her teeth were still in place and she was only injured on the nose. Bad news -her nose had swollen up instantly and was turning black & blue so we decided a little trip to the ER was for the best.

It's hard to tell, but notice the blood on her bow on the shirt...and her one nostril is dark...that's blood!

Thanks to Melissa & Jimmy - they kept Alyssa & Brennan (who was gagging when he saw the blood!!!) - while we went to the ER. We arrived at 8:18 p.m. and we left at 2:30 a.m. Yes, SIX HOURS later we were finally released with a bruised and scratched up daughter, but no broken or fractured nose...thank goodness! She slept from 10 p.m. - 1 a.m. while we waited to have x-rays taken so at least she caught a good cat nap. David & I on the other hand, were super tired - not to mention bored - but happy to find out it wasn't broken.

It's blurry - but it was taken at 3 a.m. Notice the bruising - it's hard to see!

The very next day we headed over to my mother-in-law's house so McKenna, and Alyssa, could show off their new bike riding skills. I'm happy to report that no one crashed and burned...and that McKenna was brave enough to get back on the bike less than 24 hours later. The bike riding continues...and I'm sure we'll have more bumps and bruises along the way...but for now things have calmed down some in our house. Thank goodness :-)

Mother's Instinct

Last Friday I took Alyssa & Brennan to the Blue Crabs game...a minor league baseball team that recently opened in our county. Melissa, Megan, Kerry and Jayci joined us and we met Joanne there with her granddaughter Gracie. The theme of the night was Skins vs. Dallas so naturally our entire group was DECKED out in Redskins gear! Booo Dallas :-)

Alyssa, Megan, Jayci & Brennan

My mom and a few of her friends also attended the game...we sat behind the Blue Crabs dugout and they sat behind the opposing team's dugout.

Me, Melissa & Kerry

Kerry, Jayci, Megan & Melissa singing Hail to the Redskins!

The night started out great. The weather was beautiful, Joanne was able to get us seats in her section - 4 rows from the field, right behind the home team dugout - it was perfect. Not soon after we sat down Joanne called her daughter Shelby - who works for the Blue Crabs - to see if she could get all 5 kids down on the field for a carnvial like game in between innings. Shelby quickly called back and said yes and within a few minutes she was standing at the top of the stairs in our section waiting for them to go up to her.

Melissa called my mom to let her know to look out for them and I got my camera ready....my last words to Melissa were "please don't let that girl lose my kid" to which she replied "don't be ridiculous - they are FINE!"

So off they go - up to Shelby - back down to the field and they're playing a game where you have to throw a ball (or bean bag) into the clown's mouth on the big wooden board....I'm taking pics and then I suddenly realize BRENNAN IS NOT ON THE FIELD!!!!

Notice - no Brennan - no #89 jersey anywhere on that field...this is where the night went downhill!

My panic level rises slightly - Melissa asks my mom if she can see him from her seats...no. I ask Kerry if she sees him...no. Then the kids are coming back up the stairs, off the field and I yell to Alyssa "where's Brennan?" and she shrugs her shoulders and says I dunno. OH MY GOD...OH MY GOD - are you serious?! Melissa hangs up with my mom, I drop everything in my hands and immediately start crying....and running.

I run up the stairs searching - looking at every little face I can see - and none of them are my baby. My 5 year old is missing and I'm a hysterical mess. I finally find a cop and tell him my problem....he asks for his stats....name, height, age, what's he wearing....this is when i realize that he's not wearing anything that will make him stand out in the crowd...he's wearing a Santana Moss (89) Redskins jersey and so are 90% of the people there (ok maybe not Moss, but a jersey!). He seemed rather uniniterested.

About 10 minutes has gone by at this time. I am sobbing. My mom is crying. Melissa is searching the men's bathrooms. The entire section I was sitting in is looking for him...and still my 5 year old baby is missing. How can this be?! HOW?

And then - finally -a lifetime later.....Kerry SEES HIM. OH MY GOD - she sees him and I take off sprinting in the direction she pointed. Still crying HARD - running fast - and I see him. He's really still here - holding an usher's hand - sobbing. I fall to the ground - literally - and hug him tighter than I thought possible. I just kept apologizing to him - I'm sooooo sorry buddy - I'm so sorry :-( People are watching us - my mom is crying - Melissa is crying - and people are just watching. The usher finally moves us into the nurse's station so we can regroup and calm down. I thanked him a million times and that wasn't enough. We cried and hugged more and my mom went to calm Alyssa down - who I forgot to mention was also sobbing for her little brother.

