Star Wars Night with the Birmingham Barons

I know this post isn't clever or creative, but work and life are too busy for me to have any left over creative juices for the blog today! However, I feel guilty if I slack off, so I'm just posting what I'm posting and counting it a minor victory! 

A few months ago, the Birmingham Baron's held a "Star Wars Night" during the weekend baseball game. We had been planning on going for weeks because the Thomas boys are NUTS about all things Star Wars! It did not disappoint! This was pretty much a dream come true for Knox and Lucas!

This guy (storm trooper maybe??) said hello to Lucas then went about his way. Lucas reached up and grabbed his hand and walked the length of the field with his costumed hero! Lucas' was LOCKED IN on him the whole time! It was the cutest thing!

London wasn't so sure about all the characters at first but she got into it after a while!

Getting handcuffed

A real life light saber!

Lucas being adorable!

She was really excited about "Dart Vader"!

Lucas and his Storm Trooper buddy! I don't know why I don't have any pictures of Knox! 

Eating ice cream and dancing! This was such a fun night! It's all coming back to me now! 

Watching the post game fireworks... (and being stunningly beautiful)

They played famous star wars music during the show and Knox would immediately 'name that tune' based on which movie it was in!  #1 Fan!

I love this picture! My favorite people ever watching a grand fireworks show! I love the look in all of their eyes! Fireworks are magical! 

Springville Splash Pad

I'm trying to do a better job at loading pictures from my phone onto the blog before I get too far removed from the day.... obviously I'm killing it because today we're recapping the last day of summer break... which was over a month ago. 

Life. 

Am I right?!

I took our next to kin to a splash pad north of Birmingham for a day of wet.... that didn't involve me solo parenting 3 kids in a swimming pool. We've put off trying out this particular splash pad for a while because it looked too far away on a map. It took no time at all to get there, and was a STELLAR facility! It was $1 per person to play, which would've been worth the price if we would've only stayed for 30 minutes. Instead we spent a good 4+ hours wearing 3 kids slap out and it cost a whopping $4. That's my kind of fun.

Not to mention we had the place to ourselves for the first hour! Score!

Knox Thomas

Lucas Thomas being his incredibly awesome self!

The Springville splash pad has a huge play ground right next to the splash pad and a man made stream that runs beside it. I'm curious where the water source originates from because it was FREEZING and was probably 101 degrees outside this day. The kids liked it but all of them complained that they couldn't feel their feet after a few minutes of wading around in it!

They're my favorite little adventurers! Always up for a good time! 

A little vaca

My teensy best buddy and I played hooky for a day and headed down to Booper's Beach this past weekend for a little fun in the sun. This was the by far the coolest beach trip we've ever been on! Our first day down was magical. I know that's corny, but there's no other way to put it! I'm not sure what was happening, but the ocean was ALIVE on Friday and we spent the day marveling at all she had to offer! 

We had the great pleasure of sitting beside two gals... one who was an elementary school teacher. She reminded me of Mrs. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus because she spent the day spotting these amazing things in the ocean then pointing them out for London to go hunt down and explore. She said her years of teaching taught her that kids learn better when they can touch, feel, and experience things rather than just read in books. London and I spent the weekend happily under her tutelage and I'm so thankful for all that she shared with us! 

On Friday, the beach was totally covered over in seashells. The water was crystal clear so London and I goggled up and spent the entire day underwater. We found bags full of beautiful shells and "Professor Marine Biologist'" (our friend) even gave us this super cool star fish that she found that was black and white striped like a zebra! While we were hunting, London dove down to grab this beautiful shell. She pulled it up and immediately started screaming like a banshee and said IT'S LEGS ARE GETTING ME! I dove down to see what was going on and she had picked up a hermit crab! We kept him as a pet for a few hours then sent him back home! (I could've picked a better picture but let's just be thankful I've got a minute to write... so no additional hermit pics! :0) We found a few sand dollars too! 

A bit later, our friend rushed into the surf and started calling for us to get out and look. She spotted a sea turtle lazily swimming right in the shallows! London was SO PUMPED and kept screaming at me to catch it so we watched it for a few minutes then ran up ahead to see if we could head it off and get a good look. We chased him down for a bit but eventually got within 3 or 4 feet of him and just watched him swim all around us! It was INCREDIBLE!! He wasn't very big... about the size of a basketball, but he was beautiful! Here's a picture of his head... not a good shot but I was trying to actually SEE him, not miss the experience because I was fooling with my phone! 

