Aggravating Things

He went fishing.

 

I took the day off and took the kids to Six Flags.

We got there at noon (posted opening time); they didn't open until 6:00 pm.

It took three tries to find a movie theater to fill the six hour void in our day.

The movie theater that did exist didn't have a moving starting until 5:00, so we played laser tag.

We had a blast at Six Flags; until we left for the two hour drive home around midnight and I realized I had lost my phone.

No problem, I'll get another tomorrow before I travel on Sunday. I know the way home after driving around Atlanta all day long.

At one in the morning, the car engine overheats and starts blowing steam an hour from home.

We get a hotel, and resolve to begin Saturday fresh--as in leave the car, get a one-way rental, pick up a new phone.

The next morning, we get a car on the third try, a very expensive replacement phone on the second try, and drive away from the mini-van.

 

Car is now returned, fixed.

Phone replacement problem still being worked out...

Going Fishing: One

Six Flags: -7

 

Fish

Here lies "Fish"

Won at the Elementary Fall Festival, and buried the next day. 

He was a good fish, with us not long enough to earn a name.

Replacement fish: doing well in his de-chlorinated water...

Frankenstein Fun Run

Where Nicholas took second place overall in the 5K!

 

And here he is with Third place finisher, daddy.

Well done, guys.

 

And then the whole Stuber clan crushed the one mile fun run. Nick, Elaine, and Ben taking first, second and third!

Entrance fees for a family of six--let's just say we could have had our names on the T-Shirts as corporate sponsors.

Middle School Fall Festival

And then the next week, it was Middle School Fall Festival time.

 

Where we just roll our eyes at this and just walk away.

 

Elementary School Fall Festival

The girls teachers talked them into posing for a picture as a break at the "Pie the Teacher" booth,

And to their delight, it became "Pie the Former Student" event.

Georgia on My Mind

While the kids and Patric toured Ft. Benning, I stayed home to get in a few hours of work.  But the neighbor had different plans for me.  He showed up to help Patric take some limbs down from some trees, some 30 feet in the air.  When he learned that Patric was in Georgia, he went ahead and went to work himself.

 

Because being a Southern Gentleman of a generation before me, ladies do not help with such things.  Except, I couldn't not help.  So I spent a couple of hours sneaking around behind the neighbor, holding ladders and cleaning away trim and generally making sure there was no falling off of things or impaling ourselves with saws out there. 

Fall Break at the Infantry Museum

Over 20 years later, last week Patric found himself needing to return to the beginning--Ft. Benning, GA.

 

So, he took the kids and they made a day of it, visiting the Infantry Museum there.  Should anyone be passing through Columbus, GA, it is apparently well worth the stop.  The kids didn't want to leave.

 

 

There was a firing range for the kids.

 

A jungle warfare experience, complete with an ambush attack.

 

And an IMAX theater in there.

But here they are in a tank with Flat Stanley.

 

Their dad apparently made some new friends with a couple of military police after our children very innocently noticed the unlatched hatches on this tank....

 

It's Fall!!!!!

We finally had weather outdoors that didn't make you melt last weekend!

 

And it finally occurred to me what makes one a spring or a fall person...

 

North of here, you are cooped up all winter, waiting for spring.

 

Here, you are cooped up all summer, waiting for fall.

Biker Girl

Girl after my own heart--not fearless, but not paralyzed by it either.

She took her time.  She let dad run right beside her.  She knows first gear now.  She can crank that thing up on her own just as well as any brother. She learned how to wreck safely.

 

And she had a blast. 

An ounce of Prevention

Not so much a pleasure: flu shots.

Although, to be different, he claims they tickle.

 

Ben nearly bit through his own arm while getting his.

 

Daddy was daddy.

 

And then daddy was daddy.

 

And this little one went last, last, last.

 

Because she went first to get it over with last year, and she flipped out. Then she made everyone else flip out. Nicholas, who was last on the 2015 list, took three people to hold him down by the time we got to him.

 

Grandma and Grandpa Airplane

Getting lucky at the game of life.

 

Cranking up the generator for what was the first time ever and before there was a need.

 

A little archery.

 

And some relaxation on the first tolerable post-summer weekend so far this year.

It was a pleasure to spend it with you!

 

This is Apparently a Thing Around the Country This Year

"Mommy, tell your mommy that she makes the best Halloween costumes."

 

I'm pretty sure when I wore this it was topped with a mask of a happier variety...

Freaky Friday

I'm pretty sure I never expected that scorpions would be a nuisance in Alabama.

He'll have nothing to do with a family round of Just Dance.

That's just a fact.

 

But the boy will take Gestures/Charades VERY seriously.

 

Very.

 

And he's often the best one of us.

Handsome

Particularly when he just gets dressed because he knows Scouts is tonight and we're going to ask him anyway.

Welcome

Because we needed another family member.

They are working on his backstory now. 

Let the Halloween TomFoolery Begin!