Back together again - so very happy!

In my entire life -I'm not sure I've ever felt panic like that. Not even when I was robbed at gunpoint a few years back. Nothing in my life has ever prepared me for that feeling and I hope for the rest of my life I never feel that type of panic again...ever. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. I held him tight for the rest of the evening - treated him to ice cream and plenty of hugs & kisses.

Alyssa with the Blue Crabs mascot

Enjoying the slide before we left

It still brings tears to my eyes when I think I might have never found him. Two lessons learned from this terrible incident:

1. Make sure your kids know your first and last name....during his panic he couldn't remember our last name - poor baby :-(

2. Always go with your mother's instinct. My gut said he shouldn't go with that girl - I said it out loud to Melissa "please don't let that girl lose my kid" and I let him go anyhow. NEVER again will I ignore my mother's instinct....ever.

Oh I how LOVE this child....

First Day of School

Another year has begun - it's hard to believe how quickly the summer went by - but today was the first day of school! Alyssa & McKenna are officially 2nd graders and "my baby" is a kindergartner!!! Where did the time go?

Alyssa waiting to leave

So proud of his backpack!

McKenna

McKenna didn't get to ride the bus on the first day - more to come on that - but we were at the doc's office having her nose examined after she rode her bike into my SUV on Saturday night!!!

Brennan did great getting on the bus - he gave me a big smile, a big kiss and big wave good-bye and off he went.

Getting on the bus

Alyssa was sitting with him on the bus - being a good big sister. I was super proud of myself - not one tear was shed :-)

The Family

Let the fun of school and homework begin...hope everyone else had a great first day of school - or your kids did!

ASA Clambake

Every year my company does some sort of event for staff and/or family in the summer. The past few years we've had a company picnic and brought our families along. This year they changed it up and on Friday we had the first ever ASA Clambake at that National Harbor. Fosters Downeast Clambake were our hosts and everyone had a blast!

Melissa, Karen and I

Believe it or not, the weather was perfect (yes, it's still August in DC!) and we were under a tent right on the Potomac River. It was gorgeous! We indulged on New England Clam Chowder, Steamed Mussels & Clams and then a choice of BBQ chicken or a whole maine lobster, red potatoes and corn on the cob. I chose the lobster and it was delightful - so tasty :-)

Our yummy lunch!

Karen & I trying our first ever steamed clam....they were good!


Melissa & Toby


After that feast we finished with blueberry crumb cake wihch was very tasty too. And of course it wouldn't be an ASA event without booze and games! We played our own version of "The Office" Olympics and had a great time.

My Olympics team...Katie, Luanne, Lyn, Steve, Emily, Melissa, Brandon & Sarah

We did platform diving (think oversized paper clip being dropped in a coffee cup), javelin (paper airplanes), shotput (throwing staplers!), Olympic trivia, artistic gymnastics (charades) and basketball (cups filled with water were the baskets - the balls were ping pong balls). Unfortunately my team didn't win, but here's a shot of the gold medal winners...I think they cheated :-) ha ha


The Gold Medalists...Dawn, Karen, Joy, Ray, Michelle, Karen, Andrea & Tracy

Before we knew it the day had ended and most of the staff boarded the
water taxi and headed home.

A view from the tent

For anyone in the area, I'd highly recommend a visit to the National Harbor if you haven't seen it yet - it's very pretty and has lots of great restaurants to choose from...including Fosters!

Beach Bums!

As promised, here's another update on our summer fun...our trip to Panama City Beach (PCB), FL. Luckily for us, my dad and stepmom bought a townhouse at the beach and hurried to have it ready for our arrival in mid-July. We drove down...what an adventure that was...and arrived ready to have fun. On the way down we stopped for gas at 11:30 p.m., 3 kids and a dog in the truck, and when David went to start it up again all we got was this CLICK, CLICK, CLICK....a DEAD BATTERY!!! Of course the first words out of my hubby's mouth were "I KNEW you needed a new battery!" As you can imagine, that didn't make the situation any better. We got a jump, stopped at the next exit to get a new battery at the 24-hour Walmart and were on our way again. What a mess!