Shortly thereafter, our friend pointed out a group of dolphins swimming by. There was a baby dolphin swimming with the group that was putting on a 'sea world' worthy flips show right in front of us! Back flips, spin flips, high jumps, the whole shebang! It was awesome! We probably saw 20-25 dolphins over the course of the day! 

The rest of the day, London and I snorkeled a bit further out because there were a bunch of tropical looking fish swimming around. You see a lot of fish normally, but they are just white colored and not much to look at. (Bad grammar alert) Whatever we saw had clear bodies and neon yellow tail and under the belly fins. They would swim all around you and right into your face and body! It was SO COOL to be in that beautiful water, floating with my girl. It was incredibly special to be searching, see an amazing fish then look over and make eye contact with Lu right as she would see it too... both of our faces totally lit up with the excitement of it all! I don't think I'll ever forget the look on her face and the sparkle of her eyes. It was a thrilling day... one of the best of my life! 

The next two days were breathtakingly beautiful, but I joked that it was like Jesus Fish had come and raptured all the wild life! The shells were mostly gone and we didn't see a single dolphin or any other wild animal out in the sea. It was beautiful but quiet as a mouse! No complaints from us though! We still soaked up every second of this view!

Performing for Professor Marine Biologist

(No, sadly, we didn't paddle board, but we pretended to!)

Most of the time, her courage scares me to death, but I was super proud of how well London did in the ocean. She figured out that if you would dive into a wave, it wouldn't flip you and she would sink down under the big waves while snorkeling. As she bemoaned our vacation ending, she kept saying, "I'm just a beach girl, momma." And I agree. Clearly, she is. She'll be surfing in no time!

Best picture so far! I now have an Assistant Crap Carrier! YESSSSSSSSSS! You pay to play, princess.... You pay to play. 

Serenity was in town with her mom and some friends and she texted asking if we could see each other! We LOVED that idea so her mom brought her by for a visit! It's been a long time since Renny's been on the blog, but let me assure you, she is still the tender hearted, sweetest chid that she always was. Renny is a pearl of a girl and I was ecstatic to squeeze her big and tell her we love her so much! Also, she's GORGEOUS!

My friend asked if London and I wanted some pictures together so I let her grab a few of us. None of them particularly cute because I've forgotten how to take pretty pictures. Seriously- you know how to take great pictures in college then somewhere along the line you get out of practice and they all turn out horrible! So, i opted for action shots! London's got enough pretty for both of us!

These made me laugh. We were going for the impressive jump shot. 

Biiiiiig build up.....

(sad trombone sound....)

And victory!!! At 2 inches off the ground and total crazy face! Oh well, we tried! :)

Her ritual of Little Mermaid Tail (the goggles doubled as sun glasses. I could not get her to take them off!)

Then her first full body burial in which she was dying laughing the whole time so her sand encasement kept cracking open! :) 

I guess this is a bit of a mom brag, but my favorite part of the whole trip.. I was out in the waves and London ran up to the shore, stopped my girlfriend and said, "MY momma swims with me!" I was so proud of us in that moment. I adore her. We have a great life. I hope I always remember that I might look like a train wreck at the end of our days together, but man, was it worth it! We rolled in every evening with hair matted down with sand and salt water. Bathing suits filled with ocean debris and hidden sea shells. No make up... and I'm not one of those girls that can pull that off. But, my baby was proud that I was her momma this weekend because we were in it together. Right in that moment, I've never been more proud. Let's live a big life, baby. You're the most awesome thrill I've ever known!

Light 'em up.

One of my new favorite authors is Glennon Melton. She's smart, frank, funny, and totally refreshing. She posted this on instagram the other day and I just loved every word of it...

"What every child wants to know is, "do your eyes light up when i walk in the room?"- Toni Morrison. Today is Amma's first day of first grade. When she finished getting dressed this morning, I brought her over to the mirror and stood behind her while she took in her first grade self. She kept her eyes fixed on herself and said: "Mama, when Dada sees me, his hawt (heart) is going to explode." Well then, I thought. I married well. 

