Thomas comes to town

Yesterday, we took the kids to see the biggest rock star in the land of the toddler/preschooler.  If you haven't heard of Thomas the Tank Engine, you must not have spent much time with anyone under four feet tall in the last decade.  His show is sometimes the only thing that will soothe Petey during a freak-out temper tantrum, so Thomas is very near and dear to my heart.

He looked so cool up close!

Unfortunately, the ridiculous heat and humidity wilted the kids a little while we waited for our turn to ride the train.

CHOO CHOO!  CHOO CHOO!

Even Corey got in the spirit.  Too bad the engineer's hat was a little small.

The car we rode in had a cool upper level that scored us a terrific view.

The view of the Cumberland River was great.

Just what every kid wants -- a certificate.

Taking in the sights.

Not sure what precipitated this display of affection.

 Thank you, Thomas, for such a fun ride!

Aaaaaaargh!

There was no good explanation given for why there was a large parade-float-sized pirate ship at the local farmers' market this weekend, so we figured we had better check it out.  Of course we had to dress Charlotte up as a pirate for the adventure.  Faith Carol was home from college for the weekend so she, Alicia, and Dan came along to see what the kids thought of the spectacle.

Yo ho ho!

A pirate hat for Petey!

Neither of the kids turned out to be all that interested in the ship.  Charlotte refused to get on it and Peter begged to get off as soon as he boarded.  Oh well.  At least there was kettle corn!

We had to at least pose the kids by the ship (which is, according to the sign, available for rent for children's parties).

Peter found a live bluegrass band and just had to dance.

It was a pirate adventure cut short by rising temperatures and oppressive humidity, but we're glad we went!

The hair affair

Yes, I know gals with curly hair have a MUCH tougher time taming their manes in the morning than someone like Charlotte who has stick-straight hair.  But this is what Charlotte wakes up to every day, regardless of whether her hair is wet or dry when she goes to bed.  What on EARTH does she do in her sleep?

Poor little cup o' cat

Rocky recently had a little bit of surgery to make sure he doesn't, well, reproduce.  He's home from the vet but still with the indignity of the special collar to keep him from licking himself.  Poor little dude.

READY TO CONQUER THE WORLD!

Well, ready to conquer preschool, anyway.

You may not be able to tell it, but she's holding a long stick like a sword or something.  I'm not sure this teacher knows what she's in for when Charlotte officially starts school next Tuesday.  Today was just a preview day, and Charlotte marched right in like she owned the place and told her teacher "I'M POTTY TWAINED!"  Her teacher was greatly amused.

I filled out a bunch of forms while Charlotte explored the centers of the classroom and introduced herself to a few kids.  There will be eight kids in her class, and they all seemed pretty normal.  None of the mothers looked like "Brentwood Barbies" (over-bleached blonde, over-tanned, over teeth-whitened, etc.) and none of the kids had bizarre names like Apple or Moxie CrimeFighter.  Corey even got to come and meet the teacher.  So far, so good!

They've done lost their minds.

Soccer hooligans

The kids had ridiculous amounts of fun watching our neighbor, David, play indoor soccer last night.  Unfortunately, the other team was too scared of David's team and didn't show up, so the guys just scrimmaged against each other.  Charlotte didn't care.  She was cheering wildly (with her mismatched pom-poms from Vanderbilt football game giveaways) before the game even started.  "GO DAVID GO! GO GO GO GO!"  She was a big hit with the rest of the spectators.

It was hard to get any good shots through the glass (plexiglass?), but here's David (in the shocking orange shoes) looking all ready to score.

Peter was TANKED running around in the facility.  It was nice because there really wasn't far for him to go and no serious game going on for me to worry about him annoying the spectators.

Here's Charlotte, demonstrating her "super soccer kick".

We brought the kids' teeny soccer ball and Peter kicked/dribbled it all over the place, dreaming of the day he would be out on the field.

Here's David's cheering section.  My attempts at group shots involving my children always inevitably fail, but at least Dan and Alicia look good!

Random shots from the cell phone

I was cleaning photos off of my cell phone's teeny tiny memory chip and just couldn't let these ones go without mention.

Charlie Jo loves to hold her pinwheel (a gift from Joslyne and Zoey for her first birthday!) in front of the giant fan we use to cool off the bonus room.  I love the grin she gets when the pinwheel spins like crazy!

Rocky is getting so lanky and long.  He also is clearly not in his right mind if he is comfortable enough to sleep in such a vulnerable position with Peter in the house!

Speaking of Peter, he was showing off some fly dance moves in the car the other day while we waited for a drink at Sonic.  Note that he can dance like a maniac and still keep a tight grip on his pink monkey bubba.

This last shot was taken when we were standing in line at the county fair.  Peter looks so serious about the fun he is about to have.  He adores riding on his Daddy's shoulders.

And that's all for now!

Last day with Grandma JoJo

Grandma JoJo stuck around for one more day after Aunt Kim, Abbey, and Cady Lane took off for Indiana.  We started the day with a pilgrimage to the new Antique Archaeology store in Nashville, located in the old Marathon Motors factory.  Mom and I are totally in love with the show "American Pickers" so we chanced the disaster that could result from bringing a toddler and a preschooler to an antique store for a slim chance of running into the owner, Mike Wolfe.  Despite Charlotte's confirmed reputation as a star-magnet, we didn't see Mike.

The old Marathon Motors building is super cool, and it houses a few other businesses.

It's hard to see, but this is the Antique Archaeology logo cut into an awesome metal sign.

Back at home, Grandma JoJo tested Charlie Jo on the skills her preschool materials say should be (hopefully) mastered before entering kindergarten.  Charlie could do about 75% of them, so we have decided to send her straight to kindergarten instead of preschool.  Okay, maybe not.

Grandma JoJo took a family photo of us (complete with Connie grinning in the background) while we had ice cream cones that evening.

After Charlie Jo inhaled her own cone, she asked for another.  Peter was still far from done with his, so we joked that she should ask him for a bite.  She did, and Peter happily complied.  Over and over and over and over again.

My mom headed home the next morning, and now we're trying to catch up on mountains of laundry that piled up while our dryer was broken for a week.  Fun times!

Visit with Abbey, Kim, Cady Lane, and JoJo, v. 2

Sunday of our weekend with the girls was just as action-packed!  Corey and Peter had some adventures on their own that day (and sadly took no photos) while I took the girls for a tour of the post-flood Opryland Hotel.  We gawked and marveled at the sheer size and ostentatious features of that wild place.

Photo op in the Cascades lobby!

We found some more of the kooky horses (like the ones at the Wildhorse Saloon in downtown Nashville).  Cady Lane and Charlotte fell in love.

Charlotte declared the girl horse to be the most beautiful in the world.

Lounging in the Delta shopping area.

We took a boat tour of the Delta river, and Charlie Jo cuddled with her Grandma JoJo.

There are tons of waterfalls in this crazy place.

We tried to reenact the previous night's line dancing escapades.

Watching the fountain show down below the little restaurant where we ate lunch.

Charlie Jo is getting to be such a big girl!

Cady Lane and her baby posed by the little waterfall too.

Before we left, we stumbled upon an arcade and couldn't resist.

Back at the hotel, Charlotte and Abbey Skyped with Abbey's boyfriend.

Then, we went swimming of course!

After dinner, we walked around downtown Franklin and had ice cream.

It was a nice way to end the weekend and send Abbey off to college. After getting groped by Peter, Abbey was certainly ready to get out of town!  Hee hee.

Good luck in college, Abbey!  We hope to see you for IU's Homecoming in October!!