While in PCB we went to the beach 4 times (the water is amazingly beautiful there), went to the pool everyday, David & I got to play golf twice (thanks Dad & Lisa for babysitting), played mini-golf twice, ate WAY too much (he he) and got some good quality time with my nephews Chase & Braden.

Our first day on the beach - with Lisa

Dinner at the Treasure Ship

Surfin' the waves - boy did they have fun doing that!

Sadly enough, this is the only family shot we got all week!

One of the best parts of our trip was our day on the Sea Dragon...a Pirate Ship cruise.


Chase, Alyssa & Braden headed for the pirate ship


The Sea Dragon Pirate Ship

The 5 of us were joined by my stepmom Lisa, Braden & Chase for a 2-hour cruise. Boy did they keep those kids busy! They had the boys swab the deck (mop), they all got their faces painted (well not Chase - he didn't think that was so cool!), they read them a pirate story, went hunting for a treasure, got to enjoy the treasure, played limbo, danced with tamborines, and the best part....a real, live water gun fight with another boat. It was hysterical and those kids were drenched when it was over :-)

My lil pirate...swabbing the deck

Braden

Arrggh!

Another fun day was spent at Gulf World where we got to enjoy a dolphin show, sea lion show, and a reptile show. Here is my crazy daughter McKenna holding a Columbian Python. GROSS! She does not get her love for animals from her mommy that's for sure! And yes, he is real!

FORE! An evening of mini-golf

All in all, our time in PCB went by extremely too fast, but we filled every moment with fun things that given us memories to last a lifetime. My kids are still talking about Pop Pop & Lisa's beach house! They can't wait to go back...and neither can I :-)

Alyssa enjoying the weather at dinner - I love this pic!

Chase & McKenna

After we left PCB we headed to my dad's house in Tallahassee for a few days where I got to meet my beautiful niece Madelyn (aka Maddie). I spent hours holding her (no it didn't make me want another one!!) and we got to see my grandma too.

Madelyn Grace

Pop Pop, Lisa and all the grandkids. This was the best shot we could get!

When we left FL we were KID FREE -woo hoo!!! Thanks again Dad & Lisa for keeping the kids - they had such a good time.

David I headed home alone and took a short pitstop in Lake Norman, NC - outside Charlotte. We spent 2 days there golfing and house hunting....we think we've found our future home, but when is the 10 million dollar question!

As always, vacations come to an end way too fast and before we knew it we were back in Simpsonville (what I call where we live) and headed back to work....but we did manage to get in TONS and TONS of golf while the kids were gone. More on that later...

Summer Update

I thought it was time for me to give another summer update since it was 1 1/2 months ago since I last posted! It's been a very busy, but fun summer so I will break these up into several posts so they aren't overwhelming! First...

Warder Family Reunion in July

My mom's family - mom, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews...you get the idea!

Every other year my mom's family holds a family reunion and this was the year for the big gathering!

Our family before the festivities started

The reunion draws people from all over the country and can have anywhere up to 150 attendees....lots of family members to visit with during the weekend :-)

My mom, Brennan and my Grandma (mom's mom)

It starts on Friday night when we go to eat crabs - they were delicious this year. On Saturday we all gather at Marbury Run Park for a day filled with food, fun and laughter. Each family brings a dish and it goes on the table family style - boy did Brennan like that idea! ha ha The kids got to participate in a bubble gum blowing contest,

Alyssa won this contest!

McKenna preparing to eat the apple...with no front teeth!

apple eating contest (no hands allowed), water balloon throwing contest and tug-o-war. The weather, surprisingly enough, wasn't overly hot and we had a really good time. Unfortunately, not as many people showed up this year - especially kids - but that meant my kids got to win lots of prizes!! The big hit all day was the tree swing (man it's old - I used to get on it when I was a kid!!) and the creek - couldn't keep my kids outta there for some reason :-)

On Sunday we went to Capt. John's Crabhouse for another round of crabs and finished up the weekend Monday with a trip to Kings Dominion. Needless to say, the kids really loved that!

Brennan, Alyssa, McKenna, Jayci & Cousin Callie at Kings Dominion

Alyssa rode every wooden roller coaster at the park....Grizzly, Rebel Yell, Scooby Doo...over and over. Unfortunately, McKenna still isn't tall enough so she didn't get to ride all of them. But she still had a good time and really loved the waterslides....especially watching how scared her mommy was on them! ha ha Hopefully next year she'll hit the magical height to ride all the coasters.

Next post...Florida vacation...coming soon!