Moms and Dads- I don't think it matters whether you are rich or poor or healthy or struggling or divorced or nuclear or gay or straight or working or home. I think all that matters is that when your kid sees herself through your eyes- she feels worthy of a heart explosion. 

Your kid doesn't need you to be 'better'. She just needs to know that you are DELIGHTED by her. At least once a day. That's it. That's the whole she-bang. 

Doesn't matter if yesterday was a bad one at home. Doesn't matter if money's tight or if stress is high or if the whole damn world is falling apart. All that matters is: Do your eyes light up when you see your baby? 

Light 'em up, today. 

Love, G"

(Thank you, gorgeous Jill, for this incredible heart exploding picture! It makes me experience every single happy feeling!)

4th of July at the Folks

Keeping this blog is sometimes a chore. Most times, it's an overflowing blessing. Like today. I am able to re-live another amazing weekend in Columbus. Live it once in person. Live it again in print. A beautiful life lived twice. This blog blesses me. 

God is funny about my trips to Columbus. I think it's just such a familiar place for me so I don't get the pre-trip 'high' like I do when we're headed to the beach or away on an adventure. I'm always happy to go, but just expect to sink into the comfortable place that built me... I'm not anticipating more than that. God decides to change my perspective about coming home every. single. time. 

I'm not sure how to explain it. I think I rationally think, "I'll go home and get to nap while I'm there', but it's like God always reminds me, 'No, child. Go home and REST.'

He has left me slack-jawed with his painted skies the last umpteen times we've made this trip. We head out of town, and are busy with getting the DVD player on, and I grab the quiet minutes to catch up on girlfriend phone calls, and then we hit Tuscaloosa and the whole world goes bizarrly quiet. He's always there waiting for me to drop my jaw, and remember, this trip is a blessed REST, and He's leading the way home. 

Luckily- I also have this little tiger who reminds to live being AWESOME all the time! 

Then there's all the head shaking over the deer that roam like dogs in mom and dad's yard. No big deal, we wave hello and all continue to co-exist in this crazy utopia! Mom texted this week that one of the momma deer just had a tiny little fawn so there's this itsy bitsy little dude hanging with the herd these days! I can't wait to see it!

No zoom. He's just this close to us. 

This one...

Fun glasses- that were no good for actually SEEING through! :) 

Umm. Happy heart!

Before you say 'enough with the teeth whitener already!!!' This was a trial run on a new editing app where you can whiten peoples teeth! Then I couldn't figure out how to un-do the radiant white, so we're sticking with a totally edited and fake version of me in this picture. Cheapest whitening treatment I've ever tried! :)

We were the third and forth wheel to a dinner party that Mom and Dad were invited to waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy out in the country on the 4th. If this place wasn't 45 minutes from civilization, I would deem it paradise. You'll see the sunset in a minute, but the house was built with a great front porch.... for the sunrise... and an awesome back patio.... for the sunset... and it was GLORIOUS. London loved swinging on the tire swing! This place was outdoorsy, and country, and private, and perfect. We had a grand time wandering around while mom and dad caught up with friends!

Seriously. Can you see tiny Lu by the lake? Unreal. 

What if you got to watch this sunset everyday?

Being very motherly and checking on her cow friend (that you'll meet in a minute).

This is Mr. Clark. I've always been enamored with him because he calls me good looking. My entire life, when I've seen him at church, he's given me big engulfing hugs and said 'Hey Good Looking, how are you doing, baby?' and I love it. He is the most gentle, southern gentleman and London fell in love with him immediately! He let her prop up on his donkey and feed a sick calf her dinner. London had the greatest time out on the farm and Mr. Clark was so kind to let her be so hands on! 

London learned the song "You're a Grand Old Flag".... :) {video} 

By the time of the party she had the whole song memorized. Later that evening, Mr. Clark's son and family came and shot fireworks for us. London broke out into 'Your a Grand Old Flag' and the whole dinner party followed suit, fireworks exploding above us! It was a silly moment, but the beauty of it settled on my heart. We were enjoying a truly lovely night, with people we love dearly, and we were free to do so without a second thought. I bowed my head for a second, thankful for the wisdom to live fully in this moment. 

There's a quote from Anne Lamott: 

"Heaven is just a new pair of glasses."

I'm grateful God met me on this trip and gave me a new pair of glasses. He gave me the chance to live heaven. Glory.